Powerless by Elsie Silver - A Book Review
I’ve been living in the friend zone for years now.
To Jasper Gervais’s fans, he’s just the hockey heartthrob on TV. But to me, he’s still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold. The man I’ve loved in secret for years.
So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he’s the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him,
I’m there to return the favour.
But the more time alone we spend together, the more I start to realise that Jasper isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one, either.
He acts like he wants me.
But after years of turning me away, he’s going to need to prove it . . .
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- Friends To Lovers
- Hockey Romance
- Runaway Bride
- Road Trip
Here we are, back with another letter choice for my A-Z Reading Challenge, which spoiler alert: will be the next few posts!
I was so happy to reach letter P of the alphabetical reading challenge as it meant that I could revisit the Chestnut Springs Series and delve back into the cowboy ranch life!
I must say, I set out slightly worried about reading book 3 of the series because book 2 just had so much hype and popularity around it, which lived up to its name, but I hadn’t heard much noise for Powerless.
Powerless follows Sloane Winthrop, cousin of the Eaton clang, the day of her wedding day where she’s met with the not so surprising reveal that her soon to be husband, Sterling Woodcock was caught having an affair.
With the evidence in her hand, Sloane puts the wedding on hold to make a decision, much to her father’s disappointment as he is in favour of Sloane and Sterling uniting for the sake of his business.
In steps Sloane’s best friend Jasper, who helps her escape her problems (quite literally!). Jasper and Sloane escape the wedding and take refuge at the Wishing Well Ranch until the pressure of the wedding dies down. Sloane is met with several disappointing messages from both her father and ex fiancé, who both attempt to persuade her to forgive Sterling, only Sloane has no interest in doing so, as she begins to realise it wasn’t a marriage of love.
Jasper and Sloane are met with devastating news that Beau Eaton, has gone missing in combat. Sloane is the maternal cousin of Beau and Jasper is been friends with him since they were in high school, when Beau took a homeless Jasper in.
The uncertainty of Beau’s life puts Jasper on edge, who is ultimately put on bench of his hockey games.
When Harvey reveals that a truck needs driving to Violets ranch, Jasper volunteers and is accompanied by Sloane, who is set to avoid being bombarded by her family.
The pair set out on the road in icy conditions, whilst navigating the awkward and unsaid words between them. Sloane has had a lifelong crush on Jasper and after being turned down at prom by him, she took it upon herself to distance herself from him as he didn’t share the same feelings. This distancing led her to end up in a relationship with Sterling, as she fully believed she never had a chance with Jasper. The distance between them resulted in Jasper to realise his own feelings for Sloane, but was ultimately scared to ruin their friendship.
As the pair make their way to Violet’s farm, Jasper reveals his heartbreaking childhood and his own guilt for the death of his sister’s death. Jaspers sister was killed during a family biking accident, where Jasper took charge and crossed the road to ensure it was clear. Miscommunication led to Jasper’s sister mistaking his hand signal telling her to stop, as a sign that it was safe to cross – leading her to cross the road and be hit, killing her. Following this accident, Jasper became estranged from his parents after they placed blame on young Jasper for his sister’s death.
Beau met Jasper after seeing him being picked on by others at school, leading him to stick up for him and bring him back to the ranch, where he’s been ever since.
Sloane and Jasper arrive at Violet’s ranch where they drop off the supplies and catch up with Violet and her friends. Whilst enjoying each others company, Jasper receives news that Beau has been found safe and sound, leaving the whole family relieved.
Tension between the pair starts to increase before finally, the pair admit their feelings for one another and return to Chestnut Springs.
*I would like to point out that I have been very lazy with my reviews and read this book back in July and it’s now currently September. So that’s why it’s very vague because I don’t remember all the details*
Since reading the Chestnut Springs series, I’ve realised that Elsie Silver is my ride or die author, along with a selection of others. I just think anything she writes, I will read it. It was safe to say that I 100% loved jumping back into the Wishing Well Ranch!
I 100% stand by that Heartless – Book 2 of the series stands as my favourite so far. However, Powerless brought back my excitement for reading and the giddiness that comes along with building a connection to the characters of the story – something I’d not felt in recent books. This definitely upped my motivation for reading.
Despite the fact that I enjoyed reading about Sloane and Jasper’s love story, I wish we learned more about Jasper’s history. From teasers and reviews I’d seen online, I was lead to believe his story would’ve been gut wrenching, which it was, but I expected it to be a little bit more full on. I felt like Elsie could’ve leaned into his history a little bit more, to make readers feel broken for him – or, maybe she did and I just didn’t connect to history as much?
I say it for every Elsie Silver book review and I’ll say it again – my favourite part will always be the family dynamics of the series. It’s always something I look forward to and find myself loving the most (aside from brooding characters). Again, I loved the wholesomeness of the family and the banter back and forth between the characters – especially Harvey’s comments on Sloane and Jasper’s babies being tail babies because they were brought up as cousins, although they’re not.
I’m finding that, as I continue through the series and towards the end, I’m starting to feel more and more sad that I’ll eventually be leaving the ranch life behind and be saying a final goodbye to the characters. This series has brought me so much joy and I feel so strongly about the characters of the books.
I will say, so far, Powerless has been the book that took the longest for me to get through and I honestly think that’s because I didn’t connect as much to Sloane and Jasper’s story as I have done with others. I also think this was to do with the setting of the story and how they were on a road trip, as opposed to being on the ranch like the other stories have been.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Georgia
🌷
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