Narration by Jason Clarke & Angelina Rocca
Chestnut Springs, Book 5
From the author:
Beau Eaton is the town prince, a handsome military hero with a tortured past. I’m the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
He’s thirty-five and all man, and I’m twenty-two and all . . . virgin.
He’s also my fiancé. Correction: my fake fiancé.
We start out as a bet. He doesn’t believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point.
It’s win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family’s prying, and I get a chance to shed my family’s reputation while I save up to ditch this small town.
He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I can’t keep my hands off of him in public.
But it’s what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines.
It’s what transpires behind closed doors that doesn’t feel like pretending at all.
This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.
He once told me he’d never fall in love.
And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiancé.
If this hadn’t been the final book in a series I’ve really enjoyed, I probably would have skipped it. I’m not a fan of twenty-something virgin storylines, and this one didn’t change my mind. I didn’t love this book, but I have to give credit to the narrators. They did a really good job, despite the material they had to read, so kudos to them.
Beau has appeared throughout the series, so I was looking forward to his story. He comes across as genuinely kind, with some PTSD that adds a bit of depth. His motivations made sense, which helped—but I struggled with Bailey. The age gap wouldn’t have bothered me on its own, but her immaturity and lack of emotional control made her hard to connect with.
Bailey has a rough background. Her father and brothers have been in and out of jail, and the small town judges her for it, regardless of how much distance she tries to keep. She finally gets a job bartending, where she deals with constant insults because it’s the only work available.
One night, Beau gets drunk at the bar, and Bailey takes his keys, serving him tea until he sobers up. That moment pushes Beau to rethink his drinking. He starts coming in regularly, sticking to tea and quietly looking out for her. Their connection grows into a tentative friendship, until Beau proposes a fake engagement—believing his good reputation might offset her bad one. Bailey agrees, mostly to prove him wrong.
As they spend more time together, living under the same roof but in separate rooms, feelings begin to shift. Bailey pushes boundaries, Beau resists, and eventually realizes he’s fallen for her.
In the end, this was my least favorite book in the series. It’s not terrible, just underwhelming, with pacing issues and a heroine I never warmed to. If you’re a completionist, it may be worth finishing—but otherwise, this is the weak link. On to the next series, though – Rose Hill waits for me.
5/2026 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
HOPELESS by Elsie Silver. Narrators: Jason Clarke & Angelina Rocca. Self-published. (June 10, 2023). ASIN: B0C5F3Q8QV. Listening Length: 9 hours and 58 minutes.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 