Heartless

Written by Canadian author Elsie Silver, Heartless (2022) is the second installment in the Chestnut Springs series, a contemporary romance series that is set in small-town Canada and traces the love stories of characters connected with the Eatons, a local ranching family. Heartless uses the forced-proximity and enemies-to-lovers tropes to drive the plot’s primary conflicts.

At the novel’s start, 38-year-old Cade Eaton is desperate for a summer nanny for his five-year-old son, Luke. When his future sister-in-law, Summer Hamilton, suggests that her best friend, Willa Grant, take the job, Cade is skeptical. However, he is too busy running Wishing Well Ranch to be picky. Over the course of the summer, the fun-loving Willa gradually breaks through Cade’s gruff exterior, and the two fall in love. Written from Cade’s and Willa’s alternating first-person perspectives, the novel explores The Search for Home and Belonging, The Transformative Power of Love, and The Impact of Trauma on Intimate Relationships. 

This guide refers to the 2023 Bloom Books paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of miscarriage, physical abuse, death, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The novel opens on Wishing Well Ranch in Chestnut Springs. Cade Eaton runs the ranch on his own and is looking for a summer babysitter for his son, Luke. His brother’s fiancée, Summer Hamilton, and his father, Harvey, encourage Cade to make a decision before it is too late. Finally, Cade agrees to let Summer introduce him to her best friend, Willa Grant, as a possible applicant.

Twenty-five-year-old Willa comes into town to visit Summer. She doesn’t have anywhere to be for the summer season. Her brother owns the bar where she works in the city and temporarily closes the business while he’s traveling. Summer suggests that Willa take care of Cade’s son, Luke. Summer lives on Wishing Well Ranch with her fiancé, Rhett Eaton. The friends drive across the property, and Summer introduces Willa to Cade and Luke. Cade and Willa notice one another’s good looks but try to keep their interactions purely professional. Cade reluctantly hires Willa even though she seems too young and excitable to take care of his son.

Willa spends every day playing with Luke and taking care of him. She falls in love with him immediately and is shocked when he tells her that his mother, Talia, left the family when he was two and rarely visits him. Meanwhile, Willa tries to keep things peaceable with Cade, but he never smiles and always treats her gruffly. Then, one night, the two encounter each other in the hot tub on Cade’s deck. Cade doesn’t force Willa to leave, and they share a pleasant conversation while soaking. This type of encounter happens several more times. During a game of “truth or dare” one night, Willa asks Cade questions about his past. He explains that he has been the responsible sibling ever since his mother died when he was eight. He then took it upon himself to help his father raise Rhett, Beau, and Violet. Ever since, he has been the no-nonsense older brother.

Cade also tells Willa about Talia, explaining that she had chased after Cade ever since they were both children. Finally, Cade started sleeping with her, and after Talia got pregnant, they got married. Although Cade tried to make a good life for her, Talia abandoned him and Luke three years ago, and Cade has been on his own ever since. Willa is moved by Cade’s story and suggests that he start taking time to do things that he enjoys. She learned that he used to compete in rodeos and insists that he take up the sport again while she watches Luke.

Not long afterward, Luke gets a stomach bug, and Willa has to take care of him while Cade is working at the ranch. When Cade comes home to find her and Luke sleeping in his bed together, he starts to dream of a future with Willa. The next day, Willa comes down with the same virus, and Cade takes care of her while she is sick. Afterward, Willa starts to realize that she has romantic feelings for Cade. She talks to Summer about it, expressing her desire to have no-strings-attached sex with him. Summer reminds her that because of their friendship and her relationship with Rhett, Willa and Cade will always be in each other’s lives.

On the weekend, Willa, Cade, Luke, and the rest of Cade’s family go to the rodeo where Cade is competing. Watching Cade impresses Willa, and her feelings for him intensify. However, after the show, Cade says that he’s going home and encourages Willa to stay behind and spend time with one of his friends instead. Back at the house, Cade feels lonely without Willa and also misses Luke, who is with Harvey. He is angry at himself for telling Willa to go out with his friend. When Willa pulls up in front of the house, they get into an argument, and in the intensity of the moment, Cade reveals his feelings for Willa. They end up having sex.

Willa and Cade pursue a heated sexual relationship over the following weeks, keeping their activities hidden from everyone. One day, Cade breaks his fingers while working at the ranch, and Willa has to rush him to the hospital. In the emergency room, she is shocked to discover that Summer’s sister, Winter, is Cade’s doctor. She and Winter are having a conversation in the hall when Willa realizes that she hasn’t started her period yet. Winter gives her a pregnancy test, which comes out positive.

On the way home, Willa tells Cade that she is pregnant despite her use of birth control pills, as she threw up several doses when she was sick. She tells Cade that she plans to spend some time away from the ranch in order to give him time to think. She knows that Talia hurt him, and she doesn’t want to do the same thing.

Willa goes back to the city. Summer comes to visit her, and they discuss her and Cade’s future. Summer’s advice makes Willa realize how much she misses Cade and Luke. She drives back to the ranch and finds Cade and Luke outside the house. Luke excitedly shows Willa the sidewalk that he and his father just poured. They pressed stones into the cement in the shape of hearts and their initials. Willa is surprised and moved to see that they wrote her initials as “W.E.” Luke goes inside, and Willa and Cade make amends. They decide to keep the baby and raise their family together. 

At the end of her term, Willa goes into labor. She gives birth to a baby girl named Isabelle Emma Eaton. Cade and Luke gather around the bed with her and Isabelle, and Willa feels that they’re now a complete family.