A review by stateofgrace
Hopeless by Elsie Silver

4.75

 Definitely my favorite in the series! I loved the tropes — fake dating, age gap, he falls first/he falls harder. Bailey is my new favorite romance protagonist, she was so funny from start to finish! I related to Bailey on a spiritual level. We’re both virgins who are hilarious but only because we don’t know how to keep our mouths shut and keep our thoughts to ourselves. Beau was so dreamy! I liked that he had an edge to him, but he was always clear (in his perspective, at least) about how much he liked Bailey from the beginning. I loved the age gap between Beau and Bailey. I liked the dynamic between Bailey and Beau, where Bailey had never had someone to protect her before and Beau protected her from the very beginning. 

 

This was the shortest book in the series and I could definitely tell. There were some moments that I would have really liked to see that we never got: 

• Bailey and Jasper bonding (Jasper is Beau’s best friend yet I don’t think he and Bailey ever talk one-on-one)
• Beau proposing to Bailey (they basically just decide that they’re going to be engaged for real, but I would have liked a moment of Beau putting the ring on Bailey after they decided to be engaged for real)
• Bailey making the decision to return to school (we see the aftermath of her decision, but it’s such a big moment for her character, I wish we could have seen her make the decision from her perspective)
• A more satisfying conclusion to Bailey’s family issues (Bailey is very passive when it comes to her family, and she never ends up taking an active role. After Beau kicks them out of the bar, we never see them again)
• A more satisfying conclusion to Beau’s PTSD (I thought that he would eventually go to therapy but that never happened)
• More content between Beau and Bailey after they decide that their engagement is real (that scene happens 78% of the way through the book, which is not enough book left in my opinion!)