Reveal

Men of Hidden Creek, Season 4

By: H. J. Welch

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

"I wish this were real with you."

Geeky Jason Miller has never really been with a man, and his bullying colleagues at NASA know it. But when an innocent white lie gets out of hand, Jason never would have guessed his gorgeous-but-straight childhood friend would leap to his rescue.

Firefighter Channing Forster saves people every day, so when protecting his former next-door neighbor turns into faking a relationship for a work getaway, he doesn’t hesitate. As the weekend goes on, though, Channing starts to think that he doesn’t just see cute Jason Miller as a buddy anymore.

Are Channing’s feelings for Jason real enough that he could be his first? Jason needs to accept his true self before he can love another. But when his colleagues and boss discover his many secrets, will he lose everything forever, including Channing?

Welcome to Hidden Creek, Texas, where the heart knows what it wants, and where true love lives happily ever after. Every Men of Hidden Creek novel can be enjoyed on its own, but keep an eye out for familiar faces around town! This audiobook contains not-so-fake boyfriends, a stowaway kitty, and enough fireworks to outshine the Fourth of July.

©2019 H. J. Welch (P)2019 H. J. Welch

Love it!

What a hot & sweet story! Complimented by Nick Russo’s narration. Nick’s voice in the sex scenes are just WOW! So hot!

4.5-starred installment in a fun series!

H.J. Welch is a new-to-me author and her contribution to the multi-authored fourth season of Men of Hidden Creek is my first book from her. On the other hand, Nick J. Russo is a familiar narrator to my ears, having listened to numerous audiobooks where he brought stories to life. He's been the narrator throughout this audiobook series, but while this is already the fourth season, this is my first go-around with the series as a whole and it's been a rather fun-filled listening experience four audiobooks in. So far, I've enjoyed how each story is a standalone but is tied with all the others because of the Texas town.

Reveal is the story of Jason Miller and Channing Forster, with the former being a NASA engineer and the latter a firefighter. Jason and Channing were childhood friends and neighbors, and Channing comes to Jason's rescue after he overhears Jason's homophobic co-worker bullying him. The two guys engage in a fake relationship during a NASA work getaway. Channing's always been straight, but spending time with the openly gay Jason has him wondering if he's actually bisexual and if their fake relationship can turn into the real thing. The question is: will Jason allow himself to see that Channing truly loves him?

I quite adored Channing! The guy was the poster child for good guys everywhere. He had a heart of gold and there was no doubting how sincere his feelings were for Jason. Interestingly enough, it wasn't his realization that he was bi that became the stumbling block for what he and Jason were building together--it was Jason's own insecurities. As sweet as the guy was, there were moments where I wanted to pull him aside and shake him so he'd realize that he was worth more than how others saw him. H.J. Welch wrote an endearing story, one that Nick J. Russo brought admirably to life. 4.5 stars for Reveal. ♥

Touching romance

This book hit me in all the feel-good places. Fake boyfriend and gay (or in this case bi) for you are two of my favorite tropes. Add in a geek, a sexy firefighter, a sweet kitten, and a dog and it’s the perfect Hidden Creek book. I’ve listened to several books from this season and am enjoying them. I love to catch the little ways the books are interconnected. Tiberius the ‘Beast’ from Rescue makes an appearance in this book, as do the rescued dogs. Makes me want another one but one is all I can handle. Still…

The Summer Fair is going on and along with the Ferris Wheel and baking contests there are fireworks and wine slushies.

Before the main characters get to the summer fair, though, they have some other shenanigans to get up to. Jason is part of a team of engineers at NASA. He’s smart and innovative but also shy and gay. Two of those stand him in good stead at work while, unfortunately, the other two do not. He belongs to a varied group of men but they are dominated by Leroy, a true bully. In fact Channing compares him to a high school bully and that felt really apt. We’ve all had to deal with a Leroy (mine was a teenage girl, but the bullying is the same). Jason makes up a boyfriend to try to get Leroy to leave him alone. Of course feeding the bully never calms him and only Channing showing up brings Leroy down a notch. Channing and Jason were friends when they were kids and even though they grew apart, there is a fondness there.

What starts out as a fake boyfriend scenario becomes more real. Jason has to decide, though, if his feelings for Channing are mere hero worship and Channing has to decide if what he feels for Jason is real. Is he, in fact, a bisexual? There are many people in Channing’s life to help him sort through his feelings including a cousin and bisexual best friend. There are also townspeople who live their lives in the LGBTQ spectrum, mostly from previous books, I assume. Channing has watched Hidden Creek become an open and welcoming place to live and he’s thrilled for that. Perhaps that’s why he’s able to embrace this side of himself that he’d never noticed before.

There are some sexy times in this book, but it’s also a very sweet and heart-felt romance. I fell in love with Jason and Channing and was thrilled to see them finally put aside their ‘rules’ and admit how they really felt about each other.

Nick J. Russo narrates the series and I think he was a great choice. He differentiates each character nicely and I enjoy his, uh, sexy noises. Just sayin’.

There are more books in the series and I can’t wait to listen to those as well. I am definitely enjoying my time in Hidden Creek.

Enjoyed!

I love a fake boyfriend story and Reveal is such a good one. I found Jason and Channing to be very likeable characters. I was totally invested in seeing them get their HEA.

I thought this story was a very sweet romance with lots of humor, a little bit of angst and just the right amount of heat.
Nick J. Russo does an amazing job of giving voice to these guys!

great book and listen

This was a wonderful story that will make you happy and warm inside.
The main charters are well developed and absolutely amazing together.
The story was engaging and kept you going thru out the story. Nick did a great job bringing this book to life for me. His voice is like velvet and it makes your heart melt when you listen to him

The sweetest story

I loved this story. It’s about a big strong firefighter discovering his true feelings and accepting them. It’s also about a geek that’s out as gay but still not feeling like himself and his journey to self discovery is not easy, how will these two work things out?

No unnecessary descriptions of surroundings
Great dialogues
I felt like I knew the characters in the end, they were so well described and developed in to distinct personalities, so different but so fitting together.
The storyline progresses nicely to a happy ending.
I’m absolutely in love with Hidden Creek 😍 and look forward to listening to the next book

Narrator:
Clear pronunciation and read with feelings

5 stars overall

Very fun GFY firefighter/geek fake relationship!

Hot firefighter Channing is unexpectedly reunited with childhood geeky next door neighbor Jason years after high school and going their separate ways in life. A chance encounter in a grocery store and a spontaneous impulse of Channing’s to defend Jason to a coworker bully results in the two of them reconnecting for real as friends and deciding to pose as boyfriends at Jason’s NASA workgroup teambuilding retreat weekend. What could go possibly go wrong?

Channing is straight, but almost immediately has feelings for Jason that he doesn’t completely understand. Jason is gay, and feels an instant attraction to Channing that he tries to suppress; in addition to his status as a virgin and insecure sense of self, he doesn’t think someone as hot as Channing could ever be interested in him, anyway. But this is Hidden Creek, perhaps the most LGBTQ+ positive locus on the planet… all of the elements are woven together to tell a story that is sweet with a touch of angst and hot as a four alarm fire! Lots of smiles and all of the ‘feels’ that you would expect from HJ Welch, delivered with a fantastic narration/vocal performance by the extremely talented Nick J Russo. Highly recommended!

Channing is my new book boyfriend!

I loved this! I found Channing to be AWESOME and I truly wish he was a person I could know and love because I totally would!

I found his “coversion” to bi-sexuality to be totally believable and totally sweet and wonderful.

If I have a complaint it’s that the Nasa “boss” was supposedly trying to be more open and keeping with modern times but time and again Jason’s nemesis – I forget his name – says homophobic and bullying comments in front of their boss and it’s brushed off til the end when he damn near kills people!

Jason was a doll and though I grew a little weary of his “but how can he be attracted to little ol’ me?” a bit trying – he mostly charmed me. I SUPER loved all the wives! They seemed like a hoot as well, and another great group of folks to get to know.

I bought this for Nick Russo and he did another tremendous job – including the southern accents!

Highly recommended!

5 of 5 stars

Lovely story and performance

I really enjoyed this story from HJ Welch. Both main characters had struggles to overcome to get to their HEA, but they made it. I'm always a fan of a character who has a late- bi awakening, and it was fun to ride along with Channing as he realized an aspect of himself he hadn't seen before. Likewise it was satisfying to see Jason's journey as he struggled with self confidence and how to be his true self. I loved that both MC's had to find the truth about and in themselves before they could give their relationship the chance it deserved.

Nick J Russo's performance was excellent. His characterizations were steady throughout, and he really brought out the emotion in the dialogue.

Enjoyable!

I really liked Channing, he was very sweet, protective and supportive. Unfortunately, while I liked Jason, I never quite warmed up to him. His insecurities and the way he self-sabotaged himself just annoyed me to no end, Add to that, that I'm not quite a fan of getting past your insecurities through a makeover and that didn't work for me at all. Channing and Jason had chemistry and were adorable together, so there's that. Plus, I think Channing's awakening to his bisexuality was pretty well done.

The bad guy was almost caricaturesque, a bit one-dimensional, and I hoped we'd seen more of his comeuppance, rather than just being told what happened to him.

While not my favorite book, Nick's narration was very enjoyable and did add a lot to the story. His voices for all the characters were very distinctive and he always injects a lot of emotion to the story. Recommendable!

as great as the ebook

The story is always full stars, because if I wouldn't like the story as ebook, I wouldn't listen to the audiobook. I can't listen to an audiobook without knowing the book, that's not possible for me.

The performance from the narrator is also very important for me. I can't listen to a lot, because my English as a non-native-speaker isn't so perfect to follow a whole story over hours, when the narrator speaks too fast or too sloppy. Normally I have to SEE the person, who is talking to me in English. Nick J Russo is one of the top 5 narrators for me, I can listen without break and have no problems to follow.
I'm just not yet finish with the book, just over the half, but I listen enough to give a review.

PLEASE READ MY RATING SYSTEM!!!

To my ratings:

5* - very very good
it's like an A+

4* - very good and will be often re-listening
it's like an A

3* - it's more then a one-time-listening.
it's like a B

Emerging from the closet

I was lucky to get promo codes for all the books in season 4 of hidden Creek. Nick J. Russo does an excellent job of giving the guys a voice and bringing the story to life. I love HJ Welch's writing style and this Contemporary MM romance did not disappoint. I loved following along the guys' story as they get to know more about each other and over come various obstacles as they fall for each other. Highly recommended for all lovers of Contemporary MM romance.

bloody LOVED this book!

I was gifted the audio file of this book, that I write a review was not required, but I gotta, oh yeah, I GOTTA!!

I have not READ this book, just listened, so if my review lines blur, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I can split the narration from the story itself, and I ususally at least TRY to.

Jason is a geek, a rocket scientist for God’s sake. Channing, a firefighter. They really don’t have much in common, other than a childhood of living next door to each other. So when Channing rescues Jason from the taunting that is a constant in his life from the guys at work, Jason does the only thing he thinks of, and asks Channing to be his *fake* boyfriend for a weekend work retreat. And Channing, the darling that he is, of course, says yes!

Oh! I LOVED these guys! I really did!

Jason is out and mostly proud. The guys at work make it hard for him though. Channing has only ever been with girls. But he thinks nothing of touching Jason, kissing him! Channing is, quite possibly, my favourite Ms Welch character! I loved how, while things creep up on Channing, when he questions them, to his best friend, Remi is, like *duh* well of course you are bisexual, you silly man!

When it all hits the fan, and their *fake* relationship is discovered, I loved how both men, separately and independently of each other, decided that they would wait for the other to make their own minds up, whether they wanted *this* to be real. Even if it meant they broke their hearts and had to walk away from the other. They did, of course they did, but it was painful but beautiful listening, as Jason dug deep into himself and found his TRUE self, not the one he THOUGHT he should be.

Nick J Russo narrates this book. And he does a cracking job!

His voices for Jason and Channing are different and distinctive, showing the marked differences in the lives so far. His reading voice is clear and even, and its part of why I love this narrator so much: his deep clear reading voice. You know the one, the one is telling the story. It makes for such easy listening, to a deaf head like me.

The voices for ALL the characters are clear, and I had no trouble keeping up with multi person conversations. I am intrigued by several of the supporting cast now, simply because of the voices that Russo gives them here! Remi and Kris especially! Harrison too.

Russo gets over all of Jason wish that they can work this out, that it be real. He gets over all of Channing’s dawning realisation of his true feelings for Jason, and we get all that love pouring out.

A narrator can only read the words they have been given, though and Ms Welch smashes this one out the park! Well, that was what I *THOUGHT* when I finished listening to this, I thought this was my favourite of this author so far. But before writing THIS review, I read Homeward Bound (Pine Cove #3) and now?? I can’t split them!

So, thank you, Ms Welch, for making the start of my work day a little more pleasant and thank you to Mr Russo for bringing these men to my ear (singular, like, cos one don’t work!)

5 full and oh so very cute stars for the book and the narration.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**

My favourite so far....

This series just gets better and better!

One of my favourite kind of story is the ‘fake boyfriend’ and this one was great. Due to some pretty horrible bullying Jason tells a bit of a fib that turns into a pretty hot relationship with Channing. It’s fab to see Channing help Jason’s confidence and overcome his fears. Plenty of emotions here so brace yourself!

HJ Welch is a fairly new author to me and I’d definitely seek out more of this authors books. Nick J Russo was perfect, as usual! I’m a huge fan of his narration.

Fireworks go off for Channing and Jason

Reveal had so many of the things I like in my books; one geeky main character and one sporty/fit/jock main character, fake relationship due to family/friends/work leading to more, a main character discovering more about themselves whether it be related to their sexuality or not, friends becoming more and an inexperienced character. So many boxes ticked and yet it still works wonderfully (which sometimes can be an issue for a book if there are multiple tropes - they can muddy the water. That doesn’t happen in Reveal).

I LOVED Jason and was rooting for him all the way through the book. I really wanted him to get his guy but just as much as that - I really wanted him to love himself. He was adorable in such a geeky way (I do love a geek) and I loved all the characters that helped him work on this. Channing was so sweet - a big, tough firefighter who just wants to help people. I loved him discovering more about himself.

HJ Welch wrote such a fantastic book that I was kept gripped all the way through and unable to put it down. When this happens and you’re rooting for the characters - you know the book is a winner.

When you add the audio talents of Nick J. Russo into the writing talents of HJ Welch then you have an audiobook that reveals itself to be a truly outstanding story. I’ve only just caught onto Hidden Creek from this season and trust me - I’m going back to read and listen to all the others because they’re written and narrated by true talent.

Awesome

This was a very entertaining audiobook.
Definitely a great addition to this series.
I can’t wait to listen to more from Nick and HJ.

Loved how we deal with Bullies

I truly dislike bullies but I love how the characters deal with it. I love how they learn to grow, trust and believe in what the other is saying. I love how they both come into themselves, be in how they see themselves or present themselves.

I have to admit that I wish we had seen more of Carmen because the glimpses we get make me think she is friends with the Grannies. Maybe we will see her more in the future.

Childhood friends to lovers!

Jason works at Nasa. He’s coming to Hidden Creek for a work retreat. The bullying he endures makes him concoct a little white lie. It turns out Channing his childhood neighbor is a firefighter who doesn’t like bullies. Their meet up is cute and their relationship develops quite nicely until it doesn’t. I was biting my nails, waiting on Jason to man up! I loved their HEA, and the other characters enrich the story, many are very endearing ones.
Five stars to the narrator Nick Russo too.

Brilliant fake boyfriend story

I love a fake boyfriend story and this is one of the best for me. There are so many issues covered very sensitively. Not only homophobia but also unconscious bias and bullying in the workplace. Channing is a darling. Such a big heart and open minded. Justin has very little self confidence. Channing helps Justin recognise his worth and believe in himself. The path of love is never smooth but in the hands of Helen Juliet it is a terrific story. Hidden creek is one of my favourite series.
Nick J Russo is a fantastic narrator. He performs the story rather than just narrating it. His narration emphasises Channing’s endearing nature and Jason’s determination.

Fake Boyfriends!

I'm thoroughly enjoying this series. This one is fake boyfriends trope which is one of my favourites. It's also about discovering your true self and learning to embrace who you really are.
Channing was a cutie, someone always willing to help others. And while I wanted to shake Jason sometimes, I did think he felt authentic in his fears, especially with regard to the bullying.
A good tale needs a supporting cast and some of these come from the other books. I've not read Kris and Remi's story but I want to. They play a big part in this and I'd love to know how they got together.