Sweet romance!

Loved this latest Hidden Creek novel from J Hayden Bailey who is a fairly new to me author. It had a lovely plot with great main characters...I adored Charlie's sweet self! Nick Russo is fantastic as usual!

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Enjoyed!

ise has all the ingredients needed to make a sweet, sexy, fun romance. Todd and Charlie's love story develops over the week of Hidden Creek's Summer Gair baking competition, where they both enter as contestants. The chemistry between them is wonderful. I loved their connection. Nick J Russo breathes life into these guys and gives such a wonderful performance!

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Chivalry, Confections, and Chemical Connections!

💗🍞💗🍰💗🎂💗

Title: Rise: Men of Hidden Creek S.4 #5
Author: J. Hayden Bailey
Narrator: Nick Russo
Publisher: J.Hayden Bailey
Format: e-book (ARC)/ Audio book (purchase)
Release Date: 9/13/2019 - 9/05/2019🎧
Genre/ Trope(s): MM Romance;
Page Count: 260p.
Listening Length: 8hrs. 30min.
SteaMMy Swordplay: 4 out of 5⚔
Sharonica-Stars: 5 out of 5✨
GoodReads AVG: 4.16🌟


Rise was the perfect combination of charming and sweet. I fell in love with MC Todd right away. I struggled with Charlie in the beginning, but only because I worried about him putting himself in harmful situations. After one phone call he received however, it made perfect sense why his reactions to certain people and situations were the way they were.

Hidden Creek came even more alive to me in this book, and now I want to go back and start where it all began in season one. Each story is unique, but the authors have done a fantastic job keeping with the overall theme and even weaving past characters seamlessly in their own stories.

Yes, you can pick any book in Season four and read it without being lost. I have enjoyed each one so much! This has been my favorite though. It just struck some chords in my soul. This was also my first read by J. Hayden Bailey, but most definitely not my last.

Of course Nick Russo did an excellent job bringing the characters to life, as always. Nothing but Love love love!😍

If you are a fan of chivalry, confections, and chemical connections, you'll love Rise! 🎂💗🍰💗🍞

The Story: 5✨
The Narration: 5✨
5 sweeter-than-cup-cake-stars ✨✨✨✨✨

I received an ARC of the e-book from LesCourt in exchange for an honest review.💋

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Four stars!

J. Hayden Bailey's Rise is the fifth audiobook in the fourth season of Men in Hidden Creek. While the stories were penned by six different authors, the narrator throughout is none other than Nick J. Russo. Bailey's story is about Todd Hudson, a military veteran turn film consultant, and Charlie Deacon, a grocery story clerk with a rescue dog named Geri. While Charlie considers the small Texas town of Hidden Creek his home, Todd isn't the type to put down roots, choosing instead to stay with friends temporarily while waiting for his next pit stop in a career that takes him to a variety of locations. One hook-up between the two leaves one running off and the other wanting more, but their paths cross yet again during the town's summer fair, where both Charlie and Todd are participants in a baking competition. The connection between them begs to be explored once again, but with a rule against fraternizing, will they be forced to allow the chemistry simmering there to fall flat or will they let it rise?

While this may not have been my favorite in the series, it was certainly still a good listen, one that I enjoyed during a recent day of rather long driving (no thanks to the terrible traffic, but hey, hooray for audiobooks to keep me company!). My heart went out to Charlie, who was a really sweet guy deserving of so much more than the life he was living but was often overcome by his long-held insecurities. Then there was Todd who became the strong source of love and support for Charlie; in turn, Charlie (and Geri) became Todd's home. J. Hayden's story combined the idea of heart and home--aka the love you find and the family you create for yourself--and Nick J. Russo continues to perform well as the series narrator, bringing each of these small town stories to life. Four stars for Rise. ♥

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Shared passion, scrumptious delights and love!

Wonderful narration makes these characters and story come alive for the reader.  The shared passion for creating scrumptious delights create a fun back-drop for love to flourish.  These MC's are very different, yet they share an intense connection that goes beyond chemistry and could be so much more. i enjoyed the baking contest setting and thought the supporting characters were fun. The writing flowed and the characters were well done.  

I enjoyed so many of Charlie and Todd's scenes together and thought there was some really delightful moments that made me smile and warmed my heart.  Teddy bears and county fair nights bring a smile to my heart. 

This is part of the Men of Hidden Creek series and can be read/listened to as a stand-alone. 

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I want that recipe!

I love it when people come together over food! And cupcakes are just the best things ever! Charlie and Todd are just the cutest couple and I loved how Charlie kept trying to follow the rules. And those jerk people trying to make things bad??? Loved what they got for their troubles! Haha

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Not my favourite in this series, but a decent read

My main issue here was that I never got invested in the characters' romance. And neither in Charlie, particularly, whose insecurity was truly grating. I usually don't have problems with insecure characters, but something about him make me cringe any time he failed to stand by himself and apologize for... living? The fact that Todd found him attractive was baffling, to say the least.

I liked a lot of the secondary characters, and I loved the idea of setting the story in a baking contest. All that food! I finished the book really hungry. Seriously, I wouldn't have minded an Appendix with all the recipes :P

Nick J. Russo did, as always, a great job narrating.

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amazing

so much fun.. so funny and sweet.. so sexy and adorable.. the story was amazing and the narrator was so much fun. very good story

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Love this series

I received an ARC of this audio for my honest review. This is the story of Todd and Charlie. It is like a friends to lovers story. It really held your attention all throughout the story. Even though this is part of a long series you can read the books as a stand alone.

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Super Sweet Story

Rise is a super sweet story about two men who at first don't seem likely to make a good pair. I haven't read much from this author but they did a great job of showing how a common interest can bring two people together. Charlie and Todd are wonderful together whether they are baking or just hanging out. I absolutely loved the whole teddy bear idea and how it became such an important item in their relationship. The baking contest scenes will definitely leave you wanting the recipes for their dishes without overwhelming the story with unnecessary details which is a bonus for me. Sometimes in books the story line gets bogged down in details that don't really move the story forward but that wasn't the case with this. The narration was well done with distinctive voices making the story flow wonderfully.

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