Hidden Love

The Hidden Series #4

by Nicole Colville

Hidden Love can be read as a stand-alone book or read as the first book in the series.

Scot Victore is a multi-billionaire businessman. The world is his for the taking, nothing is out of reach when you have his power and his money, combined with his name, Victore. Anything Scot wants he gets, that's the way his life has always been. Whether it’s buying out a global company, or taking someone to his bed, everything comes easy to him. So why is it the one thing he wants more than anything is out of his reach?

Jamie Burton is a mysterious, beautiful, private young man. He's an enigma. Scot has known Jamie all his life but he suddenly realises that Jamie is a stranger to him. Finding out who Jamie is becomes an obsession, one that will overtake his every thought and control his mind.

Their relationship is out of control, incredibly passionate. The sex is dangerous and explosive, but it doesn’t end in the bedroom. Everything about Jamie and Scot is explosive. Everything apart from Jamie's feelings.

There’s no end to what Scot will do for Jamie. No end to how he loves him. No end to what he will do to keep him. But how far will he push the emotionally unstable love of his life? Too much?

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Abuse, Romance, LGBT, Sports, Mental Illness

492 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 18, 2013

About the author

Welcome to the home of bittersweet M/M romances which will leave you craving more.

Nicole grew bored being a supermodel genius who worked part time for NASA, and decided to take a break from helping solve the mysteries of the universe with Stephen Hawkins to write m/m romance.

She has a loving relationship with her hubby of twenty years, and has achieved a lot in her short life considering she's only eighteen. She has fourteen dogs of all different breeds, plus twenty cats, and when she's not tending to their every need, and solving complex math problems, she loves to sew and can be often found knitting in the garden, which she maintains all by herself with her magical green fingers.

Finding time to make all of her own clothing and master the kitchen better than Gordon Ramsey, she's also a vegan domestic goddess and can often be found cooking up a storm bare foot in her kitchen.

Okay, so that's not true, especially the cooking part, though I do tend to be bare foot and I swear like Gordon does while burning my latest creation -- and I still think NASA will be getting in touch. Any day now!! *crosses fingers* I could sooo do that job because I'm so obviously awesome, but until they do...

I'm a full time author of M/M Romance and Erotica, and somehow I have several bestselling books under my belt. I've been writing for four years, and I self publish all my work under Hidden Pleasures Publishing along with my amazing team of helpers in the form my cover designer Kellie Dennis, editor Jessica McKenna, and all of my beta readers and PA's.

I'm a wife to my beloved hubby and mother to two young girls, and I do in fact have two cats who I adore, but no dog, as the hubby put his foot down. I live in Leeds in the North of England and I love it, despite the terrible weather.

My men are all seeking what everyone is, true love mixed with passion and their own happy-ever-after full of laughter and tears.


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Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me four books to finally get a broad picture of this.
Things are now making sense.
The formula still the same, book is way too long, very OTT, it annoys me how many times we have to hear how pretty and rich they are. Too much sex making it repetitive to the point of me skimming. Yeah, I know it must be weird to hear that from me. 😂🤣

All that said, the core of this storyline is good and I can't seem to stop reading it. I think I never went so far in a series where I have rate all books 3 stars. I would have given up by now. I'll have a break from it now but,



I'll be back. I need to know how this is going to end.

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review #1: Top 8/28/14
Review #2: Bottom 8/30/14

DNF @ 4%.

I tried. I can't do it. I don't know that I've ever DNF'd a book that quickly, but just reading that little bit (almost 2 chapters) was a chore. I found myself skimming already, which is never a good sign.

I'm disappointed because this sounded good, but it's written in such a way that it is so dull.

The MC is a narcissist, so clearly everything revolves around him. But, if I'm going to be stuck in his head for 400 pages, his internal dialogue has to be more engaging than: I came, I saw, I did, I went, I can, I know, I hope, I love. You get the picture.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of first person POV, but I've gotten used to it because it is quite popular. Some writers can craft a story where the words flow so naturally, you can easily see the world through their character's eyes. It doesn't matter to me what POV it's written in. Others, the words come out forced and the writing is very choppy and dull. Sadly, this one is the latter. Add to that the overwritten and repetitive descriptions and you just have a rather unpleasant read.

I wanted to like it going in, but I just couldn't hang on long enough to see if it got better. Maybe I'll give it a another try in the future and I just wasn't in the mood for it now. Who knows. Either way, it's just not for me. So, to be fair to the author, I'm not going to rate it.

------------------

So, I might've been a bit rash in my decision to DNF this one. I hate not finishing a book, it physically pains me to do so. So, it's obviously very rare that I do it. Despite the fact that I hated the beginning of this one, something made me want to give it another shot. So I did. It still had all the things that I said it did, but it did get better, and worse in places. So, in a nutshell...

These two, Jamie & Scot, are probably the most fucked up, dysfunctional, codependent, neurotic couple I've ever read about. This relationship is so unhealthy, it drove them crazy. Literally. And yet, I couldn't stop reading it. It was the proverbial trainwreck that you can't look away from. (I have a minor in psychology, so all these fucked up characters were right up my alley.) ;)

The story itself, was good. However, and I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but it had far too much sex. There are only so many ways you can describe the same acts before it gets old, and slows the pacing of the book down. You could have cut out half of them and wouldn't have missed a beat. That said, I still enjoyed it. It's not your basic love story, and these are not your typical cookie cutter characters. Some are sweet, some evil, a little crazy, and some are all three.

These two are volatile together, and their relationship is one of the most destructive I've read. They both try to hurt each other, repeatedly, make up, move on, rinse, repeat. It's this vicious cycle they seem to be stuck in until it takes its toll.

Jamie is an Olympian with some psychological issues. He has OCD, and some leftover trauma from childhood. The two combined make it very difficult to get close to anyone, but Scot gets about as close as Jamie has ever managed.

Scot is a CEO of a powerful company, and is trapped in the Machiavellian schemes of his father. Which have a damaging and lasting effect on his relationship with Jamie.

I think these two are soulmates and belong together, but will have to trudge through a lot to get there. Since the series is still ongoing, don't look for your happy ending here. It doesn't exist. In fact, it's quite brutal.

This is book 4 of an 8 book series so far. It is the prequel to the first three and the blurb said it can be read as a standalone. I'm not quite sure reading this one first is a good idea though. (I tried it because it was free on Amazon one day.) As it stands, no matter how much I might like the other characters, I will always want Jamie & Scot together. After this book and everything they've gone through, it's most deserved. I'm not sure how that will affect my reading of the rest of the series. So, that's up to you.

I'm glad I ended up giving it another shot, but this also means I have to come up with money to buy the other remaining books in the series.

Final rating: 3 stars.

Sidenote: This is a spoiler, but might be important to some people.If infidelity (or perceived infidelity - they have an open relationship in parts, others it's implied that they're exclusive, it will depend on how you interpret it) is a serious problem for you, you will not enjoy this book. It's a big part of the storyline, and how these two hurt each other.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have veered from thinking 2 stars to 4, so plumped for the average.

I do like a good M/M story and this had all the makings of one. The relationship between Scot and Jamie is explosive. They fell out and made up so many times my head was spinning. Both are very promiscuous sleeping their way around the men and women of Monaco. Neither can bring themselves to tell the other what they are really thinking and feeling, hence the constant falling out, followed by hot make up sex.

I don't think I have ever read a book with so much sex. Is it really possible for a man to have that many orgasms in a day or on the trot? Is it really possible to be taken up the a**e for that long/by four men on the trot? No need to answer on a postcard!!

Some of the sex scenes made me laugh because it was always, I love you big c**k, f**k me with your big c**k,

Not for me this one. See now I'm back to thinking 2 stars.

[Sasha Verdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as the first in the series, the author is new to me but a friend recommended it to me so I gave it a go. I love long books and this one was over 400 pages so it kept me entertained for a while. My friend read the first three books in the series before this one and loved finding out the main characters history. I read this first then the others (which I had to buy straight after reading this.) Jamie and Scot are fantastic characters, they’re sort of friends, more acquaintances who give into their attraction for each other and move on to F-Buddies. Neither want a relationship (or so they say) but they quickly end up being more than what they agreed to on their first passionate encounter.
Jamie has trouble letting go and accepting love with anyone, he has real trouble with OCD issues which make his relationship with the free loving Scot really hard to overcome, but he keeps trying. He also has some really dark parts from his childhood which he needs to come to terms with. Both go through so many issues to keep together, they both think it would be easier to just give up and move on but they can’t, they love each other – but never speak the words to each other.
I really felt connected to both of them for different reasons, and because they both mess things up along the way I kept switching sides. LOL.
This book is dramatic and full of twists and turns, just when you think they can settle down and move on something crops up and leaves you and them spinning.
It’s not a traditional love story, this ends with such a devastating two chapters that I cried. I loved reading this first and loved finding out what happened next in the other three books the author has out.
I love series, and I have really become engaged with these men. I would recommend anyone to read these books because they’re so hot and passionate but there’s nothing easy about them. You have to keep reading to find out what happens next, it’s a total page turner and I read this one in two sittings.
It’s self published and there were small editing issues, not too many and not enough to put me off the book. Missing words, miss-spelt words, but they are few and far between. I joined Goodreads so I good rave about this series, I don’t generally leave feedback but I felt I had to with these books.

[Caroline Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEWED FOR PRISM BOOK ALLIANCE

4.5 Stars

Good god this book explains so much! For me it also confirms what an unhealthy, dependent, masochistic and troubled relationship they have but also just how much they love and need each other!

For Scott there is real fun in the chase initially. Nobody says no to him about anything except Jamie. Nobody ever speaks to him so rudely except Jamie. Nobody challenges him in public except Jamie. Nobody gets to see his submissive side except Jamie. You get the picture? Jamie owns Scott from the word go and the more entwined their lives become the more need there is between them.

It is frightening and exhilarating but then becomes completely destructive.

If you have read this series in order you will already know the story of Scott and Jamie. This book is entirely from Scott’s point of view until you get to the epilogue. We already know the story, we have already lived through the missing memories and the desperation, but in this book the author has filled in the gaps and you come to realise not only what was lost but what was there in the first place.

Their relationship has never been easy nor has it been particularly healthy but no matter what they try or how many times they try to walk away they are drawn back to each other. I’m not going to give away any of the story as that would impact on other books in the series.

I will say this series has quickly become a guilty pleasure for me. Regardless of how badly they treat each other, not all of their behaviour is bad, I can’t put it down. If I was to give you one recommendation it would be to read this as book 4 and not at the beginning of the series and then this will answer a lot of your questions.

I am definitely Team Shark! ;-)

[Silkeeeeeereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is decent and honestly was the only thing that kept me reading. Dialogue between the two MCs is repetitive, right down to way too many uses of their names at the beginning and end of each sentence. In other words, this is in bad need of a good editor. I haven't even looked to see if it is an Indie or a publisher but the editing is definitely poor. I hope the author finds a good editor because she has some talent. She just needs someone to help her get the dialogue, character development and sex scenes fine tuned.

[Mel]

DNF at 32%

OK this is not fun. The Author says it can be read out of order, but It did not work for me. I was reading it first, but I knew the other books were out there and other characters were involved so I would not be getting my happy feel good at the end. Also, it seemed that all the characters did in this book was fuck! Every character! I really did not get the plot, the emotion, nor the passion.

I had to put it down so I will not be rating it. Sorry.

[Camilla Harper · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
I really struggled with this book, the authors writing style for me was extremely long winded and repetitive. Literally every page they were having sex, if I read one more time about how hard they came, I was going to scream.

I hated the referral of each other as sluts and c**ts
I won't be reading the other books in the series.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

A marathon, repetitive sexfest, with unlikeable characters and a scant plot that only begins to take shape in the epilogue. I soldiered through all 400 + pages because this same author’s Hidden Pain was one of the best S/M books I’ve read. I hoped until the bitter end that this one would eventually redeem itself. Spare yourself and go with the other one.

[Louisa Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another triumph from Nicola Colville. I started reading this with a very fixed view on the two main characters Scot Victore and Jamie Burton.

For those who have read the series, you will already know these two are like oil and water, they just don't mix, despite their overwhelming chemistry and obvious sexual attraction to one another, but did you ever wonder how it came to be this way? Well, in Hidden Love, you will get those answers. For those who haven't read the series, it could be be wonderful place to start, so see a love and attract that burns so hot between them that it almost makes their worlds implode.

Having started with Book one, I was eager to see what brought them to the point we leave them in after finishing book three.

Their relationship is far from easy, but the love they feel for each other in palapble, and I went from disliking Scot, thinking he was uncaring and selfish, to feeling for him, wanting take him in my arms and make everything alright. Jamie made my heart ache, when secrets from his past were revealed and ultimately broke him and Scot apart.

I have a whole newfound appreciation and love for Scot that I didn't have before, so thank you for that.

Early mornings, dashing out of the door later and later to get to work and staying up late at night to read, the Hidden Series has my attention and certainly has me hooked.

[Regencyfan93 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got at 9% through the book. This was not to my taste. I am put off by books which are all about surface and appearance. My father's mansion, his Maybach car, our vacation to Barcelona. And then the sex, the length of one person's penis. The rare use of condoms. Why did they bother at all?

Between the possessions and the unprotected sex of incredible proportions, I couldn't finish Hidden Love. Because I arm reading this for a challenge, I persisted from 4% when I first wanted to put it down. It only got worse, not better. There are too many good books in the world for me to spend my time on a book I don't enjoy, even for the monthly reader challenge.

[Valerie Degeorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book
It is book 4 in The Hidden Series but can be read first which I did
We see how Jamie an OCD very emotionally wrecked character and Scot playboy Multi billionaire CEO who have know each other all their lives finally get together
Their relationship is very volatile and sexually driven Jamie is hiding a very dark past which almost destroys and chances of a relationship
Their is laughter in here and I can't lie there will be years but it's an amazing noon which I highly recommend to start this great series

[Nicole Colville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although wrote as a prequel to the first three books in my series, Hidden Love can be read as an stand-alone book and if you prefer less mystery in your books this can be read as the first book to the series rather than the fourth. This book provides all the answers to the first three but won’t spoil any of the story lines in them if you decide to read it beforehand. Enjoy, Nicole

[Free_dreamer]

DNF at 7%.
So not in the mood for over 400 pages of what promises to badly written porn with an arrogant prick for an MC who's too TSL. (Condoms while having a merry foursome with three strangers on a party? Nah, not in the mood)

[Mary Forster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

I loved this book. I didn't realize it was part of a series but now that I do, I've bought the other books. This is a good M/M read and holy hell the chemistry, sex scenes. I can't wait to read the other books in the series.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book I loved it

[Lin Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My love for this series grows every book! I am dying to find out what happens in the end!

[Valérie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott and Jamie, in brief a complex and explosive but fascinating couple.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

pure crack... it's really that simple... I can't get enough...