Voices Harry

Bent Oak, Texas #5.5

by Bix Barrow

A bubbly audio narrator finally meets his crochet-influencer crush. If only he’d used his real voice...
​
Talk about a tangled web. Look, it wasn’t my fault – I wasn’t expecting to run into Mitchell.

Okay, I was totally hoping to run into Mitchell, I just wasn’t prepared for it.

He was sooo gorgeous, and he was right there in front of me. And while I’m great behind a mic, in real life, well, my brain got all spun up and I spoke in my character’s voice. My character’s high-pitched, squeaky voice. And when Mitchell asked for my name, I kind of told him the character’s name instead....

[face palm of the century]

I’m shocked Mitchell wants to date me, squeaky voice and all. I have to tell him the truth before things get even knottier.

You think that’d be simple, but every time I try to tell him who I really am, my plan unravels. And the more I get to know the sweet man behind the videos, the more I’m hooked.

But what if I tell Mitchell and he thinks I’m just spinning yarns?

Voices Harry is a low-angst comedy of errors featuring a secret identity, a fanboying cat, meddling friends, inappropriate crochet projects, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

Voices Harry is related to the Bent Oak, Texas series and a few side characters have appeared in previous books. In the series timeline, the main action of Voices Harry occurs after We Don’t Need Another Santa. However, this story was written as a standalone.

This story was originally published in the 2024 Candy Hearts: Volume 1 Anthology. It has not been changed and is currently a bonus story offered to subscribers of Bix Barrow's newsletter.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, M M Romance, LGBT, Short Stories

82 pages, ebook

Published February 1, 2024

About the author

When Bix Barrow got an idea for her first book, it ended up turning into her second — and thus the first two stories in the Bent Oak, Texas series emerged. An aspiring author for most of her life, it took a foray into the MM romance genre to spark the steamy scenes and blazing banter Bix now weaves into her novels. Accompanying her on her writing exploits are her two dogs and multitude of cats (six at last count). An avid traveler, Bix has started to view her expeditions as interviews for her future home. Born and raised in Texas, she is eager to move somewhere with fewer politicians, hurricanes and flooding.

Reviews

[Denise Burris GremoryKohta]

Turns out I didn’t miss this one. I read it in the Candy Hearts anthology. It was amazing. So funny. I can see me reading this again and again.

[Pontiki]

Harry does narrating for audiobooks but doesn’t like social media, so he stays under the radar. Mitchell loves his voice, as does his cat, and he records crochet projects on his channel.

He shares that he lost one of his cats, and his other one is depressed, so Harry sends a message to the cat, and the men start chatting, both interested in meeting. Then Harry goes to the town where Mitchell lives and they meet, but he’s nervous and does one of his fake voices.

Mitchell doesn’t know what he looks like as Harry, but asks him out as the high pitched Sasha, and they have a great time. However, every time Harry tries to tell him the truth they’re interrupted, and when things finally come to a head, Mitchell is hurt and confused.

They’re both miserable, but with some encouragement from friends, they make up and become boyfriends.

A fun short novella, it’s hilarious all the interruptions they have whenever Harry tries to tell Mitchell who he is.

[Monika]

This was a quick, super sweet, a little bit silly at times (in a good way) good read. Miscommunication plays a big role but it makes sense in this context even though I wanted to smack Harry upside the head more than once. 😂 It also makes me want to go read the Bent Oak Series, definitely on my "read really soon" list. This story is in the Bent Oak universe and it would have been nice to know the characters from that series before reading this one but absolutely not necessary this works just as well as a stand-alone, it’s just something I like to do. 😊

● Contemporary
● Part of the Candy Hearts Anthology but released on its own
● Instant attraction
● Made me laugh
● Very sweet
● Nice easy, quick, light read
● Loved the MCs
● Satisfying enough ending but I wish this was longer
● Short, 81 pages

[Kendra Patterson]

Read in the Candy Hearts Anthology

Harry is an audio narrator and rather shy. He comes across Mitchell when he's sent a video of Mitchell's cat listening to his videos. They start talking and decide to meet up but when they do Harry's shyness throws a kink into their meeting and hilarity ensues. Now Mitchell has two guys he's chatting up, or does he? Love that this book ties in with the Bent Oak series and we get characters from there making an appearance. Harry and Mitchell also have have great chemistry.

[Siobhan]

Voices Harry by Bix Barrow was a story that instantly sucked me in, ensuring I fell hard and fast for the characters. There was a lot of silliness in this, which hand me giggling loudly at a couple of points, and I adored watching everything come together. Although I would have liked a little more from the ending, it was not enough to lessen my enjoyment. All in all, this was a fun read that made for perfect quick reading.

[Lois]

Utterly ridiculous and endearingly sweet. Poor Harry has a crush on Mitchell and when he finally meets him he inadvertently slips into one of his voice over characters. Every time he tries to explain something happens and well, you can guess how it goes. I always enjoy my time in Bent Oak and this was no exception. It was nice to bump into Steve, Baz and Cole again too.

[Elizabeth D]

4.5/5 This made me laugh so much! Poor Harry being ridiculous and Mitchell crocheting hilarious projects and kitties with crushes (and bunnies and movie stars and awesome family, found and otherwise). This was highly entertaining and prompted me to go off and read all Bix Barrow’s Bent Oak, Texas stories. So much fun.

[Spunkie]

I truly enjoyed this story! It's a riot!!
It's short, of course, but the author packs everything in! Emotion and all... Bumper is such a cat! His character really made the the story a standout. Kudos to Bix Barrow!

[Jamey]

The premise is a bit silly and the relationship is fast-paced, but it was cute. I like how Bumper the cat is such a Harry fanboy and prefers him over his owner – so accurate.

3.5/5 stars, rounded down to 3.

[Maureen]

All the way through this tale I knew I'd read it before, I couldn't tell what was happening next but as I read I just knew it. It's not on my list or marked as read on Goodreads, anyway, second time around it's a fun and sweet story, except for the cat passing away that is.

[Helen Smith]

It's been a year and half since I read this enjoyable story, so I don't recall all the details, but here are the brief notes I took at that time: sweet men, cats, silly misunderstanding, warm intimacy.

[Robbo]

Accidentally caught in a lie that gets worse.

Short funny story. Not being honest before the relationship begins causes so much stress, even though it was accidental. Just going with it made it worse. The apology was a good one though, and the HEA was guaranteed.

[Mommysuz]

This story was so fun to read. It had me laughing. Harry and Mitchell started chatting through social media. Mitchell does not know the true identity of Harry. Every time Harry went to tell who he really was, things happened. I adored this story.

[Kunni Biener]

Got a 4 only because this is short story and I wanted more. Great characters, great cat. And honestly, I loved that the author asked to send him any typo or mistakes. Love, love, love that. Hoping that he sells from his website.

[Indyannah]

Aww, omg, this was such a delight and adorably sweet, cute, and charming! 😂🥰🥹

[Bailey]

Very cute story.
I love them.
Mutual pining.

-voice actor/narrator
-crochet
-queer
-gay
-cat
-spice
-short story
-polyamorous side couple

[CreativeFreake]

Super cute! I loved it!

[Vic]

Cute but a little silly (in a nice way) short story. Some laugh out loud moments and I liked the premise. Could've been a bit longer with more development as I think it'd be a great novel.

[Deena]

This was cute, and I'll never hear the Till Tuesday song the same way again.

[Lina]

This was a quick really fun read.

[Dreamcastle100]

Super, I was ROFLING!!!!! I laughed about 20 minutes about moments with "Sashog" and "URG"!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Teresa Carrigan]

Short rom-com. I laughed out loud so many times. Cute cat too.

[Anne]

3.5*