Quinn knows how to tease you. Especially when it comes to the celebrity guests they bring in for their Quinn Originals. Hands, hair, lips — the camera cuts away right before you can catch a definite feature. To an outsider, the hints that Quinn gives about their guests are obscure, but to the guests’ fans, the answer is often guessed within a few leading posts. When Quinn started hinting at a summer themed series, listeners quickly caught onto the similarities to the hit show The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022-2025). The announcement that one of the show’s leading men Christopher Briney would be Quinn’s next guest was of little surprise to those with keen eyes.
Quinn is a female-led audio erotica app that focuses on sensual stories and soundscapes intended to arouse. The platform aims to provide nuanced, respectful examples of intimacy. While they primarily host independent creators, they have Quinn Originals: an in-house produced series featuring plot heavy storytelling and celebrity narrators. These guests have included Tom Blyth, Victoria Pedretti, Andrew Scott, Thomas Doherty, and now Briney.
Briney narrates a series called Hidden Harbor (2025), which in traditional Quinn Originals format includes three 30-minute episodes. They don’t release all at once, spreading out over the course of two to three weeks further building excitement around the series.
Hidden Harbor follows River, a bartender and surf instructor back in his small seaside town for the summer. He is caught off guard when Drea walks into his bar with a box of her toxic ex’s possessions. They immediately connect and spend the night emptying the box, and right after a heated moment, they discover that Drea’s ex is none other than River’s brother. The Summer I Turned Pretty has come to a close for now, but Briney has found himself in another summertime love triangle alongside his brother.
In an Instagram post, writer Holly June Smith mentioned that because this is an audio only experience, one has to ignore a lot of standard writing rules to create immersion. The script and dialogue is done by the narrator, River, who is talking to Drea, the listener, as well as interacting with a small cast of supporting characters. Because the listener is inserted as the other primary character, scripts need to be specific enough to be interesting, but also generic enough that one is not jolted out of immersion. Hidden Harbor, I think, manages that balance well. There aren’t specifics about what the other character looks like, and although we know some details about her life, it is generic enough that one can still place themselves in her shoes. River is very humanly awkward, which created a few moments to cringe at, but primarily made him feel realistic.
The soundscape is well done, with background noise moving and seemingly coming from different distances depending on where the listener is, relative to the action and noise. One can hear things like a game of pool and music in the bar, and the ocean while outside. It makes for an incredibly immersive experience, and is the aspect of Quinn Originals that impresses me the most.
The intimacy feels naturally placed, and the intensity builds with each episode. In episodes one and two the timing and progression feel natural. While episode three has more happening and the format’s time constraints push things to progress quickly, there’s still a natural progression of events, with the inclusion of foreplay and aftercare highlighted. They take a pause to deliberately showcase safe sex with the use of a condom.
Consent was naturally integrated, with River opening a dialogue about intimacy before they begin, and keeps that dialogue open as they go along. After Drea does something startling, the dialogue implies an apology is made but River communicates what prompted his negative reaction which allows them to continue with more understanding. He double checks when he is unsure of her desire, and asks questions to make sure what is happening is pleasurable. None of it feels awkward or out of place and the series showcases how conversations around intimacy and consent can lead to better sex for everyone involved.
Sex and sensuality are the drivers in Quinn Originals, but the emotional themes within this story made it feel just like a romance novel with sex scenes. The brother’s ex trope isn’t for me, so this wasn’t a story I could get incredibly immersed in, but for those who are left wanting more after The Summer I Turned Pretty, Hidden Harbor on Quinn will check many of the same boxes, and provide a sweet, sexy, and immersive listening experience.
