MishyJo

7-6-14 ETA: This book has been officially promoted to my favorites shelf.

I gave [b:Dirty Secret|15853341|Dirty Secret (Cole McGinnis, #2)|Rhys Ford|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346125315s/15853341.jpg|21573342] 5 stars.  Dirty Laundry was even better.  


What I loved about this book:

♥ The writing was exceptional. Especially when Cole is describing Jae physically, his feelings for Jae, his lust of Jae.  The imagery and language was all so good.

♥  The balance of plot and relationship.  Usually I don't love books with a lot of plot.  Hell, if the relationship development is really good, I don't need a plot at all.  But this book had both a story and a relationship and both really worked.  And they worked together.  In that respect I think the Cole McGinnis series far exceeds what the author has done in her Sinner's Gin series (although I am hoping she blows my mind with her forthcoming Sinner's Gin installment, [b:Tequila Mockingbird|21468147|Tequila Mockingbird (Sinners #3)|Rhys Ford|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394939612s/21468147.jpg|40785903]).

♥  The mystery was really well written. As in [b:Dirty Secret|15853341|Dirty Secret (Cole McGinnis, #2)|Rhys Ford|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346125315s/15853341.jpg|21573342], I was captivated by the whodunnit and really had not clue until the end.  It all came together unexpectedly without feeling forced. 

♥ The sex was smokin' hot. Nuf said.

♥  Jae.  *sighs dreamily* He is every hot Asian boy I have ever fantasized about all rolled into one.   As many of you well know, I have fantasized about many sexy Asian boys.  Rhys Ford has gone to exceptional lengths to describe Jae over and over again in ways that make me swoon.  Especially when he is angry.



♥  The cultural aspects of the story.  The pressures Jae's family and Korean culture in general put on the relationship added an angst to the story that makes this series unique among all of the other MM romances I have read.  As a side note, once upon a time I was the white girlfriend trying to integrate herself into and be accepted by her longtime boyfriend's very large recently emigrated Asian family.  Though not Korean and not gay, many of the familial pressures Jae (and indirectly Cole) experienced felt very familiar to me.  

I also have to say that although this book started with a glossary of Korean terms, Japanese terms, and a cast of characters, I didn't have to refer to these lists even once.  For whatever reason, the cast of characters was much easier to follow in this book than in Dirty Secret.  And the Korean terms were easy enough to figure out or I had learned in the first two books.  The Japanese I already knew or could figure out as well.

I don't know how the following installments in this series can possible measure up, but I am ready to check them out.

And yes, I know all of my pictures here are of Jae and there are none of Cole, but for me, it's all about Jae.  I am sure Cole is hot too.  But in my world, that's irrelevant.