#6 in the Cole McGinnis mysteries, Dirty Heart was a great way to finish off the series.  And yes, I finished it in a day.  Couldn't put it down.  Rhys' books are so easy to read, I just sort of bask in the storytelling and characters.  

The tale of why Cole's loved ones keep getting shot by people from his past is finally solved and quite a satisfactory fashion.  I was good with it and never really got a hint of it all through the 6 books and yet, in the end, it made a lot of sense.

I had the same problem in this book with the names of the Korean characters, but that's a fault of mine.  I can't keep Jae's aunt, uncle, half-brother, cousin... can't keep them straight - but it was nice to see that there were some characters in the book who felt the same way!  :)

I had been hoping to get time with Jae's sister, one of the secondary characters that I really loved when we met her in Book #3, but aside from a mention early on, that was about it.  :/  

I know Dirty Heart is supposed to be the finale of the series, but I honestly didn't feel like it was the end.  There was a lack of total finality about it.  Oh, don't get me wrong, the ending is pretty much perfect and I'm satisfied with it - but I do feel that the world of Cole and Jae could be revisited at some point.  

#4 in the Cole McGinnis series is the best one yet, in my opinion.  The relationship between Cole and Jae is growing, although I will admit that I'd have liked a little more conversation between them and a little less sex.  Rhys Ford writes deliciously wonderful sex scenes but too much of a good thing tends to take away some of that goodness.  

In this book, we find out a lot more of what happened to Cole back when he was on the police force and his partner murdered his boyfriend and tried to murder him and then killed himself.  At least I think he killed himself.  I have to say, some of the story and motivations surrounding this part of Cole's tale is still rather murky to me, but I think it's supposed to be.  At least I hope so!  *LOL*

I would have liked to see a little more of Cole's brothers and more of Jae's family.  I know the next book is to feature Ichi and Bobby, Cole's best friend, so hopefully there'll be more family type stuff.  

And I've begun to cast the Cole McGinnis movie in my head when I realised that while reading, anytime I'd read about Bobby, I was seeing Christopher Meloni  (Law & Order SVU, Oz etc...).  I also tend to see Cole as Ian Anthony Dale (Adam from H50) even though I think that Cole isn't supposed to be quite so Asian of feature?  I can't remember.  *LOL*

Anyway, I totally enjoyed the read and am looking forward to the next one.  :)

Cole McGinnis is such a GUY.  Seriously!  I adore him.  I love him and the family he's creating around himself.  Jae, Bobby, Mike, Ichiro, Claudia, Claudia's kids, Scarlet... I could go on.  *LOL*  One day he'll look around - Jae too - and realise that they have one helluva family.

So, I still have a little bit of confusion trouble with the Korean names, but this time it wasn't so bad because the names weren't so similar.  And there weren't more than one person called hyung  (which I've probably spelled wrong.  *LOL*).  

This instalment of the Cole McGinnis Mysteries focused much more on Cole doing his thing than previous ones.  It wasn't mostly eaten up by his relationship with Jae-Min which had its good points and bad.  Good because I like a good mystery/action story and I really enjoy Cole and his inner dialogues.  I like his relationships outside of Jae too, and they also need work, so I was glad to see that time was spent on them.  The bad side of it, is that I really like Jae and I like him when he's with Cole and unfortunately, most of what we got this time around with Cole and Jae were chapters-long sex scenes.  Now, I have no problem with a great sex scene and Rhys Ford writes some doozies, but honestly... sometimes too long is just too damned long.  I'd have preferred more talking and interacting outside the bedroom.  

I also look askance at the cliffhangers that Rhys seems to like so much, although this one didn't annoy me anywhere near what the previous one did.  There was enough closure for me and enough foreshadowing to keep me interested in the next book.  And it didn't seem as rushed to me as the previous one did.  

The only real complaint I might have is that during the climax of the mystery, I kept wondering how such a 'situation' could happen in California and whether Cole and Bobby were really wusses in disguise.  *LOL*  I come from Montreal, so what slowed down and nearly stopped them seemed pretty lame to me.  

Even despite the complaints and caveats I have, I've given this book 4 stars simply because it's so readable and enjoyable and I adore Cole and his voice.  I'm looking forward to Book 4.  :)

I love Cole McGinnis and I love Kim Jae-Min and I really wanted to give this book 4 stars but I couldn't for 2 reasons.  

The first reason I'm almost ashamed to admit given the climate of PC-ness around the internet these days.  It was the names... dear God, the Korean names.  I actually enjoy all that I'm learning about the Korean culture through these books, some of it is downright fascinating - like the naming conventions.  But they all 'read' the same to my brain, I think simply because I'm not used to them.  I still am not sure exactly who the bad guy was in this book and how he was related to the rest of the cast.  And I still don't get how Cole figured out what he figured out at the end - possibly a little refresher course of that certain scene much earlier in the book would have helped with that.  

The other problem I had was the quick wrapping up of the story.  it was almost as if max words had been reached and therefore here's the end.  There were details that I didn't get closure with... what happened with certain secondary characters, for instance.  It was like they just ... stopped... being.  I also could have done without that final cliffhanger which to my mind only says.. come one you MUST buy the next book.  Rhys' books are quite honestly more than good enough to buy the next one without that bit of manipulation.  

All that being said... I love the main characters.  I love that Rhys is taking her time creating their relationship and while it may be a bit of insta-lust, it's not insta-love.  :)  Cole and Jae are steamy together, no matter what they're doing.  Having some of the best sex ever or just sitting cuddling together and talking or even making supper.  It's all good.  They're all good together.  And the main secondary characters, especially Mike, Claudia and Bobby are terrific.  

And the plotting for the mystery is good, (It so often is not in these romance-heavy books) despite my big problem with the names (see above).  I honestly can see these books being made into a TV series.   

To sum up, there was some head-scratching while reading but nothing that will stop me from continuing on with the next in the series.  :)   Or reading more Rhys Ford.

First Loved the cover.

I'm really enjoying this series and for me this was pretty fantastic.

Love how these two M/C are now more relaxed and actually enjoying their relationship.  With the past books I always got the impression that one wrong move or word said would rip them apart.  This was a nice change. Very happy. It also make me want to reread the books from the start.

Now was it perfect. No, but I could overlook some police procedural errors.

Happy Dance...Four stars.  Will read again.

Book Description:

Sheila Pinelli needed to be taken out.

Former cop turned private investigator Cole McGinnis never considered committing murder. But six months ago, when Jae-Min’s blood filled his hands and death came knocking at his lover’s door,  killing Sheila Pinelli became a definite possibility.

While Sheila lurks in some hidden corner of Los Angeles, Jae and Cole share a bed, a home, and most of all, happiness. They’d survived Jae’s traditional Korean family disowning him and plan on building a new life—preferably one without the threat of Sheila’s return hanging over them.

Thanks to the Santa Monica police mistakenly releasing Sheila following a loitering arrest, Cole finally gets a lead on Sheila’s whereabouts. That is, until the trail goes crazy and he’s thrown into a tangle of drugs, exotic women, and more death. Regardless of the case going sideways, Cole is determined to find the woman he once loved as a sister and get her out of their lives once and for all.