Guest Review: Dirty Kiss by Rhys Ford

Rhys Ford
Dirty Kiss
Dreamspinner Press, July 1, 2011

Backblurb:
Cole Kenjiro McGinnis, ex-cop and PI, is trying to get over the shooting death of his lover when a supposedly routine investigation lands in his lap. Investigating the apparent suicide of a prominent Korean businessman's son proves to be anything but ordinary, especially when it introduces Cole to the dead man's handsome cousin, Kim Jae-Min.
Jae-Min's cousin had a dirty little secret, the kind that Cole has been familiar with all his life and that Jae-Min is still hiding from his family. The investigation leads Cole from tasteful mansions to seedy lover's trysts to Dirty Kiss, the place where the rich and discreet go to indulge in desires their traditional-minded families would rather know nothing about.
It also leads Cole McGinnis into Jae-Min's arms, and that could be a problem. Jae's cousin's death is looking less and less like a suicide, and Jae-Min is looking more and more like a target. Cole has already lost one lover to violence-he's not about to lose Jae-Min too.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Detective, Murder, CA, Police, Korean culture, Mystery, Grief

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 ‘Sweet and Spicy’ stars
Heat level: 3 out of 3 flames
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Guest review by SharonS.:

I had mixed feelings while reading this book. It had me laughing in the first few pages as Cole tries to out run a 70 year old woman dressed in leather with a shot gun. I immediately liked Cole. He has a sense of humor considering his tragic and heartbreaking past. He struggles with trying to move on after the death of his lover three years ago and a betrayal. He is comfortable with his sexuality even though his family isn’t.

There is a large cast of secondary characters and all are interesting and well developed. Sometimes there is a secondary character that steals the show, and in this case it is Cole’s office assistant Claudia. She is a riot. She is a widow and raised 8 sons in the depths of Long Beach, CA. She keeps Cole in line and his books in proper order.

This story addresses many issues like the Asian culture (Korean) and their strict views on family obligation and homosexuality, living in and out of the closet, and trying to move on after the death of a loved one. The story started out as a murder mystery, but ended up being more of an erotic romance focusing on the relationship between Cole and Jae-Min instead of the original storyline. I found that disappointing, because the original direction of the book was so promising. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the romance, but it seemed a little much when they kept having wild sex after being shot, beat up and almost blown up. The sex was a little more graphically explained than I care for and the constant drawing of attention to Jae-Min’s pouty this and that was a bit much for me .

Ford is a skilled story teller and I plan on reading more of this author’s work, but this story seemed to have changed gears half way through, enough that I took notice.

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Check out Rhys Ford’s website | Goodreads
Buy Dirty Kiss here

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