That’s a lie. I know exactly where I should start. Seventh Grade, that’s where. It was the 1988-89 school year. I was attending a magnet school in New Orleans that went 7th-12th grade. It looked like a gothic art deco birthday cake surrounded by live oak trees. There was even a Catholic girls school across the street. Of course it was unairconditioned – the terrazzo floors were literally slimy much of the year. I’m not sure it gets much more New Orleans than that school. It was there that I reconnected with Marti after being separated for sixth grade. Marti introduced me to Candace.
The three of us bonded over a love of romance novels. We were so obsessed, that we started a lending circle. It started with borrowing Harlequins from Marti’s grandmother without her knowledge. We quickly figured out that the New Orleans Public Library system didn’t actually track their paperbacks. They would only note on your account how many you were taking. They didn’t seem to care about the titles. We would get as many as we could conceal in our backpacks when we went to work on “projects” for school. Then we would share them around in our circle of three. This is how we read Jude Devereaux, Johanna Lindsey, Bertrice Small, and a variety of other big authors of the time. We did this for most of two school years. It only came to an end when Candace’s mom discovered her stash and disposed of them.
All of that history is to preface my explanation of how and why I came to be reading THE WARLORD WANTS FOREVER by Kresley Cole. Candace was telling me about this podcast series that she’s really enjoying called Fated Mates. It features Cole’s Immortals After Dark series. Candace has been reading along and has really enjoyed the character growth and world building. Podcasts put me to sleep, but I was excited about the idea of reading the same books as Candace so we could talk about them like we did when we were kids.
What I didn’t understand since I didn’t listen to the podcast was that this book is so problematic that the author has actually published a “revised” version. I read the “revised” version and was still so appalled that I honestly don’t know how this series continued for so long. Candace tells me that if I had listened to the podcast I would have known to skip WARLORD, at least to start. She made me promise to give at least the next book or two a chance. Given our history, I’ll abide by her request, but damn.
In THE WARLORD WANTS FOREVER, Cole has removed all consent or self choice of any kind from the table. The Warlord has obtained a magical object that gives the person that possesses it complete control over Mynx, the female protagonist. He even literally tells her not to feel pain when they’re engaging in particularly rough sex that he has not prepared her adequately for. And this is in the revised version? What was it like before?
Before I started reading, I was excited. I’d planned to start writing reviews filled with gifs and pop culture clips like I used to. The wind was taken out of the sails for this installment, but I’m hoping that the future installments will be a lot more fun. Candace has promised really interesting world building. I’m hopeful since the series is so long-running and has inspired a podcast. But this installment is a hard no.
