The Warlord Wants Forever

Myst is a Valkyrie whose hatred of men is equal only to her hatred of her people’s ancient enemy, vampires. Nikolai is a centuries-old, battle-scarred warlord vampire. Fate compels them to mate, making both Myst and Nikolai victims of an involuntary relationship replete with possessive imprisonment, coerced obedience, and rough forced sex—all disguised as a recipe for happily ever after. Narrators Hagan Verret and Simone Fomhar turn in fine performances in this audio version of the first installment in Cole’s Immortals after Dark series. Fomhar’s pleasant, confident voice is perfect for portraying a strong female lead, and versatile enough to create voices for both male and female characters. Verret has a marvelously powerful voice that sounds as mighty as a warlord should sound. The narrators’ professional efforts, however, cannot redeem this book, which makes use of every negative cliché attributed to romance novels and tarnishes the genre unfairly. (Aug.)