Born to Be Badger by Shelly Laurenston

If you are one of the people, like me, who wait with baited breath for anything that Laurenston releases, this book will not disappoint. Full of the same antics, the need to completely turn off your disbelief and just enjoy the ride, and the exclamation points (!), this book pairs up another of Max McKilligan's teammates with one of the Malone brothers. Somewhat rigid Tock (time management is NOT just about being on time) might not initially be thought of with the laid back Shay (he's a tiger shifter who owns dogs) but the two actually work really well together. Tock isn't actually as rigid as she appears, she just prefers to have a schedule. Shay isn't lazy, he just doesn't care about most things. But he appreciates Tock's need to be on time as well as how well her personality meshes with his daughter's. Except for the felonies. But Tock does try really hard to keep that from her. 

There are, of course, also old grudges and new characters that come into this book as well as a lot of killing. A LOT of killing. Especially since Tock's grandmother. But we do finally get to know more about what happened with the Malones' father and you can definitely see the beginning of how Laurenston will be able to wrap up this arc in the last book. 

Honey Badger Chronicles #5

Four and a half stars

This book comes out November 8, 2023

Follows Breaking Badger

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and Kensington Books

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible January 2024

Breaking Badger by Shelly Laurenston

I loved this story. It didn't focus quite enough on the romance between Finn and Mads but it read quickly and had a lot of the fun that readers expect from a Laurenston book with just the right amount of exclamation marks (they were a little thick on the ground in the last book.) 

The Malone brothers have been divided from most of the rest of the shifter community since their father was murdered and no one else acknowledged it as such. The oldest three are working to figure out who did the actual deed. They don't care so much about the why (at least that I read) as they do about justice.

Mads and her teammates (they're certainly not friends!) have been sent to a mysterious island where they once again encounter the Malone brothers (you don't HAVE to have read the previous books in this series but why wouldn't you?). When the Malones figure out that the only way they might find out what happened to their father means kissing up to the badgers, Finn is nominated to be the one to do the kissing which is going to be especially hard since his brother kicked the badgers out after they brought thank you pastries (I just love this idea so much.) 

Four stars

This book comes out August 31st, 2021

Follows Badger to the Bone

Followed by Born to Be Badger

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible

Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston

I only got two chapters of this book as an ARC from NetGalley so I can't really review the whole book. There wasn't a great glimpse of either Charlotte (Charlie,a badger shifter) or Berg (grizzly shifter) so I'm not sure how the rest of the book is going to go. We know that Charlie has at least two sisters, one of which needs watching every moment of the day. Oh, and the book opens with men breaking into Charlotte's hotel room just as she gets a warning call. She drops down to the room below which just so happens to be the one where Cooper (famous pianist, jackal shifter) who we met in the last book is being guarded by Berg. 

I'm a little trepidatious about how this book is going to go but I trust Laurenston so I'll definitely read this book as soon as I can get my hands on it.

I did eventually get the full ARC and it was okay but there was a lot of setup for the rest of the series. I wished we had gotten to see more of Berg. It's interesting that Laurenston keeps introducing bear triplets (had been done in Bear meets Girl). Each of the characters seems to be full hilt stereotypes which is okay but I wish we had gotten a bit more nuance.

Three stars

This book comes out March 27, 2018

Follows Bite Me

Followed by In a Badger Way

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Reread May 2022, January 2024