An Amazon Best of the Year Selection “When it comes to combining offbeat humor and mayhem, it is tough to beat Laurenston.” —RT Book Reviews She’s the woman he’s been hired to kidnap. But ZeZé Vargas has other ideas . . . like getting them both out of this nightmare alive. Just one problem. She’s crazy. Certifiably. Because while he’s plotting their escape, the petite Asian beauty is plotting … plotting their escape, the petite Asian beauty is plotting something much more deadly . . .
Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan has no idea what one of her own is doing with all these criminal humans until she realizes that Zé has no idea who or what he is. Or exactly how much power he truly has.
But Max is more than happy to bring this handsome jaguar shifter into her world and show him everything he’s been missing out on. A move that might be the dumbest thing she’s ever done once she realizes how far her enemies will go to wipe her out. Too bad for them Zé is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive . . . and honey badgers are just so damn hard to kill!
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Badger to the Bone is book three in the Honey Badger Chronicles by Shelly Laurenston and narrated by Charlotte Kane.
I had a blast with the audiobook. I smiled a lot. Laurenston, weather writing as Akin or Laurenston; always makes me smile and feel good. I know when I pick up one of her books I’m in for a good time.
As always the books are full of humor, quirkiness, action and entertainment. This was no exception! We still get that fun loving feel and silly humor plus some suspense and mystery added to it.
The downside to this one is that there is so much happening. The author brought back a lot of old characters from her Pride and Magnus Pack series to make appearances. I love revisiting older characters and having them worked into the story, but it was too much. It was just too many appearances and this ties into the POV issue. We get so many POV switches that it threw me. Even with the audio it took me moment to realize we where moving onto another character.
Besides the old characters we also meet a number of new characters like Max’s basketball team who are all honey badgers. This leads me to believe the author might be giving them stories of their own.
As for the romance. Nothing stood out to me. It was quick and almost rushed. I can’t really say they had a romance. It was some smiles and flirting; here and there.
I will say I like Max. She’s a fun honey badger and then we get to meet ZeZé Vargas a character that doesn’t know he’s a shifter. I liked how they first meet up. It was fun! I also liked that Max took him home and helped him figure things out.
Narration: Charlotte Kane did a great job on ALL the voice. As I said so many past characters came into the story that she had a lot of voices to do. They were distinct. The audio also helped to move the story along since we jump around so much in character POV’s, which slowed the pace down, and so having the narration deal with that, moved it along.
Badger to the Bone was another fun listen in the Honey Badger Chronicles. I liked the audio and would recommend this series in audiobook formate.
Rated: 3.5 Stars
Grandpa definitely has his hands full with these Honey Badgers haha…
Max is hilarious, snarky, and just outright fun until you mess with her family.
Max gets herself taken and meets Ze who has no clue what he is and when he figures it out? Well, let the fur fly…
Absolutely hysterical, action-packed read.
Badger to the Bone brings readers back into her fantastic world building of shifters with strong, often times insanely different female characters. This is the third book about the McKilligan Honey badger sisters who while trying to outwit and basically if possible kill their no good father manages to find love in the most unlikely meet cutes. Yes, clearly this book is much better appreciated if you’ve read the first two and basically because its part of Ms. Laurenston’s ever popular shifter world, these two books will be enough of a back read. Only because that world is so immense its going to be a lot of backreading. Max Yang is the heroine and possibly a sociopath killer and Ze Vargas is a cat shifter possibly a jaguar but no one knows not even him. So when they met it was basically bloodshed at first sight and from then on Ze Vargas was caught in a world he clearly wanted to forget but unfortunately can’t. Now they have to evade bad guys, some of which are Max’s relatives solve a mystery and maybe fall in love.
Badger to the Bone will definitely leave you breathless with laughter, tense with adrenaline and definitely entertained by the opposite attract romance.
Badger to the Bone is just as manic and complicated as Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan. Max has depths we haven’t plumbed to date. She is much more than a crazy killing machine. I really enjoyed seeing the multifaceted sides of Max and I think its poetic she falls for a cat. This book much like Max will leave you dizzy and wondering what hit you. I LOVED IT!
Max MacKilligan allows herself to be kidnapped to try and track down the one who ordered the hit. What she doesn’t expect is to find a cat among the human kidnappers. Even worse, he apparently doesn’t know that he is a shifter. When she breaks free and takes down her enemies she brings the cat with her. ZeZé Vargas doesn’t know what to expect of this crazy woman going on about shifters. But like a cat, he quickly becomes attached and does everything he can to protect his honey badger, even though she doesn’t need it.
“I’ll dismember you while you’re still breathing. And, in case you’re concerned, because it seems like you’d be concerned—you’re clearly very caring—I won’t miss a lick of sleep or have any PTSD over it. Your screams will mean nothing to me, because I won’t give a fuck. Why? Because I’m a cunt. I’m a raving, raging cunt.”
I adore the MacKilligan sisters. They are crazy and have a weird sense of right and wrong. Max has always been the one I wanted to know more about and this book did not disappoint. I loved seeing the true Max. She was still a crazy killer but she has her own morals. Family first. Zé was the perfect man for Max. He balances her out. Laurenston does an amazing job at creating kick-ass characters who you can’t help but love.
“I’m a fuckin’ honey badger and by this claw”— she held her hand up—“ I fuckin’ rule.””
Zé was an ex-Marine who was undercover when Max bust into his life and changes everything. Having this new life and world thrown at him was surprising but at the same time it made so much sense. He now understands why he has always felt different from everyone else. Watching him freak out, or not freak out, about learning about shifters was quite hilarious and I loved it all. Max turns his life upside down but gives him a whole new family. I just adored these two and wish the book didn’t have to end.
“He was thinking of Max MacKilligan as his girlfriend? The crazy female who’d decimated an entire team of well-trained mercenaries with her badger teammates? Or who didn’t seem too concerned that he’d almost eaten a child? That woman he was thinking of as his girlfriend?”
Overall I cannot recommend this series enough! I would really recommend starting with the Pride Series since this series branches off from it and has a lot of the repeat characters from it. Actually, I recommend any Shelly Laurenston or G.A. Aiken (a pen name) books because she is a fantastic writer who makes dangerous, hilarious, and fun characters.
*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*
I love Honey Badgers.
Shelly Laurenston does shifter romance with humor, strong female leads, and a good plot. While this was not her best, it was a fun read. I also read her G.A. Aikin Dragonkin books.
Great book, I enjoy all of characters, and I’ve been following series…hope to see more future books.
Love these books. Great for when I’m super tired from work and need something fun, snarky, and has few grammar issues.
Absolutely LOVE this book!!! Never read about badgers before. LOVE THEM! Can’t wait to read the next book!
I love this series. I laughed through out the whole book. Great book and series. A definite page turner and funny.
I honestly didnt know what to expect with this book. From the reviews I’ve read I was afraid to read it because I didnt want to hate it because this series is awesome. Audio alone was the best. I didnt read it right away when it came out. I just decided to give it a go anyways. Honestly, I just dont agree with all the downgrades people were putting on this book. Now, I am not saying its not without a couple of flaws but I still loved it and enjoyed it. What bothered me the most is that Max and Ze didnt get any real time together. I think her approach with this book was different because lets face it Max is a bird of a different feather. She softened a little in this book and I think thats why people were disappointed. I loved Ze though he was hilarious and very blunt. Y’all I about died when Max and her team were arrested and Charlie found out and went down there. I was like oh crap now its on. Best scene ever! I also wanted to see those idiots who was in charge of the case get more of a public taken down by their own people. They were jerks and very arrogant and I just wanted to see a dressing down by The Group. Yes, Charlie totally kicked their butts but I wanted more. I thought it was the best when Dez held back Mace and Smitty. Hahaha. This ended sorta happily ever after but not as concrete as the first 2 books. I’m so very glad she will be doing more books and cant wait for Finn and Mads. I want to know more about their new sister too cause she’s totally badass as young as she is.
This book is my introduction to the author. I felt like a fell into the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. If you enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse series, Sandra Hill’s Vampire-Angels and the Ninja Turtles, you will like this zany paranormal romance.
ZeZe’ Vargas is an ex-Marine, undercover to take down a group of mercenaries, when the kidnap victim, Max MacKilligan, ends up saving him and introducing him to the world of shifters. He doesn’t know that they exist, and basically thinks that she is crazy or that he is actually jaguar. Brought to Max’s family home he finds out about family feuds, clan feuds, interspecies discrimination and a neighborhood full of different species territories. The usual insane fighting with crazy characters and hysterical bantor. And of course the jaguar finds himself falling in love with the honey badger. Lots of fun.
I won a ARC from Goodreads.com at the beginning of the COVID shut down, so it too a long time before I actually received the book. It was worth the wait. I spend a sick day (no I really was sick with a sore throat and malaise) reading it. this is my unbiased and voluntary review.
I love Shelly Laurenston’s badgers.
Fantastic series and author. Shelly is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read this series twice and know I will again. . .
Third book in a trilogy, that’s part of a longer shifter series. The three sisters are unique even among shifters and I loved the humor . Can be read alone but if you read the others, read in order because they are all interconnected.
I enjoyed this book. There was a bit more violence than I like, but I like the characters and story line and will get the next book
The book moved a little slow for my taste
I’ve been reading Shelly Laurenston from the beginning and am always looking for her next book. Read my copies again and again, which is something I don’t do with most books. They cheer me up and greatly entertain me.
I just love how twisted this particular book in the author’s Pride universe is. Max is her usual fun-loving psycho self and the way she gets introduced to Ze – oi! Talk about falling into the rabbit hole! Not an easy transition to a black ops soldier. Still, I’m not sure that anyone else would be a good a match for Max – whom we have to admit is difficult to match. (Can you imagine Max’s profile for Harmony.com? Brrrr!) Ze at least manages to drive her as nuts as she drives him!