Badger to the Bone (2020)

I'm shocked that she managed to turn Max into a sympathetic character, all evidence to the contrary. Still loving the Honey Badger hijinks and the unexpected curveballs this series throws. Great fun! ( )

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

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Slightly scattered, but just about exactly my speed. Much fun. ( )

Listened to audio narrated well by Charlotte Kane. My audio copy had some short repeated sections not sure if it was a download glitch or a problem with the audio itself.

Max 'Kill It Again' MacKilligan, allows herself to be kidnapped only to have her plans foiled when she realizes one of her kidnappers is really a good guy who doesn't know he's a shifter.

ZeZé Vargas is undercover when the lady he's suppose to be saving blows his cover and makes crazy claims about him being a cat and that she's a honey badger. Little does he know his world is about to drastically change.

This book is not all about this couple it is more about MacKilligan sisters and the various MacKilligan Honey Badger families from various parts of the world. The various story arcs include but are not limited to: Max's father and his lunacy, Max's mother escaping prison to protect Max, a mafia bear clan selling humans, Vargas learning about his past and learning how to be a shifter and about interacting with shifters, Special Ops recruitment, introduction to new characters, as well as old favorites making appearances.

I love the humor and outrageousness of Laurenston's shifter world but sometimes the relationship get's lost with all the other activities.

These shifters are loud, foul mounted and snarky, with no filters and they made me laugh. I love how Laurenston can weave animal traits into these shifters, it felt very realistic but I never felt that moment when Max and ZeZé had a deep connection. They were fun and entertaining characters but lacked depth or any relationship credibility, which was very disappointing.

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This is the third story in the Honey Badger series and focuses on middle sister Max. It begins with Max letting herself be kidnapped so that she can get to the kidnapper. Unfortunately, she doesn't know that a force is gathering to "rescue" her. Zé is a former Marine and now a mercenary. Max takes one look at him and knows something about him that he doesn't know about himself.

When Max tells him that he is a shifter, he thinks she is crazy. And when she takes him with her in her escape and brings him home with her, Zé enters a world that he had never heard of. Of course, Max's world is likely not typical for shifters. Her older sister Charlie doesn't shift but is a crack marksman who terrifies everyone around her and stress bakes when she gets tense. Stress baking works just great for her because they are living in a part of New York City which is a haven for bear shifters who just love all the baking. Her younger sister Stevie is a genius who is frightened of bears and who shifts into a very large Siberian tiger/honey badger hybrid but more usually hides in the kitchen cupboards or hangs from the ceiling.

The sisters have a variety of problems. Because they are all hybrids or one kind or another, they aren't well accepted by their honey badger relatives who are after them all because their loser of a father has stolen money from them and want the girls to find him for them. Max is also under threat from a cousin who is jealous of her and wants her dead.

Zé is busy learning all about the new things he can do and meeting all the zany characters we have come to know in Laurenston books. I liked his growing relationship with Max - once Max gets used to having him around and stops forgetting he exists.

I liked the story and liked that a number of characters from earlier books had roles in this one. Max is an intriguing character who embodies all the best honey badger traits. She's tough and fearless and willing to tackle being much bigger than she is. I liked her friendship with her basketball girlfriends. I also really liked her relationship with her sisters.

Laurenston writes urban fantasy that isn't short on the humor and still has some surprising sexy bits. This is another great example of her writing. ( )