Badger to the Bone
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4.5 • 47 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
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 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!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Laurenston (In a Badger Way) delivers all the dark, hilarious lunacy her fans expect in this third Honey Badger Chronicles paranormal romance, which delves into the life of the middle MacKilligan sister. Max MacKilligan, a full-blooded honey badger shifter, has a well-earned reputation for smiling sociopathy, so it's no surprise that very few of the ex-military criminals hired to kidnap her make it out of their encounter alive. In fact, the lone survivor is Z Vargas, who Max spares because she can sense that he is a jaguar shifter, though he doesn't know that yet. Z , who infiltrated the kidnappers hoping to take their organization down from the inside, is a model of sanity and integrity and he's completely out of place in the all-shifter neighborhood of New York City into which Max drags him. Max's fierce devotion to her sisters and loyalty to her friends quickly win Z over as he attempts to navigate both his newfound powers and the shifter world while keeping Max safe from the myriad enemies who want her dead. Filled with familiar faces and more than a few kooky, delightful surprises, the plot neatly ties up loose ends while dangling tantalizing promises of things to come. Series readers will gobble this up.
Customer Reviews
4.5stars-sassy and playful characters
4.5 stars--BADGER TO THE BONE is the third instalment in Shelly Laurenston’s contemporary, adult HONEY BADGER CHRONICLES paranormal series-a spin off from the authors PACK, and PRIDE series. This is honey badger /basketball player Max MacKilligan, and jaguar shifter, former US Marine and Black Ops member ZeZé Vargas. BADGER TO THE BONE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary but for back story and cohesion I recommend reading the series in order.
Told from several third person perspectives including Max and Zé BADGER TO THE BONE follows several paths but continues to focus on the MacKilligan half- sisters: badger/ wolf Charlie; honey badger Maxie, and badger/ tiger Stevie MacKilligan.
In the aftermath of an abduction in the Netherlands of badger shifter Max MacKilligan. Max is surprised to discover one of her would-be rescuers is a jaguar shifter, a shifter who is unaware of his DNA. Upon return to American soil, Max would become ZeZé Vargas’ mentor in an effort to acclimate her foundling ‘kitty’ into the unfamiliarity of the shifter world but everything continues to spiral out of control as the fractured and broken MacKilligan family dynamic targets our heroine from a number of sides. What ensues is the slow building relationship between Max and ZeZé, as Max, along with Charlie and Stevie, must come to terms with the fall-out of their father’s life.
Like their human counterparts, the shifter world is constantly at war. From secret military organizations, to illegal money laundering, and the battle between shifter nations, specieism and discrimination are at the heart of everything that continues to go wrong. The MacKilligan family’s reputation is well known in the world of the shifters but Charlie, Max and Stevie are a weapon unto themselves. When another ‘secret shifter’ organization recruits Max to help shut down a human trafficking ring, Max knows, not only will her sisters be by her side, but her basketball shifter team that will always have her back.
Once again, as per Laurenston’s style of writing, the back and forth, frenetic energy between characters and situations is fast paced, humorous, snarky and fun. There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters-many whom we have me in this (who doesn’t love the bears) and the author’s previous series, as well as the introduction of more members of the cat nation, and a surprising addition to the MacKilligan family. The premise is imaginative and thrilling; the characters are spirited, sassy and playful; the romance is passionate and enticing.
Badger to the Bone Shelly Laurenston
Hilarious, Twisted and terrific read. Can’t wait for next instalment in the Shifter world.