Review: In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2)

In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2)

by Shelly Laurenston

Blurb:

Petite, kind, brilliant, and young, Stevie is nothing like the usual women bodyguard Shen Li is interested in. Even more surprising, the youngest of the lethal, ball-busting, and beautiful MacKilligan sisters is terrified of bears. But she’s not terrified of pandas. She loves pandas.

Which means that whether Shen wants her to or not, she simply won’t stop cuddling him. He isn’t some stuffed Giant Panda, ya know! He is a Giant Panda shifter. He deserves respect and personal space. Something that little hybrid is completely ignoring.

But Stevie has a way of finding trouble. Like going undercover to take down a scientist experimenting on other shifters. For what, Shen doesn’t want to know, but they’d better find out. And fast. Stevie might be the least violent of the honey badger sisters, but she’s the most dangerous to Shen’s peace of mind. Because she has absolutely no idea how much trouble they’re in . . . or just how damn adorable she is.

Themes: Paranormal, Shifters, Crazy-pants women

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

 A sexy badass panda shifter that sings Creedence Clearwater Revival with a who-gives-a-fuck attitude? Hell yeah, sign me up.

I have been looking forward to reading Stevie’s novel a long time and realized after the last novel that Shen would probably be her man, but I had no idea just how amazing their story would be or how much I would laugh while reading it.  True, as always, I have to throw out the caveat that a Shelly Laurenston novel just isn’t for everyone, that you might have to be just the tiniest bit different to enjoy them, but thankfully I am way beyond a tiny bit different and close to almost as nuts as some of her characters so I can thoroughly enjoy these psycho bitches!  Stevie is no exception to this rule, with her strange fears, OCD, weird friendships, and off-the-charts level of intelligence. While in the previous novel we got to know the more normal sister, Charlie, Stevie is definitely all kind of nuts and Shen seems to be able to appreciate and ultimately love her despite it, even though he is about as normal, calm, and level-headed as it gets.  Shen has spent years as a bodyguard to one of the most annoying and irritating little fuckers alive, and dealing with Stevie is almost easy compared to that, even though she turns him on beyond belief and he is a bit worried because of it.  I loved seeing Stevie finding her own niche, not only in her family, but in her larger community, even though she still has some issues to work through, and getting Shen’s love was just what she seemed to need to balance her out. Shen on the other hand lost his mind a few times while dealing with Stevie constantly putting herself in danger, but once he found a way to calm her ass down and show her that he will keep her safe, he is able to find his own inner calm again.  I absolutely loved watching these two fall in lust and ultimately come to terms that they are mates and the way these two sparks off each other was so funny and sweet too.  The overall story arc continues to become scarier and scarier, showing us that just because they are special doesn’t make shifters any less bigoted that humans, because honestly they are just as bad as us regular folks in some cases—people are people and hate is hate. I am really looking forward to the next story in this series and seeing the last sister meet her match, and I seriously hope whatever man steal her heart is just as psycho and badass as she is. Another crazy amazing series is fully underway and I am hooked!

*ebook provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.