Review: Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles #3)

Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles #3)

by Shelly Laurenston

 Blurb:

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!

Themes:  Paranormal, Shifters

Rating: 4.25 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

So, let’s be honest, if you are looking for a normal, run of the mill romance novel, even with the hints of paranormal that many enjoy, you are not gonna find it with this author. Shelly Laurenston once against takes us into the wild and slightly psychotic world of the shifters that she has made so many of us love.  In this story, the final MacKilligan honey badger sister has found her mate in the most unexpected of men and ways.  Max is the craziest of the sisters (and that is saying something) and she is definitely the one most likely to kill you with a blank face and never think about you again.  She has gotten herself kidnapped in order to find the asshole that has it out for her, but when she begins her plan to escape she finds herself faced with a male that really shouldn’t be there and has to kidnap him right back to keep him safe.  Zézé is an uncover operative trying to keep Max safe, but he has no clue that he is actually a shifter until he wakes up to find himself in her home and his life completely blown apart when he learns the truth of the world and himself.  Soon he learns that Max is even more insane than he originally thought, but he is drawn to her inexplicably and as he gets deeper into this new world he knows that he won’t be letting her go.  Enemies are crawling out of the woodwork after Max though and only with her whole family and her team can she and Zé overcome the killers after her and survive through the war.  Max has been my favorite sister since we first met the honey badgers, simply because she is unapologetically out of her damn mind and I love that confidence.  She obviously has her own issues with her father, her past, and the way her life has shaped up, but overall she is happy in her life and just wants to live it without enemies coming after her or her sisters for once.  It was amazing seeing her craziness used for good and the way she embraced Zé and helped him, in her own weird way, to find his way through their world. Zé is a man that has no idea of the real world around him until he stumbles into it by accident.  His adaptability and lack of judgment as he gets to know Max makes me like him more and more, showing that he truly is a good male even if he is just so CAT.  I liked watching him find his footing in the world of the shifters and in the process coming to fully embrace his own true nature.  It was great seeing Max and Zé as they fell into love, starting of course with lust, and you can see they will make a great pair as they live together for years to come.  My favorite part of course was seeing all the previous couples from way back, even years back, in previous series in Laurenston’s shifter world, and spotting all those hints of characters I knew and loved in the past.  I am dying to find out if more of Max’s girls are going to get their owns stories in the future because these honey badger women are just too good to not see in action more and more.  Another crazy-as-hell addition to a series by a woman that most would probably say is certifiably insane, but can definitely write a story that makes me laugh so hard I cry.

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