Series: The Honey Badger Chronicles, Book 6
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Publisher
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Nelle Zhao is a social media maven who knows what matters. And the only thing that matters right now is survival. Not easy, though, when her honey badger teammates attract trouble the way she attracts attention. She didn’t know when it became her job to protect the ones she cares about from themselves, but even she has to admit…she’s really good at it. Too bad some people don’t appreciate when she’s being helpful. Especially Keane Malone, who doesn’t know how to accept a friendly paw. But Nelle excels at helping! And at ignoring other people’s irrational demands, such as doing it all alone. Keane, poor pretty kitty, doesn’t understand the kind of assistance a shit-starting honey badger like Nelle can truly offer…
Keane knows two things—he doesn’t like other people, and he is going to crush the de Medicis, an evil coalition of male lion shifters who are not only snatching innocent humans for fun and profit, but also killed his father. And for once, he may not be able to fight this fight alone, forcing him to let long-legged, jet-setting Nelle join the fight. And getting close to Nelle is suddenly bringing out his roar…
I come to Shelly Laurenston’s Honey Badger Chronicles expecting a lot of action, a lot of nonsense, more characters than I care to count, and a dash of delightful romance. Unfortunately, only three out of the four were present in To Kill a Badger. The book is billed as being Nelle and Keane’s story, which I was absolutely excited to read. The tiny bits of character that were doled out (few and far between) and the scraps of a love story were charming when they popped up on the page and I do wish there was more of that. They had great chemistry and their back-and-forth was really fun to read about. But Nelle and Keane, as charming as they are, are afterthoughts in their own story and nothing would have been missed by leaving them out of it entirely, which is not a good sign for a romance.
To Kill a Badger is a lot of action and a paper-thin plot that gets very repetitive and only really becomes important at the very end. Mostly, this story is about Charlie MacKilligan whose legacy becomes more mythic as the series goes on. I like Charlie a lot, but the baking and the third act action didn’t break new ground for the series. The other stars of the series are the “crones,” middle-aged badgers who are over-the-top and out-of-control. They are entertaining in small doses, but again, their antics took over way too much of the book.
I wanted to enjoy To Kill a Badger as much as I have the rest of the series, especially since I like Nelle and Keane so much, but this book just fell flat for me. The plot was a jumble that didn’t seem to matter very much and many times it felt like a rehash of past plots. Laurenston’s books are rarely boring, but this one I kept putting down. Yet while this book wasn’t for me, I will certainly pick up more Honey Badger books because as a whole I enjoy the series and the shenanigans the MacKilligans and their friends get into.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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