I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Hot and Badgered
by
Shelly Laurenston
It is part of the Honey Badger Chronicles #1 series and is a paranormal romance in a Kindle edition that was published by Kensington Books on March 27, 2018 and has 433 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Mane Event, The Mane Event, The Mane Squeeze, The Mane Attraction, Beast Behaving Badly, Big Bad Beast, Here Kitty, Kitty!, Hunting Season, Pack Challenge, Go Fetch!, When He Was Bad, Everlasting Bad BoysS, Bear Meets Girl, Howl for It, Wolf with Benefits, The Unleashing, The Undoing, The Unyielding, In a Badger Way, Badger to the Bone, Breaking Badger, Bite Me, The Undoing, Born to Be Badger
First in the Honey Badger Chronicles too-funny paranormal romance series (that carries on from Laurenston’s Pride universe) and revolving around those vicious honey badgers, lol, carrying on from Bite Me (Pride #9). The focus is on the invincible Charlie MacKilligan and her half-sisters.
My Take
Oh, MAN, this story stuns with the first few pages. I’d’ve never thought little girls could be so viciously manipulative. Well, not that the guy didn’t deserve it. Five times over. But it still blew my mind even as I laughed, and I couldn’t wait to read more.
It paid off. It got better when Charlie drops onto Berg’s balcony, completely naked, and bleeding. Oh my lord, then it gets even better if somewhat confusing as we get to know Stevie and her insistence that mental hospitals are actually resorts. Well, they are for her! And her over-the-top reactions…! Yep, more of that ROFL.
You’ll learn everything about their sisterly loyalty through Laurenston’s use of third person global subjective point-of-view, which allows us to “hear” everything they think…along with a lot of the other characters. And their loyalty is incredible especially when you meet the rest of their family — run for the hills! That father of theirs…jeez… I had to run to the loo as I read the older two girls’ reaction to the possibility their father was dead.
Omigod, omigod, wait’ll you read about the effects of Charlie’s baking, ROFLMAO! Then there’s all those descriptions of Stevie and her over-reactions to EVERYthing. What will REALLY crack you up is when Stevie goes so far overboard in her emotions and then…watch OUT.
Oh, lord, if you ain’t yet read any of the Pride series, you are SO missing out on this uproarious tale of interactions. And now I have to wait until March 26th for the next one, In a Badger Way!
The Story
It’s all Charlie can do to keep Max out of jail and Stevie calm. Their dad is a nightmare with his cons and scams, let alone he keeps selling his youngest daughter, Stevie. This latest con of his has sicced groups of killers on their tails. Each team eager to take ’em down.
They’re honey badgers. Survivors. Brutal, vicious, ill-tempered survivors who make a good team.
Never bet against the MacKilligan sisters!
The Characters
Twenty years ago, their shared mother died…
Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan, a control-freak half-wolf, half-honey badger, came to live with her grandfather when she was twelve, along with her half-sisters, Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan, a ten-year-old, Asian, full honey badger whose criminal mother is doing hard time in prison and brilliant eight-year-old Stevie Stasiuk-MacKilligan, half-honey badger and half-tiger . Their father, Freddy MacKilligan, is still alive and a major pain they’d all love to lose.
The girls’ uncles (and Freddy’s half-brothers) include Will MacKilligan based in Scotland, Jim, and Samson. Dougie is Will’s son. The very wealthy Aunt Bernice MacKilligan Andersen-Cummings doesn’t want much to do with the girls. Her daughters include Carrie, the bridezilla who is marrying Ronald P. Farmington IV. Damian Miller is a jewelry store owner. Colin MacKilligan is their father’s brother.
Mairi MacKilligan, Samson’s daughter, is in the dangerous Saughton Prison and terrifies everyone. John Mitchell is in security and knows people at Saughton. The Yangs are the maternal side of Max’s family. Dutch Alexander is a wolverine and great friends with Max. NOT an endorsement. Mia is Dutch’s sister.
Berg Dunn is a grizzly protective specialist working for Cooper Jean-Louis Parker. Berg is a triplet with Britta, his sister who’s second-string on the Carnivore practice team, and Dag, their tactless brother, all live together. They have a two-hundred-pound Caucasian Shepherd dog.
Their neighbors include Tiny, who has a house for rent in Queens and just loves honey-pineapple cake. The Hendersons are not polite bears when it comes to roaming the night. Clark McKlintock is a polar bear. There’s a sloth bear who runs a bodega and is in love with Britta. Todd is a juvenile black bear. Mrs Fitzbaer is a nice elderly sow. With a Hummer. The Mueller boys will drop anyone off. Mrs Franklin is into cinnamon rolls. Mr Gronbech is into honey cake. Mr Walton loves his beehives.
The Kingston Arms is an extremely expensive hotel owned by a lion shifter, Mitch Shaw, who is mated to Sissy Mae Smith, Alpha female of the New York Smiths along with her brother, Bobby Ray.
Vic Barinov is mated to Livy Kowalski, another honey badger (Bite Me). He’s in the security business and Livy is a photographer. Turns out Livy is also cousins with Max. Shen Li is Vic’s panda partner…always with a bamboo shoot in his mouth.
The Group is…
…a US-only protection team for shifters led by Niles “Uncle Van” Van Holtz, Ric’s uncle, who is married to Aunt Irene. Dee-Ann Smith is a lethal wolf who’s married to Ulrich “Ric” Van Holtz who runs a fabulous restaurant, heads up the New York division of the Group, and owns the Carnivores. Lizzy-Ann Holtz Smith is their six-year-old learning knife-play. Dee-Ann’s daddy is Eggie Smith.
Katzenhaus is…
… an international security team that only protects shifters and is headed up by Mary-Ellen Lozlowski, a lynx. Agents include Marcella “Auntie Cella” Malone, a Siberian tiger who also coaches the Carnivores, is married to Lou “Crush” Crushek, a cop and a bear. Sometimes she partners up with Dee-Ann. Barb Malone is Cella’s mother and a wedding planner.
The Bear Preservation Council (BCP) is…
…the international protection agency for bears headed by Bayla Ben-Zeev. Agents include Tanya, the multi-tasking Stephanie, and Garland.
The Carnivores are…
…a shifter-only hockey team. Dr Jai Davis is the team doctor. Sal is her receptionist. Konami is her nurse, a full-human married to an Asian black bear. Blayne is a derby girl and married to Bo “The Marauder” Novikov, an OCD star hockey-playing bear who is now captain of the team. Reece Lee Reed (of the Smith Pack) plays hockey too. Hannah “The Destroyer of Words” Jameson, a bear hybrid, is a close friend of Britta’s who plays power forward for the Carnivores and does some investigative work for the Group. Lock MacRyrie used to play hockey, and now he builds furniture.
The Parker family
Cooper Jean-Louis Parker, a member of the Parker family of total out-of-this-world geniuses, is a jackal shifter celebrity who plays piano to infatuated crowds around the world. Toni Jean-Louis Parker Reed is one of his sisters and his manager. Actually she manages the entire family. Their seventeen-year-old brother Kyle is an internationally famous artist who loves to torture people emotionally. Cherise and Oriana, a ballerina, are their sisters.
A software company in Lombardo, Italy
Caterina and Celestina Guerra are the CEOs and twins.
A wolf pack in Wisconsin
Charles Taylor is a wolf shifter and the girls’ grandfather. Carlie is/was his daughter. Lotti, Jane, and Betsey, who is half-wolf and half black bear, are part of the pack, for now. Billy Lewis is the current pack leader…and he hates half-breeds.
Dr Gaertner is the director at the Swiss clinic while Dr Schmidt is the actual trained psychiatrist. Jacques is one of the patients. There’s a bear pack in Russia, the Kamchatkas. Craig is an old male lion who gets cranky. In ninth grade, Dionne Kapowski broke Dag’s heart. Carl is a waiter where Mr Alexander forks out for a meal at a Van Holtz steakhouse.
The Cover and Title
The cover is cheesy looking. Oh, the guy, whom I’m assuming is supposed to be Berg (too small, IMO), looks naked from the hips on up, his very muscled body in profile to us as he looks back over his shoulder against a furry golden background on his plus-half of the cover. I ain’t saying he’s not gorgeous, ’cause I sure wouldn’t kick him out of bed, mm-mmm. Near the bottom is a testimonial.The left side starts with the series information blocked between a pair of double lines with a pale yellow bear silhouette on top. The rest of the text is on the vertical with an info blurb in white to the far left, the author’s name is in a golden yellow with the title in a rough script font in white.
The title is Berg’s situation, Hot and Badgered.
