
Member Reviews

Another fun entry to the Honey Badger series. If you've loved her books in this past, this one will be no different. It did take me a little while to get attached to Mads and Finn because I was already so attached to the sisters and the bears. Mads has a lot to overcome in this book and I was so proud of her by the end. The three sisters have some hilarious moments and I'm loving getting to know the newest sister! The Malone brothers couldn't easily be there own series and I really hope we get more books with them. I can't wait to read more about the rest of the Honey Badger basketball team and the Black Malones.
Thank you, netgalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The honey badgers are back! Mads and her teammates meet the Black Malone tiger family and chaos ensue. ARC from NetGalley.

Laugh out loud entertainment, great story, fascinating characters and out of this world plot, funniest paragraph in the book, “ Shen looked Max right in the eyes and replied, “I’m just a male. I want lots of babies. I just want my seed pouring out of me like I’m a Gatling gun.” Then, to get his point across, Shen made machine-gun sounds with his mouth.“
I don’t like to give spoilers on the books that I read. I believe the blurb on the back is enough for you to decide if you will read the book or not. If you choose to read, enjoy!

This was a great story and the badgers are hilarious. It can be read as a standalone, however to gain insight on the characters it's best to read the entire series. I laughed out loud and cant wait for the next installment.

The latest story in the Honey Badger Chronicles does not disappoint. You have the MacKilligan family still causing mayhem with plenty of lol moments to throughly entertain. Mads is one of Max MacKilligan’s team (family) who found each other as children and bring their own unique talents to any situation. When the team help out the Black Malone tigers there is plenty of misunderstanding until Finn and Mads see a new side to their relationship. There is plenty of over the top family feuds combined with with unstoppable Honey Badgers with weird genes from their father. A non stop story you will want to reread to pick up all the moments you might have missed first time round. I would recommend reading the other stories to get your further fix of the Honey Badgers.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Two and a half stars.
Finn and his two brothers are known as the Black Malones, Siberian tiger shifters, they are bigger and badder even than their ne'er do well relatives the Malones who are into everything slightly dodgy. Finn can't help but rescue a group of honey badgers led into a trap on an island off New York, but a total misunderstanding makes them mortal enemies, which is a shame because the honey badgers might be the only people who can help him solve the mystery of his father's murder.
Mads is half hyena and half honey badger and 100% viking. Obsessed with basketball she is estranged from her hyena family.
Mads and Finn might be the only sane ones in their respective families, but can they hold the warring factions apart long enough to find out the truth about Finn's father?
I've been honest that I haven't enjoyed the Honey Badger Chronicles very much but I liked this the least of the four. Honestly for about a quarter of the book I had no idea who the 'happy couple' were going to be because this was such an ensemble piece it could have been any of the honey badgers and any of the Malone brothers.
This just felt like Shelly Laurenston has got to a point where she has such a long list of 'features' that she needs to put in each book (eg Max being crazy, Stevie being a genius, Charlie baking for the bears etc, etc, etc) and well-loved characters like Dee-Ann Smith, that the plot got totally overwhelmed. In fact, I finished the book two minutes ago and I would struggle to give you a coherent summary of the plot, not even sure there was one TBH.
Overall, I've said it before but I think I really mean it this time, no more honey badgers for me. I don't like them and it just makes me irritable reading them.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, this book never slowed down and I couldn't stop reading it. The honey badgers are just over the top crazy, which makes these books fun to read. The Malone bothers are moody and vicious cats and don't want anything to do with the honey badgers, until they need their help with a family mystery.
There was always something going on in this book! There were so many fights (because you know,...honey badgers) that there was never a dull moment. The fight scenes are funny because the other shifters are always flabbergasted at how the honey badgers just don't die.
Of course we got to see Max and the rest of the basketball team in this story, but we also got to see the other MacKilligan sisters when they had to get Nat, their newly discovered half sister, out of some situations.
If you are looking for a funny book, this one is for you! I laughed several times in this book. This one didn't focus as much on the romance. It seemed to be a little more focused on settling the main characters' family issues. I would have preferred to see a little more relationship developing between the two characters, which is the only reason I am giving it 4 stars. I still loved the book, as sometimes it is just nice to read something that makes you laugh.

Mads is a descendant of the Vikings and isn’t afraid of much as a honey badger. Finn is a grumpy tiger and descended from ancient Mongolian warriors. When the two get together sparks fly along with bullets, bombs and knives. Add in Mads’ shifter teammates, the Makilligan sisters and Finn’s brothers and it’s a miracle the city survived. I devoured this book and am sorry I can’t read for the first time again.

5 stars - I loved it!
What another great honey badger book. I adore Laurenston and her characters. They are hilarious and crazy. I think it should be noted though that if you go into this series expecting a lot of sex and focus on the characters, you might be disappointed in this series. Yes, there is still sex and romance but this series focuses a little more on what is going on it the world, which I still really enjoy because the honey badgers are crazy.
“Life is scary. That’s why I’m going to make brownies.” - Charlie
Mads and Finn’s relationship was another hilarious and action packed one. Like the previous couple Max and Ze, Mads and Finn met during battle and they helped each other out. Finn Malone was the laid back Malone brother. He was fun, protective of his sister, and slightly crazy, which I liked. He was perfect for Mads because they both have a laid back personality until they snap.
Mads is a basketball obsessive honey badger, who is surprisingly the least honey badger of them all. She doesn’t steal or really do any criminal activities outside of what trouble the team gets into together. Mads had a heartbreaking backstory but she didn’t let it prevent her from her goals, nor would her teammates. I really adored Mads and thought her and Finn were a cute couple.
One of the great things with this book is all the returning characters from previous books. Charlie is still the protective older sister but now she has a new sister to keep an eye on. I really can’t wait for Nat’s book because it will be fascinating. We also get a few glimpses of Dez, Lou, Cella, and Dee Ann, which I loved. Overall, this was another action packed adventure that I couldn’t put down and I already am dying to read the next one, which sadly won’t be out for a while.

I love this series and I’m so glad we’re getting more badgers! Mads is one of Max MacKilligan’s friends/teammates, and she’s a honey badger with Viking heritage and hyena mother. Her family is abusive, except for her great-grandmother who loved her and took care of her. When she learns of Solvieg’s death and that her family has already cremated her, Mads is angry and devastated because she knows that isn’t what Solvieg would want.
Finn Malone is one of the Black Malones, a group of tiger shifters who shift into black tigers with white stripes, and are known to be some of the most vicious. He and his brothers are trying to figure out who murdered their father, and haven’t been having luck finding any information or leads. They’re directed to the MacKilligans, especially as they already have a tie with Nat, their baby sister who is also a MacKilligan, and MacKilligans are known to only really help family.
This is a wild, violent ride that absolutely makes me cackle. I really don’t know how to explain why this book was so fun, but it 100% was a delight! I have a guess on who the next Honey Badgers Chronicles will focus on but regardless I’m excited for even more in this world!
If you like violent, bonkers paranormal romance, this may absolutely be up you’re alley. The chosen family especially is always one of my favorite elements in Laurenston’s book, and this book plays it up wonderfully with Mads, especially against the glimpses of her blood family compared to the bond she has with Max, Tock, Nelle, and Streep. The romance is kind of quiet compared to other threads of the story, but I enjoyed the sweet moments between Finn and Mads, and how they develop a relationship.

Shelly Laurenston’s Honey Badger Chronicles have joined Martha Wells’ the Murderbot Diaries and Becky Chamber’s Wayfarers series as the books I shove in everyone’s faces given the slightest opening. Are they even romances anymore? I don’t know. Who cares? They have transcended genre and reason and exist on their own plane.
There are always 30 something characters and 56 plots going on in a Honey Badger book and it feels a bit like the Motown Wall of Sound. Either you can’t take the confusion or you become immersed and a wonderful story about found family emerges from the chaos. Laurenston’s world is clannish, chaotic and violent. But amongst the violence (there are gun battles, stabbings, eviscerations, defenestrations, and frequent beat downs – often between siblings), the core characters are building a safer world for themselves. Laurenston shows how the power of one person’s decision to be kind and generous has reverberated through the years and impacted the lives of people she never met. Charlie’s mother chose to take in her ex’s children by other women, Charlie’s half-sisters, setting in motion the series, but also giving the sisters a moral center that shapes their lives. As perpetual outsiders, Charlie, Max and Stevie have are protective of each other, and over the series, extend that protection to the people who are becoming part of their family.
Breaking Badger expands the Honey Badger Chronicles beyond the McKilligan sisters and into Max’s basketball and gun toting back-up squad. Mads is kind of a quiet loner. Neglected and abused by her mother and grandmother, she thinks of the other four honey badgers as her teammates, not friends. But as Finn, her love interest points out, they have moved beyond friends, they are her family.
One of my favorite things Laurenston does in her world is give her characters the gift of being their own weird selves, acknowledging that they are weird and then moving along to more important stuff. Finn and Mads do not look at each other and think about dating, they drift into each other. Neither thinks they are courting, but their friends and family know and repeatedly point it out. Along the way they realize they like each other, and maybe they don’t hate spending time together. And really, who has time to think about dating when there are playoffs to be won, enemies to be defeated, and toxic family to be handled?
The Honey Badger Chronicles also has some great mental health representation. In one of the many side plots, Stevie talks about going off her meds in preparation for a possible future pregnancy (to torment Max, of course). The issue is handled sensibly and compassionately, and also with the trademark yelling in any McKilligan sister conversation.
If you haven’t read Hot and Badgered yet, you need to get on that. Charlie McKilligan is a great character among great characters, and I alternately want to be her, and want to have her as a sister.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Like the 3 other books in Honey Badger Chronicles, the romance is non-existent. Mads and Finn meet and just kind of stick together after that due to mutual interests. Zero passion or bonding though there is one date and one sleepover.
On Amazon it's ranked 220 right now under Action & Adventure Romance. Yup, lots of action, too much action. The author threw many old and new characters into a blender and let it rip. Instead of focusing on Mads and Finn's issues, all of Mads' team members and their families get thrown in too. It was hard to keep everything straight.
This is strictly for fans of the Laurenston's shifter stories. God help you if you think you want to start with this one, you'd be totally befuddled.
If I see the next one on Netgalley like I did this one, I'd probably accept a copy in exchange for my honest review. However, after several, to me, just ok entries, I doubt I'd seek these out on my own from the library.
BTW, the author uses the rather out dated, and to some negative, term Oriental instead of Asian several times.

I think any time the Mackilligans are involved is awesome. While this story is about Max's friend Mads, it includes plenty about the Mackilligans and Max and Mads' other friends. Plenty of action and the usual humor. All around great story and I will look forward to more Honey Badger stories!

I received eARC from Kensington books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.
I jumped into this book thinking it was a stand alone. As I started reading I realized that it was book 4 in the Honey Badger Series by Shelly Laurentson. At first I was a bit confused with so many characters. This was when I looked up the book and found out it was part of a series. I continued with the read and I found that I really enjoyed the book even though I did not read the first 3.. Yes there are back stories but I was still able to follow at the story. I laughed out loud at the antics of Mads and her team. The Black Malone Brothers made me laugh as well and I fell in love with Finn. There is a ton of action that was very well written and I could see the story play out in my head with vivd details. This is how i know a book is good!
The only down side is that there are so many characters that I got confused during the story and had to go back track to get the names and what family and animal they were. Overall, I give this book 4.5 stars.

Another great book by Shelly Laurenston. I am loving this series. In the last book we were introduced to Max's friends and teammates. This is Mads book. She is a Viking hyena-honey badger hybrid who lives basketball. This book starts of with a bang. Literally. Mads and her team are ambushed when they get some bad intel and are rescued by the black Malones, three tiger brothers. Packed with action, fun, and violence this book is a non stop thrill ride you just must read.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is part of a series, and I am not sure how well it reads as a stand alone. Okay, I am a huge fan and will read anything by this author. I adore her humor and imagination. While I loved this book, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the different story lines going on. The story was (I thought) focusing on Mads Galendotter and Finn but it was all over the place. If I didn't already know some of the storyline from previous books-I would have been totally overwhelmed. There are a lot of people in this book. I laughed often and really enjoyed the book, but I do recognize that it has flaws. Still for me its a 4 star. I love honey badgers.

I adore all the characters in this world. And we got to see a lot of them. Lots of action, mystery, and a romance that took the back burner to the multiple storylines. This book had the best action though. Many scenes where the abilities shine. And we get to see Stevie at her biggest! These are my fun books. Great storylines every time. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

Shelly’s latest book takes place in the crazy, funny shifter New York City that she’s brought to life throughout her Pride and Honey Badger series. The honey badger basketball team is featured in this story of Mads Galendotter, the Viking hyena-honey badger hybrid and Finn Malone of the Black Malone tigers.
I absolutely loved this book and snort laughed out loud quite a few times! We get to learn a lot more about the honey badgers from the basketball team. Each member gets fleshed out more in hilarious, violent fashion.
Shelly creates characters that truly capture the traits of the animals they shift into, the cats are lazy and defiant and the honey Badger are downright mean. And no one surpasses Shelly’s ability to write graphic details of violent fighting done with a comedic twist. She continues to incorporate beloved favorite characters from her previous shifter series for that home and community feel.
I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

This book came at a time when I needed something fun and entertaining and it delivered! I knew exactly what I was getting with this book. Lots of action, crazy shapeshifter, characters galore and apparently also a slow burn romance.
BREAKING BADGER wasn’t as sexy as I expected. And the romance did get buried a little under the avalanche of plot and action BUT for me this didn’t take away from the entertainment value. It was just something that was noticeable, and if you are looking for a romance heavy novel, just be aware of this. Also the book was FULL of old and new characters. And I can see how it might get hard to keep track of the characters and plot. Since there was more than one plot going on and the POV often shifted from one character to the next.
On the other hand, this book was exactly what I needed. It was funny, crazy and over the top, and I couldn’t put it down. I adore the Badgers. Maybe because they are the most craziest bunch of shifters ever. Especially the MacKilligans, which are still a big part of this book, and whose books are #1-3 in this series. I don’t think there is another shifter series quite like this one. It’s bloody, crazy good, totally over the top (as I mentioned once already), but also addictive. The women are kick ass, even more so than the men, and they definitely steal the show. There won’t ever be a damsel in distress in a Shelly Laurenston book, because these gals can rescue themselves while leaving a bloody mess behind.
Also the writing is top notch. Hilarious. Sarcastic. And funny. Nobody takes themselves too seriously in these books. Plus I just love the friendships between the sisters and now Mads “teammates”.

With thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for my ARC.
I loved this title and read it swiftly, as I have every other title in the Honey Badgers Chronicles.
With appealing characters, fiendishly funny moments, adventure, mayhem and a serve of hot sex, plus familiar characters from the authors other series’, this book is a must have. In fact the whole series is and since the books about Charlie, Max and Stevie left me wanting more, I was delighted to discover Breaking Badger which focuses on Max’s ‘team mate’ Mads.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a book by the author then this rollicking good read is a sure thing. Enjoy.