You never go wrong reading one of Shelly Laurenston’s books.
They are funny, interesting, and have a healthy dose of sarcasm!
This book delivers.
I got the book right before I went on vacation.
My husband kept telling me to “put the damn book down”.
Which, of course I ignored.

Like some of the later books in this series, this is really more about moving along the overarching story than a focus on romance. Like other books in the series, there are so many exclamation points! Like, a lot a lot of them! And there are more and more names added to these books so I would really recommend that readers start at the beginning of the Honey Badger Chronicles so you have a fighting chance of remembering who is who.
We've met Nelle Zhao in previous books in the series. Her family (and thus she) is family wealthy and she uses that money to help her friends, whether they want it or not. Sometimes though, people don't want her help. Like her friend Maddie who would still be living with cardboard furniture and few clothes if Nelle hadn't stepped in. Or Keane Malone, whose story arc has crossed over the last few books of this series.
Keane Malone is used to going it on his own, or at least just his own family. His father was murdered when they were children and no one stepped in to help them. Not his extended family, not his mother's family, not the company his father was working for. He would prefer not to have help at all. Which is why it's annoying that his family is suddenly stepping up to help. At least Nelle is good to look at.
The two will have to join forces to take down the de Medici pride who are after Nelle and her friends. The badgers took down the lion's patriarch and they're out for blood.

Three and a half stars
Honey Badger Chronicles #6
This book comes out August 26, 2025
Follows Born to Be Badger
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and Kensington Publishing
Opinions are my own

I am a big fan of Shelly Laurenston. And I have been through over a decade. You can always expect humor, action, and a certain amount of craziness in any of her words. And this one definitely fits all of those categories.

This is Nellie and Keane’s story but of course there are some great Charlie moments. I’m not sure how effective this book is as a standalone though. While they’re great characters and a lot of fun times there are so many characters that it’s easy to get lost. This is the conclusion of the series, but I would definitely recommend starting with the first book.

Shelly Laurenston returns with another wild ride in the Honey Badger Chronicles, blending her trademark humor, fierce heroines, and chaotic shape-shifter romance. To Kill a Badger centers on Nelle Zhao, a jet-setting social media strategist with a knack for keeping her honey badger crew alive and (mostly) out of trouble. Her reluctant partner? Keane Malone, a grumpy lion shifter with a vendetta and zero tolerance for nonsense—except when it comes to Nelle.

Their dynamic is electric: witty banter, reluctant teamwork, and a slow-burn romance that builds as they navigate alliances and battle the de Medicis, a ruthless lion shifter mafia. The chemistry between Nelle and Keane is a highlight, and their scenes together are packed with energy and charm.

However, the pacing falters midway. The plot becomes crowded with side characters—particularly the Old Crones—who, while entertaining, overshadow the MacKilligan sisters and dilute the central storyline. The final showdown delivers action and payoff, but it feels like a subplot rather than the climax.

Character inconsistencies also stood out. Nelle’s fear of Charlie, a recurring theme in earlier books, is absent here, and the Dunn triplets—once sharp and engaging—are reduced to background noise. Manse’s role is underdeveloped, leaving readers with questions about his motivations and history.

Despite these issues, Laurenston’s voice remains strong, and fans of the series will appreciate the humor, chaos, and heart. Nelle and Keane’s relationship is worth the read, even if the surrounding plot doesn’t always keep pace.

Content Warnings: gun violence, kidnapping, car accidents, death and gore, panic attacks, claustrophobia, death of a parent (mentioned)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars) — A fun

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another rapid fire runaway plot from the shifter world of Laurenston. The action never stops. I’ve loved these characters from the first book and this book does not disappoint. This is mostly Nellie and Keane’s story but some great Charlie moments as well. I could not put it down and the plot was very satisfying.

I am not sure this would work as well as a stand alone and I’d strongly encourage readers to start from the first book and work towards this one. You aren’t going to want to miss any of the character nuance.

I liked the book, because I like Shelly Laurenston's shifter society world-building, and her books do things like action, violence, and banter well. This one hit all of those marks, but it also felt oddly plotless. It was like it was jumping from vignette to vignette to vignette, with little to not plot to serve as connective tissue. I honestly think it's why it took me awhile to read it. The less plot, the less motivated I am, because I'm not trying to see what happens.

Nell Zhao, badger fashion extraordinaire, is a problem solver and the fact that her badger friends and teammates always seem to find themselves in the middle of a situation, Nell has a lot of problems to solve. Since she has discovered that she's so good at handling things, Nell has taken it upon her self to help handle fellow shifter Keane Malone's situation also. To bad Keane doesn't want her help, but Nell decides just like with her friends, Nell knows what's best and Keane will just have to except her help whether he wants to or not.
If you are a fan of the Honey Badger series, you know that there has been a spark of attraction between Keane Malone and Nell Zhao for awhile and in this 6th book we finally get their story. For Nell and Keane protecting their loved ones is always their number one priority, but this time around that duty has them embarking on a personal adventure of their own. In true Shelly Laurentson fashion, To Kill a Badger is full of outlandish situations with hilariously painful outcomes along with some passionate scenes creating an engaging and entertaining read.

I want to start by saying that Shelly Laurenston is one of my favourite urban fantasy/shifter/paranormal romance authors.

I had originally read this ARC in July and thought it was a good story, but it wasn't my favourite.
I then thought that in order to give this book an honest review, I should go back and re-read the whole series to see whether or not it follows the series arc.

Alas, I'm so happy I did!

"To Kill a Badger" continues exactly where "Born to Be Badger" finishes.

This is Nelle's story.
She is the last of Max's "teammates" on her basketball team to be mated.
She's a honey badger.

It's also Keane's story.
The eldest of the Malone brothers to be mated
He's an Amur tiger.

His main purpose in life right now is to seek vengeance against the people who murdered his father...and play football.
Nelle's main purpose is to shop, try to get out of her sister's wedding, to unite all the powerful badger families in the world into some kind of agreement...and win the basketball championships.

There's a lot of bantering, shenanigans, killing, and baking by Charlie.
Lots of baking.

I love all the characters in this series!
From the MacKilligan sisters to the Dunn triplets to the wolves, the crones, the jaguar, the panda bear, and the lions.
The series has a wonderful ensemble of misfits with quirky mannerisms that are downright hilarious!

If you're interested in reading fun, with over-the-top characters' stories, then I highly recommend this series to you.

Enjoy!

Nelle and Keane are the main characters in this grumpy/sunshine, slow-burn romance. She is a meddler, but in the best ways. He is antisocial, just like his animal counterpart. This story is full of antics, one-liners, and laugh out loud funny moments. But it also contains action packed danger, hidden motives, trafficking, and vengeance. All the excitement you need for this 6th story in the series. Don't be afraid to start the Honey Badger Chronicles with this story. Characters from previous make appearances, but this is absolutely a book you can read by itself (but why would you want to?)

After discovering Shelly Laurenston in February of this year, I went on a binge. And this was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025. To Kill A Badger did not disappoint! It was hilarious, entertaining, and steamy. The slow burn was perfect in this one. I loved Nelle and Keane together. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Keane after seeing him in the last two books. He’s an a-hole who only cares about a small circle of people but he was funny and I liked him with Nelle. She brought out a side of him that we didn’t see in the last two books. It’s always a joy to see Charlie, Max, and Stevie as well as Max’s teammates, Mads, Tock, and Streep. It was also fun watching Nelle’s relationship with her sister and parents. The older badgers were funny and frustrating af! Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I hope this isn’t the end of the badger series!

I love the Honey Badgers in this series, and the cats, bears and wolves...and well ,OK, the whole world! This book was a delightful, bonkers, hilarious, wild ride. It was also a little bit of a hot mess. So many pov's and side characters and random plot threads. They did eventually come back together at the end, but I spent a lot of this book wondering if it couldn't have been edited to be just a little tighter. This kept it from being a 5 star read for me. I still enjoyed the heck out of it and can't wait to see what's up next. I heard it may be the older honey badgers...and as someone that age currently... I'm hoping they can be treated a little better...there was a lot of ageism talk in there which I didn't really love.

Shelly Laurenston did it again!! This book is amazing. The characters are there normal funny sarcastic selfs. The main character are people you will love and root for.

As a longtime reader and fan of paranormal romance we all have those series and authors that have you counted down to the release their next book or series continuation. This is my series, and frankly, my author.

I am not big on spoilers sooooo….. To Kill a Badger, has all the hilarious and totally unexpected moments that we expect from our favorite dysfunctional badgers, including their family, and friends. They are definitely not prim and proper “door closed” badgers. They are absolutely chaotic, neurotic, loving, and hilariously violent. They call it like they see it.

With Laurenston’s multi perspective writing we are thrown into the brains of some of the most psychotically fun, and loving characters.

To Kill a Badger fits right into the Honey Badger Chronicles, continuing its multi-book story line. While you probably could read this book/series out of order. I would recommend reading the Honey Badger Chronicles, from the beginning (Hot and Badgered) to current. You're just gonna end up reading them anyway so might as well just start at the beginning and enjoy.


~ Guessic

OMG this is why Shelly Laurenston is my comfort author. I know when I pick up one of her books ESPECIALLY from the honey banger series, I will be giggle, laughing and smiling the WHOLE time. What I love about her characters besides the banter and 1 liner which are amazing, but I also love the way she writes her FMCs and how they are all sarcastic, unhinged, tough and also have a sisterhood kind of friendship where they may not always like one another but they would kill someone for even looking at their "sister" wrong. I say sisterhood over found family which is also very strong in this book/series too, but the men are more of the supportive rolls while the women handle shit. Not that the men are weak they are hilarious strong characters themselves, but they love how strong and fierce their women are but also have a little fear of their mates because they know how unhinged they are, and I love it.

With this book the main couple is Nelle and Keane, and I just loved the two of them separately and together. I think Nelle was just hilarious with her meddling nature and just taking care of her friends sometimes in over-the-top ways that weren't wrong, but she did without permission. Like putting in a half-court basketball court for her friend in her new house's backyard bc all her friend cares is basketball, her basketball team and winning the championship. Nelle puts this court in without asking and covers the WHOLE cost simply bc she knows her friend and what she needs. Of course, her friend gets upset bc she didn't ask for this and major construction but it's not like Nelle was wrong. This is one of those sisterhood moments I was talking about where they are family and know each other so well that they annoy each other and scream things like "I will destroy you and everything you love, or I will tear off your head and wear it as a hat" but when someone comes after one of their sisters well it doesn't end well for them.

So, taking that personality and the usual honey badger traits plus her rich girl mindset (but not in a way that was offensive or off putting) matched up with Keane Malone who is so antisocial, grumpy and general distain for other people (so a cat) really worked. It was fun watching Nelle just poke the tiger essentially but also when she left to go handle her business, he wasn't far behind not to always help though he would have if he needed to but to watch her handle business bc he liked watching the havoc she made. So again, cat behavior. But reading him as he started to realize his feelings had me giggling so hard because he was so resistant to it.

The two of them had great chemistry and spice as well but I would say it is a low spice book but what was there was good.

Now for the plot there was a lot going on and you do have to keep track of it because as always with Honey badgers everyone has their own agenda and hidden motives so lots of trickery going on. There was also a lot of focus on Charlie who had her book earlier in the series, but Charlie is my favorite because I relate to her so much. I always joke that I don't cause mayhem on the daily and I am usually the one handling my family's drama/BS, but I always say that I am one minor inconvenience away from going feral and I just felt like that was Charlie at times. I also love baking. But it made sense especially with the ending why Charlie was so heavily featured. This book has a lot going on to wrap up the story, but it wrapped it up so well and was a wild ride to get there. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

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This book is about Nelle who is a pro when it comes to social media. But you know what else she is a pro at... dealing with her friends and teammates lives and more recently their troubles. She isn't sure when it because her job to protect them but surprisingly she is good at it even if they don't appreciate her efforts especially Keane Malone. But she is a honey badger she doesn't care what anyone thinks and will do what she things is best especially when they clearly need her help even if they don't think they do. But recently her friend's normal trouble has gotten them in a little hot water and may have gotten them in over their heads and it has now become about their survival against a lion cartel that not only traffics humans but also is responsible for the death of Keane's father. So as much as Keane hates working with others, he will need all the help he can get, and Nelle is more than happy to lend a hand. But he may be in over his head when it comes to him accepting help from the beautiful, long legged shit starting honey badger than that is making his inner lion want to roar and claim her.

I received and ARC copy from Net Galley/Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review.

This is the latest badger book, with Nelle and Keane as the main characters. I’ve loved all the badger books, as I did this one. If I had one critique it would be there are so many extra and side characters, it can at times be hard to keep up with. You definitely need to have read the previous books—this is not a one and done. I do recommend.

To Kill a Badger is pure, delightful chaos. Shelly Laurenston brings back everything I love about the Honey Badger Chronicles—snarky banter, over-the-top action, and characters who are absolutely unhinged (in the best way). I laughed out loud more times than I can count, and the honey badgers remain feral little gremlins that I will never stop rooting for.

What really makes this series shine, though, is the heart beneath the mayhem. The found-family bond and sisterhood vibes are as strong as ever, giving all the comedy and property damage a surprising amount of warmth. If you love shifter romance that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still packs a punch, this book is a must-read.

The last story of the badger shifter basketball team although probably not the last of the badger stories in general. It's great seeing the characters again and where they've got too in the relationships that were formed in the earlier books.

It does feel a little lacking in depth, but I think that's because there are now so many characters who end up taking up space in the story that the plot tends to suffer a little. However this doesn't detract from the joy of the story and the humour that makes me want to reread the series all over again.

This story follows the glamourous and rich badger shifter Nelle and the very angry Keane who is one of the Malone Tiger shifter brothers. They are tasked with trying to keep the lion shifter mess away from Charlie with no help from the other shifter groups.

There are a lot of characters and small groups who have to complete their own little bit of the story, and everyone is still really mad at Freddy Mackilligan. They really need to get rid of him for good.

Overall this moves the badger story forward a little but there is still room for more, and I am looking forward to the next one.

hilarious and fun book with some great romance aspects. I did not read any prior book in the series, but i felt this worked just as well as a stand alone. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Nelle is the best! I love the way the author makes two extremely different personalities fit perfectly together. Keane is so serious and grumpy, focused on football and his family. Nelle delights in organizing her friends’ lives whether they want her to or not. Mix in some insane, bored middle-aged honey badgers and you have an hilarious, exciting read.

4½ Stars, A Wildly Entertaining Romp with Teeth and Wit

To Kill a Badger is pure Shelly Laurenston chaos in the best possible way. If you love your paranormal romance served with a side of snark, a dash of absurdity, and a whole lot of badger mayhem, this book delivers in spades.

From page one, the story barrels forward with non-stop action, razor-sharp banter, and characters so delightfully unhinged you’ll wish they were your neighbors (or maybe not—property damage is a given). Laurenston’s signature blend of quirky humor and fierce loyalty shines through every scene, especially in the dysfunctional yet lovable MacKilligan clan. The badgers are back, and they’re biting, brawling, and bonding in ways only Laurenston could make feel both hilarious and heartfelt.

The romance simmers beneath layers of chaos, but when it hits, it’s swoony and satisfying. And the side characters? Each one is a scene-stealer, adding depth and deranged charm to the already bonkers plot.

Why not a full five stars? A few plot threads get tangled in the madness, and the pacing occasionally stumbles under the weight of its own exuberance. But honestly, you won’t care. You’ll be too busy laughing.

If you’re in the mood for a feral, funny, and fiercely original read, To Kill a Badger is your next obsession. Just don’t read it in public, you’ll snort-laugh and scare people. If Shelly Laurenston writes it, I will be reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.