ARC Review: To Kill a Badger by Shelly Laurenston

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 don't know about you, but it seems like I've been waiting for what seem like ever for To Kill a Badger to come out. I've reread the series over and over just to keep everything in order, plus I love this series. Waiting so long doesn't always make for great reading. Which is why this winter I will read the whole series as a whole again just to be able to enjoy it without the questions that come with waiting. 

I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the book because I really did. But at times I felt bad for the author. I'm sure she was under a lot of pressure to have a great book with all the questions being answered. Saying that one of our questions about how Nelle and Keane will be together is answered. They are perfect! She knows how to calm the beast we know as Keane. We all understand why he is the way he is. All the pressure he's been under since he was a kid which makes the fact that he now knows who killed his father such a relief for him that you can almost feel it in the way he acts and treats others 

For me the biggest shock of this book in Nelle and her personality. I didn't notice before just how we knew nothing about her and who she is. We get glimpses of the real her in the prior books, but this one opens up Nelle. 

I enjoyed them together and how they interact. You could almost feel them falling in love. There is so much good humor in this story and many touching moments. When Charlie gets into bed with Berg and tells him she loves him and what she wants him to do if something happens to her my heart broke for him. He even let got and didn't growl at Dutch being brought up. You also feel for Stevie who isn't used to not being able to figure something out right away. It's killing her not to be able to keep the people she cares about safe. 

There are so many things I'd love to talk about in the book, but you need to read it for yourself. It will be so much better that way. 

What I didn't care for is that even I felt there were too many storylines going on at once. It is such a busy book, and I was a bit disappointed that some of the past characters that might not have loved the badgers didn't come and help them. I missed the interactions which prior book characters for the prior series. 

I am looking forward to the new series even if it's going back in time. I kind of wish it wasn't. I'd like it now, but it is what it is. I love the wolf husbands so I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. Them showing up in this book to help was done so well. 

As you can tell by the length of this review this is a great story that does a wonderful job of tying up the story. Now I'm back to waiting for what we are getting next. 

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