Review: Hot and Badgered

Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was hilarious. I think it was made more so by the narrator, as I listened to this book rather than read it. The narrator Traci Odom was brilliant, except for her accents. Her Scottish accent was more Irish by way of Russia, it was distracting, but thankfully there weren’t a LOT of Scottish characters and they didn’t talk THAT much. It was so bad it was funny, so there was that.

This book was a complete gamble, it was recommended in my Audible suggestions and I thought it sounded fun, which I was in need of yesterday. (Yes, I listened to it in less than a day, it was that funny). I’m really glad I decided to give into my impulse to buy it, because it was worth the credit I spent on it.

Shelly Laurenston is a very talented author, she balanced characters, plot and humour very deftly indeed. The MacKilligan sisters are a brilliant creation. They are three half siblings who have a complete disaster for a father and their mothers aren’t in their lives. They were being raised by Charlie, the eldest’s, mother because Max, the middle child’s, mother was in jail for armed robbery and Stevie, the youngest’s, mother abandoned her daughter for some unknown reason. When Charlie’s mother was killed the three girls walked hundreds of miles, by themselves, to their grandfather’s pack and made sure they could stay in the most manipulative and ruthless way possible, because there was no way they were being separated. The rest of their lives they stuck by each other through thick and thin, despite their epic arguments.

The arguments were mainly because they were honey badgers, well at least half honey badger. They are hybrids and as such have very freaky DNA. Charlie, for instance doesn’t shift, but she is incredibly strong and grows fangs and claws. She also holds the three sisters together through sheer determination, attitude and really heavy punches. She needs all three because Max is unburdened by morals of any kind and Stevie suffers from a severe panic disorder that needs constant medication and therapy. Stevie is also a genius. Basically Stevie and Max need lots of managing. Add into the mix their con artist of a father who doesn’t care for his daughters except to use them for his own safety or financial gain and there is a lot going on ALL the time.

Charlie is introduced to Berg, a grizzly bear shifter, when she arrives naked into a hotel room where he is protecting a famous pianist. When armed military types swing into the room Berg’s chivalry springs into action and he helps her fight off the guys holding the weapons. He knows she is a shifter being chased by full humans so he gives her a gun and an oversized t-shirt and thinks he’ll never see the gorgeous woman again. When they meet again he decides to help once more and finds them a house to rent on his street, which in inhabited by bear shifters. He and his other triplet siblings, Britta and Dag, offer help and protection to the MacKilligans and the street may never be the same again!

There are so many crazy antics in this book you will never get a chance to get bored. The sibling relationships are fascinating and the romance between Charlie and Berg is slow moving and believable. The romance is really the smallest part of the plot but it is sweet and worthwhile. The pace of the book is at a high level and you don’t get many slow parts to stop and thing about what’s going on, so you do have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy it. I think it’s worth it, if you are in need of a pick me up or a strong diversion.

As this author has written so many other books about shifters I’m sure that I’m missing lots of information about some of the supporting characters but it didn’t matter as they worked within the context of the plot. It does make me want to look at some of the older books though, as well as listen/read the rest of this series. It really was very good.

Buy From Amazon UK
Buy From Amazon UK