When I recommend Shelly Laurenston’s books to readers whose tastes I’m not entirely familiar with, I often include some caveats: her writing style is unique, and while I enjoy it tremendously, I know it doesn’t work for everyone. Her characters talk like real people, real smart assed people, and they get into situations that are often so completely over the top you either have to surrender to the campy, extraordinary fun or you might be annoyed by it.
With Hot and Badgered, I’d include one additional caveat: this one book is like a short but full season of a television show which is set in a larger, already-built universe. There’s a pilot, some flashbacks, some intermediate adventures, some character appearances from other books set in the same shifter world, opportunities for the disparate groups to move closer together, and then a semi-final showdown with some of the Big Bads. Some, but not all, of the backstory is revealed, and some of the tragic details are alluded to but not confirmed, so there’s more to come along with the Biggest of the Big Bads. Tune in for the next season books to find out what happens to the other two sisters, and how the Big Bads are going to be dealt with once and for all.
In some ways, that plot structure was a lot of fun. I haven’t kept up with all the shifter books in Laurenston’s world, so meeting established couples and seeing how the packs and groups interact was entertaining, but not distracting. For one thing, none of the prior books were overly spoiled. I didn’t get a one line summary of each couple’s history – “Oh, them? They’d gotten together happily after defeating the biggest bad that ever was, except for the OTHER bigger bad that battled that couple over there.” Yeah, none of that, which is cool. I can go back and find the other books if I want.
That increasing presence of the other characters was also important to this story, not superfluous. The appearance of the other shifter clans underscored one of the major themes affecting the three heroines: as mixed-breed shifters, or hybrids, two of the three sisters aren’t entirely welcome in the other packs, or in their own. Because they are part honey badger, because their father has been a lifelong troublemaker and inveterate fuck up, and because they have no group of their own besides each other, they stick together and care for one another in functional and dysfunctional ways. The internal prejudice toward hybrids in some shifter groups is a running theme that influences every interaction, and adds a poignancy to some of the scenes.
The key question to a story about honey badger shifters is obviously, Do they give a shit? No. No, they do not. Per the original narration by Randall, the honey badgers are indeed fearless, and they don’t give a shit: not about their place within the packs, not about what anyone thinks of them, and certainly not about what they have to do to defend themselves when someone is trying to kill them, which happens pretty frequently.
The three sisters introduced in this book, Charlie, Max, and Stevie, are 2000% devoted to one another. Each has real and sometimes overwhelming mental health issues which they deal with in various ways, each has shifter abilities that are unique and dangerous to others, including the other shifters, and each has a specialized and somewhat secretive skill that they use to care for and protect one another.
The opening scene tells you everything you need to know about them. I won’t spoil it because it is a hell of a reveal, but Charlie’s skill at identifying weaknesses, immediately sizing up various strengths and weaknesses in the people and structures around her, and manipulating people based on that information makes her exceedingly interesting and also dangerous. The ways in which she and her sisters communicate wordlessly is also amazing and chilling – it’s a very satisfying introduction to the three of them.
I don’t want to spoil too much, as I said, but one of my favorite things about Charlie is that there are plenty of reasons why she might be underestimated compared to Max and Stevie, or why she might appear to be the weakest of the three sisters, but she is not. And the ways in which she manages everything around her spoke to me personally because she performs a surprisingly large amount of behind the scenes observation, administration, and organization, something that’s almost always undervalued as a skill set – and one that I have, also. So seeing those abilities to identify, manage, organize, and arrange valued as inherently important and dangerous precisely because they’re invisible was delicious to read about.
There isn’t a whole lot of conflict between Charlie and Berg, the grizzly shifter she meets when she jumps naked onto his hotel balcony after armed gunmen try to kill her. Their relationship isn’t about internal conflict but is about family bonds, and being a safe space for someone. Berg is entirely sold on Charlie, but knows her life and history isn’t much about staying in one place, mostly because when she tries to stay put, someone tries to kill her or her sisters again (there’s a lot of attempted murder in this book). He also knows that she’s never had a safe place or a quiet home, or even much of a home, and he would love to be the one who provides her with safety and stability. But he wants her to choose that option, and to choose him.
Berg is adorable. He’s a giant deadly grizzly bear who works in security with his brother and sister (they’re triplets, or, as we say in romance land, sibling sequel bait), but is otherwise laid back, mellow, happy to live in a bear-filled neighborhood and live with his siblings. As chaotic, dangerous, and awful Charlie’s family life is, Berg’s is the opposite, and he’d like nothing more than to make his home her home as well.
The gentleness and humor of the romance between Berg and Charlie is a lovely and welcome contrast to how violent and utterly sucktastic Charlie’s life is otherwise. Someone is always trying to kill her or her sisters, their father endangers them constantly, their relatives want nothing to do with them, and, because they are all or part honey badger, they have an instinctive ability to start shit, stir shit up, or make shit explode. As we’ve established, they have zero shits to give about anything, and they have a lot to be justifiably angry about. So their ferocity, anger, and violent talents were fierce and reassuring.
The episodic nature of the book meant that the pacing was different and sometimes would slow down dramatically after adventure and mayhem on the page, but for the time and space in which I read the book, it was ideal for me. It was easy to put the story down for a bit and then jump right back into it when I was ready. It was a quick process to reacquaint myself with the characters (they’re honey badgers, they don’t give a shit, people keep trying to kill them) and ride along with the plot until it took another breather.
After reading the Call of Crows series, I asked myself who my sister crows were. After reading Hot and Badgered, I asked myself in which areas of my life can I be more like the honey badgers. Where can I be more fearlessly, ferociously unabashed about taking care of myself? When can I more obviously, and fiercely not give a shit? Among my favorite things about Laurenston’s writing is how very affirming and inspiring and a whole lot of fun it is, because angry, fearless women make room for themselves, they get shit done, and they’re the heroines. More honey badgers, please.
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I have been waiting for this review!!! Sarah nailed it. The tv show is a good analogy – there are a LOOOT of side characters, and it felt more than a bit like when I started watching General Hospital in my one foray into Soaplandia. (Wait, where did this person come from and why is she such a bitch)? I didn’t realize they were previous characters, so it was a bit frustrating until I just rolled with it.
This is a must-read for me. Not all of the Laurenston/Aiken books work for me, but I love the shifters and I’ve been waiting for the honey badger book since I first heard about it.
And thanks for sending me down the YouTube rabbit hole with one of my favorite oldies when I should have been sleeping. I went from “honey badger don’t give a shit” to over an hour of news bloopers and crazy interviews. 😀
I loved this one! I can’t wait for the next book in this new arc.
I just…can’t get past the title. Hot and Badgered? Why not just call it Hot and Vagina’d and have done with it?
@Kate J: In ‘Murica, that would be “Hot and Beavered,” and now I am going to be distracted all day by thoughts of comedic beaver shifter erotica, thanks.
First, STOP COPYING ME!! I swear every time I finish a book lately, I come hear and find a review. I don’t know where the camera is, but you need to disconnect it. I do a lot of my reading in bed and I’m not comfortable with you watching me sleep.
And yes, this review totally nailed it. It took me a while to adjust to her shift (ha!) in narrative styles. Earlier books were more couple-centric. I think the Crows got me on board with the multiple povs and larger story overarching.
I enjoyed this immensely. It was great to see Novikov is still a self-involved obsessive, Dee-Ann would still rather start the killing than talk, and everyone still likes to see a make lion get taken down. And the Jean-Louis Parker clan, oh how I’ve missed them. And all of it brilliantly seeded in a really fun story.
Mostly, I just love bear shifters and Berg is wonderful.
Come HERE! Stupid autocorrect assumes I’m using the wrong form.
I enjoyed this, but I was listening and there was a different narrator. I kept being pulled out of the story by the different accents for some of the prior characters. They gave Bo a Russian accent, etc. It wasn’t necessarily bad, just different.
I agree that this book is a solid B. It is confusing in the beginning because there’s a lot of character and plot introduction in the first few chapters despite being set in Laurenston’s shifter world. Charlie and Berg were a bit secondary to the overall storyline but it worked and I can’t wait for the other stories. I feel like they will only get better! I love how past characters show up but through the new perspective of Charlie, Max, and Stevie. My favorite scene is where Charlie is in the middle of a fist fight and Bo Novikov pops up trying to convince Charlie to join the hockey team. Those comedic reliefs in Laurenston’s writing is always so delightful and one of the reasons I’m hooked on her books!
I adore Shelley Laurenston. She makes me stop reading to literally laugh out loud. Sometimes belly laughing. That is a gift I treasure when all around me is going from sugar to shit.
Don’t get me wrong; I love all things honey badger. Plus, wolverines! But my new book BFF has gotta be Berg’s 6’7″ sister, Britta.
This was more a B+/A- to me, but then I’m hardly objective. I love Laurenston/Aiken and have read everything she’s published.
As sequel bait, Britta is pure gold. I can’t wait for that book. So is Max.
If I’m allowed to include a link from Ms Laurenston’s newsletter, here’s publisher promo for the book. (Hope this works)
I love this book. But then, I love all Laurenston/Aiken stuff, so I’m biased.
I like that she manages to make characters that are not beloved by everyone—Dee-Ann is a rockstar to some but an irrational, violent byatch to others. Novikov is an anal-retentive jerk to some but genuinely “gets” others. Laurenston gets that each person has a someone else that loves him/her for whom s/he is; no one has to change dramatically to be accepted.
And I looooove that Dee is pretty much just pissed because she got her butt handed to her by a HB. Haha.
As if I wasn’t already dying to read this, you had to mention that Dee-Ann is in the book, and gets her butt kicked. I love that she-wolf! I know some people thought there wasn’t enough romance in it, but her book, Big Bad Beast, is one my favorites.
I’ll join the yeah-chorus. The most recent book in the Pride series Bite Me focused on the romance of a honey badger as the heroine and all the crazy sauce of her being able to get in anywhere, hiding/sleeping in kitchen cabinets, etc. I loved the books and though this was less a couple romance than an exploration of family I loved it also.
Yes, it is less focused and not the best place to start in Laurenston’s world but plunge right in.
Yup. This review pretty much nailed everything that makes this book so great. The sisters are fabulous.
Side benefit is that yes, Big Bad Dee-Ann gets taken down a peg or two. Now, I love Dee-Ann but sometimes people like her need to meet a bigger badder bitch who in this case is so much nicer. And also Toni (one of the few Laurenston heroines I disliked) and her overly previous family also get deflated some.
Ooooh, I love Toni Jean Louis Parker. That quality that Sarah mentions of being the behind the scenes facilitator for one’s family–so vital and so often unacknowledged and under appreciated–Wolf with Benefits is the seminal work on that theme.
Has anyone else noticed that Aiken/Laurenston’s books have gradually become less focused on hot, coarse, intense sexytimes and more focused on the lovers’ role in a much wider net of relationships? This trend seems to have snuck up on me over time. Her characters are amazingly complex, always have been–particularly the women–and none of her characters are ever all one thing. Also her families are real; loving and horrible all at the same time. That totally resonates with me. Just incidentally, her worst villains are often family members that are missing that loving component.
MegS mentions Dee-Ann and Novikov as characters who are horrible to some yet beloved to others, but I have to add Blaise (No, Blayne. I don’t believe I did that.) to that list even though her main flaw is her unrelenting cheeriness. I mean, positivity out the ass. Loved by Bo, nevertheless she ticks off every other person who comes in contact with her.
I actually just wanted to say I loved the review, Sarah. I could never review this author, cuz I just love all her stuff too much. Still I feel compelled to talk about these books, so I shared them with my husband and daughters mainly to have someone to discuss them with. We sprinkle all our best conversations with references to Laurenston along with the other authors we share and love.
This was my first book by this author, but I loved it, and now I want to read more!
I’m 1/3 of the way through the book, and I have laughed out loud multiple times already. I can’t wait to see where it’s going.
But how does Stevie fit into kitchen cabinets???