Title: To Kill a Badger
Author: Shelly Laurenston
Series: Honey Badger Chronicles #6
Pages: 558
Releases: August 26, 2025
This book picks up shortly after the previous book ended. The de Medicis are still after the badgers and they have a way to paralyze and possibly kill them. Nelle Zhao and Keane are working together to secure alliances with other badger families to help deal with the de Medicis. Along the way, they both realize they have fallen for each other.
Since they were introduced I have liked Keane and Nelle, so I was excited to finally see how they fall in love. Nelle and Keane’s relationship formed as they worked together and got to learn more about each other, much like the previous couples. Keane is such a grumpy cat who expects everyone to do as he asks but he has no problem letting Nelle lead, even if he knows it will lead to chaos. I really enjoyed the banter between these two and the shenanigans they got into.
The fight to bring down the de Medicis’ finally comes to an end in this one. The MacKilligan sisters end up working with Mads aunt Tracy and her band of crazy honey badger friends to gather information and allies. The Old Crones, as Max calls them, were interesting and caused all kinds of chaos. While I did like them, I also felt like they overtook the story. I wanted more of the MacKiligans and team, not the Old Crones, especially when it came to rescuing Nelle. It just felt like they kind of derailed the storyline a little and took away from the team dynamic that we had seen in the previous books.
Back to the fight against the de Medici’s though. I really enjoyed how the MacKilligan sisters dealt with the de Medicis in the end, especially the leader. What I didn’t love was that this battle ended up feeling like a second storyline instead of the main storyline. Nelle and Keane’s attempt to set up alliances ended up feeling like the main storyline, and that was a bit of disappointment with how little it ended up being relevant to the de Medici’s. I think I just wanted more of the MacKilligan sisters and their team working on these issues instead of handing it off to the older generation of badgers.
While I did enjoy the couple, I do have some issues with character changes in this one. In previous books, Nelle was terrified of Charlie, as were the other teammates, and yet in this one we don’t see that. She doesn’t show fear at all. It was just a bit jarring when in all previous scenes with the basketball team, they all were very cautious and scared around Charlie. Also Nelle acts like she and Charlie are the two who keep everyone in line, when we didn’t see any of that from her in previous books.
My other issue was with the Dunn triplets. In this book, they felt so flat and dumbed down. In previous books we see them as being smart and compatible bodyguards who have actual conversations, but not in this. They were barely in the story and what little we did get was them being emotionless triplets who just grunt instead of talking. It was jarring and confusing, especially for characters that are heavily featured in this series.
One last issue was with the character Manse. What was his deal? Why was he an enemy of honey badgers, mainly the Old Crones. What happened between them that led to the scenarios in this book? It just felt like his character was thrown into the story and we were just expected to know who he was and why he hates honey badgers.
So while I enjoyed Nelle and Keane’s relationship, I couldn’t overlook the other issues I found with this book, which really sucks because I love this series. I still love her work but I think this one just didn’t work for me as much.
TW: gun violence; kidnapping; car accidents; death and gore; death of parent mentioned; claustrophobia; panic attacks;
*ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
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Previous books and reviews for the series:
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