Badger to the Bone

Laurenston (In a Badger Way) delivers all the dark, hilarious lunacy her fans expect in this third Honey Badger Chronicles paranormal romance, which delves into the life of the middle MacKilligan sister. Max MacKilligan, a full-blooded honey badger shifter, has a well-earned reputation for smiling sociopathy, so it’s no surprise that very few of the ex-military criminals hired to kidnap her make it out of their encounter alive. In fact, the lone survivor is Zé Vargas, who Max spares because she can sense that he is a jaguar shifter, though he doesn’t know that yet. Zé, who infiltrated the kidnappers hoping to take their organization down from the inside, is a model of sanity and integrity and he’s completely out of place in the all-shifter neighborhood of New York City into which Max drags him. Max’s fierce devotion to her sisters and loyalty to her friends quickly win Zé over as he attempts to navigate both his newfound powers and the shifter world while keeping Max safe from the myriad enemies who want her dead. Filled with familiar faces and more than a few kooky, delightful surprises, the plot neatly ties up loose ends while dangling tantalizing promises of things to come. Series readers will gobble this up. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Literary. (Apr.)