Hot and Badgered – Shelly Laurenston

This book shouldn’t be as good as it is. There is no way to describe it that doesn’t make it seem like trash (possibly enjoyable trash) - but the author has taken the unpromising pieces and put them together in a way that is fun to read from start to finish.

In a world that (secretly) has many kinds of shapeshifters, most types of shapeshifters stay well clear of honey-badger shapeshifters. That’s because honey-badger shifters have a lot in common with honey badgers: They’re dangerous, they’re aggressive, and their solution to most problems has a charming simplicity. Okay, maybe not charming. In this world, most honey-badger shifters stay clear of the MacKilligan sisters. Some of that is prejudice against half-breeds, but most of it is simple prudence. Even by honey-badger standards, they’re dangerous to be around. And now someone has sent killers after them.

There are three sisters. Stevie, the youngest, is an unstable genius who is subject to panic attacks. (She finds bears particularly scary.) Max goes through life leaving a trail of violence - much of it successful. (We don’t see her starting most of the violence, but her solution to others starting it has a charming simplicity. Okay, maybe not charming.) Charlie, the oldest, gets things done. Always.

Bern is a bear shapeshifter. Bear shifters are at the other end of the laid-back spectrum. When you can solve problems by turning into half a ton of grizzly bear, you don’t have many occasions to get worked up. Bern does get worked up when he first encounters Charlie, the oldest sister, escaping from an assassination attempt but, in bear-shifter fashion, when they meet again, he addresses the attraction by being helpful.

So is the book going to be a bad romance novel or a bad nonstop-c0mbat novel? Oddly enough, the main tone of the book is slapstick, and it works very well.