Breaking badger

Laurenston's fourth Honey Badger Chronicles romance (after Badger to the Bone) delights with characteristic charm, wit, and an action-filled plot. Mads Galendotter is part hyena shifter, and part Viking--but she's a honey badger shifter first and foremost. She's also got an undying passion for basketball that's shared by her four best friends, fellow shifters and a team both on and off the court. While she and her teammates are in the midst of some action-packed, weapon-loaded supernatural drama, they run into the Malone brothers, tiger shifters all, kicking the story into gear as Mads and co. agree to help the brothers discover who murdered their father. Filled with high-octane action, some serious snark, and a plethora of humor, the novel leans more into the urban fantasy genre than it does traditional romance, but there's still plenty of heat between Mads and Finn Malone as they work together to keep her teammates from killing his brothers over interspecies tensions. Add in Finn's younger half sister, Nat, and some familiar faces from previous installments, and the resulting madcap adventures are sure to please series fans. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Literary. (Sept.)