To Kill a Badger

To Kill a Badger by Shelly Laurenston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These books are insane in the best way. Do you need to have read the previous books? I’m not sure - no matter what the flipping of characters, locations, banter, will all leave you with your head spinning.

This book loosely focuses on Nelle and Keane. Nelle is a member of the honey badger group we have been following. It’s time for her to step up to manage some of the insanity they have attracted using her money and connections. Lucky for Keane, she has sort of adopted him as hers. Keane, however, seems less than enthusiastic about being pulled into the wild and crazy world of the honey badgers. Even having his family surrounded by them has not prepared him for the tornado that is Nelle.

About halfway through the book, you can begin to see through Keane’s gruff exterior to find him falling for the insanity that has come his way. I particularly enjoyed checking in with all (and I mean all) of the familiar faces we know and love. It was especially satisfying to watch our favorite baker step up to resolve some lingering issues. I am loving watching this crew grow and pair off, so keep these installments coming!

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Wicked Ever After

Wicked Ever After by Gina LaManna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, that wrapped things up! Do I wish that everyone found their mates and it was HEA all around? Sure! But this was a good start.

First - I in now way predicted who the big bad was going to be. With all of the terrible decision making Dani has been doing, it was impossible to predict anything at this point in the series. They’ve got all the hex files people identified, but things are not looking good at the start of the book - Sienna is still missing, Matthew is gone. Enter time for questionable decisions that lead Dani into the dead lands even though she is not dead. So many side quests that don’t appear to connect end up connecting in the end.

Without too many spoilers, this book is like 90% showdown/battle. All the looming badness from previous books all hits in this one for the final hex files curse. I found myself missing the new characters we met in the previous two books a lot, but it was time for the original folks to reconvene. Do we get a separate spinoff for them? I hope so! I was left feeling mostly satisfied, if not a little off put but the amount of big talks that happen in the midst of battle. At least my biggest fear was never realized and for that I can be happy.

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Wicked Twist of Fate

Wicked Twist of Fate by Gina LaManna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ahhhh where to begin in a book that ends in such a catastrophic way?

Dani is even more frustrated in her relationship at the start of this book - Matthew continues to be an almost new character, hiding things, being distant, putting the job first, etc. Primrose is the new Willa until even crazier developments pull her away. We spend a lot of time learning about a new place - the Emporium, which is a magical bar filled with potions and secrets. We dive deep into that world because of a murder and because the plot needs us to know about it. I found this book pretty frustrating if my review so far did not convey that.

With all of the parts moving around, I thought we’d feel like things are going to be wrapping up, but instead it feels messier than usual. Her older brother’s reveal also felt SUPER forced and made up for plot purposes. All the characters I’ve grown to love seem so different when I just want them to be familiar. I guess this book accomplished what it most wanted to - put us ill at ease with the coming showdown. Nobody is safe, we still don’t know who the big bad is, and very bad things are afoot.

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Wicked All the Way

Wicked All the Way by Gina LaManna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s time for a holiday installment! Lots of things are changing in this installment and it felt like we met a whole new crew, with only Dani remaining constant.

Matthew took his “temporary” assignment outside of Wicked which just felt, weird. What he agreed to was that this assignment would be super easy to pop back from, but what we actually get here feels like a different guy. Where is the guy who gave up his job to be with Dani a few books back? Where is the guy that was willing to fight to be with her? This feels like a huge change in his personality, no matter what hex files nonsense is pulling him away. He is also keeping secrets from her, which feels so out of character that I was utterly confused.

Also, in this book we meet a brand new character, Primrose, who is a rookie assigned to help Dani and get mentorship from her. While she’s a great character, it felt a lot like Willa 2.0. Why did we need her? I don’t know, but I did enjoy her. We see a lot more of the wolf in this one, which I appreciated, but not at the expense of Matthew. Oh, and her brother? Weird random introduction of a brother who was MIA, and that felt a bit like a plot device. Overall, this book introduced a lot of new faces and new behaviors that were a mixed bag. The payoff here was good, but maybe I’d have done with just a little more of the familiar faces in Dani’s life.

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Wicked Moon Rising

Wicked Moon Rising by Gina LaManna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I spent most of the first 3 books alternating between cringing at the potential for a love triangle between a vampire, werewolf, and witch, and wondering when we will learn more about the hex files this series is named after. Well, we finally get some answers for one of them!

After the end of the last book, we knew Dani was a target of some evil big bad. This book starts with a big attack (it seems Dani’s apartment is always under threat) and also outs Matthew’s overprotectiveness that is a surprise to nobody except Dani. This book revolves around a bit of a mystery - if Matthew is the only vampire in the borough, who could be responsible for a werewolf murder by vampire except him?

This book appears to be where Dani starts to really dig into the hex files mystery. We learn more about them than just “my ex-boyfriend, who I killed, brought them up once.” For the longest time, I couldn’t really understand what the big deal about them is, but now we see that they are a kind of curse that can either bring in the big evil or big good to Wicked. With 6 people to identify, I’m here for this adventure for Dani and company. For this book, however, we get a good intro to the files, solve the very obvious mystery that points to someone other than Matthew for murder, and tiptoe around the potential love triangle thing (ugh). The big reveal for this smaller big bad starts the ball rolling in the paranoia game. Trust no one, and all that!

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Wolf Girl

Wolf Girl by Alyssa Stadnyk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book feels like a high school romance, but I will simply blame that on the downright juvenile behavior of the main character, Ashton. This had some really unique lore that I did enjoy.

Brayden has moved around her whole life, but college was supposed to be when all that stopped and she could focus on medical school. Instead, her father threw a wrench in her plans by making her promise to do 2 years in business school in the middle of nowhere before transferring to medical school. Her mostly absent parents are still paying her way, so she agrees, but is almost immediately the target of the local bully. Said bully, Ashton, is also the alpha and kid of a very abusive but powerful man in town. His sister and older brother are great, but Ashton is TERRIBLE. I can’t oversell this. It was painful to read how he treats Brayden “to protect her” when he realizes she is his mate.

I was kind of sad that she ends up with him (obviously) because of what kind of story that tells. For the greater good of the pack and the overall story, I get it, but it was still a struggle for me. Other than that, Brayden is a great, tough main character who forms some good relationships in this terrible town.

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Wicked State of Mind

Wicked State of Mind by Gina LaManna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jeez, you thought she had to deal with workplace drama when she was just a special consultant? Well now she has to report directly in to her ex-boyfriend after they re-hooked-up *AND* the world’s most annoying coworker is circling her like a vulture.

What should be a relatively routine elf kidnapping case gets infinitely more complicated when a magical secret ramps up the stakes and puts everyone, including Dani, in mortal danger. She is forced to navigate tricky office politics, battle magical threats, and survive some truly terrible big bads. This chaos is starting to become her new normal, though, so she finds a way to mix humor with the ability to solve almost impossible cases, all while delivering a satisfying blend of emotional growth and supernatural shenanigans. Oh, and I’m relatively happy with how we have kept un-triangled so far with the wolf. And I love Willa.

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