Review: Stray (Shifters #1) by Rachel Vincent

Title: Stray

Series: Shifters #1

Author: Rachel Vincent

Genre: Adult, urban fantasy

Publication date: June 2007

Published by: MIRA Books

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis:

There are only eight breeding female werecats left . . .
And I'm one of them.
I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I'd been warned about Strays -- werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female, and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back . . . for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever -- and whoever -- I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays -- 'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them . . .

My rating: ★★★★☆
I think I want to start off by saying that werecats are way awesomer (yes, I said awesomer :P) than werewolves! I would choose a werecat over a werewolf any day!! The idea of werecats is so unique that I love it! Maybe there’s more books out there about werecats, but this is the only book I’ve heard about them. I really liked how Rachel said in this book how Hollywood got  the transformation right but got the species completely wrong!! I was LMAO! Ha ha werewolves, ha ha :)

Okay, so the review…

Faythe Sanders (a werecat) has been trying to stay away from her Pride by going off to college. But five years later she returns home, leaving behind her normal college life, human boyfriend Andrew, and her somewhat confused roommate Sammi. Of course, not by her own account.

Female werecats (tabbies) are very rare, and therefore, valuable (there are only 8 in the US to be exact). So when someone starts kidnapping (or is it catnapping? lol) some of the few tabbies from across the country, Faythe is forced back to the protection of her home. She isn’t happy about it, but there isn’t anything she can do about it either.

The first tabby taken was Sarah, a friend of Faythe’s. The next one to disappear was Abby, Faythe’s own 17-year-old cousin. One or two days later, Sarah was found…dead.

Now completely pissed off and agreeing that this has been going on too far, all of the Alphas of the American territories come together in a meeting to figure out what to do about this.

But in one distracted moment, Faythe gets caught by the mysterious kidnapper as well. Now, I have to admit this was pretty stupid of her. I mean, her father gave her 24/7 protection for a reason: Abby is still missing!!! But, oh no, Faythe has to go out  by herself early in the morning before anyone is a wake, and get herself in trouble.

In a way though, I think it was a good thing she got captured. If this would’ve never happened to her, who knows what would’ve happened to Abby. Plus, they would’ve never found out about Ryan (Faythe‘s brother). I have one word for you: Ryan is crazy!!!! I understand that he had no choice and was forced to do the things he did because if not, well, they would kill him. But OMG!!!!! I still cannot believe him!! *takes deep breath*

Faythe has become one of my favorite heroines. She is very strong, smart (sometimes, lol), independent, and she proved that she can take care of herself. To sum it all up, she is badass!!! Love her!
Another character I love, Jace. *sighs* And I will admit, the reason why he caught my attention was because of his name (if you don’t know already I am a huge Mortal Instruments fan…especially a Jace fan ;)). And I couldn’t help myself but compare them. The results: They are more alike then I would’ve thought! Of course, they’re looks are different (but both are still gorgeous!), and Jace from TMI is  more cocky and arrogant than Jace from Stray. But I still love them both!!

So when Marc beat the hell out of Jace because Faythe took his car keys, I got very, very mad!!! I would’ve liked to pull Marc out of the book and showed him how I felt…okay, that’s a little aggressive lol.
I also feel like Faythe should've chosen Jace over Marc. But I still have a few more books ahead of me to find out :)

And the strays who did the kidnapping,…OMG did they get under my skin! They are so sick!! And I don’t want to reveal too many spoilers, but I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be sooo happy that someone got dismembered! But come on, they sure as hell deserved it!!! But now I’m wondering if they’ll catch the last of the five guys who were doing the kidnapping. I guess I gotta stay tuned for the next book :)

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)