Title: Stray
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Shifters, #1
Stray is one of those wonderful books I found through twitter. One of my friends was tweeting such good things about the second book in this series, Rogue, that I was intrigued enough to look the books up, and honestly I don't know how this series escaped my notice until now!
Faythe is a werecat who doesn't want anything to do with being one. She's resisted being apart of the family business for as long as she could-which is hard considering her father is the leader of one the 10 werecat packs in the United States, but when members of her pack are being kidnapped she's called home to the family ranch. Faythe isn't at all happy with the orders to return home. All she wants to do is to continue living the life of a normal grad student and be with her boyfriend Andrew-she's tried for five long years to forget that she was apart of a pack.When girls in different packs her age start disappearing, her father orders her to come home and take her rightful place in the pack. Faythe isn't too happy about that and does everything she can think of to get her father to change his mind and let her go back to grad school. She finally realizes that she's in danger, but isn't going to take it laying down-she's going to fight back.
I have to admit I have mixed feelings about this book. It's long-around 600 pgs, and spent the first half being confused by all the terms thrown out...once I realized that they didn't shape shift into actual housecats, but jaguars and the like everything made so much more sense! What I liked best about this book is that when the shifting took place, it was written in such detail that I felt like I was shifting along with Faythe. Once the action started getting going, I couldn't put the book down! I loved the tension between Faythe and Marc..however I can't help but wonder what happened to poor Andrew-her boyfriend back at school. It's almost like his character was just thrown in there whenever Faythe needed an excuse as to why she couldn't be with Marc and something her father could use against her, then forgotten again...but this is a series, so I'm sure we'll be seeing him again. I can't wait to read Rogue and find out what happens next!
Curran Crush Meter: Low (I just wasn't feeling the vibes for Marc. in this book)
Sigh Meter: Low (not really a sighing kind of book!)
Action Meter: High!
Ethan/Merit Sizzle Meter Low (but the romance is just building in this book)
Barrons Hero Hotness Meter: Low
