this is a story about Faythe, one of the very few female werecats. and her stuggle for indepencece from her father (the alpha of her pride). this doesn't help by the fact there is a stray(rogue) going around killing. she gets attacked and then gets recalled back to live with her parents, and thats where i'll leave it.

if you want to know more read the book!

this book was ok enough to get me to read the next book. but from what i remember i got annoyed at faythe at stages. i'm not sure if this is a compliment to the authors writing ie; writing a character that gives you strong emotion when you read them.
or it could be a bad thing because that means it's a bad book and personally i like option A ive read the other books in this series.and yes it's a pretty good series.

Finished it in one sitting. These shifters are even more patriarchal than most, which was awful, but man, I could relate to Faythe so much. I am thoroughly interested.

*4.5 stars*



Anyone that knows me, knows I love cats. I don't have one currently, because we moved recently, but I had 5 when living with my mum and still go back and visit them reguarly (and her too, I guess, but it's mainly for the cats). So reading a urban fantasy series about WERECATS was just awesome for me. But going into Stray, I was a little dubious due to reviews saying it wasn't a great book. I should know by now not to judge based on other peoples opinions, but when the majority of my friends that read this book didn't like it, it's bound to make me uncertain. Luckily enough, I knew from chapter one that I liked this book, despite the obvious flaws.

I agree with most people, Faythe is a bit of an idiot at times. But I did understand a lot of her annoyance at her family and the pressure they put her under. Even though she did cause a lot of problems with her weird decisions, I found this book to be so much fun to read. I whizzed through the 600 pages in 3 days, the majority read in just 2, which is good for me of recent. I also immediately bought and started book 2, which is unusual for me. So it's safe to say this was one of the better books I've read in quite a long while.

May have slight spoilers.

In author Rachel Vincent’s first Shifters novel, Stray, we meet Faythe, the only daughter of a Pride Alpha. Not only that but she is one of only eight tabbies—female werecat’s—left which makes her special to all of the werecat’s as they can not breed with humans—or rather do not, I suppose.

Faythe is having none of it of course, she does not want to get married much less have kids! So for the last five years she has been off at collage getting her degree and having a life with human boyfriend Andrew.

In comes the Pride or more importantly Marc—the one she ran off on to collage in the first place. Now after a run-in with a Stray—a human who was turned by a Pride cat—and one of the other female werecat’s going missing, he has come to bring her home on orders from her father.

Soon another tabby goes missing, then Faythe herself gets captured and if she does not get ways soon, she may not get the chance to, ever.

There is of course a LOT more to the plot than this; we meet Faythe’s whole family and some extended family/‘Pride’ as well.

First off—I have to say that I really liked this novel—the whole huge family living together with the mother and father—I though it was great.

Also another thing I loved—Marc. Hands down my favorite character in this series so far! I love how possessive and jealous he gets of Faythe! Though Faythe, of course, does not as she does not ‘belong to him’. Now throw in sexy long time friend Faythe has not seen in a long while, Jace, who has a thing for her and well the mix is pretty. . .explosive.

That is one thing I admit to not liking at points in this book was Faythe. She seemed so—selfish at times. Not only that but childish and stubborn as hell. I like strong female character as much as the next person and loved that Faythe could kick-ass but I do like for the strong sexy possessive male to save/help the lady sometimes too!

There was a big twist involving someone from Faythe’s family being involved in the tabby kidnappings—that shocked me, especially after we ‘met’ this person.

How is he even remotely related to anyone else in Faythe’s family? I do not see any of the connection of character that they have; he and they were complete opposites in my opinion. Faythe is stand-up-kick-your-ass-spine-of-steal and he was well, kind of a cowered with a twig for a spine.

Altogether the book was very good with a pretty fast paced plot and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great urban fantasy/paranormal series to read. Looking forward to the next novel!

Plotwise it wasn't very exciting, in fact I had issues with some aspects of it. However, Marc & Faythe pulled me in. I totally want to read about their relationship :) Faythe is a great character, except when she is being stupid, it will be interesting to see how she grows during the series. This was probably a 3.5, I hope the plot is better in teh rest of the books.

Oh man I liked this book! I devoured it in two days and keep thinking about it. Which is weird because as a rule I don't like shifter/vampire books (though the [a:Charlaine Harris|17061|Charlaine Harris|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1399317093p2/17061.jpg] Sookie Stackhouse books I also loved). And this book reminded me of the tv show Bitten which I quite liked (though, upon investigation, that show was based on [b:Bitten|11918|Bitten (Women of the Otherworld #1)|Kelley Armstrong|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1306101770s/11918.jpg|2606334] - Woman of the Otherworld series).

Then I read the goodreads comments and it turns out I'm in the minority here! I gave it 4 stars as it did captivate me, but then the writing wasn't amazeballs... Still, I stand by my rating and if True Blood is my guilty pleasure, then this can be too!

(might have to read a more "serious" book now to redeem myself!)

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13421316

So the premise isn't new and the heroine makes ridiculous decisions and is jepoardy friendly and the main love interest is an alpha douchebag despite all this: I really enjoyed it.

Well played Ms Vincent.

“I wasn’t that bad.”
She smiled. “You broke Ethan’s arm.”
“It was self-defense. He wouldn’t let go of my foot.”
“He was helping you tie your shoe.”
I shrugged. I remembered it differently.

Faythe has always been a handful it seems. She is smart, stubborn, headstrong, slightly aggressive and defiant. So much so that at times in the book she was hard for me to like. But she is a werecat so all of those attributes are a benefit to the only female of her family. Faythe has been trying so hard to run away from her family and her past. She ran off to college to try to escape the life she was supposed to have and Marc the man she was supposed to love. But when the women of the other prides start going missing she is called back to her family for protection. She has to leave behind Grad School and her very human boyfriend Andrew. While she hopes that it is only temporary Faythe can’t help the feeling that she will be sucked back into the life and the man she was so desperately trying to avoid.

It was an addiction. A pointless, self-destructive addiction. But really, is there any other kind?

There are things that I really liked about this book and things that really bothered me. Let me start with the stuff I liked. I loved the idea of werecats and prides and the setup of the world they live in. I enjoyed reading about behaviors while in cat form and the family structures. I found it fascinating and a different take on the whole ‘were’ thing as a whole. I enjoyed the writing style, pacing and most of the characters. There are plenty of Alpha male moments and Marc is the ultimate alpha trying to protect the woman he loves that broke his heart so many years ago. Even though Marc was a bit over the top with his animal instincts at times I still thought his whole alpha male thing was attractive and sexy in the book. But girls, in real life, most of his actions would be wrong on so many levels.

The thing I didn’t like about the book, and this is just my personal preference, was the actual storyline. Wait, don’t hate me, the plot was well thought out and flowed well, however the content of the storyline is what I didn’t like. I say this only because a portion of this book is about capture and rape. While there is no actual rape scene to read, a few of the women in this book are brutalized and you know it. I have a very difficult time with this type of content and while it was written well and not too graphic the subject is slightly disturbing to me and the detracted from my overall enjoyment of this particular book in the series.

I told you not to touch her. And I meant it. If you lay a hand on her again, you’ll have more to worry about than her ripping out you r heart. I’ll save her the trouble and do It myself

That said there is a lot of potential for future story arcs in the series. I like the overall concept and so I will read on in the series to give it a solid shot as I think I will not have an issue with the content in future storylines. Faythe has a lot of growing to do and I can’t wait to see if she can keep up with the boys and kick some butt in the future.

Fantastic! I bought this book a while ago and I can’t believe it took me so long to read it. I loved it! “Stray” is amazing in so many different ways. The characters, the plot…completely genius! I really appreciate all the details and background story since it helps me to understand this fascinated new world. Once again Rachel Vincent creates amazing female characters who are not your cute cookie-cutter type of girl…and the romance, Oh Boy the romance!! This book gets steamy; so with that say is for a more mature crowd. Get ready to sink in a whole new world of supernatural and start falling in love with so many amazing characters. I’m having a character crush on Marc!. Loved him!

I’m so glad I have the first four books on the series! I don’t think I could survive without reading them one after the other.