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1 Beaverton Romance- Paranormal
25 Local Warehouse Science Fiction and Fantasy- Fantasy- Contemporary
25 Remote Warehouse Science Fiction and Fantasy- Fantasy- Contemporary

Stray

by Rachel Vincent

Stray Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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...

Review:

"Vincent's debut, an urban "werecat" fantasy, is a good story that suffers from about 200 pages of bloat. Faythe Sanders is a Texas grad student with a secret: she's a shape-shifting werecat. After she's attacked by a Stray — a werecat without ties to any pride — Faythe's father, the Pride Alpha, orders her to return to the family compound. As it turns out, two other werecat "tabbies" have gone missing, indicating an organized effort by the formerly go-it-alone Strays. The author's world building is intriguing but overly narrow, reducing the range of jungle feline behavior to a keen territorial instinct. Secondary characters abound, including Faythe's intended, formerly human werecat Marc; five years earlier, she escaped the pride on what was supposed to be the eve of their wedding. Unfortunately, they both have frustrating character tics that are only exacerbated by the novel's length: Faythe is more often too-stubborn-to-live than kick-ass, and all the tears Marc wells up over Faythe don't forgive his insufferable jealousy. A polished tale may hide within this one, but Vincent needs to rein herself in a bit if she wants to build a readership. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"'Vincent's debut, an urban 'werecat' fantasy, is a good story that suffers from about 200 pages of bloat. Faythe Sanders is a Texas grad student with a secret: she's a shape-shifting werecat. After she's attacked by a Stray — a werecat without ties to any pride — Faythe's father, the Pride Alpha, orders her to return to the family compound. As it turns out, two other werecat 'tabbies' have gone missing, indicating an organized effort by the formerly go-it-alone Strays. The author's world building is intriguing but overly narrow, reducing the range of jungle feline behavior to a keen territorial instinct. Secondary characters abound, including Faythe's intended, formerly human werecat Marc; five years earlier, she escaped the pride on what was supposed to be the eve of their wedding. Unfortunately, they both have frustrating character tics that are only exacerbated by the novel's length: Faythe is more often too-stubborn-to-live than kick-ass, and all the tears Marc wells up over Faythe don't forgive his insufferable jealousy. A polished tale may hide within this one, but Vincent needs to rein herself in a bit if she wants to build a readership. (June)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Rachel Vincent is a new author that I'm going to be watching." New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison

Review:

"Vincent's debut is fast paced and cleverly written, and it should find favor with fans of the shape-shifter subgenre." Romantic Times

Synopsis:

Female werecats are disappearing from all over the South, and the Pride is helpless to find its missing members and stop the stray responsible. Confined to home for her own protection, Faythe must now face everything she went to school to escape: the family she left behind, the love she turned her back on, and the destiny tradition says shes bound to fulfill.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Tez Miller, July 24, 2007 (view all comments by Tez Miller)
I'd been awaiting this novel for months. I had my local bookstore import it from the U.S., even though it cost me $20.50. ($1 Aussie is circa 80c American, and the U.S. RRP is $6.99 ? you do the maths.) STRAY is 618 pages, so I definitely got a lot of bang for my buck. I'd read about shape-shifters before, but not werecats. This is a society where females are rare, and thus highly valued. But Faythe Sanders needed distance from her Pride, and so attended university for five years. But when she's attacked by a stray (a bitten werecat with no Pride), and her fellow tabbies around the country go missing, Faythe is dragged back to her Pride. Pissed off with her all-hours watch, she's overdue for some time to herself, but when she finally gets it, it's at a dangerous price. Without all her guards, it's up to Faythe to save herself and her fellow tabbies. The second half of the novel is worth the cover price alone. Greg Sanders is the most admirable character by far: parenthood and team-leading is difficult enough without all the werecats, ferocious tempers and territorial disputes he has to deal with. Add all that to keeping his own emotions at bay, and he's overqualified for the Father of the Year award. Who needs Hogwarts when you can have the Pride? The release of ROGUE (and any other works by this fabulous author) can't come soon enough.
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mysdelt, July 23, 2007 (view all comments by mysdelt)
A little reminiscent of "Bitten" by Armstrong, but still interesting and exciting enough and to be an, "Up all night" read.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780778324218
Author:
Vincent, Rachel
Publisher:
Mira Books
Subject:
Occult
Subject:
Fantasy - Contemporary
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Graduate students
Subject:
Suspense fiction
Edition Description:
Mass market paperback
Publication Date:
June 2007
Binding:
Mass Market Paperbound
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
618
Dimensions:
6.63 x 4.19 in

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