Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Review: Stray by Rachel Vincent




Book: Stray by Rachel Vincent
Series or Stand-Alone: Series, Shifters #1
Pages:  618 (Mass Market Paperback)
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance
Purchase A Copy: Amazon | Book Depository
Publication Date: June 1st, 2007
Description: 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....


I am going to try and keep this short and sweet, because I am sure you all have read countless reviews of this. Stray by Rachel Vincent was a decent series opener. Our heroine, the ever spunky Faythe (yes, that is the correct spelling) is an evolving character – one who has a lot of growing up to do. She makes her fair share of mistakes and often makes rash decisions and assumptions pertaining to the people around her. She is extremely pigheaded – which proved to be both a good and a bad thing. At times I found her sheer will refreshing, but most of the time I found her a bit annoying. She never listens to anyone and decided early on that everyone is out to get her. She is incredibly self-centered; she has a hard time seeing things from other peoples perspective. Faythe is also prone to throwing temper tantrums at the most inopportune times. 

However, I give Vincent credit for creating a character that isn’t perfect; it makes Faythe feel real. I just didn’t exactly like her.  I hope that as the series progresses we see a larger change in Faythe, because I see a great deal of potential in her character. She is determined, spunky, sarcastic and tough – but she definitely as a lot of growing up to do.

On the other hand, I am a huge fan of her love interest, Marc. I would take him just as he is. The two of them have a lot of history, but Faythe does everything in her power to keep their relationship purely platonic. She is unsure of her feelings considering Marc, because he doesn’t fit in her life plan. She wants to get as far away from her old life at the ranch as possible, but Marc is perfectly content there. So, she cuts off all ties to him and tries to move on, while he holds on for dear life. 

The action/mystery part of the plot was extremely engrossing; I would definitely classify this as a “page turner”. There is a great deal of excitement, action and just overall tension that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The romance and love triangle portion of the book was a bit off for me. I’ve already talked about Faythe and Marc, but now let’s discuss the third wheel, Jace. I was just not buying the possibility of Jace as a love interest. Right from the get go it is obvious who she is going to end up with – the girl always goes for the crazy passionate brooding guy. Always. Jace never stood a chance.

I enjoyed Stray, but I did not love it. I did not like the heroine and that’s a BIG problem – especially a book that is written in a first person POV. I will continue with this series and hopefully Faythe will come to understand that the world does not revolve around her.
 

Favorite Quotes

"Lit majors are not known for watching where they're going; most of us walk with our eyes in a book instead of on the path ahead."
"Apparently the complete works of Shakespeare packed quite a wallop."
"I'm glad you think so. I've always considered my sense of humor to be largely under-appreciated, so it's nice to finally meet a fan."
"Wonderful a death match on my first day behind bars. Some girls have all the luck."
"Kicking ass is surprisingly therapeutic"
"He was half again my size, but when we embraced, I felt like I was holding him up, and it was all I could do to remain standing. He buried his face in my hair, his body shaking against me with the spasmodic rhythm of unrestrained sobs. It was almost more than I could bear gracefully."

2 comments:

Nerissa said...

I loved this series and was sad to see it end. Faythe begins to grow on you, and her character starts to develop more as she learns that everything is not always about her. You should still give the series a try.

Kari said...

I don't think I've even heard of this before! Just shows how out of touch I've gotten...thanks for the review--and the quotes!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...