Stray

By Rachel Vincent

Faythe is a werecat, a human who can assume the form of a large cat, in her case a black panther-looking cat. In her world, female werecat's are a rarity and so her family, or pride, expects her to settle down, marry and have lots of babies. It's her duty.
Faythe doesn't see it that way. Feed up with her father's overbearing and dictatorial ways, she has left the family home and gone off to college. She wants to be independent but even at college she is aware she is being watched by her father's loyal minions. She is precious to them and they are not willing to risk her in any way, despite her desire for independence.
All is not well in her world, though. For although the werecats of the United States are very civilized and quiet, the same can't be said for those south of the border. The jungle cats, as they are called, are wild and cruel and ruthless and they have sent a couple of their toms to grab any female werecats they can find. So for her own safety, Faythe is forced to come home where she can be protected. Two young female werecats have been snatched and Faythe is next on their list. Fortunately she has a house full of strong male toms, her brothers and her father's minions, to keep her safe. If only she weren't so determined to have her own way...
Yes, she ends up getting snatched through her own bullheadedness and stupidity and thrown into a cage to face a cruel and heartless werecat interested only in making a profit off her and maybe getting a little action if he can force her.

This was an OK book. I didn't think the werecats acted very cat-like at times and they seem to spend very little time in their cat bodies. Most of the time they are human form, even the bad cats preferring to rape and abuse their victims as men, not cats. Also, although this book is probably classed with the paranormal romance genre, this book is short on romance and very long on gruesome, graphic violence. Reads more like something written by a man than by a woman. Barely 16 pages into the book finds Faythe is beating off an attacker. The book was just too violent for my taste. Plus the cats were more like wolves than cats, what with the pair-bonding and the going on long runs in the woods. I can't think of any cat species that pair-bonds and the only cat I know of that runs much is the cheetah. Cats, including big cats like lions and tigers, jaguars and leopards and even panthers, for the most part, prefer to stalk and pounce and, when running, stick to short, fast bursts of speed to snare their prey. Also, like I mentioned before, these werecats spend most of their time being and acting human, humans with short fuses, but still human.