Liviania‘s review of Prey (Shifters, Book 4) by Rachel Vincent
Contemporary paranormal romance/urban fantasy released by MIRA 1 Jul 09

I love it when I stick to a series and it pays off.  With Rachel Vincent’s Werecat books, the first two just didn’t work for me, but were so close to working that I couldn’t resist continuing.  I mentioned in my review of Pride that I felt it was a running leap in the right direction, which makes Prey the right direction.

The events in the preceding novels have really forced Faythe to grow up, especially becoming responsible for the health of a teenage girl.  That definitely helps Faythe understand her parent’s point-of-view better.The book begins with Faythe’s father still under fire for his decisions as the Pride’s leader.  It’s absolutely the wrong time for Marc to get kidnapped, because Faythe wants the best (and most egalitarian) leadership  for the Pride as much as she wants to rescue her lover.  Marc and Faythe’s relationship is finally leveling out to something that doesn’t ping my squick buttons.  (When something happens in Faythe’s love life that I wanted to happen in the earlier books, I was very upset since it was very much the wrong time.  Not that the wrong time wasn’t a believable time, just the wrong one.)

It helps that I also like the supporting cast.  The male members of the group add humor, as always, but this one brings out more of their relationships with each other and how they behave professionally.  Kaci’s dilemma is heart-breaking, but she can still be pretty cute, like a fourteen-year-old girl should be.  Manx, who is on trial during Prey just as Faythe was in Pride, is affecting as a tough woman stuck in a vulnerable position.  I wish we could’ve seen more of her even though it would have slowed the plot down some.

There are multiple plot threads in Prey, but they mesh well.  While something important is going on the narrative focuses on it, but never too long to forget the other plots/sub-plots.  It’s also easy to feel Faythe’s frustration and sometimes despair, since it would be tough to keep up with everything going on if you had a personal stake in all the events.  Not to mention with Faythe taking more responsibility for her actions, she takes the time to think about her options and weigh the consequences.  Impulsiveness can be less mentally taxing.

Like Faythe, the Werecats series has grown up.  I loved seeing the potential reached, with brutal fight scenes interspersed with drama.  (I think even if I weren’t a total softie Vincent would have made me cry with this one.)  I cannot wait for the fifth book to come out.  On that hand, I am happy with the quick release between Pride and this one.  I like that publishers are experimenting with schedules if the author already has the next book completed.  To me, it helps the story keep momentum.  Of course, Prey is fast-paced enough not to need much help with that.

Grade: B+

Summary:
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Sometimes playing cat and mouse is no game…
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Play? Right. My Pride is under fire from all sides, my father’s authority is in question and my lover is in exile. Which means I haven’t laid eyes on Marc’s gorgeous face in months. And with a new mother and an I-know-everything teenager under my protection, I don’t exactly have time to fantasize about ever seeing him again.
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Then our long-awaited reunion is ruined by a vicious ambush by strays. Now our group is under attack, Marc is missing and I will need every bit of skill and smarts to keep my family from being torn apart. Forever.
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Read an excerpt here (scroll down).

Other books in the series:

Sandy M’s review of Prey by Melina Morel
Contemporary Paranormal Romance released by Signet 2 Sep 08

Well, this doesn’t happen to me very often.  A book that starts out fine, sounds and feels like it’s going to be good.  A book that starts to fall apart in Chapter 2.  A book that I just can’t pick up again to finish it. That’s happened to me maybe three or four times in the thirty-five or so years I’ve been reading. That’s how much I like books.  And how much I didn’t like this one.

I actually told a friend that I had started this book and I was liking it so far. That was the first chapter.  After that I’m not sure what happened in what order for me, but suddenly I just didn’t like the story anymore. I think it was the dialogue. It became stiff and almost childlike. I got no emotion from it at all.

There’s a scene where the heroine, Vivian, is kidnapped.  Though she’s a shifter and can more than likely take care of herself, there’s still that window of time where she should be frightened, and though the words in the book tried to tell me that, I never felt it.  Even when the characters talk to one another, they’re rigid and unemotional.  They read like one-dimensional people on paper, which is exactly what they are.  The blind date between Hank and Viv, as well as their conversation, was so…high school.  Just didn’t work.

All of that then led me to not caring about and not liking the characters all that much. In the first chapter I really liked Pavel and Ivan. They shift into their cat forms to save a little girl from her kidnapper.  The action is good, the emotion is there. When that’s over, however, for the next twenty-three chapters, which is where I stopped, nothing happens. Nothing worth mentioning anyway.  Certainly no action.  No emotion.  Not even any sex.  I would have been happy with lukewarm sex.  Nope. Even when Pavel thinks about, admires Vivian, big whoop the way it’s described. Same thing when she thinks about him.

All I got, and this was the best part in twenty-three chapters, was when Pavel and Viv decided to be honest with one another and shifted to show the other their cat. Lots of looking during that scene. Some love-bites or licks would have been nice, but nothing.  Not even any sniffing. I did, though, learn the difference between Maine Coon Cats, Siberian something or others, and Russian Blues. That was said I don’t know how many times.  I just didn’t care by this time.

Why we went from a good opening chapter of shifting cats hunting the bad guys to those same cats in search of a Russian icon in their human forms is beyond me, because it got so very boring. The author didn’t make me care about a thing in this book.  And, believe me, when that happens when I’m reading, that’s bad.

Grade: DNF

Summary:

Vivian Roussel prefers to keep a low profile—she is, after all, a werecat, descendant of an ancient demigoddess, and highly regarded in Manhattan’s nightworld. But when she’s robbed of a priceless icon, she has only one recourse for protection.

Surveillance expert and werecat Pavel Federov never gets personal with his clients.But he’s drawn to Vivian. Pavel soon discovers that the thief has something far more dangerous in mind—for he’s marked Vivian as his next target.

When Vivian Roussel’s business suffers a mysterious break-in, she turns to security expert Pavel Federov for help and finds herself in the midst of international intrigue. Rogue werecats have stolen one of Russia’s most treasured icons, and Viv can’t understand what they want with her. Closer to home, trouble in her own werecat clan poses problems for her and Pavel, but their growing attraction makes them willing to turn things upside down and write new rules for interclan romance if they must. Love won’t be denied. But it might be killed if their enemies have their way.

No excerpt available.