New (to me) Must Read Series

When one of my best friends first handed me this series of books to read all I gave her were raised eyebrows.  The series by Rachel Vincent is about Faythe Sanders and she is a Werecat.  Yes.  A Werecat.  I don't know why I thought this was silly at first.  After all, I've read and loved dozens of books about flying broomsticks and vampires who go to high school and date waitresses.  So it was no surprise to me that it took a little while to get into the first of the series, Stray.  What did surprise me was how hard it became to put down.    Faythe lives in a world she is dying to escape, constantly under the supervision of her Werecat family and their hired protectors.  She has complicated relationships with almost everyone in her life and is just looking for a little independence.  That is, until her entire world threatens to come crashing down around her.  Once the action starts there is little time to do anything but breathe as the whirlwind continues through all 4 books (each of which I devoured in just a few hours).  Not since Scarlett O'Hara has there been a heroine so fallible and at the same time so endearing.  Not to mention the ass kicking she can dish out, the likes of which you haven't seen since Buffy Summers hung up her stake.  The world she lives in is full of danger, politics and mystery with a healthy dose of love and devotion so strong that the first tear is sliding down your cheek before you even realize how invested you've become.  Four of the six planned novels are out in paperback now (see above) and the 5th is due out March 1st of next year which, for me, feels like a lifetime to wait after tearing through the first 4 so quickly.  You can order Stray from Amazon here and you may as well order the other 3 while you're at it.  You'll thank me later.  I'd bet all nine of my lives on it.