Review: The Collector

Title:  The Collector
Series:  A Dante Walker Novel #1
Author:  Victoria Scott
Publisher:  Entangled Teen
Pages:  352
Format:  eBook
Source:  Bought

He makes good girls...bad.

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

My Review:  If you haven't noticed . . . I've been a bit excited for this book.  You know *cough* just a bit.  It sounded so good.  Cocky bad boy, hilarious "voice", and a girl that may make him question everything he's grown to accept?  Count me in.  This sounded like exactly the type of book I would enjoy. 

And enjoy I did.  I fell in love from page one, even though it might have been a bit of a love-to-hate-Dante thing at first.  He was such a jerk and I just wanted to kick him in the shin and hide his favorite shoes.  The way he looked down on everyone around him made me go insane.  But, luckily, he redeemed himself quickly.  We see that there's more to him than meets the eye and I liked those softer parts of him we got to see until the jerk part beat it down again.  There's a sweet guy buried under all that swagger and the rock hard wall he's built up around him.  Don't get me wrong, I still seriously enjoyed the badass, sarcastic, cocky guy he was the majority of the time.  He grew on me quickly and I found myself smiling crazily while I read parts of him sticking up for Charlie and going all demon protector for her on "the mean kids".  

Charlie . . . man, I love this girl.  She's so sweet and nice and it really was upsetting to see the way she changed so drastically in this story.  She's not immune to Dante's influence and it was hard to see the way she was affected.  Still, she kept hold of who she really is and I'm glad to see that - despite the changes that did happen to her - she stayed herself at heart.  

The plot was really fun.  It was so cool to see the way Dante strung Charlie along and got her to go on some adventures.  It was also awesome seeing Charlie do the same thing to Dante.  Dante wasn't entirely unaffected by Charlie, either, and it was so sweet seeing the way his character developed and grew as we made our way through the story.  The writing style was so great.  I was laughing out loud every other page.  Dante is so freaking funny and I thoroughly enjoyed reading from his point of view.  I need more Dante in my life - stat!  

There is so much that is right in this book - the characters, the concept, the plot, the writing style all made it as amazing as it is.  I can definitely see myself coming back to reread this book.  I'm already eagerly waiting for the sequel (yes, it's a series.  Thank the Lord because I wouldn't be able to survive without more Dante). 

Five Cards