Review: The Collector

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence has 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 10 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 long ago buried.

Title: The Collector (Dante Walker ~ Book 1)
Author: Victoria Scott | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Author Spotlight
Publication Date: March 25 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Length: 352 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Source: Direct from Publisher via NetGalley
Cover Love: I like this cover, simple and pretty fitting really
Point of View: 1st person, following Dante

My Rating: 4 Stars

What a fun and dare I say, refreshing read.  Those who follow my reviews will know that I am in love with books written from the male point of view and that is initially what drew me to The Collector.  It is rare to find a Young Adult book that is written solely from the guy's perspective, without it being a retelling.

“I glance in the mirror. Surprise, surprise—I look finger-lickin’ delicious.”

Why did I say this was a fun read?  Because Dante makes it fun.  He is one snarky and up himself character, and that just made this so much fun to read.  Honestly, has there ever been a more conceited character?  He is selfish, conceited, a womaniser... and at times a plain and simple jerk.  But trust me, you will still love him.

You will want to rip his head off more than once but behind the whole façade that is Dante, you know he has a heart.  And as the story unfolds you see more and more of his true character breaking through the walls he has put up.

“Because I see you.  Even though you try so hard to hide, I see you, anyway.”

And why is it a refreshing read?  I haven't been a teenager, or even a young adult for many, many years but Victoria Scott has managed to hit the nail on the head when it comes to how I would believe a teenager would act and how they would speak.

There are so many young adult books out there where the characters act so much older than they actually are.  They go to high school, and you are told that they are of a certain age but you can't wrap your head around it sometimes.  That is not the case here.  Dante, Charlie, Annabelle and Blue all act like teenagers.  They all speak as I would assume teenagers would speak and that made it refreshing.

“Annabelle laughs. "Oh, so you think you're hot, do you?"

"Girl, I got swag for days.”

Charlie is a great character and you can easily see how much she grows as the story goes on.  It was great to see this change through the eyes of Dante, rather than directly from Charlie.

You can't see how there is ever going to be any sparks between Charlie and Dante because honestly at first he can't stand her.  Well, he thinks she is a sweet enough girl but he is not attracted to her at all.

Slowly Charlie starts to change.  I will be honest and say I was scared that when she started to change her appearance that it would be that to draw Dante closer and it would make him look even more shallow.  Thankfully this is not the case.  Dante is the first to say that it is not the changes that has made him start looking at Charlie differently... yet another reason why this is best told from his point of view.  We can be in his head and know exactly what he is thinking.

“It's not strange seeing her now, even knowing the things I know.  I thought maybe it would be, but it's not.  To me, she's still just Charlie—lover of Skittles and bed bouncing and scandalous raccoons.”

I am looking forward to The Liberator which is currently due to be released in August 2013.  There was a major twist at the end of The Collector and I am quite excited to see how this is going to play out.  I wouldn't say there is a massive cliffhanger though so don't worry about that.  Just a nice big twist to get you excited for the next in the series.

“My lips move against hers, and the kiss says everything I'd hoped to hear. It tells me she loves me, and that she's in this forever.”

MORE QUOTES FROM THE COLLECTOR