Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

Goodreads Summary:

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.

Publication Date: March 25, 2013

Oh my Dante Walker, you have stolen my heart! I have to give the author credit for creating probably one of the most memorable characters in my recent reads. Dante was so much more than a typical YA bad boy.

Since I’ve heard a lot of hype surrounding this book, I had modest expectations. It seems like I have a tendency to end up not loving overhyped books. However, I was hooked from the beginning and it took me only a couple of sittings to finish The Collector.

The Collector is told from Dante’s POV. I can imagine not a lot of readers liking Dante at the beginning. He’s pretty rotten to everyone, including Charlie, the girl whose soul he has to collect. He didn’t bother me though because I couldn’t take him seriously. He talks like a wannabe gangsta and his lines kept reminding me of Seth Green’s character from Can’t Hardly Wait. It was obvious he was trying too hard to be a bad a** and there was a good guy just waiting to come out.

Charlie was also a lot different than a lot of YA heroines. She’s described as homely and is picked on brutally by her classmates. There are a few scenes in the beginning that definitely made me uncomfortable and had my heart breaking for Charlie. I loved how Dante began looking out for her, although she was only supposed to be his assignment.

The secondary characters were all developed exceptionally and I loved them all. Blue, Annabelle and Max were all great and they had their own share of humorous lines.

The plot was good without a ton of mythology to learn in order to follow the story. The novel moved at a good pace and although the book is part of the series, the end resolved most of the major conflicts. The romance had me swooning and I’m curious to see where it goes.

Loved, loved, loved this book! I was in the mood for a fun book with a sweet romance and this was the perfect choice!

Rating: 5/5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.