Review: The Collector

Book: The Collector by Victoria Scott
Publication Date: April 22, 2013
Series: Dante Walker (#1)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: 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.


Overall Review:
I've heard so many things about the Dante Walker series, Dante in particular. Many good, and a few bad (but that's to be expected right?) so I was actually really excited to start my Victoria Scott binge-a-thon because I wanted to see what all the hype was about! I will admit I was beyond impressed with The Collector. In fact, I was so impressed I finished it in a few hours, right after I finished Fire & Flood on a school night. While I have plenty of reading time during and after school, finishing two books in one school day with the promise of school tomorrow is definitely a huge surprise for me. But if that doesn't show you just how good and addicting Victoria Scott's books are, I don't know what will! The Collector is, not trying to sound rude here, not a serious read. If you want a serious, passionate, or deep book this is not for you. The Collector is more of a hugely entertaining and all around fun read. It has it's more deep and serious moments but for the majority of the book I was either smiling a lot or giggling to myself over Dante's attitude and antics. My family would constantly look at me funny while I was reading because of my goofy grin or random laughter that filled the silence. There were swoony bits, hilarious ones, scenes where I was so frustrated with Dante I wanted to hit him with the book (shocking I know!), and scenes where I just wanted to hug Dante and never let go! While I was relatively happy and surely entertained throughout all of The Collector, Victoria Scott still managed to suck these emotions out of me that I never thought I would've felt while reading this book!

In the beginning of The Collector I was both shocked by Dante's behavior and not. I knew long before I planned to read The Dante Walker series that Dante was a cocky guy who was entirely too full of himself, but I never would've guessed how bad it was! Dante was a selfish, cocky beyond belief, egotistical, judgmental, *ahem* asshole who only cared about himself and nothing but. He cared only about looks. Charlie was such a sweet and kindhearted girl but all he ever talked about, and I do mean all, was how unattractive or lame she was. When reading my heart absolutely broke for Charlie because while she thought she made a new best friend, Dante would not stop complaining about how ugly (in his mind) she was! He didn't care at all what made her happy or uncomfortable, it was all about him. The weird thing was though, only he was allowed to think badly of her. Someone make fun of how Charlie looked he would get so pissed but only because he felt he was the only person who could say she was ugly. It was just unbearable! After reading about his god awful behavior and personality I never thought I was going to like him. But he started changing! It was a long, slow, and painful process but he started to see that Charlie was a good person, who was beautiful the way she was in the beginning (which is kind of ironic since he convinced her she wasn't so he helped make her into a physically beautiful person). He started thinking more about how much of an awful asshole he's been and seriously regretting it. He made some big and awful mistakes and he realized that, and after he did he tried his hardest to make up for them. He was still a cocky dude but after he started yearning to be a better person for Charlie, it became a little charming! Now, does that excuse his behavior in the beginning of The Collector? Not even close, but it was a start and I was so happy to see him try to do better!

The romance was very confusing for me. While in the beginning I could not for the life of me stand Dante and how he treated Charlie, I still wanted them to be together and that is a total first for me. Usually when I read about an asshole like guy, I'm all for Team *insert girl character here* is better off alone but it didn't happen here. It may have been because this time I'm reading from the asshole guy's point of view and it made me see how he's really like, or maybe it could've been that almost right at the beginning while Dante was a jerk, Charlie made him better in even the smallest ways. Those small ways weren't all that noticeable unless you really look, but they were there. They were both influences on each other in good yet strange ways. Charlie made Dante strive to be a better, less selfish person, she made him realize that life isn't all about taking but it can be about giving as well. Charlie was a total selfless sweetheart but she was pretty set in her ways and wasn't always open to new ideas. While some of the ideas were god awful, Dante got Charlie to try things she never would have before. He got her to live a little, to experience new things. Sometimes those things ended badly but at least she gave them a shot to see how things turned out, and there were times that she did things and it ended up being fantastic. They both influenced each other and made them better and more open in different ways which I thought was beyond amazing. And they could be so darn cute together! There were sometimes that I just wanted to fangirl squeal because of the adorableness! And things could also get pretty darn steamy between the two of them and I felt the need to fan myself reading. It was pretty surprising and enjoyable!

I can't entirely say whether the pace was fast or not because I refused to put that sucker down once and zoomed through it like a rocket. While Fire & Flood and The Collector are very different, they still had a bunch of similarities that made The Collector a more familiar read and more enjoyable. The fact that I could start and finish two entirely different books in one school day and not want them to end not only says something about the books themselves but also Victoria Scott. While Fire & Flood was more suspenseful and action packed, The Collector was more fun and entertaining which I think is a great combination and change of pace that worked together so well when read back to back! The Collector had me smiling and laughing nearly the whole way through! The best part? There were times when I was so angry I wanted to hit something, there were times when things were so exciting that I had to know what was going to happen next, and there were times when things got so hot and swoon worthy that I blushed and felt the urge to fan myself! Dante started out as a real class A asshole and I never thought that with his behavior that I would ever like him, but I was caught off surprised because I do! It took a lot of time and heartache but he realized that he made mistakes and life wasn't all about him and he tried so hard to try and fix what he had done. I loved it, though it doesn't come close to making up for how he was in the beginning. Another thing that surprised me is how much I liked seeing Dante and Charlie together. Normally, and you can ask anyone, when I read about an asshole like guy I never want him to be with the girl because I feel she deserves better but this is the one time that it wasn't like that, though I didn't condone his jerkdom to her at all. I'm not sure why it was different with The Collector but it was! I liked the title because it was fun to learn exactly what a collector was and how you become a collector and stuff! I like the cover too! The deep red font is so pretty and Dante looks.. really good. Simplest way I can put it!


Overall Rating:
I give The Collector a 4 out of 5 star rating. I was surprised by how much I adored reading this book! It was so much fun and was over way too soon for my tastes! While it's completely different from Fire & Flood it was still so good and I really think if people have only read Fire & Flood that I think they should give The Collector a chance as well because I'm sure they'll really like it! I would totally recommend this to people who love fun, entertaining reads. People who like reading about angels, demons, and stuff without it getting super religious. Also, if you like swoony couples and just attractive guys, Dante is the guy for you! If you're willing to be patient and wait for him to be less of a jerk! Thanks for reading everyone!

4/5 stars

~Kayla~