Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

Title: The Collector
Author: Victoria Scott
Genre: Paranormal, Fiction, YA
Series: Dante Walker #1

Paperback, 352 pages

Publication: April 2nd 2013 by Entangled Teen

Source: personal library 

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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.

Dante is the epitome of a bad boy; he says and does what he likes without a care in the world. Dante is a collector, his job is to tag souls whenever a person sins and once a person obtains enough…they gain a one way ticket to hell (when they die). Dante’s boss has a special assignment for him, to tag and ensure the soul of Charlie Cooper in 10 days. Dante isn’t sure why the boss wants her soul because Charlie is like a saint, barely any tags on her soul. Dante does everything possible to make Charlie sin, because time is ticking and if he wants to get his promotion and leave hell, he needs to quickly seal the deal on Charlie’s soul.

I really enjoyed this book (the first half at least) more than I thought I would. Dante is the type of person you hate and love at the same time. He’s an ignorant, selfish, cocky jerk but surprisingly underneath that bad boy exterior is a heart! When he first meets Charlie, he can’t believe he has to hang-out with someone who’s as nerdy as Charlie. Dante constantly comments on how Charlie looks and her dowdy clothing, but when the popular kids pick on Charlie, Dante can’t help but come to her defense. Anyone who has a problem with Charlie and her friends means they have a problem with Dante and he isn’t going to put up with anyone’s crap. Dante acts all hard but he isn’t a bad guy really or at least he doesn’t want to be. Over the course of the book, you see Dante begins to change all because he wants to be a better person.

Charlie is your typical sweet-goodie girl. She has a big heart, and doesn’t really let anything get her down. Charlie had a rough life after her parents died in a fire, but she doesn’t let that stop her from living life to the fullest or enjoying the life she has. When Charlie meets Dante she couldn’t believe this unbelievably hot guy is talking/hanging-out with her. I liked Charlie at the start but once she signed the contract to give up her soul and in return get some improvements…I didn’t like her so much. She would ask for simple things at first such as silky-smooth hair, or better vision etc. but it eventually got out of hand (because the contracts her makes her sick if she doesn’t continue to ask for stuff) and while not all of her fault, I found it annoying that she wasn’t happy with how she looked and wanted to be more ‘pretty ‘like the popular girls. I mean she asked for so much that she became almost unrecognizable. Then of course people and Dante started to see her AFTER she got all beautified. Charlie did everything for Dante but even then she went from being a happy-innocent girl to someone who’s superficial. 

Overall THE COLLECTOR was a okay read with some flaws and bumps along the way. I like the first half of the book but didn’t really enjoy the second half. The world-building and characters were okay, nothing I haven’t read before. I usually like my books character driven, but the two leading characters had me hating-liking-hating them half the time, which never happened to me before. The ending was also kind of predictable, and if I had to describe this book  in one word it’d be mediocre. Will I be reading the next book? I’m not sure. I’m a bit curious as to what will happen next, but it isn’t a priority. I’d check out a chapter sample or excerpt before reading or buy.