{Blog Tour} The Collector by Victoria Scott: Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the ‘2013 Belongs to Dante’ blog event hosted by YA Bound.  Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule!  And be sure to check out the giveaway at the end of this post!

I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of The Collector early, and I've been chomping at the bit to unleash the awesome on you guys.  Stay tuned because when I purchased my own final copy of this book, I got a couple of extras...AND I'm attending the signing on Saturday for the book's launch.  You know what that means, right? Your very own chance to win a signed copy of Dante, er, I mean, The Collector.  =)

#danteismine (but he could be yours, if you're lucky!)  :D

Title: The Collector
Author: Victoria Scott
Series: Dante Walker, book #1
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: April 2, 2013
Source: from publisher for blog tour
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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.

This book (and others like it) is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine.  Maybe it's the challenge of reforming a bad boy.  Maybe it's just that cocky, "I am God's (or the Devil's, in this case!) gift to women" attitude.  Whatever it is, I find the allure of it unavoidable.

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

Dante Walker is the epitome of arrogant.  He can be charming one moment and crass the next, but he only does something because he wants to do it.  Well, unless Boss Man tells him to.  Dante's job is collecting souls and he is damn good at his job.  Until he's assigned to collect Charlie's soul, that is.

“As Charlie is leaving the house, she somehow trips on the threshold and nearly face-plants onto the ground. I roll my eyes. How is it possible out of all the people in this world, this is the soul I’ve come to collect?”

Charlie is a bit of an enigma to Dante.  He can't figure her out.  She seems happy, despite being unpopular and not pretty in the least, and he finds her to be a bit of a conundrum.  The more time he spends with her, the more puzzled he becomes...or maybe infatuated is a better word for his feelings toward Charlie.  Because it becomes pretty clear that he's developing an attraction to her.  And that he actually finds himself wanting her company, as opposed to being forced into it.

“I'll never understand the friendships Charlie has. Friendships where it doesn't take cash or hookups, or saying the right things to stay in the circle. No, Charlie's friendships are different. She tries to protect her people, and they in turn protect her. They accept each other's imperfections and support one another. My friends weren't like her friends, which makes me wonder if I ever had any at all.”

Charlie is a bright light in a dark world, and she's bringing about a change in Dante that he can't explain or control.  And the more he changes, the closer he gets to losing his heart to this girl whose soul he's come to collect.  Which leaves Dante with quite the dilemma.  I loved watching Dante squirm and struggle with this decision.  Redemption is never easy, but it's worth the cost.  And it makes my heart happy to see a bad boy go good, especially when his sole purpose was quite the opposite.  The character growth here is off the charts.


I must admit that the slang Dante used was grating at first and took some time to get accustomed to, but after awhile, it either wasn't that noticeable, or he actually started speaking like a normal person because I found that it no longer bothered me.  It didn't seem to bother anyone else in the book either, like it was normal to speak in such a manner.  I'm sure the use of this language was just to play up his overconfidence, and to that extent, it worked.  But I don't know anyone who speaks this way...not anymore, anyway.

Yes, this book was kind of cheesy. (But who doesn't like cheese?!?)  Yes, this book is terribly predictable.  (Did I mention I love a bad boy who redeems himself?)  But even so, this book was a ton of fun.  It's a great in-between book, a little something to make you smile.  And laugh.  You'll definitely laugh.  Pretty much anyone with a sense of humor can enjoy this book on some level.


Rating:  

About Victoria Scott:

I'm a YA writer represented by Laurie McLean. Author of THE COLLECTOR (Entangled Teen, April 2013) and THE BRIMSTONE BLEED (Scholastic, 2014). I have a master's degree in marketing, and live in Dallas with my husband. When not writing, I can be found munching cotton candy and snuggling obese cats.

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Dante’s Website

And coming soon from Victoria Scott, the sequel to The Collector:

Title: The Liberator
Author: Victoria Scott
Series: Dante Walker, book #2
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Bad boy, meet bad girl.

Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn't like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.

When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.

With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.

Open internationally!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you met Dante yet or do you plan to?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!