The Collector by Victoria Scott

Book:  The Collector (Dante Walker #1)

Author:  Victoria Scott

Publisher:  Entangled

Date:  now available

Source:  Publisher via Netgalley

My grade:  A-

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.

Initial reaction

Oh Dante!  Do I love you or do I hate you?  As a teen girl, I would have thought you were the s**t, but as the mom of a teen daughter, you really scare me.

Cover story

I really liked this title because I thought it was short, sweet and to the point.  The cover is so-so.  I mean, let’s face it, boyfriend on the front is easy on the eyes, but this one is screaming bad romance cover, so I would have to put it inside of a copy of War and Peace if I were reading it as an actual book instead of on my Nook.

What’s the Story?

So, Dante Walker is a Collector, which means he’s sort of like a Mafia hit man, but he works for Satan, running around on earth collecting souls for Hell.  And dude really is like a Mafia hit man.  The only thing he’s missing is an Italian last name, because he has the first name covered.  Imagine Jersey Shore collecting souls for the devil, and you’ve probably hit it.

Which is why this book so got on my nerves at the beginning.  I hate Jersey Shore.  I think those guys are total idiots, so I was seriously concerned that I just wouldn’t make it to the end.  But then, something miraculous happened.

Dante started to experience growth as a human being.  Or as a demon.  Whatever.

In fact, Dante’s amount of character growth was probably comparable to the amount of meaningless hook-ups experienced by the whole cast of Jersey Shore.  And suddenly, he was no longer making me think of Pauly D, which was a very good thing.  In fact, I started to actually like him.

He’s been sent to collect the soul of poor, hapless Charlie Cooper.  He’s not sure why, because Charlie is such a good, good girl.  She’s a little less than average in the looks department, she has frizzy hair and she limps.  But inside, she’s a beautiful soul.

I loved watching the relationship between these 2 develop.  I loved the way Dante started interacting with her friends.  I really enjoyed watching Dante change as a person.  So by the time I reached the end of the novel, I was so glad that I had read it.  I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series.

The Soundtrack

All Night Long by Buckcherry

Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf

That Man by Caro Emerald

Echo by Jason Walker

Holding On and Letting Go by Ross Copperman

Can’t Go Back by Rosi Golan

(I feel like I need to comment on the fact that so many Vampire Diaries songs are on my soundtrack.  Dante is very much like Damon.  I mean, they're like brothers from another mother.)

The Final Grade

My final grade for this book is an A-.  Once Dante lost his Jersey Shore-ness, I loved him and I loved the story.