Review of the Collector by Victoria Scott

Goodreads Book Description: 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.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Review: 
I won this book from Keely of the wonderful blog Realms of an Open Mind. Honest disclosure: I've heard great things about this book on the internet, but the cover is not my favorite-- so I really wasn't sure I'd like it. Once I cracked open the cover and started the first few pages though, I was hooked.

The Collector by Victoria Scott stars Dante Walker who is the bad of the bad. He collects souls for the Big Boss (I think we all know who that is alluding to). To get the promotion he's been waiting for, he has to lure a girl, Charlie, to the dark side. Charlie is a teenaged girl-- but unlike a lot of our typical heroines these days, she's nerdy, unattractive, and gangly. Dante doesn't know why she is so special, and he has 10 days to get her soul. But a few days with Charlie shows him what he's been missing his whole life-- what will he risk for this girl he just met but strangely, starts to care about so deeply?

The Collector doesn't have a whole lot of unique ideas-- we get the good girl seeing the "good" in the bad guy and changing him slowly to the good. We have devils and angels. And yet... Dante is a very unique perspective. I've never heard anything like his voice, and he is truly what makes this book work and succeed. Dante is a hugely flawed character, but you can't help but like him (even when he is crazy full of himself and flaunting his assets). Usually, I don't like expletives in YA, but for Dante, it just fits his voice, and honestly, I didn't even notice it, I was so drawn to his character. OK, and yeah, he's a bit hot. I thought I was over the whole bad guy craze, but apparently, not so much. :-)

And don't even get me started on Charlie. She's the other unexpected surprise in this book. She is so atypical for a heroine but so honestly good that you can't help but love her. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age-- just very awkward and definitely not popular and sheltered, but at the same time, very firm in her beliefs.

Overall, The Collector is the first terrific entry in the Dante Walker series. The characters are truly what makes this book sing-- they are unique, fascinating, and above all, likeable. Victoria Scott is an author to watch.

What did you think about this book? Or if you haven't read it, who is your favorite YA bad boy? 

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