REVIEW #72: The Collector (Dante Walker #1) by Victoria Scott

Title: The Collector

Series: Dante Walker #1
Author: Victoria Scott

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: April 2, 2013

Pages: 352, Paperback

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

 

You know what I realized, Dante Walker = Damon Salvatore. It's a perfect comparison really (pats self on back) and gives me a good reason to goggle Damon gifs while I write this review. Win Win. 

Dante, like Damon, is a certified bad boy, with a rap sheet to back it up. Dante is a soul collector and he is the best. "Boss Man runs the Underworld, and I'm his number one guy up top. I'm so good, in fact, that I train the other five collectors on how to be more awesome." Well he is pretty much a world-class ass, whereas, Damon can do no wrong in my eyes, but still the similarities are striking. 

Dante oozes sexiness and he knows it. In his own words "I look like a movie star and move like an athlete." He is incredibly cocky (as I'm sure you can already tell) and basically toots his own horn the entire book. His arrogance really sets the tone of this book. 

And one more thing... Dante ALWAYS puts himself first. 

Until he meets Charlie. Dante was sent to collect Charlie's soul and a job well done means a big promotion. But there is something about Charlie that immediately gets under Dante's skin. And he has to remind himself that she is just his assignment and if he doesn't collect her soul in time, his ass is on the line. There is nothing Dante takes more seriously than his work. 

"I have to forget about the way I saw Charlie tonight, with her innocence all up in my face. And I can't think about how doing this to her either way makes me feel...off. Boss Man gave me a job to do, and if I don't do it, someone else will. And that someone else will get my promotion, because sure as shit, Boss Man's owning her soul in a week. So I have to make a decision. I need to be the collector I was sent here to be, and use the tools at my disposal.

I am Dante Walker.

I am not merciful."

Charlie is to Dante what Elena is to Damon. A soft spot. Charlie is undeniably good and she slowly chips away at the ice around Dante's heart. It's actually kind of cute watching him fall for her. He gets all protective and jealous but still thinks he's all macho and tough shit so his actions surprise himself. It doesn't hurt, though, that Charlie is slowly becoming more beautiful. A fact that kind of speaks to the shallowness of Dante. To make his job a little easier, Dante tricked Charlie into signing a soul contract, which grants her wishes but damns her soul in the process. To his credit though, he does miss some of her imperfections when they are gone. Anyway, despite his best efforts not to, Dante falls for her... hard.

"She glances from the window to me. An enormous smile covers her face, and she throws her little kid arms around my neck. The sensation strikes something inside of me. Something I haven't felt in a very long time.

Like a warm fuzzy or some shit."

So now he has to get her out of the predicament he put her in. Unless he can stop it, Charlie's soul is going to hell and it's all Dante's fault.

This book is entertaining for sure. Charlie is a dear and I found her affect on Dante to be quite amusing. There were plenty of LOL worthy moments with Dante's brash language and him being completely out of his element. But there was... something lacking and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think part of the problem was the plot. The second half of the book got a little cheesy and mythy at times. The ending definitely could have been stronger.

I think my other problem was with Dante himself. I have to admit (even if it makes me sound horrible) that I wanted to see a little more of Dante's bad boy side. There were a lot of moments where he reigned in his temper when I would have liked him not to for performance value and to give some support to his badass claims. When I picked up this book I embraced Dante and his evil-doing ways and was a little disappointed to find him to be all talk and no action. He was a big softy really even though he pretended otherwise. Like maybe he could have socially sabotaged Taylor or actually punched one of the million guys who was mean to Charlie. Blue beat him at his own game!

This book wasn't perfect or ingenious but it was easily a fun read. I am already a sucker for male POV and it was kind of fun and different to have an arrogant asshat as the male lead. And the contrast between Charlie and Dante was great. 

And now it's time to say goodbye to Damon *sigh*.