Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

8 March, 2013 Reviews 38 comments

Okay, let’s start this review off with some straight-up trufax. On my own, it’s possible I may not have chosen this book to read. That’s not because the blurb didn’t sound interesting, it’s just that out of all the other YA sub-genres, Paranormal Romance is the one I have a very inconsistent streak with. Which is unfortunate because when it’s done right, I fall in love with the story. My start with The Collector reminds me of what happened with Obsidian. I kept seeing it all over other’s twitter avatars and hearing about it on a few blogs I follow (you know the drill), but somehow that simply wasn’t enough for me to actually say, “Hell yeah. Sign me up.” But that was a mistake because The Collector had me LOL’ing from beginning to end.

The thing about this book is that you are not going to like Dante at first. He’s an anti-hero who will partly grind your nerves so bad you’ll see red. He’s the most conceited, selfish, slightly womanizer-ish, sarcastic little prick. And he knows this. Hell, he’d probably respond by saying:

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But the thing about Dante is, that deep down he has a good heart. Throughout the story, we see his good growing stronger and stronger through his interactions with Charlie. When he first meets her, he’s pretty mean to her. I mean, she’s the sweetest girl and he’s preying on her like a vulture. I just wanted to toss him out a window, for real. But thankfully, Dante has tons of character growth and becomes somewhat of a standup guy by the end.

That’s not to say this is a perfect book. While the writing style and characters were all right up my alley, the second half did seem noticeably weaker than the first. I really think this may have been due to the Big Guy vs. Boss Man mythology. The Collector isn’t preachy at all, if you’re worried. But I did have a hard time believing that Dante’s BFF, Max, didn’t know how his Boss got kicked out of heaven. Another thing: there are only 6 Collectors for the entire earth? They must have been putting in some serious overtime.

Still, I really was enjoying myself so whatevs. I’ll allow it.

The best part is Dante’s voice. HILARIOUS. Scott created a very entertaining character who was really distinctive. When I first read the blurb, I thought it was a little ambitious:

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it.

All that sentence did is make me turn my head to the side and emit an, “O RLY?” But the thing is, that blurb really shows the tone of Dante and the novel (unlike other blurbs that mislead people).

So here are 3 very good reasons why Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome:

1. What up, gangsta?

I’m trying to think of the best way to describe this guy. The one thing that sticks out in my mind every time is that he’s like a mini gangsta. Which, I guess, makes sense considering he does work for Hell and he calls his “employer” Boss Man. And seriously, all I needed was for him to start rapping.

malibu's most wanted

 But unlike Jamie Kennedy from Malibu’s Most Wanted, Dante is cool.  Know why? Well, that brings us to the second reason.

2. Check my swag, yo.

And I’m not talking about that fake wannabe stuff. Sure Dante’s a bit full of himself, but he backs that shit up. Because he possesses one thing I think it was incredibly smart of Scott to include. It allowed me to like just a small piece of him until his redeemable qualities showed up.

“Girl, I got swag for days.”

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And then Dante says things like “fo’ shizzle” and I start thinking that he’s secretly one of Snoop Dogg’s love children.

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Park it like it’s hot, Snoop!

3. His relationship with Charlie and the gang

Charlie and Dante are the most unlikely PNR couple I’ve ever encountered so far. I really didn’t expect sparks to fly between the two because their first interaction began with Dante turning his nose up. He considers her undesirable, “unpretty”, a waste of his time and good charm, etc. Charlie’s beauty is something he doesn’t understand at first and tries convince her a change is in order. Fortunately, Charlie’s lovely qualities have an effect on him and he not only starts to develop a conscience, but feelings for her. He sees how much her friends love her, how despite her background she made something better out of it. It causes him to really look at his own life’s actions.

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.

I loved seeing his character develop.

And then you have his interactions with the other characters. Scott really brought everyone to life with her wit and charm. I kept bookmarking my favorite quotes until I realized I was damn near highlighted every other page. She spread her awesome out evenly and it resulted in hilarious dialogue, a lot of the times between Charlie’s best friend, Annabelle, and Dante.

“In this trunk,” she says with a serious face, “is God’s gift to women.”
“Chocolate?”
“No.”
“Midol?”
“What? No.”
“Tampons?”
“Stop guessing,” she says.

 

Reading The Collector was like listening to a great rock CD. There are songs I love more than others. There are songs where I find myself singing along. There are ones that make me laugh and the ones that pull at my feels. And let’s not forget the slightly annoying ones with the lead singer screaming into the mic. 😉 But every last one of them is memorable. I think The Collector will appeal to a lot of readers, especially those with an awesome sense of humor. Even the reluctant ones like myself.

ARC was provided by the author. No favors or monies were exchanged for review, but wouldn’t that be awesome?

38 Responses to “Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott”

  1. Stephanie673

    Such a great review. I laughed through it. I too, really was kind of torn on this one but I’m sold. And the Snoop gif? Fo shizzle:)

  5. athousand_lives

    Hahah Great review, Steph. Thank the heavens above for bloggers. Always. Like you, this is definitely not something I would read on my own, mostly because of the cover. I’m a snob, I know. But I think I’ve learned my lesson with Obsidian and countless of other books fellow bloggers have praised. I’m now eagerly awaiting this book’s arrival from my library.

    • Stephanie Sinclair

      athousand_lives This is one of those case where I have a better appreciation for the cover after reading the book. I think it really shows Dante’s arrogant personality perfectly.

  6. kuro_rin01

    I’m still rather afraid this will turn out to be one of those hyped books everyone else but me seems to love. But I like funny characters so I’ll definitely check this one out. 🙂

  7. tripsis

    Lol awesome review!!  I think you totally nailed it.  Dante was definitely a self-absorbed jerkface, but somehow I still liked him, despite the fact that I did not like Obsidian, which also has a jerkface character.  I think, for me, the difference was that I knew Dante would change.  I got a sense that he actually was a good guy and that he would pull through in the end, so I didn’t really take his self absorbed asshat ways seriously.  I mostly just laughed at it.

    • Stephanie Sinclair

      tripsis Thanks! I think having it from Dante’s PoV was smart. I wonder if it were from Charlie’s PoV would we feel the same way about him?
      Daemon was a totally different character in Onyx (which is why I thought it was a much better novel). Like, complete 180. He had his reasons for his behavior in Obsidian, but you don’t really understand them fully unless you read the novella.

    • Stephanie Sinclair

      tripsis Thanks! I think having it from Dante’s PoV was smart. I wonder if it were from Charlie’s PoV would we feel the same way about him?
      Daemon was a totally different character in Onyx (which is why I thought it was a much better novel). Like, complete 180. He had his reasons for his behavior in Obsidian, but you don’t really understand them fully unless you read the novella.

  8. Realm of Fiction

    I had mixed thoughts on this at times, but I found it pretty enjoyable overall. I agree with you though – the second half wasn’t quite as engaging as the first. The plot failed to really do it for me, but I loved the characters. Great review, Steph!

  9. ReadingbyKF

    Great review! I’m always up for some hilarious dialogue. Dante sounds like a jerk, but sounds like he did a lot of growing up in the book. I really can’t wait to read this!

  10. WrittenDream

    Alright, you sold me.  Can this book drop already so I can just read it?

  11. Kate C.

    You’ve convinced me.  🙂  Sounds like that great Pride and Prejudice reversal I love.  Not a huge fan of PNRs as a rule, but man I LOVE the anti-hero!

  12. Kate C.

    You’ve convinced me.  🙂  Sounds like that great Pride and Prejudice reversal I love.  Not a huge fan of PNRs as a rule, but man I LOVE the anti-hero!

  13. Kate C.

    Oh, I also love that he’s not bare chested.  SO OVER THAT TREND!  (and I love a nice bare chest)

  14. Neyra

    ive  been meaning check this baby out, but wasn’t too sure myself.  I’ll have to keep considering it some more, great review Steph 🙂

  16. Jackie Farrow

    I’m not a huge fan of paranormal romance, but I think I’ll check this out 😀

  17. Nikki

    It sounds like Dante is the sole reason to check out this book. The over-the-top cockiness and bad a**ery would totally have me reeled in. And I like the contrast between Dante’s ego and Charlie’s sensibilities —- the dynamic sort of reminds me of Benedick and Beatrice in Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ in that there is this love-hate back to love sort of transition right in front of you. I’ll definitely have to give this one a go!

  20. Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

    […] Steph from Cuddlebuggery actually made me draw a connection between Dante and Daemon from Obsidian. Both guys are complete and utter douchebags. They’re hot, but they’re both self-absorbed assholes. So why did I love Dante but hate Daemon? At first I gave Daemon a chance because I thought he would come out of his shell and be a nice guy… but he never ever did. And that’s why I hated him. But with Dante, it’s like I knew from the beginning that it was just a matter of time before he outgrew his shallow ways and proved that he was actually a great guy… and I was right. So, when he was acting like a womanizing asshat, I just rolled with it. Instead of being annoyed and disgusted, I laughed. It was almost so absurd that it was actually funny! I was able to deal with it because I knew he would change… and he did. […]

  21. anneroooo

    What a lovely review! I just discovered this book today. So glad I stumbled upon your review. Will definitely going to read this ASAP! 🙂