What Jaime Thinks
The Collector by Victoria Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think Dante is one of those characters you love to hate. At least he was for me.
He makes good girls…bad
Dante is a soul collector, and he’s awesome. He’s got looks, charm and he uses both to his advantage working for you know how down below, and he’s become one of the best soul collectors out there. He’s up for a promotion that will allow him to be on the surface for good, but he has one last job to do before he gets what he wants…. Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul in the next ten days.
Dante has spent his life … and his after-life caring about no one but himself, and Charlie Cooper isn’t going to derail his plans to get what he wants, no matter how undeserving she is of what he’s got to do.
I promise, you are going to think that Dante is the biggest douche ever when you first meet him.
“I say it slowly because patronizing people is fun.”
or
She looks like a porcelain doll… beat three times with an ugly stick.
or
“I could have you kicked out of here.”
“For what? Being awesome?”
or
“You don’t know who your fucking with, princess. Ain’t no one do bad like I do.”
The boy has an ego the size of … I don’t even know – but it’s damn big. Most of the time I found it amusing though, because he truly does think he’s this amazing being.
What I liked though, was the evolution of his character. When we first meet Dante we know nothing about him. We don’t know how he died, what his life was like prior to dying … none of it. But as it’s slowly revealed you get this sense that there is more to Dante. He’s deeper than he appears and his reasons for working so hard for the man below become apparent. Yeah, he’s selfish but I could forgive him it because once I knew why he was doing what he did you could almost see the sweetness inside him.
Charlie was a wonderful addition though, quite naive. I felt sorry for her and Dante was pretty awful to her in the beginning. I think, Dante got a much needed lesson in looking beneath the surface… people aren’t the clothes they wear, or the hair they have on their head or how straight their teeth might be or even how big their boobs might be. It’s absolutely what is in their hearts what matters. I loved that despite where she came from, her past and background, she was able to spin it into something positive and when Dante recognizes that it’s a beautiful moment.
Maybe it’s that I’m accustomed to her face, the way her cheeks glow when she’s excited, or the curve of her mouth when she smiles. It’s her face – Charlie’s face – and in a strange way, I like it the way it is now. Without any changes.
I never expected Charlie and Dante to connect though. Even though, by the end, Dante had redeemed himself, you (or maybe just I) begin to wonder if even if she had never made any changes to her outward appearance if he would still have admitted to any feelings towards her. Yeah, he recognizes her inner beauty by the end, but it also now comes with a pretty outer package.
The plot of the story was good, it managed to bring elements of Heaven and Hell in without being preachy… the story was unique and well written, though the plot wasn’t as fast-paced as I would have liked. There were definite times the story dragged. Occasionally I found the style of writing to be irritating and to be honest, if it wasn’t for Dante, I might have set it aside.
With all that said, I would recommend The Collector to anyone who’s looking for something fun, with a character you’ll love to hate … and eventually (hopefully) just plain love. It was definitely a book that made me laugh and cringe… and laugh some more. I’m looking forward to The Liberator to find out a more about Dante and Charlie’s story!
View all jaime’s reviews
The Collector is one of those books that I heard everyone raving about but I had to hold off on reading it due to some other deadlines. I am actually happy I waited a bit.
The story itself may sound familiar…good vs. evil, heaven vs. hell, etc. but what makes it different (at least for me) are the characters. Ok, specifically Dante and Charlie.
Dante is a Collector and he works for the “boss man” down below. He is one of 6 guys who wander the earth and collect souls. He also really enjoys it. I won’t lie – at first I was a bit put off by Dante and his ego/arrogance. If I would have ever met him in real life my first response would probably have been “Are you for real?” to which he probably would have had some sort of smart ass response that would have either made me laugh or just walk away. Surprisingly, it works for him and eventually becomes a part of his charm. Yes, I said charm.
Charlie is the unexpected surprise of the story. When we first meet her, she is described as having frizzy blond hair, crooked teeth, and bad skin. Definitely not someone that Dante would normally associate with but he has a job and as the story progresses, she wins him over with her personality. The catch I guess is that when all is said and done and both are sharing their feelings about each other, Charlie now has a very different outside package. The bigger question in my mind is would Dante truly have fallen for her if she still looked the same? I like to think that with the growth I saw in his character that the answer is yes.
Overall I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick, engaging read with some interesting characters. I am definitely going to continue with book two, The Liberator, when it comes out as I am very interested in seeing what happens both with Dante and Charlie as well how Dante adjusts working for the “big man”.
View all Erin’s reviews
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