The Collector by Victoria Scott

The Collector by Victoria Scott
Dante Walker #1
Release Date: March 25, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Bought
Goodreads Stars: 2
Rating: Hodgepodge

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. - Goodreads

I feel like such a hype killer right now. Lately I haven't been reading any books that majorly impressed me, and with the hype surrounding The Collector, and how many people have been recommending it, I was super excited for this one. I thought it would help me break out of my reading funk. Instead it was average, and kind of boring towards the end, with the main character being the only person who goes through any development at all.

Here's another list for you guys because YAY, lists!

Things I Liked:

- Dante's character development. There is no denying that Dante Walker is a bastard, at least in the beginning. He's basically a demon from Hell, so what do you expect? I full on hated him in the beginning, because he was just plain malicious. But as the novel progressed, Dante started to improve as a person. You should all know by now that I love development and progression, so this was great by itself. Even if I didn't like him personally.

- The pacing. The Collector was a quick and easy read. It took no time at all to get into the story, and the majority of the book is really well paced. There were a couple of issues that I had when it came to the love story's pacing, but the main plot itself moved quickly.

- The ending. I kind of knew it was coming, but I was still a bit excited about the last chapter. I'm not sure if I will be reading the second book, however the ending did make me curious. I want to find out what happens! It left me intrigued, and there wasn't a huge cliffhanger. Points for that!

Things I Didn't:

- Charlie's character development. Or lack thereof. Her character was basically a cardboard cut out. We knew that she was a nice person, who eventually decided that she wanted to improve herself, but we didn't really delve that much into WHY she was a nice person. Her parents are dead, and she's been adopted, so I was hoping for a bit more backstory or some drama... or just something. She didn't change all that much from beginning to end, she and Dante didn't really have any meaningful conversations... She was a terrible character in terms of development.

- Stretched out insta-love. Okay, so it's not insta-love, because Dante definitely doesn't love Charlie to begin with. But it was a rushed relationship, and like I said above, there are no meaningful conversations between Charlie and Dante. None that really mattered, anyway. Then, far too early on, they were telling one another that they loved each other. Because apparently they were in love. After a week.

- Dante's use of "baby" and "my girl". Okay, it all comes down to personal opinions (doesn't everything, though), but I despise this. I can't stand it when guys call their girlfriends "baby"! It's the worst. And it's also horrible when they refer to them as "my girl". Charlie isn't your possession, bitch. "Your girl" was also used a lot.

My feelings are all over the place for this one. On the one hand, it was quite good since I wasn't all that bored, but on the other it lacked that special something that should have made me enjoy it. I was very disappointed by Charlie's character, as well as the love plot. No me gusta.