The Liberator: Review

Synopsis:

Bad boy, meet bad girl.

Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn't like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.

When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.

With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.

***

The Liberator picks up several weeks after the events of The Collector, with Dante Walker no longer one of the bad guys. He's trying to fulfill his duty as a liberator, but things aren't that easy. There are bigger threats that are far more sinister than anyone can imagine.

I enjoy reading The Liberator way more than The Collector. Though I have a few problems with the book. First is the plot. The prioritizing of the second half of the book is good, but the first half... well, not so much. The first part is just a little bit too slow-paced for me and I'm a little bored. And the whole Aspen being a bad girl is a little misleading. Yes, she might not be good. But throughout the book she's not that bad. She's quite a good girl actually, especially in the second half of the book. I was expected some more rebellious bad girl ways but I don't see much, unfortunately.

There are some really good parts in this book. One of them is the events being way more than about just Dante and his discovery. Yeah, there's a lot of that and I'm totally down with that. But the story has been taken to a whole new level, a level which affects not just Dante and Charlie but the whole world. And there are more cliffhangers in the book too. Which is fine with me. And Charlie is not that good of a girl anymore. I mean, at least she's not a saint anymore. She was way too good to be true in The Collector. At least now she shows that she's not that perfect. I hate characters being utterly perfect because it makes them unreal. The ending is just epic. I can't believe how drastic the change can be. I'm really interested to see what will happen in the third book.

The Liberator is a book that I will read when I have a lot of time to kill, and it's quite a good book in some ways, but this series just doesn't have that kind of chemistry that makes me yearn for a sequel. Guess my heart is not that big to contain one more series.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Collector: Review

Synopsis:

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.

***

The plot: 

The plot is quite good, actually. It's not exactly fast-paced, but it's not dragging, obviously. I know there are tons of fans out there who loves The Collector. And personally, I am... kind of one of them too. But I'm definitely not well into the plot part. I guess the plot line is just... too straight for me. Maybe I get used to really twisted plots, so my opinion might not be the best perspective. But there's few in the plot that can actually surprise the bejesus outta me. Sorry, not exactly a fan for the plot. Forgive me for being honest here.

The character:

The characters are... quite flipping awesome. Especially for our sexy, hot, bad boy narrative Dante Walker. He's those bad boy you can imagine: lure you into screwing around and do bad things. With the hot face and body of course. He's definitely one of the most swoon-worthy guy in the history of YA novels. But I think badder the better for him in this book because he's supposed to be a demon, attempting to collect an innocent girl's soul. He's a little bit soft. But that's fine for me. What's fun if we can't see the soft side of a demon?

Charlie is... almost the exact opposite of Dante. First of all, she's definitely not pretty. Yep, I expect that some guys out there who haven't read The Collector will assume that the girl will be super hot (well, at least in the guy's eyes). But no, she's not. And she's not a bad girl too. She's a really soft girl with a pure heart. That's a good thing for the plot, because it's always fun to watch a pure, innocent girl go dark. But... I'm sorry, I like badass girls more than soft girls, even though Charlie is a very good character.

The words:

The words... they remind me soooo much of JLA's words! Okay, I have to say there are obvious difference in words between the two authors. But the humor is so similar (and I always love JLA's books)! The author can surely use words very cleverly and brilliantly, because I can only find a few of the authors that can match her awesomeness. She can put humor in situations that are supposed to be... emergent. This is one of the main reasons why I love this book.

Generally:

The book is great, and I love most of the parts. But... I guess I don't really fit in with the guys who think this book is flipping awesome without a flaw. I will read The Liberator, of course. Because I can't wait to see if a bad boy meets a bad girl. Sounds fun (evil grin). I guess it's a little bit far from my level of awesomeness. Sorry.


Rating: 7/10