The Collector (Dante Walker #1) by Victoria Scott

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Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence has 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 10 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 long ago buried.

I’ve been craving some snarky, bad boy action lately and Dante Walker fits that bill perfectly.  As a soul collector it’s his job to steer people toward his way of thinking so that he can eventually deliver them to his boss. He doesn’t ask questions. He does what’s asked of him and gets the job done. Of course, having a little fun and messing about while on duty is a bonus.

His latest assignment to lure Charlie to the dark side ends up being his most challenging to date. She’s simply not as easy a mark as he assumed. She is one of those truly kind-hearted, selfless individuals that Dante is allergic to.  He works hard at coaxing her to embrace her wild side (if she has one) in hopes that he can loosen her morals. He certainly has his work cut out for him! As his time runs out, he also discovers that he's not the only one after Charlie and has to determine who he can trust and what to believe.

Here’s what I liked: Dante is a d-bag and he's completely okay with it. However, around Charlie, he finds himself in the unfamiliar role of wanting to protect her more than convert her. He starts off being not attracted to her but then begins to care for her as he gets to know her better.  Her good-natured heart brings to the surface all his unresolved feelings about his family and his past. 

What didn’t quite work for me was Charlie’s character. She comes across as flat to me so much so that I couldn’t quite believe it when he started developing feelings for her.  I felt that she is just a list of positive attributes but not an actual person.  Still his reaction and internal dilemma about Charlie are surprising and ridiculous. 

I’m still happy with The Collector. It has an interesting and fun premise that kept me tuned in. There are more characters who add extra drama and tension to things. Some things were a bit far-fetched which is baffling because if I’m willing to believe that a soul collector is out to seal people's fates then what was with my eye rolls when he paid for everyone to go to Vegas? Regardless, The Collector is entertaining because Dante, the cocky s.o.b. really powers the story. 

~ Bel 

Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers #2) by Michelle Rowen

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MY KISS CAN KILL.

I used to be ordinary Samantha Day, but that's changed. Now, after one dark kiss from a dangerous boy, I can steal someone's soul...or their life. If I give in to the constant hunger inside me, I hurt anyone I kiss. If I don't...I hurt myself.

Bishop is the one whose kiss I crave most, but if I kiss him, I'll kill him. Then there's another boy, one I can't hurt. One whose kiss seems to miraculously quell my hunger. They're both part of a team of angels and demons that's joined forces in my city to fight a mysterious rising darkness, an evil that threatens everyone I know and love. I just wonder if I'll be able to help Bishop-or if I'm just another part of the darkness he's sworn to destroy....

NIGHTWATCHERS

When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...

Dare I say it? Wicked Kiss is even better than Dark Kiss! Now that Samantha has lost her soul and is a gray she has to deal with that constant hunger to feed off other people's souls. It's a bit of a nuisance. So priority number one is to recover her soul and get her best friend back. Not so easy. The person who could help her most is no longer, evil aunt Natalie, and Stephen her former crush who took her soul in the first place remains elusive. While all that’s going on, Bishop the fallen angel who is burdened with a soul is going mad from it. There are also a string of mysterious teenage deaths raising eyebrows and more grays to be rid off. Still, there's time for Samantha to nurse a longing for Bishop and her curiosity about his past is gnawing at her as much as her hunger for souls.

Our unlikely team of paranormals - angels, demons, gray - has plenty to contend with which makes Wicked Kiss so much fun. There is not one moment of downtime. Even when it’s sort of quiet, there’s always something or someone stirring the pot, whether it's her arch nemesis Jordan or the addition to the team, an angel named Cassandra.  She claims she’s there to assist with the cleanup in Trinity but she has a hidden agenda. There are plenty of trust issues going on and Samantha has a hard time leaving Bishop alone when it comes to getting to know him better. Their constant I-want-to-touch-you-but-it’s-too-dangerous moments are exciting and once Samantha does get glimpses of Bishop’s past it’s almost too much.  But really it’s the dynamic between Samantha and Kraven that was most fun for me. Kraven reminds me of some of my favorite snarky fictional boys – Damon, Jace and Patch – and we know how much I LOVE snark and bad boys. He had me giggling a lot! 

Rowen definitely elevated this story and as each chapter progressed so did the tension and urgency. Introducing a few new elements shaped a story that I genuinely liked. It's simply an enjoyable, fun escape!  

~ Bel

Dark Kiss: Nightwatchers #1 by Michelle Rowen

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I don’t do DANGEROUS.

Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha – that’s me. But I just couldn’t pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me … something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It’s like part of me is missing – and I don’t know if I can get it back.

Then there’s Bishop. At first he was just a street kid, but the secrets he’s keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he’s what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me…

Nightwatchers: When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising …

In Dark Kiss, the first installment in the Nightwatchers series, Michelle Rowen introduces an interesting take on angels and demons. Without giving the plot away because I really do like how the author has developed it, I’ll do my best to give you a brief overview.

The first few chapters were a blast because I had no idea what was going on. I love a good set up that way  –  you’re just itching to have any kind of explanation just so you can deduce who the good and bad guys are. Samantha as the heroine is your average teenage girl who lands herself in the middle of trouble because of that one alluring kiss, the result of which has led to a string of creepy events and disastrous consequences. She unwittingly ends up falling in with a group of angels, led by Bishop and demons, led by Kraven, who are working together to stop a sinister threat in the town of Trinity. Something or someone has been feeding on people’s souls and it’s now up to this unlikely group to find The Source.

There’s definitely evil at play and as much as Samantha may want to revert back to normal, her new hunger and abilities have made that unlikely. She strikes a deal with Bishop to help him and Kraven with their mission in hopes that they can help her with her situation. Of all the characters in the book, I liked Kraven and his sarcastic sense of humor the most. Really – coming from me, is anyone surprised by this? Task at hand aside, both Bishop and Kraven have their own personal agenda and Samantha becomes a point of contention between them. Even though she becomes an integral part of their mission, her inexplicable abilities have them on edge. They’re not exactly sure what to make of her much less trust her. And this motley crew of good and bad that’s been charged to save the souls of the people in this town can also be volatile at times. At some point each of these characters has to come to blows with one another.

Aside from serving as a cautionary tale of accepting kisses from longstanding crushes, there’s plenty of action, betrayal, misguided moments and surprise revelations that could make your head spin just a wee bit. Dark Kiss is a fun read that adds some new dimension to the world of angels and demons. You know something has to be going terribly awry for them to be (not so) willingly working together. You also gather that there's something bigger at stake than just what's going on in this one town. After reading Dark Kiss – which provides some answers but a whole new host of questions and problems – I'm eager to know what other bits of intrigue will be added to the mix as the series progresses.

~ Bel