Teaser Tuesday, #65, The Warrior by Victoria Scott

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays! Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My Teaser Tuesday is for the following...


The Warrior (A Dante Walker Novel) by Victoria Scott
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Entangled Teen

War between heaven and hell is coming, but Dante Walker makes it look damn good.
Dante’s girlfriend, Charlie, is fated to save the world. And Aspen, the girl who feels like a sister, is an ordained soldier. In order to help both fulfill their destiny and win the war, Dante must complete liberator training at the Hive, rescue Aspen from hell, and uncover a message hidden on an ancient scroll.
Dante is built for battle, but even he can’t handle the nightmares where spiders crawl from Aspen’s eyes, or the look on Charlie’s face that foretells of devastation. To make matters worse, the enemy seizes every opportunity to break inside the Hive and cripple the liberators. But the day of reckoning is fast approaching, and to stand victorious, Dante will have to embrace something inside himself he never has before—faith.

*Quotes are from an Advanced Readers Copy. They are subject to change.*

Teasers from Pages one & three...

  "I am: sharp eyes for hunting, broad shoulders for fighting, strong hands for gripping a weapon. I am built for this. I will protect Charlie, and I will rescue Aspen from hell. There's nothing I wouldn't do for my girls, and I plan to do it all. Blood will spill, and I will spill it without a second thought.
  I am a machine."

  "Charlie wraps her arms around my waist, and her fingers clutch my back. My armor falls away in an instant, and I'm no longer what I was a moment before. Now I'm sharp eyes for watching her, and broad shoulders for easing her worries, and strong hands for holding her tight."

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here if you don’t have a blog Thanks! 

Giveaway & Review: The Liberator (Dante Walker, #2) by Victoria Scott

The Liberator (Dante Walker, #2) by Victoria Scott
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Goodreads / B&N / Amazon

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.
Have more questions about the romance in THE LIBERATOR? Read a note from the author about Aspen's involvement in the story: http://tinyurl.com/asl8qyy

My Thoughts:
Victoria Scott has a natural aptitude for creating staggering stories and characters. I fell in love with Dangerous Dante in The Collector, but after reading The Liberator…well, let’s just say that I am even more amazed and will be first in line when The Warrior becomes available. The Liberator stands strong as The Collectors sequel. With added depth to these characters and mounting twists, I couldn’t put this one down.
   
Dante has a penchant to drive the reader crazy (in a good way, and who couldn’t love a guy who names his candy apple-red Escadade, Elizabeth Taylor! ) and I find his weakness for Charlie relevant to where the story went in The Liberator. He will do whatever he has to in order to steal her soul back. But before he can do that, he has to do a job for the Big Guy upstairs. Dante hesitantly enters into Aspen’s life (his assignment), leaving Charlie behind to accomplish this job. It nearly tears them apart…literally.

Aspen is more like the female equivalent of Dante, or who Dante was. They only show the world what they want to see and tucks everything else away. He knows, or was told, rather, that Aspen is special. And, as the story progresses he realizes there’s more to the girl than her façade.

Charlie met a few new neighbors, and Dante isn’t exactly happy about it. He gets reports she’s being reckless and out of character, which makes him question doing this new assignment and being away from her. I could really feel the emotions throughout this book. And, the witty remarks Dante is notorious for, why by the way, I’m a huge sucker for.

“I’m not sure how I got here, and I’m certain I don’t know how Charlie ended up on the other side of the room with Guy In Touch With His Emotions. Raising a bottle to my lips, I watch as the guy uncrosses his long legs and recrosses them. His tampon must be killing him.”

I love that one of the characters was brought back. I won’t give it away, but it was an awesome move. New characters are introduced, which the combination was perfect. And the Collectors are back, and they are using humans to do their dirty work. Then there is the chemistry between Charlie and Dante… I couldn’t have been more happy.

"If I had a soul,” I say. “I’d give it to you.” Charlie pulls me closer so that our lips almost touch. She lays a hand on my face, and her eyes swim with affection. “You may not have my soul, Dante. But you will always have my heart.” (Swoon!)

A battle will ensue. “Two girls—a savior and a soldier.” I just loved that line.

The action kept me on my toes and the plot played out perfectly. So much is unraveled, and I will not spoil it for you as it’s important to experience that one on your own. All I can say is…I can’t wait to see what The Warrior unfolds. If you liked The Collector, you will LOVE The Liberator!

I am excited to giveaway one copy of The Liberator to one lucky follower!  Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter!  The copy will be sent though The Book Depository so if they shipped to you then you are welcome to enter!

Good Luck!

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Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: The Collector by Victoria Scott

Today WinterHaven Books has the wonderful opportunity to share out review of The Collector by Victoria Scott. Special thanks to YA Bound for hosting this blog tour and allowing us the opportunity to participate.  To see the rest of the amazing tour lineup click HERE

THE COLLECTOR (A Dante Walker Novel) by Victoria Scott
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Expected Publication Date: April 2, 2013
Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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.

My Thoughts:
Dante Walker is a cocky, Soul-Seal-Stickering bad boy. Being the #1 tagger for the Lord of the Underworld, Dante has nothing to prove, right...wrong. Dante wants the promotion  of Soul Director so he can get permanent placement on earth. Boss Man (a.k.a. Lucifer) will forget Dante's recent downslide if he seals the soul of a particular target: Charlie Cooper. Apparently he doesn't typically pinpoint a specific person, but this time it is different, and Dante isn't apprehensive about this assignment. He's got this! So he assumed.

Charlie Cooper is as sweet as they come. Pure and innocent. She may not be much to look at, but her genuine kindness masks whats on the outside. Dante walks into this assignment with confidence. All he has to do is turn this good girl, bad.

As Dante spends more time with Charlie and her group of friends, she begins to rub off on him and he begins to question if he's doing the right thing.

Charlie was a sweet girl. I liked her character but yet, I didn't really like how passive she was. She pretty much caved into Dante's scheming ways. But, when it came down to it, that's just who she was as a character.

Dante...He was full of himself, that was for sure. He started off being the bad boy who didn't care about anyone or anything and didn't care who he crushed in his path. But as the story moved forward, I began to see the goodness underneath this characters shell and his goodness began to shine through.  Of course Dante brings the heat to the pages, but what I really liked about him was that in the end, he proved he was more than Lucifers pawn.

There were some shockers threaded in the story and let me tell ya, I was thrown off by a few of them. I liked the added addition of a few key players and their roles. I was blindsided by a few.

Overall, this was a wonderful debut by Victoria Scott. I think she will be a new YA voice to keep an eye on.

About the Author:

 I'm a YA writer represented by Laurie McLean. Author of THE COLLECTOR (Entangled Teen, April 2013) and THE BRIMSTONE BLEED (Scholastic, 2014). I have a master's degree in marketing, and live in Dallas with my husband. When not writing, I can be found munching cotton candy and snuggling obese cats.

Website / Blog / Twitter / Goodreads / Dante's Website
 

As part of this amazing tour we have a very special giveaway to share with you.  Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.  Good Luck!

Don't forget to add both The Collector and the sequel The Liberator to your Goodreads TBR!

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