The Liberator by Victoria ScottSeries: Dante Walker #2
Published by: Entangled Teen on August 27, 2013
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 350
Source: Blog Tour
Buy on Amazon • Book Details
Rating: ★★★½
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.
I have to admit, I was a little nervous going into The Liberator. The synopsis hints at a possible love triangle and I was dreading the thought of The Liberator suffering from “second book love triangle/relationship problems” syndrome. Luckily, that is so not the case! I am beyond delighted to report that The Liberator has absolutely no love triangles!
Aspen turns out to be a kick ass character. If anything, her relationship with Dante is a brother/sister kind of thing. At first, I wasn’t totally sure I liked Aspen. She was kind of one of those “Daddy sucks so I’m going to rebel and party and do drugs” kind of girls.. and it sort of annoyed me. She just looked for trouble to drown out her problems. But as the book went on, Aspen really grew and changed and turned into a pretty awesome character! She loses some of her “trying to be a rebel” attitude, but she’s also an insanely kick-ass fighter. That girl’s got moves!
I do have to say, I don’t think The Liberator is very plot-based (at least not until the last quarter of the book). There are long periods where it feels like not much is happening, but I think this is due to the fact that The Liberator is really about Dante’s character development. It’s about him trying to adjust to life as a liberator and overcoming his past. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just pointing it out. I quite enjoyed watching Dante struggle with himself and his new position!
I do have two gripes though:
#1 – Charlie was ANNOYING at the beginning. She suddenly does a lot of partying and hanging out with sketchy people and isn’t all that forthcoming with Dante. I was kind of pissed at her. I thought she was acting stupid. Turns out there was a reason for this, but I thought it was kind of a lame reason.
#2 – The ending. Although I kind of like how it set up for book 3, I thought the ending made so much of The Liberator feel pointless. View Spoiler »
Although I didn’t love The Liberator quite as much as The Collector (which I gave 4.5 stars), I still really enjoyed the book! Although there were some slow moments plot-wise, it was full of some great character development for Dante, and I loved Aspen’s kick-ass-ness! Turns out, that girl pretty much rocks.
About Victoria Scott
Victoria Scott is a YA writer represented by Laurie McLean. Author of THE COLLECTOR (Entangled Teen, April 2013) and THE BRIMSTONE BLEED (Scholastic, 2014). She has a master’s degree in marketing, and lives in Dallas with her husband. When not writing, Victoria can be found munching cotton candy and snuggling obese cats.
Giveaway
Thanks to the blog tour folks, we have an international giveaway for a signed copy of The Liberator, and a signed copy of Twilight!
The Verdict
We might as well have written our reviews of this book together. I agree with everything you said. It’s scary how we mentioned pretty much the exact same stuff. I still can’t wait for book 3 though. More Aspen!
I have no intention of reading these– can’t say WHY they just don’t POP out for me. SO, I read the spoiler and I would have to agree with you on that. It just sounds like this huge set up for the next book. :/
In any case– great review 🙂
I haven’t heard of these books or the author, but from the blurb I am not sure if I would like it. I guess it might be one of those if I had it I might try it, but wouldn’t go and buy it. Great review! 🙂
I loved The Collector! Can’t wait to pick this one up!
Oh sorry you didn’t like this as much as you did the first one, I’m sorry Charlie was kind of annoying and that the ending seemed to make the rest pointless D: But I’m happy the the love triangle didn’t turn out to be an actual love triangle, rather just an awesome friend relationship between Dante and Aspen.
Fantastic review, Ashley! <333
I actually didn’t enjoy The Collector-Both Charlie and Dante grated on my nerves. But I was hoping to pick up the sequel because I felt that concept-wise The Collector rocked. The Liberator would probably be one of those books that I will not buy but if I had the chance to borrow it from the library I would do it.
Lovely review, Ashley. 🙂
I’ve been dying to read The Collector because I’ve heard such amazing things about it. Too bad that the sequel doesn’t sound as good, but Aspen sounds like an interesting character. Nice review and thanks for the giveaway!
I have had this series in my TBR and really want to read it. I just think I am really going to like Dante and I really enjoy a kick ### read 🙂 Thank you for sharing with us and for the treat of a giveaway opportunity – hopping to ignore the whiny and get to the meat of the read.
I haven’t read the book yet, but it is going straight onto the TBR pile!