Delilah by Eleanor de Jong

Amazon Synopsis: Maligned as the courtesan who revealed the mighty Samson's secret for money, Delilah has become synonymous with treachery. But behind the myth is a tale far more tragic…
From the moment they met, there was a fire in their relationship, with Samson pitted against Delilah's family. But Samson soon develops an overwhelming passion for Delilah; entranced by her beauty and passionate nature.
Meanwhile the Israelites and the Philistines are in a state of constant conflict, with Samson a seemingly unbeatable warrior. The Philistines are desperate to learn the secret behind Samson's power and enrol Delilah as a pawn to bring him down. Driven by misplaced anger, Delilah agrees to use her wiles to discover the secret of his strength.
But Delilah finds that Samson is far from the ogre that she had assumed. But a sequence of events have been set in motion which both of them are powerless to stop.
The consequences of her mistake have gone down in history and this wonderful novel is as alluring and beguiling as Delilah herself.

I got the other book by this author, Jezebel, in Tesco (a supermarket for none English folk) as part of a 3 for £5 deal so when I saw this one for £2.99 in Cut Price Books it made sense to get it. Then I read a couple of YA Dystopian books and wanted a change of genre. I am one of these people that if they read too much of one author or type of book they get sick of it and no longer enjoy that type of novel. Historical fiction seemed a good choice since I haven't read one in a while despite the large amount of unread historical books on my shelf. That it was based on the biblical story is even better because I don't know a lot about the stories but find them really interesting when I do. That and I am watching the new Channel 5 show 'The Bible' and next weeks episode recreates Delilah and Samson. 

As you can probably guess, Delilah is based on a girl of the same name who was charged with seducing and destroying the Israelite rebel Samson by the Philistines. In this book Delilah herself is an Israelite who was adopted into the Philistine lifestyle when her mother married a vineyard owner. Achish, the new step father, is a kind man but he already has two children; one who likes Delilah and one who hates her. This leads Delilah to grow up as a girl who enjoys making her horrible, spoilt brat of a step-sister upset and this is not hard when Delilah grows up to be beautiful whilst Hemin is just tight faced. 

At first I did not like Delilah outside of her causing Hemin distress, because God knows I hated Hemin, due to her lack of interest in anything. She seemed snobby and annoying whilst everyone still fell in love with her. As the story progressed though Delilah became more aware of her own race and became bearable. Another reason I disliked Delilah was due to her easily agreeing to assist the chubby Lord Phicol in tricking a man who had been fighting the Philistine oppression called Samson. He sounds like a beast in the book being over 6ft 3 with solid muscles but he also has 7 really long braids down his back and this was just laughable. I know it is a big part of the story but the way it was described just had me imagining the ultimate hair whip from a hunky man. 

Samson is instantly attracted to Delilah and she is willing to do whatever it takes to earn the money Phicol paid her. Delilah has no problem sleeping with people and enjoys sex which is weird for a woman. The sex scenes were a little unnecessary sometimes though. They were needed in some parts but not when something big happens and then people just start having sex randomly. Do not read this book if you do not like a little bit or erotica in your books. It is not too graphic though and is written like so many are where they try to be eloquent and the reader just ends up wondering what they are doing to each other.

It was not until the last third of this book that I became really interested. I was enjoying it at first but was also kind of forcing myself to finish it. Then one event happens and the rest of the book flies by like a domino effect as the plot explodes along with my emotions. 

This book was a lovely read and I am definitely reading Jezebel soon. 

Rating: 4/5

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