"Delilah" Book Review

Delilah:  Treacherous Beauty Book Review

Dangerous Beauty #3

by Angela Elwell Hunt

Book Description:

A Complex and Compelling Glimpse at One of the Bible's Baddest Girls 

Life is not easy in Philistia, especially not for a woman and child alone. When beautiful, wounded Delilah finds herself begging for food to survive, she resolves that she will find a way to defeat all the men who have taken advantage of her. She will overcome the roadblocks life has set before her, and she will find riches and victory for herself. 
When she meets a legendary man called Samson, she senses that in him lies the means for her victory. By winning, seducing, and betraying the hero of the Hebrews, she will attain a position of national prominence. After all, she is beautiful, she is charming, and she is smart. No man, not even a supernaturally gifted strongman, can best her in a war of wits.

MY REVIEW:   Delilah is often used as an example of the sort of woman one does not want to model their own life after....the Bible has little to tell us of her background or details about her life before she became involved with Samson, the one whom God had instructed should never have a razor put to his hair.  This story is of course fictional and supposes what led an innocent baby named Delilah to become one of the Bible's baddest of the bad girls.  We know from historical facts that it was not easy being a woman in a man's world in Biblical times.  

       I did of course read the story of Samson and Delilah from the scriptures in the Bible and what I glean from God's Word is that he intended for Samson to do exactly what he did when he destroyed the entire company of Philistines along with the rulers, giving up his own life as he killed more people with his death than he had in his entire lifetime.  God used a weak man, one who loved beautiful women and ultimately lost his eyes and his strength due to one of these women, the beautiful Delilah.  He used a woman we truly know little about for his purposes, but we can imagine what her life was like and it has been very captivating to follow Ms. Hunt's version of the possibilities contained within Delilah's life.  Her secrets have been given wings with the words of this book.  I also must say that the cover of this book is stunning in its beauty.

      I rate this book 4 stars as I did have to keep referring back to the title of each chapter to remind myself whether this was Delilah or Samson's "voice".  This did slow my reading down a bit but did not take away from my desire to keep reading ahead.  While this book is the third in a series, it is a stand-alone as well since each of the books features a different "dangerous beauty" of the Bible.

      I received a copy of this book from netgalley and the publishers and I was not required to write a review, although it was encouraged.  The words here are my own and all opinions expressed belong solely to me.

About the Author:

     Christy-Award winner Angela Hunt writes for readers who have learned to expect the unexpected in novels from this versatile author. With nearly five million copies of her books sold worldwide, she is the best-selling author of more than 100 works ranging from picture books (The Tale of Three Trees) to novels.

Now that her two children are grown, Angie and her youth-pastor husband live in Florida with Very Big Dogs (a direct result of watching Sandlot too many times). This affinity for mastiffs has not been without its rewards--one of their dogs was featured on Live with Regis and Kelly as the second-largest canine in America. Their dog received this dubious honor after an all-expenses-paid trip to Manhattan for the dog and the Hunts, complete with VIP air travel and a stretch limo in which they toured New York City. Afterward, the dog gave out paw-tographs at the airport.

When she's not home writing, Angie often travels to teach writing workshops at schools and writers' conferences. And to talk about her dogs, of course. 

Readers may visit her web site at www.angelahuntbooks.com.