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.

Growing up in a Christian house, going to church every Sunday morning & evening, along with Wednesday evenings, I read the bible quite often. I still find myself reading the bible quite often, especially when I am feeling lost, or need some encouraging scriptures and I've got to say, I have put my own thoughts together about Delilah. This book puts a lot into perspective, and makes you think about why Delilah had a child out of wedlock and why she was considered a harlot.

I have always read books based on major biblical characters with some skepticism. I have seen far too many stray WAYYY beyond the pages of the Bible in their story and it left me with a sour taste. BUT, when the character is in the Bible without a lot of pre-history or "what happened next", I am always willing to give it a try. Delilah is one of those characters. The only information we have about Delilah is found in Judges 16:4--"Afterward it happened that he (Samson) loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah." We know the story of how she was going to earn MUCH silver if she would help betray Samson to the Philistines, and eventually she did--leading to Samson's capture, blinding, slavery, and ultimately his grand death.

I admit, I have always asked--why? What made her do it? Where did she come from? What did she look like? I therefore, enjoyed seeing how Angela Hunt wove the past of Delilah into the story of Samson. I KNEW it was speculation, but it was actually pretty believable. We know from the Bible Samson was a lover of beautiful women--so we know she had to be stunning. Commentaries can't decide what her true "career" was, yet we know she knew how to weave (Judges 16:13-14)--so having the author give that as a career to Delilah was appropriate.

Delilah is a story of the woman who betrayed Samson, but this novel, also explores what was going on in Samson's head throughout all of this. The narration switches back and forth between Delilah and Samson. So we see his thoughts (some taken straight from the Bible and some fiction) as he journeys from the wedding to the philistine wife that blew up in his face, to the various defeats of the Philistines by his hand. He has a servant named Rei--which we eventually come to realize is a bit more than the manservant Samson thinks he is. We also see tie ins with other parts of the Bible that are going on at the same time, which shows the author's great research to keep those parts of the story accurate.

The story ends exploring the question of whether or not Delilah was in the Temple of Dagon on the fateful last day of Samson's life. I don't mind the redemptive end they gave Delilah. Because it is one of those unknowns--so maybe it DID happen like the way the author imagined. Maybe it didn't.

All in all, I give this book 4 1/2 stars. I think it did a great job exploring both the life of Samson and Delilah. Because there isn't a lot there, I didn't mind the author's speculation about Delilah and don't think she took it places it definitely DIDN'T go. I think all her speculation was valid and COULD have been a way it played out. I definitely think the portrayal of Samson was done well and she kept to the Bible for most of her work there. I give it an extra 1/2 star because it made me explore the time period more to see if Samuel was indeed a contemporary of Samson, and as it shows he WAS, gave me a deeper connection with the story. Books about Bible characters that make me GO to the Bible to learn more or re-read are definitely worth my time. I DO recommend this book highly--especially to those who like fictional stories based on Biblical events. I am looking forward to reading books #1 Esther: Royal Beauty and #2 Bathsheba: Reluctant Beauty in this Dangerous Beauty Series now that I have enjoyed book #3. I just need to make sure my library has them.