The Touch of Betrayal by Taryn Scarlett (Twitter, Goodreads)Published by The Studio, a Paper Lantern Lit imprint on July 28th 2015
Genres: Ancient World, Erotica, Fiction, Historical, Jewish, Romance
Pages: 132
Format: eARC
For fans of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent comes the second novella in the Cosmopolitan.com featured SIN & HONEY series starring the Bible’s most powerful and seductive women…So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength.”—Judges 16:6 Delilah would do anything to escape her past. Falling for Samson only got in the way. Taryn Scarlett’s lush reimagining of Samson and Delilah uncovers the hidden truth behind the girl who became the most infamous seductress in history. Delilah has come to the quiet valley of Sorek to start a new life, but when a man blackmails her with a devastating secret, she learns that not all sins can be buried in the past. In a dangerous bargain for her freedom, she agrees to seduce Samson, a notorious killer threatening the region—and if she can’t uncover the secret to his strength, she’ll forfeit her life. But Samson is different than any man she has ever met before: godlike in his strength but guarding a passionate vulnerability that draws Delilah to him. Will she betray the man she has begun to fall for—or will she betray her own heart for freedom?
I’m not even going to lie… I was afraid to read this. I adore the person who wrote this, but when you say a retelling of a story from the bible, I kind of get scared. But Christian Fiction this is not.
Taryn Scarlett has taken this story from the bible and reimagined it into something that is sensual and captivating… lush and rich.
With characters I only recognize from their names, Samson & Delilah, Scarlett has created her own spin on this story from the bible. You can’t help but feel for Delilah whose life was shaped by the loss of her parents at a very young age. She did what she had to do to live and thrive and unfortunately she is eventually forced to flee the only home she’s had.
The quiet valley of Sorek is where she ends up, helping a family in order to have a place to live… but she knows her days here are numbered here too. With a price on her head, a village elder figures out who she is and blackmails her. The elders know that Samson, is on his way to kill them, and the they plan to use her to find Samson’s weaknesses.
What Delilah doesn’t plan for, is the way she finds herself feeling about Samson once she meets him.
Here’s what surprised me most about this story… It wasn’t the amazing way the story is written, it wasn’t the sensual way Scarlett weaves Samson & Delilah’s story… because those are definitely surprises… it was the fact that I found myself googling their story when I turned the last page of this to find out just what their story was like in the bible. I’ve never been interested much in the stories of the bible, but Taryn Scarlett has absolutely changed that especially when she fleshes out these sensual and amazing women.
If you’re looking for a new, sensuous, take on some amazing women of the bible, definitely check out Taryn Scarlett’s novellas. I think you’ll be amazed at the beautiful writing and incredible storytelling. I know I was.
Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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