Book Review: The Devil's Delilah

The Devil's Delilah, by Loretta Chase

I first found "The Devil's Delilah" quite by accident. I was in Barnes and Nobel, right before I bought my Paperwhite (truth be told, I had actually been in there checking out the nook *gasp!* ...you know, shopping around! Relax!). I was tired of thinking, tired of being out and about after another long day of work, so I wandered into the romance section and started browsing. Normally I skim first through my favorite authors' titles to see if there is anything new or exciting out. If not, I'll browse a few covers and see if anything catches my eye. Rarely, if ever, do I browse on the Internet for suggestions from other readers.

Boy, am I stupid.

I didn't see anything new from my favorite ladies so I started skimming covers, reading the back cover copy, kind of eh. It wasn't doing it for me, but I needed a new book. I went online on my phone and I think I typed "best romance novels" or "favorite romance novels"... something to that odd effect... and lo and behold! There it was!

The Devil's Delilah came out in 1990 and it is available on the amazon.com Web site for $3 (as of July 1, 2013). It's 400 pages and it has a 4-star review on the site (which I think is because it's an older title and not a reflection of the content). I saw the listing, read the description, and had to have it.

The book is about a girl who is trying to find a husband before her father publishes his scandalous memoirs. Delilah is a quick-tempered beauty who has grown up as the only child of very loving parents. There's something about her that is completely and utterly compelling; I don't know if it's her determination to get exactly what she wants at any cost, the effect she has on the bookish Jack Langdon, or the interesting relationship she has with her father that just makes her a unique and memorable character. Maybe it's all three of those things, and the way they show such distinct sides of her personality.
My favorite person in this book, however, is Jack. (Ms. Chase, if you ever read this, please, I'd love to know what you were thinking when you created him.) He's the perfect English gentleman, exactly the proper, polite, genteel sort of well-mannered man that every historical romance writer is *trying* to write. He apologizes repeatedly to the world, to himself, for these uncontrollable feelings he has for the wild tornado that is Delilah and curses the turbulent and unsettling emotions that make him do uncharacteristic things such as grab her and kiss her in the garden when they are burying the memoirs or, at the end, climb the trellis leading to her bedroom. Somewhere between the perfect hero and this impetuous, dazzling heroine I was hooked. The plot was a wonderful road for the characters to travel down as they learned more about each other and themselves than they had anticipated. I'm not going to give it away, but it's a very clever story with a satisfying ending.

If you haven't read it, go out and grab a copy! You won't regret it!

What is your favorite romance from the 1990s?