Writers around the world were mesmerized a few weeks ago when author, Delilah Marvelle, and Kensington CEO, Steven Zacharius, engaged in a public exchange of staggering honesty.  Each clearly stated their views about the relationship between authors and publishers and whether or not independent book publishing was the better course. (See link below).

I must say I had never read a book by Delilah Marvelle.  Pretty amazing since she’s written twenty wildly popular books.  But since her books have a reputation for being a bit more explicit — her tag line is “historical romance just got scandalous” — it wasn’t something quite up my alley — or so I thought.

As they say, no publicity is ever bad publicity, and the confrontation between her and Steve Zacharius had me interested.  When an opportunity came up to review her newest book, Night of Pleasure, I decided to give it a try. Boy was I glad I did.

First, I found the book to be one of the most well-written books as far as period and place I’ve read in quite a while.  I’m a fuss-budget on facts, and she got hers right without her characters turning into cardboard. Her use of language is astounding.  Her characters were so well developed, the reader even knows what kind of candy they prefer and and why. She takes what in less skillful hands would be a far-reaching plot and suspends reality so thoroughly, that every action seems believable.

Second, the scandalous sex scenes I had worried about were incredibly sensitive.  They weren’t plopped in the book in a gratuitous manner, but were well-crafted and essential to the story line.  Perhaps the nudge into dominance was a bit harder for me to swallow, but even that mated well with the heroine’s psychological dilemma.

Truly the only thing I found fault with was that her women seem overly fond of the color chartreuse in their gowns.  A flaw, that as an author myself, I find totally endearing.

So, here is a toast to better dialogue between publishers and authors and the books of Delilah Marvelle.  I believe anyone who reads historical fiction would enjoy this romp into her wonderful world. Reading it last evening definitely gave me a “night of pleasure.”

For those of you interested in reading more about the conversation between Delilah Marvel and Steven Zacharius, here is the LINK. Happy reading!