Review: 4.25 stars for this sexy series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 18, 2013
Series Rating 4.25 Stars. Caution: this review is for all 3 Delilah's Diary books"It ain't the end of the world, you know. Just the end of what you knew."I downloaded Delilah's Diary 1: A Sexy Journey by Jasinda Wilder from Amazon as a freebie. Let me warn you now, just go ahead and grab all three: Delilah's Diary 2: La Vita Sexy and Delilah's Diary 3: Sexy Surrender. This is really one book split into three parts, but luckily they are all out, so there is no cliffhanger to worry about. Let me start by saying these are erotic books, in other words, they tend to be on the "lady porn" side of things, but honestly, I'm not complaining. (Though if my husband had Jasinda's number, he might call and thank her.) Though there was a LOT of sex, there was a great story, and I wish there was more. The stories are each pretty short (about 60 pages each) but the three together are a wonderful, complete journey with a great ending.Delilah unexpectedly came home to find her husband of 8 years in bed with the pastor's "skinny" wife. (I don't get the impression that Delilah is plus sized, just a little curvy, like a size 12). When she runs to her sister's for comfort, she finds out that her sister, and half the town has slept with him as well. Harry is the only man Delilah had ever even kissed, and her only knowledge sexually is: "I'd roll to my back, and he'd put it in, and then he'd finish, and that's it." Delilah takes her belongings, empties the joint account and heads to Chicago. On the way, she gets 2 great pieces of advice."My advice? Just love life, do things. Have an adventure. Meet a man and don't hold back. It doesn't have to be love, you know. It can just feel good too.""Get a Makeover. Change how you look. Go wild, girl. Who you used to be is gone. Be someone new."Delilah takes that advice, and starts with a makeover. When the woman at the salon hooks her up with 2 gay guys, George and José, for a makeover and shopping spree (such fun!), Delilah is transformed. She even finds the nerve to touch herself and give herself her first big O at the age of 29. While on this journey of self discovery, Delilah decides to travel the world and picks up a netbook to journal her experiences. Hence the names of these books. These are written as a diary...kind of. George gives Delilah some more good advice for moving on:"Just be true to who you want to be. Don't let anything hold you back."Off Delilah goes to Rome--with a one way ticket, and only her new clothes, cash and netbook. Free and happy, and ready to finally experience life, she is doing just that when fate interrupted, and she meets Luca. Tall, dark, Italian and gorgeous, Luca rescues her and takes care of her. There is an immediate connection. After dining and spending some time together, they are alone, and Delilah realizes she is truly desired for the first time, but is afraid...she doesn't know what she is doing."This Harry was only a selfish pig of a man who did not deserve you. You need to be taught what true pleasure is, I think."..."If you are sure you want this, with me, tonight, I will be as slow an educator in the arts of love as you could wish. If not, there is always another night..."After some amazingly hot sexy times, Delilah's heart gets caught up...and her inner voice keeps saying "Run. Run. Run." Luca and Delilah eventually head back to his hometown of Firenze, where she meets his big, loud, warm, loving family, and she realizes she has never had any of that in her life...but it's too much, too soon. "Run. Run. Run." her inner voice says, while it's fighting the other voice, saying "Love. Love. Love." I have to stop here and quote Luca after his compliments made Delilah cry because she had spent her whole life not feeling good enough for other people's standards."You do not always see your own worth, I think. You are not so skinny as I think the American ideal of perfection is believed to be."..."I like you as you are...I would not like you so much if you were skinny, all sticks and skin. You have curves, you have a body to touch and hold...I am Italian, and we have different ideals of beauty. And you, amore, are my ideal of beauty."I don't want to give away anymore, even though I have tons of great quotes highlighted, so I'll just say, read it!Likes:-I loved watching Delilah's journey, and seeing love sneak up on her.-I enjoyed watching her self-esteem increase as well.-It was a unique way of presenting the story, via journal entries.-The sex was HOT, and didn't need a ton of kink to make it that way.-I absolutely LOVED the way it ended.-George and José were great, I wish I had more of them.-Luca was totally awesome.-I loved Luca's family!Dislikes:-I don't like books that are split like this. I don't mind "episodes" but a full novel split into 3 short novellas, to me should just be released as one book.-Jasinda uses sexual expressions that I make fun of most writers for (and yes, I plan on making fun of her too). Luckily the story was good enough to overlook 3 of my biggest "no-no" expressions: "Throbbing manhood" (at least she didn't say "turgid"), "dew of my essence", "spearing the flower of my p****".-The journal entries seem like journal entries sometimes, and then other times it seems like Delilah would never write, nor would she know to write about the "sensitive patch of rough skin" (her G-spot), but this is explained by the fact that she reads a lot of erotic novels (though if she did that, why was she so uncomfortable at first?) But this can explain some of the wording used.Rating: 4.25 stars, 4.5 HeatDespite my not liking the split novella format and some of the sexual expressions, I really, really loved these books. I enjoyed watching Delilah's journey to love, not only for Luca, but for herself as well. I love that it took place in Europe, with a sexy Italian man. Luca was very much in control in the bedroom but was as thoughtful and wonderful as possible. There is a lot of sex, but the sex had heart, and I loved it. The end was just perfect, and I'm so glad the author ended it with Delilah moving forward, not stepping back.