To Love and to Loathe

Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Steam Level: 🍆🍆

I read to Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters with the Between the Covers Book Club and it was utterly delightful. In fact, Martha Waters has just become my newest auto-buy author. I expected there to be a great regency setting, delightful characters, and romance. What I wasn’t expecting is how many times I would snort-laugh while reading and listening to the audiobook. It was just so, so funny.

Diana, Lady Templeton, is a widow and quite infamous among high society for saying what’s on her mind, her flirtatious behavior, and not caring too much what anyone else thinks…at least on the outside. Diana bets Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham, one hundred pounds that he’ll be married within the year. But just as Diana is working to ensure her one hundred pounds are safe, Jeremy receives some harsh criticism….ahem, in the bedroom, and starts to doubt his prowess. He turns to Diana for help and guidance. Their affair also serves to signal to others that Diana is…well, open for business, and ready to get on with the fun part of being a widow. I’m sure you can guess, dear reader, where this alliance and shared time spent ends up—but oh my the journey getting there is pure joy. So if you haven’t read this one yet, I highly suggest you do.

It is part of a series, titled The Regency Vows, and I had not read the first book To Have and to Hoax when I read this, and I thought it worked perfectly well as a stand-alone. And, great news, the third in the series, To Marry and to Meddle, is due to come out in April 2022.

Synopsis:

The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham are infamous among English high society as much for their sharp-tongued bickering as their flirtation. One evening, an argument at a ball turns into a serious wager: Jeremy will marry within the year or Diana will forfeit one hundred pounds. So shortly after, just before a fortnight-long house party at Elderwild, Jeremy’s country estate, Diana is shocked when Jeremy appears at her home with a very different kind of proposition.

After his latest mistress unfavorably criticized his skills in the bedroom, Jeremy is looking for reassurance, so he has gone to the only woman he trusts to be totally truthful. He suggests that they embark on a brief affair while at the house party—Jeremy can receive an honest critique of his bedroom skills and widowed Diana can use the gossip to signal to other gentlemen that she is interested in taking a lover.

Diana thinks taking him up on his counter-proposal can only help her win her wager. With her in the bedroom and Jeremy’s marriage-minded grandmother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Willingham, helping to find suitable matches among the eligible ladies at Elderwild, Diana is confident her victory is assured. But while they’re focused on winning wagers, they stand to lose their own hearts.