To Love and to Loathe is charming, witty, and perfectly fun! I am not someone who reads predominantly romance, but I was eating up every bit of trope and humor and lovey dovey perfection in this read. In fact, I didn't even realize this was a sequel until I saw the previous title popping around Instagram as I was reading! I think it's a wonderful stand alone, as well. Diana is a character that women will love because, honestly, who wouldn't want to be her? She's intelligent and clever, and she goes after exactly what she wants. I thought this was a total romp.

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. To Love and to Loathe is the second book in Martha Waters charming The Regency Vows series. It could be read as a stand-alone but I enjoyed the first book and recommend it also. Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy Overington, Marquess of Willingham have been verbally sparing since they first met many years ago. I think deep down both characters recognize their intense attraction to each other and the sparing is a means of self defence because neither ever wants to be that vulnerable to anyone. When Jeremy proposes that they have a brief affair during his house party, Diana agrees partially because she sees it as a way to get that attraction out of the way and to reinforce her defences. Of course since this is a romance we know that the plan is going to go terribly wrong and they will have to face up to the idea that they are meant to be more than friends. With a nice balance of humour and angst as well as sparkling banter this book was one I very much enjoyed reading. I particularly enjoyed Jeremy’s willingness to listen to Diana and consider what she says to him in a respectful manner. Steam Level: Medium.
Publishing Date: April 6, 2021. #ToLoveAndToLoathe #MarthaWaters #HistoricalRomance #RomanceSeries #AtriaBooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so I was excited to jump back into this world. I really liked that the main character was a widow who was for the most part perfectly happy to keep things the way they were and that she was finally able to live the life she wanted. I was frustrated at times because I just wanted to yell at both characters that they needed to talk, but I did enjoy their back and forth. I enjoyed the twist with Lady Helen as well.

Synopsis: The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham are infamous among English high society as much as 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: to embark on an affair. Diana thinks taking him up on his counter-proposal can only help her win the wager. With her in the bedroom and Jeremy’s marriage-minded grandmother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Willingham, helping to find suitable matched 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.

Long story short, this one is a DNF. Although I like the witty banter between Diana and Jeremy, along with the enemies to lovers trope, I couldn’t stay focus or interested in the story. The beginning started off well where the connection between the characters is instantly known. Also, the scene Jeremy states his proposition was cute as well. Unfortunately, after his proposition, I slowly lost interest until I decided just to stop reading altogether. However, I would still recommend this book as I know some others that would enjoy this genre and storyline!

Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I was lucky to be gifted an eARC of this book to review. This is a great rom-com story, with crazy shenanigans and the steamy tension one looks for in a historical romance. This is the second in a compassion series, and I LOVED the first book so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one.

This follows the best friends of our main couple from the first book, as they strike up a bargain to help each other out with something they are struggling with. It is truly your perfect hate to love regency England romance, and I loved it. Waters can write tension like nobody else. And the banter! Absolutely amazing! This is definitely more of a sarcastic look at Regency England, which I love reading about. Once you get past the fact that this story is not going to be historically accurate, it is such a fun ride!

Overall, all the normal things that one would expect from a historical romance were there and I loved every second of it. Waters is definitely going to become a favorite author for me.

This was such a cute and steamy read. I could not stop reading this from the first page. I love how quick of a read it was. And how captivating the characters were.

The sexual tension was also really good. Can't ever go wrong with that. It made me blush and laugh a lot. I really enjoyed it!

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲: Steamy, Tension, Strong Females, Hot Love Interests.

An adorable book. Diana or better acknowledged as Lady Templeton and Jeremy, the Duke of Willingham, are known in English high society for their sharp-tongued bickering as their courting. One night, an argument turned into a challenge: Jeremy will be married within a year, or Diana will lose 100 pounds. Shortly after this, Diana is shocked when she sees Jeremy at her house with a different proposition. Jeremy goes to Diana to have a temporary affair at the house party. It will be a challenge for Diana, as she will have to know what to do to meet her goals. A book that I enjoyed because of the chemistry between Diana and Jeremy. I love Diana's personality as she is very determined, and she tells Jeremy what she thinks. Diana's frankness strikes me as adorable and comical at the same time. Jeremy is a nice and noble boy that I love. It is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I thank NetGalley, and Atria Books for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

To Love and to Loathe is a fun rom -com, historical romance with strong Emma and Bridgerton vibes! It is chock full of great banter and jokes from the various characters.
I enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters, Diana and Jeremy. They were childhood friends, now enemies, who have made a 100 pound wager that she thinks he will marry within a year and he does not. Plus, after arriving at his country home for a couple weeks with friends, they enter into yet another “arrangement.”
This is the second in a series, however I have not read the first one. I had a bit of confusion with all the characters and names, and I wonder if I had read the first that wouldn’t have been the case. Also, there is a plot point where Diana reveals a character’s personal secret immediately to others that felt off. I wish that part had been handled differently.
Thank you to Atria Books & Netgalley for the advanced copy, all thoughts are my own.

To Love and to Loathe is a fun enemies to lovers regency romance with great banter between the MCs Jeremy and Diana. I adored Diana. She was fierce and independent and went after what she wanted! She's quick to call out the privilege and and unfairness experienced by anyone who wasn't a wealthy white man at the time and I really enjoyed that element to the story.

I was, however, disappointed when, towards the end, Diana is outing a LGBTQIA character to several different people, after that person had asked her not to say anything and it felt wrong, obviously, for her to be doing that. It was sort of not a big deal in the book, as if she had the right to do that, which made it uncomfortable.

The cast of supporting characters are great as well, especially Jeremy's grandmother! She had me laughing with her quick wit and sharp tongue and her ridiculous scheming.

There's also great open door romance and communication between the MCs, which I enjoyed.

I'm gonna start this review off with a caveat, I did not realize this was a series when I started reading this book. So this review is based on this book almost as a standalone since I did not read the first book in this series where the main characters in this book are first introduced.

I'd say as far as historical romances go To Love and To Loathe really does a fantastic job of capturing the setting and the time period. The plot, the characters, their clothes, and the dialogue all generally reflect the time period, with some exceptions for the inclusion of modern dynamics and ideologies. I'd say Jeremy was my favorite character and his sass had me rolling with laughter. Diana was the perfect complimentary to his personality. I did find her antics at time to be a bit too much, but overall I thought she was a very strong individual. She knew what she wanted and had no qualms about voicing her opinions and saying exactly what she was feeling.

I will definitely be reading more of Martha Waters in the future as well as actually going back and reading the first book in this series To Have and To Hoax. I'm excited to see who else is next in the series, I have some inklings. Emily, maybe? I am very intrigued by her story based on what we saw in this book and I do hope she is next! Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed Waters’ debut novel, To Have and to Hoax. So, I was excited when I was approved for an arc of To Love and to Loathe.
This is an enemies to lovers, friends with benefits story. Diana and Jeremy aren’t really enemies, but they definitely don’t get along. When together, which happens often as Jeremy is good friends with Diana’s brother, all they do is argue. Neither of them can let the other have the last word and they both always need to be right. The banter and arguing (read: flirting!) was the best part of this book. Diana is witty and quick with her rebuttals. I really enjoyed their debates. They were always filled with sexual tension that’s obvious to the reader, but not the characters. I think both Jeremy and Diana were well fleshed out characters. Both had backstories that fit well with why they are the way they are. Their growth felt organic and not at all forced. I just genuinely liked their relationship.
I also want to mention that I really loved Diana’s friends. We know them from Waters’ previous novel. But I liked getting to see Violet and Audley, getting caught flushed and sweaty. I also liked seeing more of Emily and learning a bit more about her romantic prospects.
Overall, I enjoyed this one. I liked all the characters. The setting felt like a traditional historical romance, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it felt familiar. It felt like something I’d read before because there’s only so much that can be unique when it comes to these kinds of romances. I don’t think that lessened my enjoyment of the story because the characters were so entertaining and likeable. I will absolutely recommend this one for historical romance fans.

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐.5/ 5 stars

This was cute. Great for lovers of Bridgerton and the Evie Dunmore books - Typical frenemies to lovers - a rom com version. This is the sequel in the Regency Vow series, and I never read the first one. However, it is easy to catch on. Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham, was criticized for his performance by one of his mistresses in the bedroom and seeks the advice of his friend’s younger sister, Diana, Lady Templeton (a recent widow). They both have always been at each other’s throat with their snarky banter, but also can’t seem to stay away from each other. Jeremy suggests they have a brief affair which would be beneficial to both - he would learn more about how to improve his ways in the bedroom and she would earn the right kind of gossip that she was ready to take lovers after the death of her husband. On top of that, they have a bet that he would marry in 1 year or Diana would win 100 pounds. There is a lot going on, but also not much either. There were scenes that kept repeating over and over - her brother chiding her about her relationship with Jeremy. Although Jeremy and Diana have chemistry with their bickering and flirting, I felt their other scenes were a bit lackluster. Also, other than the phrases “leading strings” here and there, I really couldn’t tell this was in the Regency era. I really thought this was a fun and light read - but definitely not my favorite of this genre.

Thank you to Atria Books & netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you so much to Atria and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of To Love and to Loathe! I had won a copy of To Have and to Hoax in a Goodreads giveaway earlier this year, so I was really excited to read this one after I finished that one!

To Love and to Loathe 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

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.
With Martha Waters’s signature “cheeky charm and wonderfully wry wit” (Booklist, starred review), To Love and to Loathe is another clever and delightful historical rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Evie Dunmore.

Let's start by talking about the things I enjoyed about this book. I really liked seeing Violet and Audley again and all of the supporting characters really. I was really excited about Diana and Jeremy's book, especially since it started with a wager and morphed into Diana helping Jeremy gain his confidence back in the bedroom and Jeremy helping Diana show other men that she was interested in lovers. It was great that so much of this book took place in the country (at a country house)! And I absolutely loved Jeremy's grandmama. Such a fierce and fun character who knows just how to manipulate everyone into doing her bidding! Now for the one thing that I didn't like- I felt like parts of the middle of the book were so drawn out and slow and ugh sometimes I just wanted to skip ahead to the good parts because I was a little bored. It wasn't too, too bad, but it did make it so that this cute historical romance with fantastic characters which totally could have been a 5 start read became a 4 star read, max. I felt similarly about To Have and to Hoax though, so it could just be that this is how books set in that period are written and it isn't my favorite writing style. It won't keep me from reading other books in this series though!

To Love and to Loathe is the follow up to Martha Waters' debut To Have and to Hoax. It features all the same cast of characters, but focuses on the relationship between the young, wealthy widow, Diana, and Jeremy, a second son who inherited his title after the tragic death of his older brother. Diana is the younger sister of Jeremy's Eton friend, and they've always an underlying attraction, each masked with teasing disdain for each other.

Jeremy has a reputation as a rake and wastrel (my favorite), but his last mistress informed him he was actually terrible in bed. He approached Diana for a mutually beneficial affair over the course of his house party. He would get her honest feedback about his bedsport, and ideally a confidence boost. She would signal to the ton she was open to an affair, as an independent widow. 

Now, I love a good house party trope, and this one had all the good stuff: picnic dalliances, hide and seek dalliances, horseback riding dalliances. So many opportunities for vacation dalliances.

I'll be honest that I didn't even finish the first book in this series because there was so much meanness and pettiness and useless manipulation between the main characters in that one. This book didn't dwell in that pettiness as much. However, social manipulation, wtf? scheming, and general immature behavior do run rampant through most of the book. It all resolves itself in the end, with somewhat interesting twists. But it had an Emma/Clueless/YA feel about it. All of the drama and conflict is self-inflicted and insular in the way highschool drama can be. 

Compared to the first book, I found this one easier to stick with to see the characters finally mature enough to have honest conversations with each other. So if you liked the first in this series, you will definitely like this one. If, like me, you hated the main characters in the first book, I'd say give this one a try! There was a lot to like here.

3/5

A regency romance perfect for fans of Bridgerton and historical fiction alike. When the widowed Diana, the Lady Templeton, finds herself in need of a change, she strikes a wager with Jeremy, the Marquess of Willingham that he will be married within the year. Unfortunately for Diana, she gets herself into far more than she initially bargained for. Jeremy has something completely different in mind for the deal, suggesting they include a friends-with-benefits situation that will last the duration of a house party he is hosting at one of his many estates. Diana really doesn't want to lose the wager, so in the interest of the one hundred pounds she stands to lose, agrees to the arrangement. Unbeknownst to the two of them, their connection is far stronger than the measly wager that threatens to drive a wedge between them.

Having not read the previous book in the Regency Vows trilogy, I was prepared to dive head first into its second book To Love and to Loathe. For the most part, this was a fun lighthearted romance that I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick read to space out more content heavy books. The characters encompassed within are witty, and the plot not overly complicated to keep up with. Most of what drew me to this initially was the betting concept and two people that reluctantly fall in love with one another. I am happy to say on that aspect the book did not disappoint. Jeremy and Diana had such a frenemies to lovers vibe going on it was kind of impossible to not enjoy the development of their relationship. Where this diverges, is in the way that the book tackled too many plot points at once. There was really just far too much going on, from Diana’s artistic talents to the side characters problems that were weirdly focused on and then promptly abandoned. All this did was repeatedly take me out of the story until I found I could no longer focus on it. Clearly some of the side plots are important, like the one that is going on in the background to set up the next book, but most others were unnecessary to what was going on. Other than that, the whole book seemed a bit rushed to me, especially in regards to the romantic relationship between the two main characters. I think there could have either been more background given to them and their history, or more time spent drawing out the conflict that was occurring between the two of them. While there were many moments during this where I was enjoying myself, it is evident that more time needed to be spent on it. I have heard amazing things about the book one though, so I may get around to reading that at some point.

Trigger warnings: death, grief

I have to admit that I am not much for historical romances. I can count on one hand the number I've read. And yet, they hold a certain charm to them that I find so fun to read. Maybe it's the talk of balls and carriages rides and fancy estates. Maybe it's seeing all the rules and functions of proper English society. Who knows. All I know is that I might have to add more historical romance to my reading habits.

All of that having been said, I also have to admit that while I liked this book, I didn't love it.

This being a new author to me, I actually really liked Martha Water's writing. She's good at writing light and comedic banter between characters. And yet, I couldn't really fall into it the way I wanted. This is entirely my opinion and my experience, but there was nothing memorable that necessarily stood out to me. I read this and I do not doubt that I will forget most of it in two weeks.

I haven't read the previous book in this series, To Have and to Hoax, but there was no issue in my reading or enjoyment of this one. If anything, I think this book devoted too much time discussing what had happened in the previous book. I know absolutely everything that happened without reading it, despite its having no bearing on this novel's events. The author also spent a whole lot of time building up the next book. There were times when I just wanted the story to get back to the current main characters.

One other thing that bothered me was that there was an LGBTQ+ character whose secret is exposed by the MC. After Diana accidentally discovers that character's sexuality and promises to keep it to herself, she goes and tells all her friends. Even if those friends also promised to stay quiet, that's kind of a horrible thing to do. Jeremy on the other hand found out the secret and kept his mouth shut, as any decent person would!

Overall, this was a fun, quick read and I recommend it to anyone looking for just that. I might still pick up the third book. The author spent so much time building up Emily's story that I am now begrudgingly invested.

I did not even realize that this was the second book in a series until finishing this. It is a historical romance and I must admit that I have not been reading much of that genre lately, so I am not sure if this book is true to the genre or not. This felt more like a romantic comedy set in historical era and for me it was cute, but didn’t have much depth. However, if you are looking for a “doesn’t have to be believable” easy kind of read, I think this will fill the bill. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this for review.

I thoroughly enjoyed To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters. Although it's the second book in the Regency Vows series, it was my first by Ms. Waters and I didn't feel like I missed a beat at all.

I loved the witty banter between not just Diana and Jeremy, but all of the characters especially the dowager marchioness. She was a hoot! I found the writing impeccable and the plot was unique and engaging. The only thing I didn't care for was when Diana shared a secret with her friends. I didn't think it was her secret to tell and the effect it could have if it was leaked could be catastrophic to those involved.

Overall, I loved To Love and To Loathe and I really hope we get Emily's story next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for receiving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Diana, Lady Templeton & Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham have flirted the line between love and hate since they were kids; hate winning each and every time. But when she needs to marry and Jeremy broaches the subject she laughs in his face. She will not marry for love and knows she must marry someone with large pockets to make marriage worth it to her. She sees it as a transaction and refuses to let her heart choose something so critical. Jeremy has no money and as such he is never on her list. He is a rake of the highest water but over the years seems to be playing a part more than enjoying his life.
One house party and a deal neither can refuse has their passion ignited and love blooming but will it be enough to get two people that have both sworn off marriage fall into the trap together?

This was a pretty good book but did have a few slow parts that I found myself skimming through.

I already knew I would love this book because of the way that Martha set up Jeremy and Diana in To Have and to Hoax. This book is a delightful, regency romcom full of the humour and romance that I’ve now come to expect from Martha. I adore how she writes friendships and the care that she’s taken with these characters. I can’t wait to read her next book!