The forth book 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗩𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 by Martha Waters is a delightful and fun read, and I read it in just a few hours. A haunted house that not really haunted , and arranged marriage, lots of banter and good friends

I adore Martha Waters' Regency Vows series so much and still think she is severely underrated. Unfortunately, I didn't love Penvale and Jane's story. It was enjoyable enough but I just didn't fall for their romance like I have the previous 3 couples.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I came to this book after having read the last in a series of stand-alone books where the characters from previous books show up. The other was so good that I couldn’t resist getting another one.

Jane is the FMC and she is shy, grumpy, and wanting to be in charge of her own life and her own household. Unfortunately , that is not realistic for many women of her time. So when she sees and opportunity to get what she wants she seizes it. This comes in the form of a long thought out and thorough charade in order to have the men running for the hills.

Penvale is viscount without his ancestral seat, his home. He will do anything to get his hands back on it after it was sold when his parents unexpectedly passed away. This included marrying a perfect stranger in order to seal the deal. Even if he has to deal with a woman talking to him scornfully and turning everything he says in the negative. Sadly for him he finds himself drawn to her biting responses.

This is a book of loneliness and heartache turning into a beautiful happily ever after, if only one has the courage to run toward it.

If you couldn’t tell, I loved this book. Jane got on my nerves several times with her surliness but I was able to move past it easily since she clearly had been alone a long time and not in polite society since she was a child. The shy, introvert who protects herself with ice was very believable. I couldn’t help rooting for her to finally come out of her shell and find her people.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this copy of To Swoon and to Spar. All opinions are solely mine.

I had not read the first 3 books of this series. Enjoyed this enough to go back and read the rest of them!

A delightfuly entertaining book.loved the banter and dynamic between the characters! A fun read that had me in stitches.Also, one of my fave tropes, ,arranged marriaged and it was executed nicely.Loved both hero and the heroine and their prickly personality. My favourite in the series! I will always recommend this author!

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

A super sweet rivals to lovers tale! If you are into Bridgerton or Royals along with a bit of romance, be sure to check this one out!

From a gothic romp setting to a neurodiverse heroine to a marriage of convenience that works on a million levels, this book did a great job of highlighting a hero who has mostly kept to the background of the previous books in the series. I really appreciated the way that these two ding dongs learned to hear and communicate with each other in a soft and beautiful love that grew tenderly and naturally.

This story is told in third person and follows Penvale and Jane. This is the fourth book in The Regency Vows series and I found it a little boring, which surprised me since it had a lot of elements that really appeal to me including a more mature couple for the time, a shy heroine who prefers the country and books to socializing, a marriage of convenience and ghosts in a Cornwall estate.

However, I was rather disappointed in the format. It jumps through time a lot and just when I thought I was getting interested in the relationship between Penvale and Jane it would jump again, making me feel like I was missing crucial moments in the relationship development although I loved the spectacles moments. I also found the ghostly shenanigans perpetrated by Jane or her cohorts to be rather misguided or premature with Penvale, though they were probably fun and appropriate with her guardian, and while I love a “one bed” scenario this one didn’t make sense to me in its continuation.

Just when I was starting to enjoy the relationship, there was a last-minute misunderstanding and the couple separated instigating the final grand gesture. I did think that they were a good match from the small observations and moments that they spent together, but overall I was disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

This was another fan regency romance that I think will appeal to fans of the genre. It reads a lot like the other Waters' books so if you liked those, you'll likely be a fan of this one as well.

Despite the fact that throughout the series, Penvale hasn’t really done much for me, this might be my favorite of the series. Probably because I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers. But also, you don’t get a lot of fun Regency romance set in Cornwall. You never expect the fourth in a series to be this great. The whole series is really fun, but I loved this one especially. All of the books in this series are clearly inspired by Austen and this one evokes Northanger Abbey with its Gothic vibes steeped in comedy. This book is really wonderful and I cannot wait for the next one!

This was a light cute historical romance. I had fun while read it.

Thank you to netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read this book.

I honestly didn't have "haunted house" on my regency era romance bingo card, but I should have trusted Martha Waters to make it work. I loved the idea of Jane doing everything she can to have control of "her" home, including trying to scare off her arranged husband who wants nothing more than to live in "his" home again. Jane and Penvale were funny and clever, I wanted them to make it work, and I genuinely enjoyed this story (and the staff loyalty to Jane!) throughout.

This book was really fun! It is a perfect light and fun book. It was not a standout to me but I enjoyed reading it! I would recommend it to people

An arranged marriage with witty banter? Sign me up!!

Penvale, achieving his lifetime goal of buying his childhood home back, and Jane, an introvert willing to go to great lengths to preserve her lifestyle, quickly grew on me before even reaching 1/3 of the book.

While it's about a 1/5 on the spice scale, it is refreshing to have such fun MCs with such humor and watch their slow-burn buuuurn.

This was my first book in the series, but I'd definitely like to read the others, as the interconnection definitely piqued my interest.

Thank you to Martha Waters, NetGalley, and the publishers for the opportunity to review this e-ARC!

What an interesting twist on a regency romance! I’m excited to check out more from this author now. Diana is hilarious and such a relatable sister. “Infant country bumpkin” is a new insult I shall use! Hahahaha. Penvale was dreamy. Jane was a strong and sassy FMC and I loved her. I don’t want to give away too many details regarding the storyline but it was super fun and I highly recommend this one!

Penvale has been trying to reclaim his ancestral house from his uncle for several years, but in vain. Finally, his uncle appears and offers to sell the house to Penvale upon marrying his uncle's ward, Jane. Though Penvale agrees, he suspects that there might be a reason for his uncle's sudden willingness to sell the house, after years of refusal. It turns out that the house might be haunted, which is what Jane wanted her guardian to believe. Tired of being under male domination her whole life, Jane decides to frighten her guardian away. However, she ends up getting married to Penvale and now has to scare him off if she wants to rule the household she loves.

The story is not exactly a romance, although the main characters complement each other perfectly. Their idea of love is for Jane to scare Penvale. It's an enjoyable novel with amusing characters, but it lacks the romantic element. They can be adorable, but they come across more like good friends than lovers.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Completely delightful and hilarious Regency rom-com with a marriage of convenience plot containing more than a few nods to NORTHANGER ABBEY. What made TO SWOON AND TO SPAR especially fun was watching Jane's evolution from determined introvert seeking to be left alone into someone realizing that just *maybe* there's more to life than books and tea in the library. Penvale was completely charming, if a bit too good to be true—but then again, that's what novels are for. The writing was wry and vibrant, with lots of laugh out loud moments and well observed period details.

This is my first book from Martha Waters—I'm eager to explore the rest of the series. Many thanks to Atria and Netgalley for the advance read!

To swoon and to spar has that classic troupe of an arranged marriage with a ‘supernatural’ (lol) twist. Penvale has been determined to reclaim his family's ancestral home, Trethwick Abbey for ages. This leads him to accept a marriage of convenience with Jane Spencer, his uncle's ward. But as they settle into married life at the Abbey, they face unexpected challenges. Jane, a fiercely independent and headstrong woman, has her own reasons for wanting to keep the Abbey for herself and is determined to drive Penvale away with ghostly tricks. Meanwhile, Penvale slowly comes to realize that his new bride is more than just a reluctant partner in their arrangement.

This was a fun book! I am a sucker for good banter and this had in spades. I could not help rooting for Jane and Percival to see their ‘fake’ marriage was indeed the ‘real thing’.

Looking forward to the next in the series!

This book is the perfect book to read while we wait for Season 3 of Bridgerton. It’s a fun swoon worthy historical romance book.

Such a cute read! I blew through this in one day. I loved how Jane was prickly but overall independent. I would for sure read more from martha!