Martha Waters: To Love and to Loathe

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.

The second in the Regency Vows series (I read the 3rd first), this novel worked well as a standalone.  Featuring a friends/enemies to lovers trope (as well as a best friend’s sister), the handsome and rakish Jeremy (Marquess of Willingham)  propositioned Lady Templeton to help him recover his confidence in the boudoir.

Jeremy has long had a soft spot and a sharp tongue for Diana, who heretofore has mercilessly denied her attraction for the rake who was once broke.  Now they are both single and Jeremy has made an indecent proposal, Diana decides to give it a go.

What is at stake is their hearts.

This one, similar To Marry and to Meddle, tries to hit the rom com notes, but doesn’t play any for me.  There are scenes which are cute and a couple of zingers (mostly delivered from the Dowager Grandmama), but mostly the book was a lot of handwringing on both the MCs parts.  I like that when they are alone they often talk and get to know each other, rather than just jump into intimate contact, making the romance a bit more believable and the characters a bit more likable.

When I read To Marry and to Meddle and met Diana, I was convinced I would love her because she is forthright, sharp witted, and needles the heck out of her beau.  She reminds me of someone very dear in my life who does the same. In some ways, Waters delivers.  Diana, inexperienced as she is, teaches the rakish Jeremy how to really please a woman.  This theme was unique, but resonated, and I honestly would have loved more of these “love lessons” rather than the continued machinations to get Jeremy leg shackled to other women.  It could have been really funny, a play on the Pygmalion or Help-Another-Find-A-Lover trope I enjoy.

Instead, we get stolen kisses and deep conversations interspersed with their rapier word sparring while in public.  Not really a problem, except for the eventual “outing” of a character who is caught in the MCs game.  Which suggests that these two are selfish and not really concerned about the impact their actions have on other, less privileged people. Waters suggests an epiphany around this theme is what knocks some sense into Diana to truly go after what she wants, but it doesn’t ring true for me in a way that satisfied.

I have added a content warning because of the outing of the character, which may be difficult for some readers.  The MC first learns of their orientation by spying them and a servant in flagrante, and then the other MC learns through a direct discussion.  It is after that discussion that the second MC shares what they have learned with others, essentially outing the character.  It was not public so perhaps not the most egregious, but nonetheless the MC was entrusted with a serious secret that they then shared.  I don’t know the author’s orientation, but this felt like a het-centric perspective that missed the nuanced realities of coming out.

Ultimately, I wasn’t super connected to these MCs, and though it was a fast and interesting enough read, it didn’t deliver quite what I had hoped.  Maybe a few more scenes between the two MCs alone and a few less when they are being inconsiderate of others in the room may have helped.

There were on page intimate scenes, although fairly vanilla, and some mature themes including grief (death of parents and sibling).  No real violence.

If you enjoy the first in the series, it may be worth seeing it through to the end.  Waters has an engaging writing style and introduces some fresh ideas to the Regency era, albeit the Regency is a bit more window dressing than critical to the story and there are some problems with the characters and elements of this book.