To Love and to Loathe had a steady pace a good plot, and the banter between our leads was just the right amount of witty. However, everyone lacked that bit of spark to set them apart and make them rememberable. Listening to the audiobook, I had a difficult time distinguishing who was speaking at times and keeping all of the relationships straight. The make narrator also had such a snobby tone and nasally voice that it was a struggle to keep going. In the end, it was a nice story, but one that suffers due to easily forgettable characters.

What are your favorite flowers this time of year? I love anything colorful in the gloom of winter.

Diana, Lady Templeton is a widow and loves to match wits with a known rake, Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham. They make a wager of 100 pounds that Jeremy will marry within the year. As Diana is his good friend that he trusts, Jeremy also goes to her with a troublesome problem that his latest paramour criticized him in the bedroom. Will she be able to help him out with his technique? Diana thinks that if she takes Jeremy up on his offer, this will only help her win the bet. At a house party, things go awry as the try to both win their side of the bet.

This book is very steamy. I loved the witty banter. It had me laughing out loud in several spots. I love a good Regency house party and this book was a lot of fun. I loved how Diana was a strong willed and independent woman and I also love how Jeremy and Diana could talk honestly to each other.

Joel Froomkin and Anais Inara Chase took turns as narrators for the chapters narrated by Diana or Jeremy. They were fun narrators, and I enjoyed their characters. Froomkin in particular had a charming aristocratic drawl that I found to be quite delightful.

This is the second novel in the Regency Vows series. I’ve read books 1 and 3. I thought I should get book 2 read before the new book 4 comes out!

Even though, I had a chance to read this before it came out, I did not get to actually read it until recently. To be honest, the first few chapters were hard to get into it. I found myself not relating to any of the characters, therefore, not really caring where the storyline went. Did not finish it.

DNF at 25%

This was my first historical romance and I've come to the quick conclusion I just don't think they're for me. I did not like the lingo and there were too many characters that I struggled to keep straight. I feel like I would've enjoyed this "trope"/storyline if it hadn't been a historical romance because I love a good ~enemies to lovers~ (which I'm assuming this is, I didn't get that far lol), but the style of writing just did not work for me.

** DNFing at 57%

This book should have checked all my boxes according to the description. A silly regency romcom and snarky banter with a wager about will he or won't he get married.

And in the first 25% of the book I was quite enjoying myself. But then came the agreement regarding Diana's quest to take a lover and Jeremy's need for someone to reaffirm his bedroom skills. And it felt really blegh. There was too much longing and too many interruptions. I read somewhere that this was also tagged as a clean romance but there is so much talk about sex in the second quarter that it was just exhausting. Like it makes sense from the description for there to be some smut especially soon after the pact is made but it's not there and instead I was just annoyed and bored after that.

People are praising this book but I found it pretty insufferable and have been sitting at 57% for about two weeks now unable to continue so I call it here and give up.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Martha Waters is a beautiful writer who fits perfectly into the community of regency romance authors. This book is journey of true love, friendship, and genuine humor. As someone who is still relatively new to historical romance novels, this is a wonderful introduction to the genre and proves that love (and sex, and humor) is timeless.

I adore regency romances and this author, but felt that the attempts to round out the surrounding characters at times took away from the main story.

A sweet and fun historical romcom. I really enjoyed this one and I do recommend it to fans of this genre.

This was a cute read but a little slow at times. It was fun to see the banter and I love historical romance but this wasn’t the strongest one I’ve read.

Thank you for this arc copy of To Love and to Loathe. It wasn't; my type of book but others may like it. I did enjoy the cover picture though.

-I have been wanting to read this series for a long time
-Thought it has a cute premise, but just fell flat
-I could not connect to the characters nor get behind the romance to see anything swoon worthy

Unfortunately this one was just not for me. The writing style didn’t agree with me right off the bat, and then I didn’t feel enough chemistry between the leads

I know what I'm in for when I read a Martha Waters book now — lots of zippy, quippy dialogue and really great character dynamics. The main couple doesn't really present themselves as very deep — but a lot of their initial persona comes from a surface-level projection of who they want society to believe them to be, especially in Jeremy's case. In the case of this book, it was really never a question of if Diana and Jeremy would be together but when. Knocking a star off mostly because of the issue that many other reviewers have cited — the way in which the Lady Helen storyline was treated, with Diana immediately revealing that secret to her friends, put me off, especially since she could have still come to the realization about her feelings for Jeremy on her own without having to divulge that secret — otherwise this would've been a 4-star read for me solely because I felt that there was a little too much focus devoted to setting up other pairings and needed to be more for the one in the present book. But overall, I liked the house party setting and the main couple's banter, and I've heard that later books in the series improve, so I'm definitely willing to give those a shot.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

Before I get into the review, I should warn you that I didn't read the first book in this series. The book read perfectly fine as a standalone, but there may have been some cameos or hidden jokes that I couldn't appreciate to their full extent.

To Love and to Loathe is a historical romance novel that felt very modern with its premise. The book follows two characters who enter in a type of friends-with-benefits situation as a means to learn about sex while also hoping to get rid of their mutual attraction to each other. I, personally, love books/movies that are based on the naive notion that you can do a one-and-done when it comes to sexual attraction. I don't know what it is exactly but that type of dynamic of trying to deny your feelings for someone and not being able to really speaks to me.

I had a lot of fun with these characters. They had great banter with each other and surprisingly healthy relationships with their friends. There is the use of the miscommunication trope towards the end to drive that third-act conflict, but I appreciated how it was handled with some tough love.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A funny romance book. Easy weekend read.

Absolutely adorable! My first historical romcom and Martha Waters book - but not the last. A bit slow to start but then I was hooked

I tried a few different times to read this, hoping I just hadn't been in the mood for it. But ultimately, a DNF at 40%. I liked the characters in the first book and I was really looking forward to seeing them get their own HEA, but I just couldn't get into To Love and To Loathe.

Maybe one day I'll be able to circle back and I'll love them

TO LOVE AND TO LOATHE
By Martha Waters

Something about the style of writing doesn’t mix well with my romance reading tastes.

I found early on that there are big sections of the book where absolutely nothing happens. The conversations are drawn out, they last several chapters and I feel like I’m pulling everything out of the characters.

There is a hesitancy.

And Diana is written in a way where she is strong yet she has all of these pretenses where she behaves differently. It’s creates a character that is not well-formulated and it takes me out of the story focusing on her inconsistencies.

There is a line about her being a widow with title and a fat bank account yet she’s trolling around with a rake. Please tell me why? Make me buy it. What does Willingham have that makes Diana, this woman who has everything’s she’s ever wanted -want him.

Because he’s not written in an enticing way. It seems to be that both of them are more interested in whatever wagers they’ve set and coming in on their bets than figuring out whatever romantic relationship endeavors they may have.

There is also an instructional element to part of the storyline that is as steamy as Gazpacho. There is a way to write this type of scenario differently that could have added to the plot. It was a sorely missed opportunity that happened repeatedly.

There were glimmers of the adult regency romance I wanted but those elements were too far and few between. Some of the language concerning relations felt too stifled, almost censored. Which is odd considering it is an adult title.

I think this book will appeal to readers who love tropes and who enjoy finding them and seek them more than substance.

However, it wasn’t for me.

TO LOVE AND TO LOATHE..⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy!