I wish I had read this sooner. I am a huge fan of historical romance now and I am loving this series. I have even now read the book after this one. I have enjoyed the characters with solving their issues, the banter, and just pretending i'm living in the regency era myself while reading this!

Smart, witty, sarcastic, and the characters are honestly flawed, endearing, admirable, and fully relatable. I wanted to like this book more than I did but honestly it took me a while to finish—it was a tad slow. Yet I enjoyed it and would read another by this author.

To Love and To Loathe is the second book in Martha Water's Regency Era Series. It has a lot to love and a lot to loathe.

Diana is a widowed lady who has made a bet with her brother's best friend, Jeremy, that he will get married in a years time. A month times later, Jeremy proposes that Diana help him with his bedroom skills and he'll show others that she is out in society again. Diana has sworn that Jeremy will be her enemy for now and forever. But will she be able to loathe him forever? Or will love come out to stay with a certain Lord?

To Love and To Loathe is a fun story with a laughable cast of characters. The chemistry is flying off the pages with Jeremy and Diana. However, Martha Waters throws a lot of other subplots in the novel that make their feelings feel like second place. This is the second in the series however; may easily be read as a standalone.

I have not read any of Martha Waters' previous works, so it was interesting to dive into the second book in a series without prior context. With that being said, the main characters were enjoyable to read, they were both relatively good individuals with their roles within society. The chemistry between the two was delightful, to say the least, given the way they seemed to antagonize each other. However, while it was fun read there was not enough for me to see Diana and Jeremy falling in love with each other. I mean chemistry does not always equate to automatically falling in love.

I do love a good enemies to lovers trope. It was a cute quick read but I wouldn't say a favorite. It was definitely worth the read but nothing noteworthy for me.

I don't normally read historical romance but this one sounded intriguing and I wanted to try out the genre so I picked this one up.
What worked for me in this novel were the characters. They had a very easy, playful banter between them that I enjoyed. Their interactions made the book for me.
This was a light, easy read if you are in the mood for something simple.
I do wish there was a little more plot beyond just "the social season". It felt a litttle slow because of the lack of real plot.

I really enjoyed this book, although it moved along fairly slowly, which is a given for romances in the Regency era. I really enjoyed the characters and the little games they played to get what they wanted.
This was an entertaining book, 4 stars.

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

Diana and Jeremy bicker throughout the first book in this trilogy, but it was more brother/sister to me. I was interested to see how Waters parlayed them into a couple. The premise was fun, but the execution didn’t live up to expectations. Diana proved herself too much of a mean girl and never made it to heroine in my opinion.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

Am I upset with myself for finishing this one? Honestly, a little.

It had a very promising start. Good premise. Then all of a sudden it was like extra fast and extra haughty. By the end...I was just glad to be finished.

The absolute best part of this Martha Waters series are the titles. They are perfect! But the books... are totally fine, too. To Have and to Hoax sets the stage for our three friends and their prospective (or current) lovers, and To Love and to Loathe picks up the thread almost immediately after the last book. Finally everything has gone right for the nearly-failed marriage and we can focus on Diana, the best friend. This book does some things wonderfully- I did enjoy the witty banter, and the hate to love (that was always love, of course). I also love a good backstory where he has to figure out his stuff before they can have a relationship. That said, the issue in the last title was two people who simply didn't both trying to communicate, over and over. Here, they are communicating, but consistently doing the most idiotic thing they can imagine.

Mostly I forgave them by the end. And it was light, fun, and I read it very very quickly. This is happy regency fluff with nice writing and fun whimsical characters. Just go in ready to smack the characters over and over again, and you'll be fine. Three and a half stars rounded to four (because I love a snarky heroine), with a hopeful eye for book three.

This historical fiction romance has a cutesy cover and an intriguing premise but in the end I felt like it wasn't very original, and I struggled to keep interest.

The writing style is fun, with a bit of a tongue in cheek style. But ultimately this just wasn't for me.

loved it and loved it. Read it and liked it. Iliked this series of books. Thanks netgalley for this book.

This was my first ever Regency romance!
Let it be known that I grew up in a household that reveres Jane Austen so the regency era of contemporary romance novels hasn't ever been anything I've been particularly drawn to. I think it's because I have always enjoyed the books from the actual time itself and have never really looked to expand my reading in that direction. But with popular shows like Bridgerton (based on the popular romance series by Julia Quinn) and PBS reincarnating Sanditon, the regency romance seems to be having a moment - consider my interest piqued.

This book was charming and fun, I found it to be a delightful novel for a first attempt at reading in this genre.
Romance readers who enjoy the classic enemies to lovers trope will certainly find this a fun read. My one recurring thought while I read this was that the writing seemed rushed in places and scattered in others, and that might very well be a case of "me" not the actual book.

Overall a fun dip into the regency romance waters, I certainly enjoyed this and will be looking forward to my next read in this genre.

Thank you Atria Books for providing an eARC for review.


The sharp banter between Jeremy and Diana is delightful. Diana makes this book most entertaining. She's whip smart, tenacious and she knows her own mind. Lady Helen is a smug pill. This is the best one yet! I highly recommend.

This novel takes the typical romance story and turns it on its head by putting th female in control of her destiny. I enjoyed the banter of the two main characters and the disconnect from the typical "woah is me. I have no choices as female" storyline. It was refereshing to read a more modern take on a period romance. It alternates between the couple's first person perspective. I feel this has a more truthful element to romances of the period as it provide a more emotional male insight rather then the "stiff upper lip". The romance scenes are moderately graphic but with tastefulness. I don't typically read romance but I did like the story as a fun diversion from reality.

Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham, have been duking it out for years, their childhood barbs slowly giving way to flirtatious banter - and it's this bickering banter that leads to a wager: Jeremy, a sworn bachelor who much prefers the company of numerous women rather than one wife, will wed within the year or Diana will hand over one hundred pounds. Now long after, while at a house party at Jeremy's country estate, he comes to Diana with a proposal of his own: his latest mistress did not handle their break-up well and insulted his...abilities. Now Jeremy's looking for a no strings attached affair, one just until the end of the house party, where Diana can assess his skills (or lack thereof).

What's meant to be a honest, almost clinical assessment turns out to be anything but - it's obvious to everyone at Elderwild the two are wild about each other...obvious to everyone but Diana and Jeremy, of course. Watching their relationship play out was so, so much and endlessly entertaining. This series truly is the definition of a rom-com, heavy on both the rom AND the com, I giggled and genuinely laughed out loud the entire time I was reading.

I did take issue with one part: Diana outed a character to THREE people almost immediately after swearing to keep the woman's secret.

A cute historical romance between widowed Lady Diana Templeton and Marquess of Willingham (Jeremy). What starts off from an argument at a ball to a wager where if Jeremy marries within a year or Diana will forfeit a hundred pounds.

Enemies to lovers and lots of sharp-tongued cheeky barbs with obvious flirtation going on.

Tried reading this one and it just was not meant for me. This does not mean that it is not a good book, I just was not in the right place to be reading it and have decided to not try picking it up anytime in the near future.

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

I'm not gonna lie - this took a few false starts before I crossed the finish lines, but I'm glad I finally did and I look forward to continuing the series. I appreciated the nuanced and real way that women's (at least titled women) choices (if we can call them that) are guided and influenced in an effort to achieve any sort of freedom or agency. There's also a slight examination into the way childhood trauma and grief can affect a man's view of himself and the way that he carries himself in this setting. The banter is funny, there's some LGBTQ+ inclusion that's clever and real, and the steam is good. I'm actually excited for Julian and Emily's story now - and I hope it doesn't take me quite as long to ingest it!

3.5 out of 5 wine glasses