Like always adore her books. Love the setting the story, the characters and the romance. Definitely enjoyed tremendously. Thanks for allowing me to read it

Lemme start by saying, there’s nothing sexier than a guy asking someone about a woman he’s interested in!!!

I also hate it when people interfere in a relationship that isn’t their concern. It’s half a problem when it’s a friend. It’s a bug problem when it’s a parent and BEHIND YOUR BACK

Even though this book could stand out as a standalone, I wish I had the previous books first. The characters are all familiar with each other and the situations too

The ending was a swoony one and if I knew the characters a bit more, I’m sure I would’ve fallen in love with even more. I loved the banter. The comebacks kept coming and it was hilarious

There was definitely a lot of growth with West. How he got over his grief and his pain and his guilt was very interesting to read

Sophia is a ball-breaker and I loved how hard her shell is yet very soft. Contradicting but very lovable

The fake engagement was just the right spice and spark and angst this couple needed and it was perfect

I loved this book so much but I gave it 4 stars because I felt like something was missing but I didn’t know what it was. Not sure if it’s because I didn’t read the whole series. Overall though, the book was a very worthy read

I love this series and this book is no exception.

Second chance romance at its best! Sophie thinks her sister won’t settle down until she settles down again, so she asks her old friend/love if he would fake an engagement with her. Her sister can settle down and they’ll call their engagement off…that’s the plan anyway. But old feelings and current ones make it hard for these two old friends to stay just friends.

Loved the chemistry, the story and this series.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

We have a lot of Thoughts about this book. First of all, this book was basically unputdownable. We both picked it up and didn't stop reading until it was over. That said, we also have issues with some of Sophie's actions. (We both gasped out loud when we found out about something she did "four years ago" in the text.)⁠
⁠
So what's the dirt? This is a second chance romance mixed with a fake engagement. West and Sophie were on the verge of getting engaged seven years ago when ~something~ happened* and they broke up. Present day, Sophie needs West to pretend that they've reconciled for wacky Romance Reasons. As they spend more time together, they start to remember how good they were, and to forget why they've stayed away for so long...
⁠
The book is written, as many second chance romances are, with dual timelines. Each chapter alternates between present day and their past. We find out exactly why Sophie ended the engagement, and even though we didn't love it, we were okay enough with it to believe they could reconnect. It's what happened FOUR years ago that really had us in a pother. Was it unforgivable? For us, yes. But, as we said in the footnote, West is an absolute saint and apparently he's still into Sophie, so we had to go along with it.

As we always note, Martha Waters has a real gift for dialogue. She never has to tell us that her characters have great banter because we can read it right there on the page!⁠ This added to our conflicted feelings: we had so much fun reading this while also kind of hating Sophie's actions. (I guess we had a lot to reconcile, just like West.)

In closing, we obviously felt very passionately about the book. And if you rate a book on how much it makes you feel, this rates VERY HIGH.

*These are not spoilers: West had a curricle accident and nearly died. He woke up from his deathbed to find that his BFF passed away and his girlfriend married another man. WEST IS A SAINT FOR EVEN TALKING TO SOPHIE AGAIN, Y'ALL.⁠

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

{3.5 stars}

This is the fifth and final installment of the Regency Vows series, we have been working through the various couples of this little group as they wrangle their way into the marriages they want. Our final couple are West and Sophie, who were a couple years ago but various circumstances kept them apart. We start in the present day and get flashes back to their initial courtship seven years ago and all the way up to today. In the current day, they agree on a fake betrothal each for their own motivations and of course along the way, realize they might still have feelings and barriers to their potential marriage.

I like the fake dating trope and the second chance romance trope. I did feel uncertain initially that the flashback model was a bit frustrating and wished we just followed them through the years in sequential order. But, it didn't keep me from reading it in only a couple sittings. Even though you know where they will end up, their twisty machinations were fun to follow. 

If you're a fan of Bridgerton, definitely check this series out. It's not as banter-y and a little less steamy but it still checks that swoony romance with strong willed, independent women box.

Thanks to Atria Books for gifted access. All opinions above are my own.

What a lovely book. It’s not all sweet and rosy but that’s what makes this story so special. There’s a lot of pain, grief, impossible love… there’s also a good amount of funny, witty banter, swoony flirting, and a pinning charming marquee.
I haven’t read the previous books in the series but if they’re all this lovely I’m in. I smiled, oohed and ahhed the whole time.
Highly recommend if you’re looking for a heart balm type of love story where fighting for the love you believe in is worth it all.

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: Yes – Waters has some delightful humor and dialogue!
Perspective: third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: They are together in the prologue, and then once the current story begins, at the end of chapter 1
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, one year later

Should I read in order?
I don’t think it’s 100% necessary for rebel readers – I’ve only read one other in the series – but the family is close knit the characters do overlap in the stories. I think it will up the enjoyment to read the series in order :)

Basic plot:
Sophie realizes her sister won’t move on in love until she stops worrying about her, so she stages a fake engagement with West.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1818)
- London setting
- second chance – with a 7 year separation
- disability rep (hero has a leg injury)
- fake relationship
- widow heroine
- child free HEA
- you like the slow progression of a past relationship over flashbacks
- celibate hero
- lower to mid steam – 2 full scenes

Ages:
- I believe the hero is 31 and the heroine is 26

My thoughts:
I really enjoy Waters writing. I love her character focus and witty, funny dialogue. I love how she brings her characters to life so well. Her relationships feel so real and have such depth.

I struggled a bit with this one purely because it’s a trope I struggle with. Second chance is one of my least favorite tropes. I find it just misses a lot of what I really love in romance. I did like that this one gave us the beginning of their story. That is something I’m a bit sad if we don’t get when watching a second chance reconnection. Buuuuuut I also tend to dislike flashbacks. And their story is given throughout flashbacks throughout almost the whole story. Also, mini complaint, maybe it’s repetitive but I really like when we’re jumping time if the chapters are all labeled. For these, the past events were but then we would start the next chapter and I’d wonder for a minute if we were still in the past or present day – so I like when those are all labeled.

I loved both of these characters but did start to get a bit irritated with Sophie towards ¾ ish mark. I thought she just refusing to budge when it came to West and it was really heartbreaking to see. West was such a wonderful hero and the way he was just hurt by her over and over was frustrating – until he realizes what Sophie’s fear is. And I ended up being really placated and in love with the end of their story. Sophie’s fears made sense and made me understand why she was acting the way she was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an arc of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

I really enjoyed the Regency Vows series and have been looking forward to Sophie and Wests book since the very begging. Spice wise this one is a bit mild but because it’s a “second chance” trope I appreciated that Waters focused more on their relationship and repairing the issues that kept them apart than their attraction to one another.

Waters also does a great job making this book stand on its own. Yes, they allude to situations from previous books but it’s in conversation and just enough to understand the context of why it matters in this book.

Overall a great finale to a sweet book series. 4 stars!

- 3 stars
- 1 spice

Quick Thoughts :
- jumping back and forth in timelines out of order took me out of story
- given the nature of the “conflict/problem” the resolution was a bit underwhelming in that she suddenly and quickly re-framed her perspective
- felt like a lot of build up and the payout fizzled
- if you like Bridgerton (and are waiting for the new season to release like me), you’ll like this

What I liked :
- overall story and character development
- fake engagement but they are both in love
- witty banter and flirting


Thank you to #NetGalley for this eARC

I've enjoyed all the books in the series and this was no exception. I loved the fake engagement trope and West and Sophie. Loved that there was no true third act breakup, just fights that normal people would have and need to work through. The ending was great and was a nice conclusion to all these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

The final book in the Regency Vows series did not disappoint. At last, we have Sophie and West’s book, it was about time after reading about glance after glance throughout the series between these two. The story alternates between their perspectives, shedding light on what happened between them in the past and what is happening in the present. Seven years of love, hurt, separation, and wanting haunted both Sophie and West. This book made me fully fall in love with West and made me want to shake the living daylights out of Sophie and be like giiiirl stop already. It was the perfect ending to this series of books that we've all fallen in love with.

This was a a solid finale to Martha Waters’s Regency Vows series. I’ve been waiting for West and Sophie’s story since I read the first book. There was obviously a history between them, and one that I wanted to find out more about.

I did get to learn about Sophie and West’s past history, but it was done in flashbacks, which I really felt affected the pacing of the story. At times it really felt like it dragged. I enjoyed their shared history, though, and some of it surprised me. The angst level was higher than in the prior books in the series, and I usually go for a bit more of a lighthearted mood. I found myself downright melancholy through a lot of the story and that’s not exactly what I was looking for.

This installment was ever so slightly steamier than the previous ones, and I really felt like it worked for this particular story.

Waters does a great job crafting her characters, and it was lovely to revisit the whole cast from the previous books. The banter was, as always, top notch. I was very pleased with how Sophie and West ended up. Overall a satisfying end to a fun series.

To Woo and to Wed is the last of the Regency Vows series, and while it can be read as a stand-alone past characters show up throughout adding to the fun. Sophie and West's story is a second chance romance, in which two young people separated by interfering parents and grief find their way back together. As with all of the stories in the Regency Vows series their way to happily ever after is filled with humor and tenderness. The characters are well-developed, and the dialogue fun. I'm sorry to see the series end, but glad rereads will allow for more time in this Regency world author Martha Waters has created.

ARC RTC

STORY LOVE
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

SPICE
🌶️ not quite mild

RECOMMEND
💳 yes

Surprising, I enjoyed West & Sophie’s story a lot. While, it’s not spicy, the makes up in angst and swoon. Definitely a second chance romance worth reading. Plus, I love that this story has a dual timeline that spans seven years, starting with the prologue and leading up to the end.

A fitting end to this delightful series! In this regency romance we get second chance romance, fake dating and visitations from past characters. I’m sad to see this series end.
.
Thank you #atria and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

It was bittersweet saying farewell to all of these characters I've spent time with over the past four years! In To Woo and to Wed, we spend time not only with West and Sophie, but also Violet and James (To Have and to Hoax), Diana and Jeremy (To Love and to Loathe), Emily and Belfry (To Marry and to Meddle), and Jane and Penvale (To Swoon and to Spar), all of whom have had the machinations of others play a major role in their love story.

I appreciated the long burn of seeing Sophie and West throughout the entire series, and watching them finally resolve their misunderstandings and differences made this book especially rewarding.

There was plenty of meddling by West's father, told through in a series of stories beginning at the start of Sophie and West's love affair 7 years prior as well as in the current time of the novel - while he isn't fully redeemed, there is a glimmer of a wink that perhaps his perceptions have changed and he's not as opposed to their union as he once was.

And of course, Sophie as the oldest of 5 sisters, has plenty of meddling and putting-their-oar-in by her sisters as well!

What I liked the best, at the end of the day, was when West and Sophie were able to be open and honest with each other, confessing their hurts and misapprehensions, then working past them together.

A worthy end to the series, and I look forward to seeing what Waters' writes next!

Second chances—possibly!

Second chance romance that has a history of endless possibilities, tragic circumstances and being blackmailed by a Duke.
Sophie, Lady Fitzwilliam Bridewell had given up the man she’d loved to protect her sisters. Drunk and despairing her almost fiancé, West, the Marquess of Weston, had been involved in a curricula race that had ended in tragedy.
Now seven years later, a widow, and it seems Sophie is still trying to give her remaining widowed sister an HEA at the cost of her own happiness.
When West walks back into her life, Sophie decides to embroil him in a mad scheme, only to face the wrath of West’s father the Duke once again.
Will history repeat itself?
A pleasant Regency Romance, if not a tad absurd at times.

An Atria Books ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

This book was so fun. Enjoyed the playful characters and the sweet relationships between them. At a time in my life when work has been constant, this book has been such a nice, light respite.

Thank you Atria and NetGalley for a copy of this eARC!

AHHH I LOVE THIS SERIES! I’m sad to see it end, but this was a great end. I’m a sucker for a hero that is so in love with the heroine he would rather be alone than without her and I’m a sucker for a heroine that lives an independent life, enjoying what (and who) she wants when she wants. Second chance romance hasn’t always been my thing, but pair it with a fake engagement and BOOM I’m in. The yearning and the angst is strong with this one and I LOVE! Ugh, hate to see this series go, but I can’t wait to see what Martha Waters brings next!!

A fantastic end to a fantastic series!

"To Woo and to Wed" is the 5th and final installment in Water's Regency Vows series, and what a strong way to tie this series up! West and Sophie lived up to every expectation I had and then some. Their story was the one I was anticipating the most, and their second-chance-romance didn't disappoint. Tender, funny, and swoon-worth romance kept the plot moving, and the writing (as always) knocked it out of the park. If you haven't read this series yet, you absolutely need to! I'm sorry to see these characters go, but I'm excited for what the author has up her sleeve for her next book.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review