To Love and to Loathe (The Regency Vows, #2)
Martha Waters
1 ratings • 1 reviews
To Love and to Loathe (The Regency Vows, #2)
Martha Waters
1 ratings • 1 reviews
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.
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I have loved reading regency era novels since being introduced to Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. I love that authors are still writing about that era today! To Love and To Loathe did not disappoint. Martha Waters wrote a beautiful story of two people very unlikely to fall in love. Diana, or Lady Templeton, is a widowed woman who has no interest in taking another husband. She has all the money she needs and is more interested in the possibility of taking a lover. Marquess Jeremy Willingham is also uninterested in getting married, but he is being pressured by his grandmother to take a wife and produce heirs. Willingham is a notorious womanizer, but has recently learned that one of his mistresses was not pleased with his performance. Willingham goes to Diana, knowing that she would not see anything more to this, to ask her to critique him. They start to have a purely educational liaison, but of course, complications arise.
I thought that this story was well written, beautifully executed, and quite salacious. If you love reading classic novels but are looking for something a little more risqué, this book is for you!!
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