Loving To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters
Diana Bourne was only eighteen, but she knew one thin already; men were fools. Adorable fools sometimes, enticing fools occasionally, but fools one and all.
To Love and to Loathe focuses on Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham who is known for the public bickering until Diana wagers the ever playboy bachelor that he will marry within the year. Diana then makes it her goal to get him wedded by encouraging the advances of a house guest who has her sights on Jeremy. Meanwhile, Jeremy provides Diana a proposition where she can critique his bedroom skills as a recent ex-lover had suggested he was lacking in that area.
The sequel to The Regency Vows series was just as good if not better than To Have and to Hoax. The banter! Oh the banter between Jeremy and Diana was superb. The witty comebacks and precarious moments they found themselves had me laughing, swooning and overall happy with this story.
I love how Jeremy & Diana tried to fight their feelings & the tender moments when they divulged their past to each other. This helped steer them to the truth about how they felt about one another but there were so many hilarious moments for them to get to that point.
Also, there were SO many amazing quotes that I pulled from To Love and to Loathe because Martha Waters is that good of a writer! Here is one of my faves:
The last thing I ever intend to do is something as unutterably foolish as to fall in love.
After two books of hers that I have thoroughly enjoyed, I can safely say that Martha is an auto-buy author for me.
Thank you to Simon Schuster Canada for the advanced reader’s copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Book Description
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.