To Love and to Loathe

(Won an ARC via Goodreads contest, yay and thanks to the publisher!) This is a super-fun friends-to-lovers Regency with a lot of banter and some amusingly bad sex early on. I love novels that take place at a big country house full of scandal and feelings that people are trying to deny that they have, so this was perfect for that. The plot got a little convoluted in the last third or so of the book, but overall if you like Tessa Dare and Julia Quinn, you will like this series. I'm already excited for the next book (and the one after that, I bet!).

This was a cute read.I hadn't read [b:To Have and to Hoax 52210045 To Have and to Hoax Martha Waters https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1577153989l/52210045.SX50_SY75.jpg 71426931] so the beginning was a little difficult to follow with all of the characters. There were references to that book so I'd highly recommend you read it first.The premise of the story was great, however I didn't feel like there was a the witty banter I was promised. I wanted to laugh and feel the tension between the two, but it was very muted. I also felt that many scenes dragged on and I skipped a lot of the characters internally babbling. While the two characters had known each other for 6 years - the insta-love was a little quick. The fact that they had sex twice and then realized they loved each other was a little quick.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC and the opportunity to read and review early.

Okay, I have read a lot of Regency-era books and romances in the past but it's been a while. Maybe a year or so. This one sounded really fun – enemies to lovers, and based on the cover I expected it to be more of a rom-com than a romance.

Light spoilers ahead.

The premise was solid, but I found the execution a little bland. Widowed Diana seeks out a lover to indicate to other men that she's open for courting, while Jeremy pursues Diana because he had been given feedback about his bedroom skills and needs to work. A perfectly zany premise, but one that went too sappy and serious too fast. I think part of it is that they knew each other because of Jeremy's friendship with Diana's brother, but it just didn't have the pacing or emotional resonance I was looking for in a Regency read.

Definitely more of a 3.5.

Now that I think a bit after finishing this book, I realize that I haven't actually read a romance novel in almost four months. And it has mostly been because I seem to have totally lost interest in reading anything contemporary. But today, I was just in the mood for some love and decided it was better to choose a historical romance instead and it was definitely a better decision.

I haven't read the previous book by the author and I have no idea if the two are companion pieces, but I had no trouble understanding the world this was set in and all the important players. The author is good at writing banter full of tension and humor, and I was really looking forward to the conversations, not just between Diana and Jeremy, but between the side characters as well. I liked how both of them were not afraid to go toe to toe with each other, whether verbally or in bed and it made for an interesting dynamic. The author also has written good female friendships, and I particularly was pleased to see her avoid pitting two women against each other. Jeremy's grandma was another colorful character and I was truly hoping she had more of a role to play coz she was loads of fun.

This was an overall fun and entertaining romance and probably just the right thing I needed to take my mind off other things in my life. It's always nice to see intelligent and independent thinking women characters in historical romances and I think this couple are well matched in that sense. While the sexual tension was there, I just wish there was more to convince that they were actually in love. As a very rare reader of this genre, I would probably keep a lookout for the author's next work, because it just might be the perfect one based on my mood.