Regency Vows Historical Romance Book Series by Martha Waters

To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters (2020)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Regency Vows series. Violet and James have been married for five years, and four of them have been spent in chilly silence from an argument that none of their friends know the details about. And now suddenly Violet is feigning consumption to get James’ sympathy and attention. But he’s onto her pretty quickly. It’s basically just a comedy of errors and miscommunication all the way around and really fun to read and watch these two get back together. This book was a really nice set up for the friend group that surrounds both Violet and James and these meddlesome friends get their romances in future books of the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters (2021)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Regency Vows series. Widowed Diana has bet marquess Jeremy that he’ll marry within the year, adding drama to their bantering bickering semi-friendship over the years. Meanwhile, his last lover has critiqued his bedroom skills and he needs some honest feedback, so he propositions Diana for the job. She accepts, but is also meanwhile trying to set Jeremy up with another eligible miss. They’re both completely stubborn about their feelings and often put up a charming and carefree facade in society; and of course are only ever open and vulnerable with each other. Another great book in the series with a nice set up for the next one.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

To Marry and to Meddle by Martha Waters (2022)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Regency Vows series. We finally get to see the romance between Emily and Julian here in a marriage of convenience story. We start at the end of the house party from Book 2, where Julian has been sort of courting Emily and hinting to her that he would be able to save her family’s debt as her husband. We start right with a proposal in Chapter 1 and learn Julian’s motivations for marrying (he wants to improve the reputation of his scandalous theater to gain the approval of his estranged father). Emily is finally enjoying a bit of freedom away from her overbearing parents and learning to express her own opinions, instead of always being so prim and proper. The romance between these two was easy and fun to read, with an interfering kitten adding to the comedy-factor of the story. Loved this book and probably my favorite of the series so far.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

To Swoon and to Spar by Martha Waters (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Regency Vows series. Viscount Penvale (older brother to Diana, from Book 2) finally has the opportunity to purchase his family’s estate back from his uncle, but he needs to marry his uncle’s ward, Jane, as part of the deal. Jane is socially awkward and kind of sharp, so Penvale’s group of happily married friends are all skeptical of the union. After the arranged marriage takes place and Penvale and Jane are back at the estate, she starts to enact her plan of haunting the castle to drive Penvale away. Jane thinks that he’ll just go back to his life in London, leaving her alone in the seaside as she desires. This one is definitely a slow-burn towards friendship and then love, with lots of humor as Penvale figures out pretty quickly that Jane is the culprit of the haunting. And we get to see everyone back together for a house party towards the end of the book. Since I read an advanced copy of this book, there wasn’t a sneak peak of the next book that the author is working on. I’m hoping that we will finally get the romance between Sophie and West (the older brother of James from Book 1), which has been strongly hinted at through the course of four books. I was absolutely delighted by all four books in this series and looking forward to reading anything that Martha Waters writes in the future!

Advance ebook provided by Atria Books via NetGalley.

To Woo and to Wed by Martha Waters (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 5 of the Regency Vows series. West and Sophie had been courting seven years ago, until West’s disapproving father got involved and Sophie ended up married to someone else. Not only that, but West was badly injured in a curricle race that also killed his best friend, and he’s been in a rough place ever since. Now that widowed Sophie is back in West’s social sphere, they just keep running into each other at various events. He’s pretty sure that she’s not open to another courtship, so he tries his best to keep his distance. Until Sophie proposes a fake engagement to West so that her sister would be willing marry her own suitor without fear of Sophie’s loneliness. Seeing an opportunity to spend more time with Sophie and to rile up his horrible father, West agrees. And so we have a fake engagement second chance situation where these two finally talk about what went wrong all those years ago.

Advance ebook provided by Atria Books via NetGalley.