Quick Thoughts: To Marry and to Meddle (The Regency Vows #3) by Martha Waters

 

To Marry and to Meddle

(The Regency Vows #3)

by Martha Waters 

April 5, 2022

Goodreads Summary:

The “sweet, sexy, and utterly fun” (Emily Henry, author of The People We Meet on Vacation) Regency Vows series continues with a witty, charming, and joyful novel following a seasoned debutante and a rakish theater owner as they navigate a complicated marriage of convenience.

Lady Emily Turner has been a debutante for six seasons now and should have long settled into a suitable marriage. However, due to her father’s large debts, her only suitor is the persistent and odious owner of her father’s favorite gambling house. Meanwhile, Lord Julian Belfry, the second son of a marquess, has scandalized society as an actor and owner of a theater—the kind of establishment where men take their mistresses, but not their wives. When their lives intersect at a house party, Lord Julian hatches a plan to benefit them both.

With a marriage of convenience, Emily will use her society connections to promote the theater to a more respectable clientele and Julian will take her out from under the shadows of her father’s unsavory associates. But they soon realize they have very different plans for their marriage—Julian wants Emily to remain a society wife, while Emily discovers an interest in the theater. But when a fleeing actress, murderous kitten, and meddlesome friends enter the fray, Emily and Julian will have to confront the fact that their marriage of convenience comes with rather inconvenient feelings.

With “an arch sense of humor and a marvelously witty voice that rivals the best of the Regency authors” (Entertainment Weekly), Martha Waters crafts another fresh romantic comedy that for fans of Julia Quinn and Evie Dunmore.

Review

Once again, Martha Waters delivers with To Marry and to Meddle! The Regency Vows is my all-time favourite historical romance series. All three books so far have been heartily sweet and absurdly fun. I seriously cannot recommend these books enough to romance readers!!!

What I Liked:

- a fast-paced story with minimal drama

- seeing familiar faces and reading their entertaining banter

- the wittiest dialogues between all the characters

- so many genuine laugh-out-loud moments

- the scheming Emily and her friends did (absolutely ridiculous yet it hilariously made sense)

- Emily:

   - her self-awareness

   - I very much enjoyed watching her become who she chose to be

   - her boldness led to some steamy times

- Julian:

   - I admired his drive to have his theatre become more respectable

   - his ability to say the sweetest things to Emily, I swoon

- the easy communication Emily and Julian shared

- the romances (including the pairs from the previous books) were mischievously cute and impossibly tender

- some good-natured quibbling between siblings

- domineering parents getting put in their place

- the devilish(?) Cecil Lucifer Beelzebub

- the overall tone of this book was just so romantic~

The Not So Much:

- some sentences were long and felt like run-ons but I was able to understand them

"I like when you speak your mind. I like when you argue with me. I like when you are bold. And even if I didn't like all of that, it wouldn't matter one damned bit, because you like it. And that, Emily, is all that matters to me." (p. 313)