To Woo and to Wed

December 11, 2023
Waters concludes her Regency Vows series (after To Swoon and To Spar) with an effervescent fake relationship romance. Widowed Lady Sophie Bridewell fears that her sister Alexandra won’t accept a marriage proposal from the Earl of Blackford out of sympathy for Sophie’s perceived loneliness. To put her sister’s fears to rest, Sophie asks West, the Marquess of Weston and the man she was almost engaged to seven years before when she instead married Lord Fitzwilliam Bridewell, if he would pretend to be engaged to her. West, who still harbors feelings for Sophie, agrees, determined to convince her to make their engagement real, despite his father the Duke of Dovington’s continued objections and threats to sell off his son’s beloved country home. Sophie has their eventual breakup all planned out, but things get complicated when Alexandra requests a double wedding, complete with over-the-top gowns and white horses upon which to “ride off into the sunset.” Sophie is a refreshingly candid protagonist, whose ability to stand up to the duke is evenly matched with the care and concern she has for her sisters. Waters’s fans will be sad to see this series end but deeply satisfied by this fetching finale. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary.

January 1, 2024

Sophie and West, the Marquess of Weston were once a love match, but a threat from West's father and a deadly accident led Sophie to make the heart-wrenching choice to marry another for the sake of her family and West's own future. Years later, Sophie is now the widowed Lady Fitzwilliam and is relatively happy until she realizes her sister is delaying her own marriage out of fear that Sophie will be lonely. Sophie hatches a scheme in which the only person in the ton who can assist her, due to their history, is West. He's kept a careful distance from Sophie since one dalliance led him to realize he'd never stop loving her. Playing her fake fianc� will allow him to dole out a bit of revenge on his father and give him time to convince Sophie that he only wants her. VERDICT Waters's "Regency Vows" series ends the way it started, with humorous escapades and passionate interludes. Readers can start with this title but will get a bigger payoff by beginning with To Have and To Hoax and tearing through the whole series.--Kellie Tilton

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Starred review from January 1, 2024
Lady Sophie Fitzwilliam Bridewell would do anything for her sisters. So, when she discovers that her sister Alexandra is about to turn down an offer of marriage because she is concerned that Sophie would be lonely all by herself, Sophie knows she must do something immediately. Pretending to become engaged to West, the Marquess of Weston, just until Alexandra weds, seems like the perfect solution to the problem. After all, seven years earlier, Sophie and West almost made it to the altar until West's meddling father and a curricle accident that cost West his best friend, broke the couple apart. Given their past history, Sophie believes faking a relationship with West should be easy, never expecting that their coldly calculated faux relationship will heat up into something much more real. Longtime fans and new readers alike will be completely smitten as Waters (To Swoon and to Spar, 2023) brings her Regency Vows series to a glorious conclusion with a resplendently romantic tale that brilliantly showcases her delightfully wicked wit, buoyant prose, and exceptional gift for crafting exquisitely engaging characters.

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