To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

Diana and Jeremy know each other when both are young. She is on the marriage mart and already knows that her best hope at a bright future is going to be a brilliant match. Therefore, she has little interest in Jeremy who is a fine enough gentleman but he is often drunk and doesn't seem to be building the family coffers.

Five years later, Lady Templeton is now widowed and is a good friend of Jeremy. In fact, they are well-known for making a series of bets with each other. Their latest wager is that Jeremy will be married within a year. It is somewhat hobbled by the fact that Jeremy, though known to have hopped into the beds of most of the married women of the ton, is now doubting his own prowess based on comments from his last mistress... er, lover. While he could have broken it off with her in a better manner (while still in bed with her after making love), he still wonders if she is telling the truth.  Jeremy thinks they could have some mutual gain by embarking on an affair. He can find out the truth of his skill in bed and Diana can let other men know that she is accepting lovers. A house party at Jeremy's seems the perfect place to begin an affair and to get Jeremy set up with the perfect woman... Lady Helen.

However, this is a romance so not all goes as expected.

Diana was delightful. She knew (for the most part) what she wanted in life and she went for it. Jeremy was also built out really well and I enjoyed seeing them go from friends to lovers. So much that I might even check out Waters' first book which I didn't think I'd enjoy but I'm curious about the characters.

I really hope that we get a story with Emily and her beau, Julian Belfry.

Four stars

This book come out April 6th

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own