To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters (Website, Twitter, Goodreads)Published by Simon and Schuster on April 7th 2020
Genres: Fiction, General, Historical, Regency, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 368
In this fresh and hilarious historical rom-com, an estranged husband and wife in Regency England feign accidents and illness in an attempt to gain attention—and maybe just win each other back in the process.
Five years ago, Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley met, fell in love, and got married. Four years ago, they had a fight to end all fights, and have barely spoken since.
Their once-passionate love match has been reduced to one of cold, detached politeness. But when Violet receives a letter that James has been thrown from his horse and rendered unconscious at their country estate, she races to be by his side—only to discover him alive and well at a tavern, and completely unaware of her concern. She’s outraged. He’s confused. And the distance between them has never been more apparent.
Wanting to teach her estranged husband a lesson, Violet decides to feign an illness of her own. James quickly sees through it, but he decides to play along in an ever-escalating game of manipulation, featuring actors masquerading as doctors, threats of Swiss sanitariums, faux mistresses—and a lot of flirtation between a husband and wife who might not hate each other as much as they thought. Will the two be able to overcome four years of hurt or will they continue to deny the spark between them?
To Have and To Hoax is the first book by Martha Waters that I’ve read but it definitely won’t be the last. This story has everything I love in a historical romance; strong characters, a relationship with conflict, and a plot that had me both rooting for and yelling at the main characters.
Lady Violet Gray and Lord James Audley met and it was love at first sight. After quickly marrying, something happened that five years later, we find they are living completely separate lives, and neither is willing to let go of their stubbornness to resolve their differences. When Violet receives a note telling her that James was severely injured at the stables that were one of the reasons they fought, she rushes from London to see him only to run into him on the way and find out he is perfectly fine. At this point, Violet is angry, and she decides she needs to pay him back a little, so she decides to tell him she is ill and that’s when everything gets interesting.
The characters in this book were great. Waters did a great job building them out – there were times that I loved them and times that they were so frustrating. Seeing these two go back and forth and of course, their poor friends were all pulled into the middle of everything. Their level of stubbornness and inability to work things out made for an interesting story as well as some great conflict. I have to admit, both of their families were frustrating, and I was happy when the reasons for the argument are finally revealed, I hated that they didn’t work things out earlier.
That’s all I can say about this without giving anything away so pick this one up. Overall, I really enjoyed this book – it was an engaging story and I found myself unable to put it down. The story moves at a great pace and with all the conflict and banter, the story never slows. If you are looking for a historical romance, consider picking this one up. I will definitely be picking up more from Martha Waters when I can.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
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