To Woo and to Wed

For the past few years, I’ve been loving the Regency Vows series by Martha Waters. Today, the series has reached its fifth and final installment with To Woo and to Wed, giving readers the long-awaited HEA between West and Sophie. It’s bittersweet to end the series, but this final love story was worth the wait.

Special thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Seven years ago, West, the Marquess of Weston, and Sophie, now Lady Fitzwilliam Bridewell, were young and in love. But West’s controlling father and a poorly timed curricle accident left the nearly engaged couple torn apart, with Sophie abruptly marrying another man while West recovered from his injuries. Now, Sophie is a widow and West is still single. Both have been spending more time together lately, and due to some convoluted thinking on Sophie’s part as well as West’s new efforts to get out of his father’s meddling, they agree to fake an engagement. Never mind that West wishes this were real; Sophie maintains that they can never actually marry. Over the course of their engagement charade, will West and Sophie be able to move past all that’s come between them and finally get their happily ever after?

Review

If you’ve been reading the full Regency Vows series, you may have been anticipating a love story between West and Sophie since that first book. Indeed, James Audley’s older brother has some well-established history with Sophie, and readers could see the sparks between them as they were thrown together over the last four books. At long last, these two lovebirds get a second chance… via a fake engagement!

Before even starting To Woo and to Wed, I felt like I knew West and Sophie, at least a bit. Here, their personalities get to blossom more fully. Who knew how protective and bold Sophie was? And I loved getting to see little glimpses of humor in West, even if he only shows it around Sophie. In some ways, my expectations may have grown too high over the previous books. I was looking for a bit more chemistry, some extra heightened passion. Even so, the love story here is a delight and full of heart.

One of my favorite things about To Woo and to Wed is the frequent callbacks to earlier moments between Sophie and West. We get a fuller look at what went down seven years ago: the way West’s father cruelly prevented their engagement, the state of mind West was in when he got into the curricle accident that killed his best friend and left him injured, the messy aftermath of it all. We also get to see the rare interactions West and Sophie had in the years since then, even as recently as the previous summer at Jeremey’s house party.

In addition to West and Sophie’s unconventional path back to each other, there is also an emphasis on family. Indeed, a significant reason for their breakup before was a threat to Sophie’s younger sisters, and her reason for a fake engagement is, again, in support of one of her sisters. Sophie is very close with her whole family, sometimes going too far in trying to protect them. West, too, has had a great deal of weight on his shoulders, as he’s set to inherit the dukedom from his manipulative father. Even his relationship with his younger brother James is only just finally healing. West and Sophie are so similar in some ways, even if their outer personalities come off as quite distinct.

Seeing the whole cast of previous couples is also a treat, especially in the epilogue! I just love seeing them all together, happy and growing their families and finally content with one another.

Final Thoughts

To Woo and to Wed is a fine ending to a series that has been great fun, full of silliness and humor, but also filled with warmth and wit. I loved seeing the full spectrum of West and Sophie’s relationship, from where it started seven years earlier to how they finally got their happily ever after in the end.

The Regency Vows series may be over, but I look forward to reading more from Martha Waters, whatever form that may take.

Get the Book

You can buy To Woo and to Wed here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

To Woo and to Wed by Martha Waters
Series	Regency Vows (#5)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Romance
Setting	England
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	February 6, 2024
Publisher	Atria Books

Official Summary

The final installment in the “hilarious and steamy” (PopSugar) Regency Vows series follows the heir to a dukedom and a young widow, once very much in love, as they reunite years later to fake an engagement for the benefit of her sister.

West, the Marquess of Weston, and Sophie, Lady Fitzwilliam Bridewell, have lately been spending a considerable amount of time together. But West and Sophie are not new acquaintances. In fact, years ago, they had once been nearly engaged until West’s almost fatal curricle accident and his meddling father threw them off course.

Now recently widowed, Sophie has put aside all thoughts of romance. But when her widowed sister, Alexandra, mentions a fondness for an earl, Sophie realizes that she may be holding her sister back. Alexandra won’t move forward with an engagement until Sophie, too, settles down again, and so Sophie approaches West with a plan. They will announce their engagement and break things off once Alexandra is happily married. It’ll be simple. After all, it’s not like she is going to fall for West a second time, not when Sophie has sworn not to risk her heart again.