TO WOO AND TO WED
Martha Waters
TOO WOO AND TO WED is the latest and closing installment of Martha Waters’ Regency romance series. I’ve loved following the characters over the years. It’s sad to see them go but mostly, I was so excited to see how it all played out.
In TO WOO AND TO WED we are following Sophie and West. They are not new to each other they know each other very well. Newly widowed, Sophie has sworn off love and is more interested in seeing that her sister, Alexandra, is married off and settled in such a way that she can consider her duties done.
The only problem is Alexandra refuses to marry until Sophie is settled and married herself. What a quandary! Sophie convinces West to play along with a fake dating scheme to convince Alexandra that Sophie is in love and more than taken care of.
Will it work? What will happen in the meantime? Will they or won’t they again?
Only time and Martha Waters, TO WOO AND TO WED will tell.
Martha Waters turns falling in love again into a thrilling prospect. I enjoyed TO WOO AND TO WED. The number 1 fictional duo that I want to see together and live happily ever after. It stands as my favorite out of all the books in the series. I was so happy to experience all of it.
TO WOO AND TO WED helped get me in the mood for BRIDGERTON season 3 (coming May 2024!). If you’re free on Valentine’s Day perhaps finish what you started with Waters so many years ago. TO WOO AND TO WED is out today!
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy!
TO WOO AND TO WED…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
From the author of the breakout New York Times best seller Hamnet—winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award—an electrifying new novel set in Renaissance Italy, and centering on the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de Medici.
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?
As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.
Full of the drama and verve with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life, and offers an unforgettable portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.
The Review
THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT
Maggie O’Farrell
THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT is one of the best books I’ve read this year.
We’re following Lucrezia de Medici, a young duchess betrothed on her sister’s death bed. And shortly soon after, a wife with more knowledge about her husband and his intentions than any wife should have.
I did not read HAMNET so I’m not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this.
I found the book extremely entertaining with lush details and a rich setting. The writing is phenomenal and immersive. While listening, I often forgot to stop and take notes because I became lost in the world O’Farrell created.
The characters are well-developed and constructed. Almost as if they were paintings themselves. The details of each character are revealed over several distinct moments, leaving you with a rendering at the end of the book of a character that is layered and terrifyingly real.
One of the best books of the year.
THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the advanced audiobook!
Available now.
