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A review by rusereviews
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters
4.0
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters is a debut historical romance with comedy elements. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at eleven and a half hours and is narrated by Anais Inara Chase and Joel Froomkin. We follow our two characters with third-person points-of-view.
Violet and James quickly met, fell in love, and married five years ago. Four years ago they had a huge fight and have been estranged ever since. What was once a love match has turned into feigned politeness. One day, Violet receives a letter informing her that James was thrown from his horse and fell unconscious at their country estate, so she races to his side the following day only to find him alive and unaware of her concerns. To teach him a lesson, she decides to feign illness herself.
I really dig the writing style of the author. There's a lot of witty banter, some smoking chemistry between the leads, and the humor really worked for me. Additionally, the friend group here on both sides of the couple is pretty great.
These characters felt immature for their age, occasionally acting like spoiled brats. Violet in particular ended up married at eighteen, so perhaps she still needs more time to grow up. James is supposed to be like five years older than her, though, and he still reads pretty young.
Overall, I enjoyed this read and will continue on with the series. I think that some of the pitfalls here might have occurred because it was a debut novel, so I'm excited to read more from Waters as she moves forward in her career.
Tropes in this book include: miscommunication, second chance romance
If you want to see more from me, check out my blog and my bookstagram!
Violet and James quickly met, fell in love, and married five years ago. Four years ago they had a huge fight and have been estranged ever since. What was once a love match has turned into feigned politeness. One day, Violet receives a letter informing her that James was thrown from his horse and fell unconscious at their country estate, so she races to his side the following day only to find him alive and unaware of her concerns. To teach him a lesson, she decides to feign illness herself.
I really dig the writing style of the author. There's a lot of witty banter, some smoking chemistry between the leads, and the humor really worked for me. Additionally, the friend group here on both sides of the couple is pretty great.
These characters felt immature for their age, occasionally acting like spoiled brats. Violet in particular ended up married at eighteen, so perhaps she still needs more time to grow up. James is supposed to be like five years older than her, though, and he still reads pretty young.
Overall, I enjoyed this read and will continue on with the series. I think that some of the pitfalls here might have occurred because it was a debut novel, so I'm excited to read more from Waters as she moves forward in her career.
Tropes in this book include: miscommunication, second chance romance
If you want to see more from me, check out my blog and my bookstagram!