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A review by webbsusa
To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters
2.0
Okayish…then not at all
This book could have been so much better than it was. It started off very slow, picked up around the 40-50% mark, then the main character betrays the confidence of another character and outs them, multiple times. This is all treated like it’s not only no big deal, but perfectly understandable and valid, because of course you would tell your friends. I was completely appalled. There was NO awareness of the fact that, at the time, sharing of such a secret could have resulted in the gay character being imprisoned or institutionalized. The stakes were incredibly high, but this was treated as just another “fun” plot point.
This points to another issue with the book: it felt like a contemporary romance playacting at historical romance. Putting your characters in period dress and throwing in a few viscounts doesn’t make a book HR. I am not a huge HR stickler; I love authors like Sarah Maclean, Erica Ridley, and Eva Leigh, who are often accused of being “inauthentic.” I love Bridgerton. Unlike those authors and TV shows, this book was almost completely divorced from its historical context. Change the clothes and remove the tiles, and these characters could have been 21st century Americans.
I had been really excited to read this book, as I’d heard some good things, but it was a major disappointment.
This book could have been so much better than it was. It started off very slow, picked up around the 40-50% mark, then the main character betrays the confidence of another character and outs them, multiple times. This is all treated like it’s not only no big deal, but perfectly understandable and valid, because of course you would tell your friends. I was completely appalled. There was NO awareness of the fact that, at the time, sharing of such a secret could have resulted in the gay character being imprisoned or institutionalized. The stakes were incredibly high, but this was treated as just another “fun” plot point.
This points to another issue with the book: it felt like a contemporary romance playacting at historical romance. Putting your characters in period dress and throwing in a few viscounts doesn’t make a book HR. I am not a huge HR stickler; I love authors like Sarah Maclean, Erica Ridley, and Eva Leigh, who are often accused of being “inauthentic.” I love Bridgerton. Unlike those authors and TV shows, this book was almost completely divorced from its historical context. Change the clothes and remove the tiles, and these characters could have been 21st century Americans.
I had been really excited to read this book, as I’d heard some good things, but it was a major disappointment.