Plus, see the cover for her next book and find out why it has Bridgerton vibes.
Her next book,To Marry and to Meddle, makes use of the marriage-of-convenience plot to theatrical ends.
The next installment in her Regency Vows series, it follows Lady Emily Turner and Lord Julian Belfry.
The cover of Martha Waters' next novel, ‘To Marry and to Meddle’.Atria Books
But it turns out they have very different ideas of what their marriage will be.
Will his insistence on respectability tear them apart, or will they find a way to compromise?
Below, EW can exclusively reveal the cover forTo Marry and to Meddle, out April 2022.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How long have you had Julian and Emily’s story in mind?
How did it evolve over time?
I knew I wanted to write a romance for the two of them, but it has evolved somewhat.
I always envisioned it as a marriage of convenience, so that much has stayed true.
It’s a lot more difficult now.
Is that a favorite of yours?
How do you choose which ones fit with a given story?
I really love marriage of convenience for the same reason I really love marriage reconciliation in historical.
A lot of this book takes place in the world of the Regency theater.
Can you tell us more about the inspiration and research behind that?
Introducing her into the world of the theater has been really interesting.
She gets to meet actresses and women who are seen as not at all respectable by society.
Do you have a theater background, either as a performer or just a fan?
I just needed an elective.
I learned that I do not have a future on the stage.
I would say I’m a very casual theatergoer.
I like going to the theater, but I’m not someone who’s super-obsessed with it.
Do you have a favorite research rabbit hole you’ve fallen down so far?
And then I started researching like, “How did this come into effect?
When did this end?”
In an earlier drafts of the book, I basically was trying to like rewrite the entire history.
My editor was like, “This might be too much for this one romance novel.
And I was like, “Okay, maybe this might be going overboard.”
For the cover, did you have any specific asks for designers?
Where did the sort of waiting-in-the-wings concept come from?
That was my editor’s idea.
My main thing always with illustrated covers is I just want the characters to look right.
It’s really funny.
It’s my favorite of my three covers so far.
I feel like this orange dress on the cover is very much Featherington-esque.
It reminds me ofPenelope onBridgerton.
[Laughs] We need to make Featherington-esque [a thing].
I want to use that in everyday conversation all the time.
