Martha Waters pitched her first novel as being sort of like an episode of the ’90s sitcom “Friends.”

There were a few significant differences, though. Her book was set a couple centuries earlier, and it featured the romantic hijinks of English aristocrats, rather than Greenwich Village 20-somethings. Scenes played out in country estates instead of a coffeehouse.

The book, “To Have and to Hoax,” was accepted and published in early 2020. Waters, who lives in Portland, has gone on to write three more historical rom-coms. Her latest, “To Swoon and to Spar,” goes on sale Tuesday. That evening she’ll discuss the book at Print: A Bookstore in Portland.

Though her books are set during England’s Regency era, which officially lasted from 1811 to 1820, Waters says she draws a lot of her inspiration from classic American romantic comedies of the 1930s and ’40s, like “The Philadelphia Story” or “Bringing Up Baby.”

“My favorite thing to write is banter and dialogue, which those movies had,” said Waters, 34, who works part time in the children’s area at Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth.  “I try to make my characters seem somewhat modern. I don’t mention historical events, but I do write about the clothing, the customs and the rules of society.”

Like most romance novels, Waters’ books have some sex in them. She says she finds it helpful in learning new things about characters and in intensifying the emotional energy of the story. She tries not to think too hard about the fact that her mother and grandmother are reading those passages.

“To Swoon and to Spar” focuses on a couple who marry for a very specific material reason, and certainly not for love. Viscount Penvale has been trying to buy back his ancestral estate and now he can, on the condition he marries Jane Spencer. They don’t really want to be together. The plot involves the wife staging a haunting to scare away her husband so she can have the house to herself. But Penvale does not scare easily.

“I woke up one morning, and the idea was fully formed in my mind. I think, because of that, it’s been the easiest to write,” said Waters. “I found the haunted house premise so fun.”

REGENCY ROM-COM REVIVAL?

“To Swoon and to Spar” is the latest historical rom-com novel by Portland author Martha Waters.  Photo courtesy of Atria Books

Historic rom-com novels, while always big among readers of romance, are having a moment right now. The sexy and sassy Netflix series “Bridgerton,” based on books by Julia Quinn, has helped introduce historical romance books to a younger and more mainstream audience since it began streaming in late 2020. The genre is also getting a cover makeover, with the bodice-ripping photos that for years graced romance novels replaced on rom-coms with colorful, modern-looking illustrations.

“I don’t know if it’s a revival, because it never went away, but ‘Bridgerton’ has certainly brought a new awareness and a new audience to the genre,” said Maya Rodale, a New York-based author who has written more than a dozen romance novels set in the Regency period. “People come to romance for escape, and in historical romance, there is a great sense of that, since it’s such a different world, the fashions are really nice. There are also really strict social rules, which is a gold mine for plotting.”

Rodale says it’s relatively recent that publishers have branded Regency romances as rom-coms, with that term usually used on contemporary stories. But Regency romances have always had romantic comedy elements, she said.

Waters says she got a bump in sales for her first book thanks to the “Bridgerton” TV series. Her book “To Have and to Hoax” came out in April 2020, just as the pandemic hit. All her live book events were canceled, and people hadn’t figured out yet how to easily have Zoom events. Libraries and bookstores were closed for months, in some cases longer. There was no good way to let people know about her book.

Then, in late 2020, “Bridgerton” became a hit. Also things started to open up again. When Waters’ second book, “To Love and to Loathe,” came out in April 2021, the book-selling world was starting to get back to normal. Entertainment Weekly picked the book as one of its top 10 romances of the year. Her third book, “To Marry and to Meddle,” came out in April 2022. She moved to Maine about two years ago, from North Carolina, to focus more on her writing.

Waters was on deadline for the fifth book in her Regency Vows series at the end of March. She says that will be the final book in the series, but she’s not quite sure what she’ll write next.

Portland author Martha Waters works part time in the children’s section of the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth, where her duties including reading at story time. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Waters, who grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, says that working with kids at the Cape Elizabeth library gives her some “separation” from her writing, which is for adults. She also feels lucky to have a job that she cares about deeply. An avid reader herself as a child, she got her master’s degree in library science from the University of North Carolina in 2014. She knew she wanted to write but want to make sure she could make a living too.

Before coming to Maine, she had worked at the Chapel Hill Public Library in North Carolina.

“She has a great, silly energy, so kids really respond to her. She’s really good at barnyard animal noises, especially goats,” said Karin Michel, youth and family experiences manager at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

ROMANTIC HIJINKS

Waters had initially wanted to be a journalist when she enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When she decided to go to grad school there to be a librarian, she took a year off so she could get in-state tuition.

She worked as a nanny, while writing teen fantasy. She continued to write while in grad school and tried to find an agent. She read Quinn’s “Ten Things I Love About You” and loved it. She began reading other historical romance authors and became hooked. She found that the Regency historical romances and the Regency subgenre was basically invented by British novelist Georgette Heyer in the 1930s, who was inspired by Jane Austen but who gave her characters a modern sensibility.

She also found that she could sell her historical rom-com idea to a publisher, Atria Books.

“To Have and to Hoax” was Martha Waters’ first Regency romance. Photo courtesy of Atria Books

All Waters’ books share the same characters and the same aristocratic circles, with minor characters in one book becoming major ones in another. The description of each sounds like it could be the plot of a new romantic comedy movie. “To Have and to Hoax” is about an estranged husband and wife who fake accidents and illnesses to get each other’s attention. At various points they know of each other’s ruses, but the ruses just keep getting more complex. Actors are hired to play doctors, among other things.

The “Friends” episode Waters referred to in her book pitches was titled “The One Where Everybody Finds Out.” It’s the culmination of several episodes where Chandler and Monica try to keep their romance a secret from the other friends. Phoebe finds out, and at one point, pretends to be attracted to Chandler to see how he’d react. Chandler, once he realizes what Phoebe is doing, decides to pretend he’s attracted to her.

“Phoebe and Chandler play a game of chicken to see who’ll admit the truth first and that’s the general idea” of her book, Waters said.

“To Love and to Loathe” is promoted with the tagline, “They’re frenemies with benefits,” and is about an affair between two society types and a wager that one of them will get married in a year, or the other will lose 100 pounds.  “To Marry and to Meddle” is about a marriage of convenience between a society lady who is overdue to be married and the owner of a theater who wants to be more respectable.

“I read a lot of rom-coms and she really brings the comedy, which isn’t always the case in books billed as rom-coms,” said Sarah Hogle, a contemporary rom-com author who met Waters during a joint book event. “I love her wit, and her books are just so much fun.”

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