This is one of those books I picked up and couldn't put down because I was having so much fun! The bantering and witty humor had me cackling the entire time and made this truly enjoyable to read.

The slow burn is slowwwwwwwww but I loved it! The romance is sweet and slow and full of disgust at oneself for finding the other attractive - aka my favorite kind. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy walked so Osric and Aurienne could run! The amount of giggling and kicking of feet this brought on was unmatched and watching these two dance around each other was the best entertainment I've had in forever.

The only cons I can think of is the world building was a little hard to wrap my head around and the ending was so abrupt (especially since I went in thinking this would be a standalone!) but neither of those bothered me enough to drop a star!

I genuinely loved this book and it always brought a smile to my face! I was so sad when it was over but I'm already planning a reread!!

Thanks @berkleyromance for the free book! #BerkleyPartner #Berkley #BerkleyBookstagram

This was a low stakes, enemies to lovers fantasy. It was quite interesting and I haven’t read anything like it. It was easy to read and understand. I laughed out loud multiple times, disbelieving what I was reading. Because it was kind of cringe at times, I didn’t love it.

4.5

I really really enjoyed my time with this book!! I think it’s one of the best numerous enemies to lovers i have ever read and I can’t wait for the sequel.

This romantasy is bringing back yearning and longing.
I love the slow burn and the dynamic of their relationship. And how chaotic Osric is. It's hilarious and fun. The cover is definitely one of the most beautiful cover I've ever seen!! I am waiting for the second book

I had a good time with this silly little book. 🧪 (I'm not saying that in a snobby way, I promise; part of its lovable shtick is that it's almost parodic and laugh-out-loud funny.)

I needed something super light after reading about the horrors of AI, and I was pulled in by this cover. Enemies to lovers is my favorite romance novel trope, after all! It was too easy. It follows a healer who gets bribed into helping an assassin cure his fatal disease, much to her chagrin.

The writing could be a bit pretentious and dense — full-on Oxford-level academic language — but I just shrugged it off and it worked. The world-building offers zero explanation, which could definitely be agitating depending on your mood. It started off slow, but picked up as you went along. If you want full fantasy with great details, this may not be for you. Fun romance with intriguing politics? Check. It has strong fairy tale vibes set in a fantasy world, and leans into parody in a way that’s genuinely hilarious. The love interest is morally BLACK but somehow gives off Kristoff-from-Frozen energy (funny, chaotic, and kind of lovable).

Also: it's the slowest of slow burns, which I love.
I should have known what I was getting into, considering the crème de la crème of romance author recs on the back!

Still, I was between giving this a three and a five. Makes no sense, but those were the feelings. (I went and bought my own copy right after finishing, though. 👀)

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy is a fun, breezy debut novel by Brigitte Knightley. The main characters are total opposites who are forced to work together out of mutual necessity. Aurienne Fairhrim is a member of the Haelen Order, a group that focuses on healing, and she has amazing healing abilities. Osric Mordaunt, on the other hand, is part of the Fayren Order, which is all about death and employs killers. He is a charming assassin with serious degenerative illness that is increasingly getting worse.

Aurienne is well known for her healing skills, and Osric is desperate for her help, believing she is the only one that might have the ability to save him. When Osric offers her a lot of money to find a cure for his disease, she initially refuses. But the Haelen Order is in desperate need of money and is being overwhelmed by a flood of children infected with a disease that was thought to be eradicated. Osric’s money would support their research for a cure. After being pushed by her Order’s leader and despite her reluctance, Aurienne agrees to help Osric. As they try to treat his illness, mutual respect develops, their attraction grows, and together they uncover a dangerous scheme threatening their world.

This story is not all about romance, it was more of a slow burn. The narrative was entertaining and had a lot of funny moments. The way Aurienne and Osric interacted was really amusing, filled with sharp, witty conversations. I loved that Aurienne was self-assured and confident about her skills. Their relationship starts off with dislike but slowly changes into something more, with a lot of tension and growing heat between them. Both characters grew as their relationship developed. They each had to examine their initial preconceptions and biases along the way.

I enjoyed the book, but it did start a bit slowly, and I still feel like I need to understand all the characters and the bigger picture. The ending was a cliffhanger and felt a bit rushed, but overall, it was a fun and engaging read, and I would recommend to those who like over the top fantasy, enemies to lovers’ romances, with biting banter and satirical humor. I cannot wait to see what happens next with Aurienne and Osric.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group/ACE for providing me with an eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I tried to separate my associations with the fanfiction origins of this book from the book itself in my mind as I was reading it, with mixed success. There were things that were just so obviously derived from that fandom, and characteristics that were so obviously in line with a prevailing fanon version of a certain character (a depiction which honestly annoyed the crap out of me back in my fanfiction days because, in my opinion, it is so out of line with the canon for that character.) I honestly think that I would have caught on to the derivative nature of the book even if I hadn’t known its origins going into it. That being said, MOST fantasy fiction is derivative of at least one extant work, and there was quite a bit that I did find distinct and original about this novel, so I don’t feel like that in itself is worth holding against this book too harshly.

Here’s what I liked: the magic system. The writing. The banter. The humorous tone. These things are not going to work for all readers, particularly those who can’t stand a more modern tone in a fantasy setting. I have read books where that bothered me, too, but in this one it worked for me. Not sure why – it might have to do with the time period and modernity level being so incredibly unclear. But it makes an odd kind of sense to me that a world with magic so interwoven into society would have made huge advances in some areas and not in others, especially with whole orders devoted to things like magical advances in medicine and engineering. Although I did feel that setting it in an alternate UK instead of a fantasy world fully separated from our own was a dead giveaway to the fanfiction origins that the author could have easily done away with, and probably should have.

I also really liked that the book delivered on the promise of an actual slow burn and actual enemies to lovers. So many books use trope-y buzzwords in their marketing but seemingly don’t actually know what those phrases mean. Overall it’s four stars, and very much looking forward to the conclusion.

due to the problematic nature of jk rowling and the unfortunate marketing campaign that has positioned this book as a dramione vibe, i can't in good conscience read or promote this book. keeping books like these in the spotlight unfortunately does continue to fund JKR and the hateful anti-Trans work she's doing in the world, and that's not something i can be a part of or support.

5⭐

Thank you to Brigitte Knightley, Ace Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 is the first in a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romantasy duology featuring a scholarly healer and a gentleman assassin, set in an exquisite fantasy world, perfect for fans of 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣
and 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙚'𝙨 𝙀𝙣𝙘𝙮𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙖𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙁𝙖𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨.

My eye caught this book from the cover and title — which is quite literally something on my lane that I would put aside my entire TBR to read. I was enamoured by the beautiful cover illustration and the cheeky title that had me immediately intrigued.

English is very common language in publishing but reading this book — which is written by a British author who has incorporates British English to this novel was refreshing for someone who is used to this style. The way humour, sarcasm, wit and our local swear words and terminology was captured so perfectly — which made this such a joy to read.

This book was utterly hilarious and fun to flip pages and read as until there was nothing left. The premise of the book was chaotic, which set the perfect tone. The magic system was very unique — introduced prior to reading but the introduction of the unique properties, elements and groups was very well done and the world-building was further explained and expanded throughout the narrative, not making it difficult for the readers who didn't read it in beginning.

𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐦 is a compelling and strong character who does not fear easily and is ready to make a fool out of anyone not behaving properly with her. She's amazingly arrogant in her skills, and knows to read situations where her skills are being undermined. She's very determined and true to her word, from healing sick children whose virus does not have a vaccine, to working with the assassin to heal his ailment.

𝐎𝐬𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭 is an unapologetic and unhinged assassin, with commitment to his nature and line of work. He's nonchalant to almost everything that does not concern him. He certainly has a hilarious bone in his body. His assurance to himself about the smallest and ignorable things in the time of grace dangers had me howling with laughter. He's an honest man, and once he comes to care for someone, there is no way that he would not protect them in harm's way.

The banter between them is top notch and has me wheezing and laughing the entire time during these interactions. The hate at first sight is evident and it's a true enemies-to-lovers dynamic, where hate, loathe and murdering each other is on their mind constantly. They compliment and constarst each other, but their mutual respect towards the end made it all worth it. This has to be slowest of slow-burn I have read till now and it paid off really well in the end.

The fork and it's symbolisation in sorry was utterly satisfying. I had initially completely forgotten about the fork but I was quickly reminded when the scene came on page and I loved it so much!

I'm excited for the next and final installment of this duology. The humorous approach in dark and sinister times when it did not fail to show the seriousness of the situation was very well done.

If you like slow-burn romance in a addictive and hilarious fantasy setting, with a loath to love dynamic, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘜𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺 by Brigitte Knightley is the perfect read. I cannot wait for the next installment!

DNF at 43%. I really wanted to like this one as a dramione girl but it just wasn’t for me. The way it was altered for traditionally publishing just wasn’t my cup of tea.

For those that love banter, this book is perfect for you! I fear this is not the best fit for me, but I can recognize that others will LOVE this book. Unfortunately, even though it has been reformatted and replotted from the original story there isn't quite enough for the characters that can get me to love the characters for who they are presented as in this story alone. It still relies a bit on the attachment and nostalgia from the inspired IP.

All in all, it was a fun read! But not one that will be a top favorite for the year.

After some reflecting I do not think I could read this in good faith with all the controversy surrounding the origins of the characters.

The banter was top tier. It was a slow start and admittedly not a lot happened, but I love love love witty, clever main characters, so I enjoyed this.

i love this book!!!!!! I'm late but the banter is insane, the humor is hilarious, i am obsessed with Osric/Aurienne. ugh!

I would love to interview the author on my podcast!! I am a huge dramione fan so this was so much fun to read.

2.5⭐️

i'm sorry to say that "the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy" didn’t resonate with me. while i adore the rivals-to-lovers trope, it felt a bit stale and overdone this time. i recognize that it's drawing from fan fiction in another fandom. the story revolves around aurienne, a scientist who agrees to assist a notorious assassin named osric, but her lack of concern for his actions made it hard for me to connect with them. the slow burn romance really felt like it dragged on, leaving me somewhat distanced from their relationship. i really appreciated aurienne as a character, she's strong-willed and stands firm for her beliefs; but osric, the morally ambiguous character, didn’t impress me much. i did enjoy the forced proximity aspect, but i found myself wishing for their romance to unfold at a faster pace. regarding the world-building, it felt disjointed and clunky to me. overall, i wasn’t particularly fond of the writing style either.

thank you to berkley romance & ACE publishing for the e-ARC, all opinions are my own.

I loved the dry humor of this and the shit talking, that carried this book for me. But I was expecting a bit more of a romantasy? Did I miss something? Still a fun read though!

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. While it was funny at times in a really dry British humor kind of way; a big chunk of the book made me feel like I was reading a medical textbook. I was very confused and it was a struggle to get into the story.

Unfortunately this one ended up being not for me and i DNF'd around 25%. I struggled getting into this, the world, the magic system and the characters just didn't click for me and I found myself struggling to get through the chapters. I'm going to be honest, this may be the title that really showed me that romantasy just isn't for me. I think that the audience for this is absolutely there, if you're looking for a fantasy that is more heavily focused on the relationship but unfortunately I just don't think that works for me anymore.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy was such a fun read. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the chance to read this book.
I enjoyed this new magical world that was blended with medical knowledge. The characters were fun and Osric's POV made me laugh so many times. This book has it all... political intrigue, humor, mystery, angsty romance, and magic. I definitely recommend this book to any fellow lovers of enemies to romance plot or the Dramoine girlies out there.