A cute, sweet, fluffy fantasy romance. The writing style is fun and witty; the characters & slowburn were feet-kickingly fun; the worldbuilding was decently adapted from the source material. On that last note: I think this worked better than Rose In Chains for me by virtue of being a rom-com, and thus having less heavy lifting to do in terms of subject material.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC!

I wanted to love this so badly!! It sounded like a book I’d really love, but it ultimately fell flat for me. I did not mesh well with the writing, and the world/magic system building was hardly described and not very well fleshed out that it was really hard to get into the story. Because the world building felt so weak, it was hard to understand the story or care about what was happening. There also seemed to be multiple plot points created and then never fleshed out or addressed. I was honestly confused by the end because the story just seemed to jump around. The characters weren’t very developed and felt very flat to me. I felt like I didn’t know them at all, and I unfortunately did not feel a single ounce of chemistry between the two. The banter was sometimes fun, but this just really didn’t work for me. It pains me to write this! Thank you to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

5/5 Stars 2/5 Spice

Tropes:
Romantasy
Enemies to Lovers
Opposites Attract
Forced Proximity
Slow Burn
Women in STEM

one of my most anticipated releases of the year & it absolutely did not disappoint. these two were banter & tension wrapped in an intriguing story that had me glued to the page. i binged the whole book in an afternoon! i loved orsic & aurienne with my whole heart. i laughed out loud reading this book so many times. it was just a blast to read. orsic is kind of a fuckboy but also an assassin so 🤣 basically perfect & aurienne is a prim stem girlie who gets in way over her head with orsic. they have an arrangement that makes them forced to be around each other which they both find insufferable until they don’t 😇 honestly ill be counting down the moments for book two.

I had a fun time with it. It’s a great little enemies to lovers story but I felt as though the pacing was a bit off at the very beginning.
Loved the witty banter between characters and there were some laugh out loud moments.

Went into this without any clue on what the book was about and it was SO unexpectedly funny it took me completely by surprise. The banter & humour reminds me of butcher and blackbird just dark, offside, and SO funny!!!! (did I mention it’s funny)

Osirc and Aurienne immediately start off as enemies from the first page. Each of them from different orders (Aurienne a haelen known for their healing abilities, Osric a Fyren known for their brutal killing) they couldn’t be more opposite. They (unwillingly) strike a deal where Aurienne tries to heal Osric’s uncurable condition, using him as a guinea pig for her new healing magic. They secretly meet up to try and cure his disease and they gradually build up a strong rapport. I loved how gradual their likeness towards each other was that you couldn’t even notice!

I will admit it that it took me a little bit to get into, the beginning was confusing for me & slower-paced. But once I was about ~40% into the book I couldn’t put it down! The plot and the characters were so unique, so witty, and so ridiculously entertaining you can’t help but fall in love with the story.

Thank you Berkley for the arc! Releases TOMORROW (July 8th) highly recommend you add this to your tbr.

I really enjoyed this book. I do feel like there was a lot going on without a lot going on if that makes sense? Up until the end, I feel like it abruptly ended and hadn’t been anticipating a book two but there must be. I loved the banter between our two main characters. I loved the magic system too!

I really enjoyed reading this book! It was incredibly entertaining and funny. The premise sounded really cool and interesting and I love a good enemies to lovers. I do feel that it lived up to my expectations.

The world building was funny yet pretty simple (easy to keep up with). I really liked the idea of magic being tied to the nervous system (or rather similar to it). It gave a unique spin to magic that I've never seen before. The incorporation of ley lines and waystones was cool since I feel that concept isn't used very often in fantasy these days (it's often more common in fantasy rpgs). I'm also really into gas lamp fantasy/steampunk fantasy so the time period this was set it was fun for me.

The banter between Aurienne and Osric was great! They are absolutely very different people and the dialogue between them made that very apparent (tied with their obvious societal opposition). But they were both very witty and had quick comebacks for each other. It created great tension. Also the slow burn was slow burning. While the sexual tension between Adrienne and Osric was obvious to the reader, the slow burn was so intense. I enjoyed it, though, I just wish I got more than a kiss. Also this book was just incredibly funny to me. My favorite scene was the brothel scene with the um...horse. I was cackling.

I do have to make it clear that I did not know that this book was Harry Potter/Dramione inspired when going into this book. I picked it up a few chapters in and did some research to confirm. I'm not much of an HP fan (I honestly don't like it) but I know enough about the franchise that once I knew about the inspirations, I couldn't unsee them. Despite that, I enjoyed the book. I actually think that the HP inspiration helped me understand things a little bit better like some of the world building and character dynamics. Though, I definitely think this book can be enjoyed without knowing anything about HP. Enemies to lovers fans will definitely like this.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I will be keeping an eye out for book 2. I've also already suggested my librarian add this book to our collection.

I was so excited for this one because I know the fanfic is beloved but unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan.
.
The story felt slow, the jokes didn't land, there were far too many penis jokes, what was meant to be banter and flirting was not that at all, and the ending felt so abrupt. There were also so many odd terms and names thrown at you in the beginning and the whole book. I do appreciate the attempt at humor, though, but maybe I just wasn’t the target audience. I had so many high hopes for this one so
I’m incredibly bummed.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a highly anticipated read, but unfortunately it was a miss for me. In theory, this book has a lot of pieces that I typically enjoy in a book -- an interesting magic system, enemies-to-lovers slow burn romance, and quick-witted banter. But this just fell flat for me. The worldbuilding was almost non-existent other than some info dumping at the beginning, and given that the non-romantic plot is based on the politics of the world, it made it hard to feel invested. The magic system could be interesting, especially the deofols & the folklore elements, but we're not given any real explanation on how it works or how orders are chosen. Even the romance, which is the highlight of the story, seemed a little bit forced. Although this isn't a one-to-one of the author's Dramione fanfiction, the archetype of the couple is still there, but it feels like the depth has been pulled back.

The star of this book is definitely the comedic tone - the banter between the couple & their internal dialogue was delightful to read. I would try another book by this author in the future, but not sure if I'll continue with the sequel.

I loved this book. This is one of the more original stories I have read in a long time. Bridgette Knightly’s voice is so singular and like egregiously funny to me, and this book gave me the biggest book hangover ever. I cannot get over how witty this story is!!! The magic system was unique and easy to understand, which I appreciated. The world building felt to me like info was given to you at just the right speed, so you were not inundated with information dump and the world came together very organically. I think the highlight of this story to me was the characters. Aurienne and Osric were so consistently themselves to a fault and that delighted me to no end. Osric’s inner monologues and just how he spoke in general was so biting and clever that I would often find myself giggling with delight and looking forward to his POV. Aurienne is so secure and smart, and she gives it back to Osric just as good as she gets it. I find that the humor in this book is so intelligent; I have never read anything quite like it. The banter is absolutely god-tier. I loved that they had a long time to process getting to know each other and it is the slowest of slow burns. I am so ready to find out what happens next, and wish this book was a zillion pages longer because I didn’t want my time with it to end!

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group | Ace and NetGalley for the eARC.

I thought this was OK. It was an overall fun, quirky read but I struggled a bit to get through it. I didn’t feel really hooked until perhaps a quarter of the book but the pacing just dragged. It was slow and I felt like I needed more. More world building, more magic, more showing instead of telling. The banter was great, but I never really fell for the characters. The random capitalization was distracting and I wasn’t quite sure what the purpose of them was other than to be cute. It felt like it was trying to be a lot of things—cute, serious, funny. There were times I laughed but the humor didn’t always stick. I also had to suspend belief as there were times it had ridiculous moments. I definitely have conflicting feelings on this one. There was no shocking cliffhanger to entice me to find out what happens next, so I’m not sure if I will continue the series other than for closure.

First off, I wanted to say how much I enjoyed Brigitte Knightley's voice in this genre. I've read other books with a similar almost-parody like approach to the romantasy genre and I think it's fresh and much welcomed to this space. However, the other side of that coin is that because it's "different" from the typical approach, I can see how others might not find this one to be harder to enjoy.

Other than her writing style, I enjoyed the characters and was laughing out loud in many parts of the book. It was quirky and fun! The romance parts were a delicious SLOW BURN and I ate that up. My only issues came with the pacing of this book. I thought the beginning and the end were really strong, however I feel like I got lost in the sauce towards the middle. There were some parts where I felt like if I didn't read these parts in the book, I wouldn't have missed anything either. Overall, I am still committed to the series and interested in where the author takes the story next!

Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review! You guys are the best!!!

I am sad to say this was a disappointment. I was hoping for an enemy to lovers romp that was full of fun banter and chemistry. While some of the banter is quite funny, and the slow burn between the two characters works to some degree, so much of the book read to me like a book of dirty puns and bathroom humor written for an audience of 13 year old boys. I realize the book has its origins in Dramione fanfic and I expected a degree of bawdy humor, this was simply not for me.

This is the truest enemies-to-lovers I’ve ever read – to the point that I’d argue they never quite become lovers at all. What worked for me is the beautifully luscious writing paired with the hilarious, witty banter between the main characters, and how likable those characters are which had me desperate for them to start liking each other. Unfortunately, the plot was extremely slow for most of the book so while I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their sarcastic interactions, not much else was truly going on. I’m still excited for the sequel though, because I can tell that when those two finally get together there will be some serious fireworks!

4.5/5
Holy banter! Seriously though, the banter in this is *chefs kiss* and had me cackling.
The plot is great and so is the world that it is set in!
I really really enjoyed the characters. Talk about an absolute slow burn with secret yearning for reach other with absolute denial that it's happening. The chemistry and tension is great and I cannot wait to see their relationship continue to evolve from absolute enemies to lovers.
I LOVE that their Deofol's have equally great banter as the MC's and are just as sassy as their owners (...not sure if that's the right word to use but you know what I mean).

All around this was a really great, enjoyable read and I cannot wait for the next book!

Release Date: July 8, 2025
Thank you Brigitte Knightley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tropes:
- Dual 3rd Person POV
- Banter
- Slow Burn
- Enemies to Lovers
- Magic
- Assassin x Healer
- Women in STEM

Quotes:
"She's so...perpendicular."

"Hate could feel strangely like something else."

"You named a dog Rigor Mortis?"

"I'd rather you hate me than not think of me at all."

"She could do a Kegel and snap your cock off."

"It's the monster you need tonight, not the man."

"Thank you, and I would like to die suffocated by your thighs did not seem like an appropriate response at this time."

“She said his name like a swearword and he rather liked it.”

This book had a really cute steampunk-type vibe that was a total surprise, and really helped the world and the characters stand out. Don't ask me why I was expecting regency vibes, I really couldn't say. I really enjoyed the enemies to lovers banter, too.

An amazing and much awaited debut by the author! The humor really shines through in her writing and I can't wait to see where we go with this duology.

“We won’t have to keep fondling the pendulous balls of the granting agencies this way.”

Am I being actually punked? Is there a laugh track happening that I can hear? I’m waiting for someone to jump out and tell me this is a terribly unfunny joke and then hand me the real book. This was actually such an awful experience and I’m genuinely sad about it 😭. Note for context: I have in fact read the original fic and loved it, this is not a review of Draco Malfoy & the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love, it’s a review of this book.

For starters, there is absolutely no world building in this book. It felt like I was dropped in the middle of a 6 book series and all the world building must’ve happened before I got here because it surely did not happen here. There are so many extravagant fantasy words with no understandable explanations. The glossary in the beginning is the equivalent of being handed paperwork at your job for someone else’s work. Not a single word was actually explained throughout the story. Instead it felt like they went on a word generator website, shoved together a bunch of words to get a new and unintelligible word and then just expected the reader to understand exactly what they mean. A glossary is meant to be a reference, not the only lore or world building in the entire 400 page novel.

Speaking of words…the way that every single character in this book talks is insufferable. It’s emotionless, deadpan, completely irrelevant lines that I can’t even describe and make zero sense to the story. It felt like if the cast of Alice in Wonderland tried to write a serious book and ended up with nonsensical babble. None of these characters have a single prominent emotion and the sheer amount of genital jokes was downright absurd. The entire book had the humor of middle school boys. Your mom jokes, cock hairs, curly pubes, cock shaped items, uneven engorged balls, milk gives you wet shits. WHAT EVEN IS THIS?? We’re also apparently British but characters speak French at the most random times in the book? And a massive vocabulary that didn’t fit the vibe of the story and was wholly unnecessary? Talking about episeithium and paraseithoum under acute stretch conditions like why, genuinely what is the reason??

This book didn’t even breach enemies to lovers. Aurienne & Osric were disgruntled acquaintances at best, and just plain stupid at worst. You cannot convince me there’s an ounce of romantic chemistry between these two. They have absolutely no depth and the whole time it felt like they were playing pretend at hating each other. I had zero reason to care about any of these characters, I was completely unimpressed by everything they had to say.

I’m pretty sure this book made me illiterate. There’s gotta a joke or skit that I’m not in on. I know it’s supposed to be a rewrite of a fanfiction but this is NOTHING like DMATMOOBIL? I think we failed to understand that when it’s fanfiction there doesn’t need to be any world building bc it’s set in an already established world with an already established setting, time, and characters. When you publish and strip it of that original fandom, you have to create a whole new world to fill in for the old one and that simply didn’t happen.

Tropes/What to Expect
🐍Witty Banter (cock jokes & stupidity)
🐍”Enemies to Lovers”
🐍Slow Burn
🐍Assassin x Healer
🐍Dual POVs
🐍Ongoing Romantasy series

Thank you NetGalley and Brigitte Knightley for a review copy in an exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 15%

I wanted to like this book, but the writing style I just couldn't stand. I struggled to get into it from the very beginning. I wanted to like this book because I'd heard such amazing things about it, but I just kind of...didn't.

But I also want to point out that as someone who isn't a fan of HP/JKR and hasn't read any fanfic about hermione/draco whatever the ship is, it's kind of weird to be promoting a book like that in this day and age.

Let's talk about The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley.

"I don't know how you move, given the weight of your sins."

The BANTER. The utterly chaotic, insanely good - BANTER.

The way I highlighted, underscored, tabbed, and bookmarked this read was insane. Such a fun and thrilling ride, as I bumped along the road to this delicious telling of two TRUE enemies (that may ... or may not) become lovers! Finally!

I am all here for Aurienne's and Osric's journey to SAVE Osric's life. To heal or not to murder, that is the question! Along with the rest of the crazy ongoings that are happening: the politics are politic-ing, the lies are lying, and bodies are flying!

In the left corner, we have Aurienne Fairhrim, a member of the esteemed Haelen Order, who - for centuries - have been the healers and scientific discoveries of the realms. And in the right - we have Osric Mordaunt, a member of the Fyren Order of Assassins. Both are hated enemies. Both cannot stand each other. But one is dying and putting aside all bouts of hatred, needs the help of the other to survive.

"You're utterly unhinged."
"I'm perfectly hinged."

If you like the slowest of slow burns, the real trigger of "Who did this to you?", and a TRUE enemies to lovers trope, then this book is right up your alley. Literally...in an alley. With a fork. If you know, you know.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group | Ace, and Brigitte Knightley for allowing me to read and give my open and honest feedback.

✨ Enemies to Lovers
✨ Hurt Her and Die
✨ He Falls First
✨ Slowest of Slow Burn
✨ Banter of All Bantering
✨ Magical Elements
✨ Healer vs. Assassin

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🔥
Series: Book 1 of 2