This book is EVERYTHING AND MORE! The way I need this in the hands of everyone because it really just feels like THAT BOOK! How dare this be so excellent. It’s always the white hair MMC that does it for me. So thank you.

Having adored the original fan fiction, The Mortifying Ordeal of Falling in Love, I fear I went into this with extra-high expectations. While this was a fine book, especially as a light beach read this summer, I felt it was missing the spark of the original and couldn’t stop comparing the two. I wish the characters had a back story rather than meeting on in the first chapter because a lack of world building made their immediately hatred of each other feel a little weak. Even 50% into the book, I wasn’t quite sure what Osric did - yes, he’s an assasin but does he like it? Are the people all bad that he kills? How did he come to this line of work? Because of this I felt like I didn’t really know the characters that well and wished I did :’) I think that Brigitte has a great future and I’m excited for more of their writing but unfortunately the original fic was much stronger. Hoping that people who go into this without the fic in mind love it though!

I'm so so so sorry but this was so so so so beyond boring. I fear the writing style is just not for me because I just could not connect to the story or the characters at all and was bored the entire time. I'm so sorry.

There was some decent banter but other than that I was just bored. Ooops.

Unfortunately this was not for me which is devastating bc I love the fanfic this is loosely based on. I found the world building in-necessarily complex and frankly confusing to the point it was taking me out of the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ace for the preview. All opinions are my own.

I'll start by saying that I've never read any Dramione fanfic, and that I picked this up because the concept sounded cool and enemies to lovers is my jam. Also from what I understand, this is a new work not a re-work of the previous fic, which also influenced me to want to read this.

All that being said, I was very underwhelmed. The characters were fairly flat, the world wasn't fully fleshed out, the language was way over the top, and the unending banter got tiresome. I love witty banter! But this was relentless. I also have the mouth of a sailor, but the prurient humor here severely tested my limits and surpassed them.

My biggest issue though was that I hated Osric. He's a preening bunghole who showed the tiniest character growth in the last 5 pages. I have never shipped a main couple less. And the burn is glacial. GLACIAL both from a temperature perspective and a pacing one. I liked Aurienne well enough, but I do question her judgement when she falls for this guy.

Ok one more thing. In theory the plot is about them trying to find a cure for Osric. But we kind of abandon that plot at some point and introduce a new one. Then finally remember the first plot in the last 2 pages. All the while, there isn't a huge sense of urgency, which makes the book a bit boring, I don't understand why this is more than 1 book. It really should have been a more tightly plotted longer single book. Oh well, I don't care enough to continue.

This is clearly going to have a ton of fans, but I will not be counted among their number.

This is truly the definition of a slow burn enemies to lovers with top tier banter. The combination of their back and forth insults that had me laughing out loud and the tension of wanting them to be together having me scream internally made for such a fun reading experience. The world building was a tad confusing at first, but it made more sense as I read on. By the end, I wished it wasn't over and I cannot wait for the next book!

I was kindly provided with the arc of this book by NetGalley and the editors in exchange of an honest review, thank you ✨

4⭐️

Am… excuse me? When’s the second book coming out? Because you just can’t leave me with that ending and expect me to be just calm waiting to know what’s going to happen next 😭😭😭😭

I need answers and I need more of my babies!!

Also, this was a very slooooow burn and I need more!! I need more and I was left with a very optimistic ending and I know I’ll get more of my babies together 🙂‍↔️ I also enjoyed that they’re really enemies, like, they literally will get unalived if someone’s know about them, and they still enemies ahhhh

I need more please!!!

Dark and twisted with a fantastic sense of humor. I found myself drawn into the world and connecting with the characters immediately. I do wish there had been more explanation of the world, but overall the slight confusion I had at times didn't room my reading experience or enjoyment. Excited to see how this series develops!

Aurienne is an accomplished healer, called a Haelan, who specializes in sieth, or magic, degeneration. Meanwhile, Osric is an equally accomplished shadow assassin, called a Fyren, who doesn’t care what the job is as long as it’s paying well. After receiving a serious injury to his sieth system, Osric breaks into Swanstone, the fortress Aurienne and her Order work in, to kidnap Aurienne and coerce her into healing him. Circumstances create a reluctant partnership where they require each other’s expertise. A simple goal uncovers a brewing conspiracy and as Aurienne and Osric grudgingly work together to reach a common goal, they realize they may not be doing it out of pure self interest anymore, but perhaps because of delicately developing feelings…

I have read Brigitte Knightley’s previous unpublished work so I had an idea of what to expect from this book beforehand. I loved the familiarity in the prose and tone that makes Brigitte’s writing hers. She has such a talent for transporting you into her worlds. I love the lightness and humor of her work but what makes it really special is the other side of it, the deep feeling emotions and connection between her characters, and the way she can really immerse you in her writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and how what seemed like a simple plot kept unraveling into something much bigger. She set up the series really well and I can’t wait for the next installment!

I do think if you’re unfamiliar with Brigitte's work, the characters can seem a little 2 dimensional in the beginning. Osric is an arrogant assassin, and Aurienne is an uptight healer. I wish I could have seen a little more character development outside of their romance. There were small instances throughout the story that hinted at more background and depth to both Aurienne and Osric and I’m excited to see how they develop in book 2. The world building was a little confusing in the beginning as well, with a nuanced magic system, tiendoms, and learning all of the different names for things, but by the end I feel like I had a good grasp on how the world worked. The world Brigitte has written is very compelling and I felt very immersed throughout the whole read. Her side characters are interesting and fit well into Aurienne and Osric’s lives without feeling like filler characters. I’m also a sucker for a slow burn romance and she does this beautifully. The tension between our two main characters is palpable and the last part of the book had me swooning! I can’t wait for more of them!

The only thing I really didn’t like was the amount of sexual innuendos. A couple here and there are funny, but at times it felt like every other paragraph was referencing someone’s genitals. There are many parts of the book that are beautifully written, almost like poetry, and then the next page has more sex jokes and it is a jarring contrast, I would have preferred fewer innuendoes and other types of humor. I don’t think this took away from the overall story though!

Overall, I really enjoyed The Irresistable Urge to Fall For Your Enemy and I’m so excited for the rest of the series! If you like fantasy, slow burn enemies to lovers with a compelling plot I definitely recommend this one!

I must admit, there are some lines early on which made me really unsure if this was going to work. Was it funny or did I hate it?

I’m so happy to report that I did indeed find it funny and simply needed to give myself more time to adjust to the author’s writing style. In the end, while it isn’t perfect (for me), I did have an exceptionally fun time with this book!

First of all, knowing that the author was a popular fanfic writer had me worried initially. NOT because fanfic is bad (obviously - I’ve read and enjoyed my fair share and what a cool way to get into writing novels!), but because the pairing she wrote about is…not personally my cup of tea and I didn’t want this to remind me too much of those characters, that world, etc. The cover had me extra worried because it looks like them. However, if anyone seeing this review has reservations about picking this one up for similar reasons - you need not worry. Any similarities felt few and far between with the characters, story, and world feeling perfectly unique to this author.

Continuing on, while I found the world-building to be a little lacking, the magic system (called “seith”) being an intricate anatomical system much like the nervous, circulatory, or respiratory systems is very cool! I hope that we’ll dive a little deeper into the setting and world itself in the next book but the bones of it were interesting for sure. Mostly I found the represented time period and locations difficult to place (I know a lot of it is supposed to be London and surrounding areas but there seemed to be a lot of French??).

Additionally, the humour can be a tad heavy-handed (I have never in my life read so many cock and ball jokes) and the writing style will not be for everyone (there are a lot of random capitalizations for Emphasis), but I had a genuinely silly goofy good time and I think a lot of folks looking for a fun, lighthearted read will enjoy their time with this one as well.

And FINALLY. The romance. It’s a slow burn. Like actually, this is real-deal slow burn, my friends. No immediate lusting. NONE! It’s glorious. Eventually there’s even yearning. It’s sweet torture and so nice to see a romance like this in the world again. I look forward to reading more of Aurienne and Osric and their absurd banter in the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review!

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley comes out July 8, 2025 for those interested!

WAIT, THAT’S IT?!!!!
I was LOCKED IN and all of a sudden, it was over 🥺I can’t wait for book 2!!!

This was very different than what I’m used to reading. It was kind of a documentary-style fantasy, with dry humor and banter. i thoroughly enjoyed it and think it would be a fantastic show. It is also one of those books where you have to refer to the glossary for world building context. The author throws you right in 🙂‍↕️

I loved the character arcs and the dual POV. The Irresistible Urge is a refreshing slow burn romantasy. I wanna be Fairhaim when I grow up — so fierce, smart, and collected! Paris is just plain funny & entertaining.

Out 7/8! Thank you Berkley & Ace for the ARC!

I know what this story was based off of so I was very excited to read it! The magic system was difficult to understand at first but really cool once I did. The pacing seemed a little off based on where the story ended, but I know that it’s supposed to be multiple books so I hopefully there’s a bigger payoff in the end!

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy

Osric Mordaunt and Aurienne Fairhrim were destined to be enemies. He’s from an order of mercenaries; she’s a skilled healer sworn to a very different code. Nothing should bring them together—except desperation.

When Osric falls ill with something only Aurienne can treat, they strike a deal: she’ll heal him, and he’ll fund her research into curing a devastating disease. But as the begrudging pair work toward their separate goals, outside threats push them closer than either planned. And as they edge toward a cure, they start to realize the line between love and hate might be thinner than they thought.

The first 100 pages were rough. The author drops you straight into the world with little setup, and I found myself constantly flipping between glossaries, trying to get my footing. There’s not much early character development or world-building, so I kept wondering if I’d accidentally skipped a prequel or missed something crucial.

I read a review that compared this to Dramione fanfic, and I totally see it—if their witty jabs were taken to a much more vulgar, teenage-boy extreme. That said, the banter was fun, and there were some laugh-out-loud moments that caught me off guard in the best way. But up until the last fifty pages—when the spark finally starts to sizzle—I just wasn’t feeling the chemistry.

What kept me reading was the storyline. It has a lot of potential. What it lacked in character development and world-building was made up for with a plot that kept me curious, and there were glimpses of something deeper in the later chapters. I’m not fully sold—but I’m curious enough to see what book two does with the foundation this one laid. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book should not have worked! But, it really did. At least for me.

This is an enemies to lovers slow burn romance set in an alternate Earth where magic is real. (Actual, real enemies, mind you, not just rivals or people who are annoyed at each other.) Aurienne is a gifted healer in an order of healers who is contacted by Osric, an eeeevil (but handsome and roguish) assassin, who has a fatal ailment to do with his magic that only Aurienne has a hope of curing (and it's a very very small hope at that). She does not want to help him AT ALL but is ordered to after he makes an obscenely large donation to their order, even though his only hope of a cure is based on folklore and fairytales, and is very unscientific (Aurienne frowns on non-evidence based magical healing). Osric is incorrigible and Aurienne is orderly and rule-following. Of course they are going to fall in love.

I really only have one main criticism, and the rest is just going to be a YMMV kind of thing. My criticism is that is STUNNINGLY unclear when and why this is all taking place, aka the worldbuilding. This is a world with electricity but people still wear suits of armor?? They have antibiotics but also medieval type places like brothels and castles and public houses? It's an alternate history world with magic*, where places like London and such still exist, but then there's new places and England is split into Tiendoms? (ten kingdoms) It's all very much unexplained. And yet, the central relationship, and the main plot points are all very clearly on the page, so in a sense the faffery surrounding the worldbuilding almost doesn't matter (ALMOST).

*I highlighted several instances of language that makes no sense outside of our world, for instance the phrase "crime-scene chic" and certain body parts being called "Thoughts and Prayers" (in a world with no guns??). But those might be gone in the final version, I don't know.

I feel where this book is really going to succeed or fail for people is the voice, the writing style. It is very informal, at times vulgar, and has a sense of humor that is extremely specific. This very much worked on me, and I laughed out loud multiple times over the course of the book. Most of my highlights were things that had me giggling. But it also has this sweet heart underneath all the name-calling and ribald jokery. I really believed it at the end when both people had realized they had feelings for the other; it made me go "Awwwwww".

Here are some examples of the language (again, ARC copy, subject to change):

"There is some family," said Mrs. Parson. "Father from the Danelaw, mother from Tamazgha. Both presently in London. No debts to speak of; she's rather well-off. Kidnap would, of course, always be an option."
"A classic," said Osric.

"More whinging than Aurienne had expected from a Fyren. Weren't they meant to be rugged killers? This specimen had the fortitude of a wet quiche."

"I detest operating in this improvisatory manner"—"just titting about the countryside without a plan—"
Mordaunt, seized with sudden liveliness, leapt to Aurienne's side. "Let's tit about. I love titting about."

"He was a Fine Specimen in the way an abscess might be a Fine Specimen; the best, most shapely, most beautiful abscess in the world still brimmed with foulness and ought to be incised and drained."

"Osric noticed that, under Patient Name, she had inserted an alias, which was fine, but that the alias was U. Ganglion, which offended him."
---
And I had a lot more than that! I got my copy months and months ago, so the final copy might very well be a lot more polished. I guess I'll see! Because I have this coming in a subscription box next month. For me, the charms of this book vastly outweighed the things that bothered me. But that is the reason it's not getting five stars, because I kept getting the urge to sit down with a red pen and fix things.

If you like banter, antagonism, scatological humor, inexplicable worldbuilding, and animals, this might be a book for you.

This book was unnecessarily crass and vulgar. There were moments of banter that I enjoyed, but overall there was so much vulgar language and innuendo that it really ruined the book for me. Two stars for the overall story. This book could've been really good without all the nasty stuff.

Thank you to Berkley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Goodness gracious I had a great time. Knightly had me constantly chuckling and even laughing out loud almost the entire book. I swear, this is some of the best banter I've ever read.

Irresistible Urge is a slllloooowwww burn. If that's your thing, you're gonna love this. If it's not your thing, I need you to hang on because this book is wonderful.

I'm so excited for the second book. For more giggles abd accidental touches. Goodness I loved this book. Really hoping that BN picks this up as a Monthly Pick.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the eArc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This near-parody of an enemies-to-lovers story sadly misses the mark. There's plenty of middle-school bathroom humor and an attempt to use a magical Old-English setting, but the two main characters--Osric and Aurienne--are such complete opposites that it really strains belief that they are able to move beyond their differences, despite the author's best efforts. There are parts that almost work, but not enough to make this worthwhile reading.

This was so amazing and interesting. It has all the tropes I absolutely love ❤️ enemies to lovers in fantasy romance with brilliant characters! So perfect and wonderful combination to read from starting to the ending. It's the book 1 of the series and the author has brilliantly drafted the story with well paced plotline and easy narration, which makes my reading experience much more better.

So, before my actual review I just want to say, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S WHERE IT ENDED?! *Various sounds of strangled upset*

Osric Mordaunt has a PHD in murder for hire but lately he seems to have a blight on his magic abilities and that's not good. Aurienne Fairhrim has multiple PHD's in healing and making the lives of people better, she's apart of an Order at odds with Osric's Oder. She's also the only one who can heal him, so a forced partnership is formed. The two attempt Old Magic cures for Osric while also separately investigating a Pox that is effecting the population of children. They try to resist, but the romance seems to being heating up as they find common ground in a world of black and white.

I really adored this book. The world is so richly detailed and the magic system is steeped in both STEM and mystery. Knightley has written an amazing adventure filled with magic, experimentation, enemies to lovers, and sarcastic familiars. The only thing I didn't like was where the book stopped, realizations are made and then BOOM end. I'm only upset because I have to wait for book 2, not because the realizations and ending were bad. If you enjoy Ali Hazelwood, this will be right up your alley.

This was such a fun read! A true enemies-to-reluctant-allies story featuring a healer and an assassin teaming up to save Osric. It’s a slow burn with hilarious banter and incredibly endearing characters.

I genuinely laughed out loud and couldn’t stop grinning while reading. Osric’s arrogant, self-absorbed charm was hilarious, and Aurienne—with her uptight, no-nonsense attitude—was unintentionally funny in the best way. I loved them both and really felt connected to their characters. I already miss them and can’t wait to dive into book two!

The plot is relatively low-stakes and leans more toward romantic comedy in a fantasy world than the usual high-drama romantasy. There’s no chosen one, no dark lord, no rebellion—just a unique and refreshing story that stands out from the typical tropes.