I am devastated to be dnfing this at 32%, as it was easily one of the releases I was the most excited to read in 2025. In my opinion, this is a romcom, with the lightest of fantasy elements.

The biggest issue for me is the writing. I'll talk about the world building later, but this was sadly just really unpleasant to read. Both of our MC's are given perhaps 2 personality traits - one being their job, and the other being that the MMC is obnoxious and unserious, and the FMC is a no-nonsense academic. They weren't likeable as individuals at alllll, although I'm pretty sure we were supposed to find Osric charming or funny. The entirely of this book's plot thus far has essentially been carried by these two bantering and jabbing at one another because their jobs essentially have morally opposite foundations. WHICH WOULD BE FUN - if the banter wasn't painfully childish, flat and immature. Every other page had penis, balls, semen, blowjob, arsehole etc jokes that it honestly felt like a 7th grade boy had a field day. I'm no prude, and maybe its just a personal taste thing, but excessively making the jokes centre around penises, balls and blowjobs just isn't funny the 10th time it's done in 30%.

There was no character insight, nothing at all was being developed about them beyond what you learn in their first chapter - and I just became dreadfully uninvested. Outside of their bantering I also just felt the descriptions of settings was bare bones, the plot was painfully dry and I am just so sad that this was lacking in any real depth, charm or magic. The sentences were also packed to the brim with unnecessarily complicated wording that truly did nothing but disrupt the flow of my reading. I know this is a stylistic choice and therefore just a 'not for me' situation so this element really could work for others, and I may have even enjoyed it if the characters weren't so annoying to read about.

One of the biggest issues for me - and a large reason why I couldn't force myself to continue reading, was the complete absence of world building. As the reader we are lumped with a HUGE glossary which I was hoping would aid in fulling out a story full of complex detail. However the glossary is essentially IN PLACE of any world building. That's our entire run down the factions that people work in, what they stand for, as well as definitions of this worlds magic system. The story then does not go on to give any context as to when this is set, how these characters really fit into the world outside of their job, like its literally non existent. It mentions London I think once? but the rest of the book is mostly made up locations that are poorly described (and as someone who has an active imagination, i was struggling to picture anything).

Let's talk about the magic system for a second, because there's so little information that it really will only take a second. It's not explained- at all. We are left to assume "sieth" is just some flow of magic?? that can do... anything? some things? Truly, by 30% I should have some idea of how this magic works.

I think this will be a hit for some, and a major miss for others, and I'm sad that I really, really, didn't vibe with it.

This book was a delight.
A healer and an assassin are forced to work together in a situation that neither are particularly happy about. Their Orders are the polar opposite of each other and everything they do grates against the other. He is quite literally one of the last people she would ever try to save or heal, but her Order needs money to fund a vaccine, and he has money; he is slowly dying and needs an exceptional healer to try an obscure method to try to heal him, or he will likely be killed by his own Order.

I really enjoyed this author's writing style and humour. The banter and arguing between our two MCs was fun to read. Our assassin, Osric, does his best to flirt and disarm, and our haughty healer, Aurienne, is having absolutely none of it. The way their relationship developed throughout the book was lovely: from true enemies to grudging respect to a curious and inconvenient attraction. I went into this not knowing there would be a follow up book, but now I'm so eager to see where this story goes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for allowing me to read and review this book. I would definitely recommend it.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶️

This book was amazing. I could not put it down. The magic system was easy to grasp as was the multi faced political structure.

It was also super refreshing to read an enemy’s to lovers with pacing like this. You can see the battle in the characters and what they believe. Definitely your next fantasy read!

I'm actually not sure where to start but I genuinely LOVED this so much. I think this has shot all the way into my top 5 favourite books, and I would rate it 6 stars if possible.

I really wasn't sure what to expect starting this, based off the premise (e.g., starting as a fanfic) and some of the hype I've seen - but I loved the set-up, setting, and characters the most. I really enjoyed both Aurienne and Osric, and really appreciate that the ENEMIES in enemies-to-lovers was actually apart of the beginning of the relationship. I enjoyed the humour in this book, especially the dry, sarcastic humour from Osric.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, as this is going to be a duology. I'm hoping to learn more about the other orders, world, and magic systems!

HUGE thank you to Hachette, NetGalley and Brigitte Knightley for giving me an opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy before release. All views and opinions are my own.

This book has been much anticipated by myself and many, many others, and it did NOT disappoint one bit!

I adored this entire book, but what makes it particularly fun to read is the banter and wit between Fairhrim and Mordaunt, the two main characters. They are both headstrong, intelligent and prideful, making it easy for them to antagonise one another through thoroughly entertaining dialogue. All of the other characters were so well written with unique and complex personalities and behaviour, that I felt like I also knew them well despite many not having much time on-page.

Set in an entirely new and unique fantasy world, it did take me a little bit of time to get my head around the different orders and names of things (as with all fantasy books), but I got the hang of it. There is a glossary at the beginning which was helpful, but I felt like the story was also written in a way that explained what was happening without me needing to check it, which I liked.

At times the writing felt a little bit ostentatious but I also felt like this leaned well into the nature of both characters once I got to know them better. I also never felt like I didn’t know what was going on despite this (even when I had to look up what some words meant 😂).

At no point did I know what was going to happen next, which was thrilling! I can’t wait to learn more about all of the characters, especially Fairhrim and Mordaunt, as I feel like there is still so much to uncover about them both. I’m excited to see where Brigitte takes the series as it ended in a clever way that opens up so many possibilities.

While I absolutely adored DMATMOOBIL and it will forever hold a special place in my heart, Brigitte Knightley has done an incredible job at writing a brand new book that is distinctive and original, with her unique writing style and banter, wit and finesse that made DMATMOOBIL so well loved. Fairhrim and Mordaunt are both so unique and unlike any characters I’ve ever read before.

This was an absolute pleasure to read and I loved every second of it - I couldn’t put it down. I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend to everyone. I cannot wait to purchase the physical copy as the cover is beautiful, and I will be definitely purchasing the audiobook as well. I’m looking forward to rereading already!

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Bridgette Knightly is a total delight! The banter between Osric and Aurienne is everything - witty, sassy, and ridiculously charming. Their chemistry is undeniable, and I loved watching their romance unfold.

The magic system is clever and immersive, and Knightly's world-building is top-notch. What really stole the show for me, though, was the humor. I laughed out loud more times than I can count, thanks to Osric and Aurienne's hilarious exchanges.

If you're looking for a fun read with great characters and a swoony romance, this is the book for you. Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette for the ARC - I'm so glad I got to read this one!

This was so much more fun than I expected! I loved this and have already pre-ordered my physical copy.

Going into this book, I knew very little aside from its roots in Dramione fan fiction—which intrigued me as a long-time Harry Potter fan. The premise had strong appeal, especially with its imaginative world, complex Orders, and the “enemies to lovers” / opposites-attract dynamic, which I generally enjoy. I did enjoy the main characters - Osric stood out with his mix of flirtatious charm, tough exterior, and subtle vulnerability. Aurienne, too, was a strong presence—I appreciated her straightforward nature and the calm, capable way she handled difficult situations. Unfortunately, I struggled to stay engaged and ended up putting the book down around the halfway point. The pacing at the start was quite slow, and it took a while to feel fully immersed in the world or connected to the characters. I would have loved more in-depth world-building and richer backstories to help ground the emotional stakes and deepen the narrative.
While the concept held a lot of promise, I personally found the writing style challenging. Some of the humor didn’t quite land for me, and overall, the story didn’t resonate in the way I had hoped. That said, I admire the creativity and ambition behind the book and wish the author all the best with her future projects.

Really struggled with this one, having read the initial works from which this derived I was quite excited.
Fell really flat unfortunately, huge information dump at the front end of the book ( could information not have been drip fed naturally to build the world). Many character names were ridiculous even within fantasy genre. F0und Osric and Aurienne to be deeply unlikeable. Pushed through and really didn't enjoy.

It was a real shame because this is not a bad author, I have read their work before and enjoyed.

Member of the Fyren Order of assassins Osric Mordaunt is in dire need of healing by only the best. Meaning, he needs to seek the help of healer Aurienne Fairhrim - upholder of good, and enemy of the Fyren Order. When Osric offers an appealing amount of funding for a pox vaccine, Aurienne has no choice to accept.

The banter in this! The slow burn! Gah, it's absolutely top tier romantasy. It's pulled me out of my romantasy/fantasy slump and I need more right now.

The world building is insane (there are a few instances of it slowing the plot a bit to create), the humour is delightful and I just had such a good time reading it.

Perfect for fans of:

🗡️ Incredible fantasy worlds
🩸 Slow burn
🧪 Romeo/Juliet style enemies
❤️ A bit of humour
⚔️ Top tier banter

Thank you so much to Hachette AU for an e-ARC of this! All opinions are my own.

I’m really sad that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I was going to. It honestly fell so flat for me in the first 10-20% but I kept reading in the hopes that it would get better.

It didn’t.

The world building was virtually non-existent and what little there was relied heavily on the glossary to do the heavy lifting. I also found both MCs to be insufferable, and completely one dimensional.

Yes there was banter and this is a slow burn but there was just so much pretentious writing.

Overall, I’m sad to say this wasn’t for me.

4.5✩ What a unique, hilarious, banter filled book!

This story follows Aurienne Fairhrim, a healer of the Halean Order, who finds herself in an impossible predicament, she must heal Osric Mordaunt, an assassin from the enemy Fyren Order. The two despise each other, but when circumstances force them into a bargain, they have no choice but to tolerate one another. As they investigate a mysterious resurgence of a deadly pox, their begrudging cooperation turns into something neither of them expected.

This book was so much fun to read! The banter between Aurienne and Osric was top tier, keeping me thoroughly entertained. While the plot didn’t always feel high stakes, the chemistry and constant bickering between the leads more than made up for it. And just when I thought I had everything figured out, the story took a turn that had me hooked until the end.

If you a love slow burn, enemies to lovers book with a morally grey love interest and sizzling tension, this one is for you 😌

Rating - ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Spice - ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)

What to expect?
➼ Enemies to lovers
➼ Animal companions
➼ Broody MMC
➼ Forced proximity
➼ SLOW burn romance

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Hachette ANZ for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an amazing read it had all the best parts of enemies to lovers done right. It didn’t have that fake, forced “we hate each other” vibe some books fall into. There was real animosity and solid reasons for it, and the banter between the two of them? On point. Watching them slowly fall for each other before they even realised it themselves was so well done.

The magic system and world building were also very cool. It felt unique compared to other romantasy books I’ve read. It didn’t seem like it was trying to tick every popular trope box. I would like to see the magic system and world building fleshed out a little more in the next book cause i’m very intrigued by it.

A lot of the book feels very unserious there’s a lot of joking and banter and it’s an easy read, Brigitte has done a really great job with this one, and I truly can’t wait for the next book.

✨ The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley eARC Review ✨

Thank you SO much to @hachette , @thebookishtype , and @netgalley for providing me with an eARC of @brigitte ‘s highly anticipated Dramoine book in exchange for an honest review!!! I’m extremely grateful to have received an early copy of this!!! 🥹💖

This was one of my most anticipated reads and WOW did it deliver! I was not ready for the absolute chaos, banter, and emotional destruction that awaited me 😭😂

Firstly, can we take a moment to appreciate the cover which is absolutely STUNNING!!! 🙌

Secondly, that first interaction between Osric and Aurienne left me wheezing.
And the chapter titles?? PERFECTION. I absolutely loved them like seriously…

‘Irresistible Bastard Meets Immovable Bitch’

‘Osric Gets on Fairhrim’s Last Nerve’

I am LIVING for this energy 🤣

This is peak enemies to lovers with a morally gray, unhinged assassin MMC who falls SO hard, and a badass healer/scientist FMC who has ZERO TIME for his nonsense. The bickering, the tension, the slow burn... I was cackling and kicking my feet the entire time 😂

Also the Deofols (animal familiars)?? So adorable and full of personality, I want one!!!

I love that this was dual POV because I really enjoyed reading Osrics internal thoughts!! Some moments had me genuinely crying with laughter (yes, that Bunghole scene and the fork in all the PR boxes finally makes sense 😂), though I will say the amount of crude jokes this book had sometimes tipped into ‘too much’ for me personally.

Also please anyone who has read this, the end of CH17 had me dyinggg 🤣

Overall, this was a wild, hilarious and fun romantasy and I want book 2 NOW please!! 🙈

Tropes:
✨ Dual POV
✨ Healer x Assassin
✨ Witty banter
✨ Enemies to lovers
✨ Slow burn
✨ Unhinged MMC
✨ He falls HARDER

Definitely recommend if you love morally gray chaos with feelings 💀✨

I was so excited to read this book!! My favourite trope is enemies-to-lovers, so as soon as I saw the title, I knew this would be right up my alley. Plus, I LOVE this cover.

This book is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romantacy. Osric, our MMC, is from the Fyren Order—an order of assassins—and Aurienne, our MFC, is from the Haelan Order—an order of scholar-healers. Naturally, the two orders are enemies, so when Osric and Aurienne are forced to work together, it’s much to their mutual disgust. The story is set in an alternate, fin-de-siècle UK in which the Norman Conquest of 1066 never happened. So there’s no “U” in “UK”—just ten petty kingdoms.

Our uptight, brilliant healer is the only one who can help our witty, sarcastic assassin out of his dire situation—and he’s the only one who can help the Haelan Order secure the funding to cure a deadly outbreak of a mysterious pox. Together, they embark on a journey of healing and investigation while trying not to hate each other more than they already do. It’s definitely a fine line between love and hate.

The writing in this book is exceptional—truly beautiful. The humour is spot-on; I laughed out loud so many times while reading. The banter is PERFECT.

I also loved the worldbuilding. The map and details provided at the start help explain everything so clearly. I had a particular soft spot for the deofols (animal familiars), which are used for communication and counsel between characters. The story feels original and fresh, and the ending has me so excited for the next book in the duology!

Thank you so much, @NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC of this amazing book.

Finally, an author who can actually pull off slow burn enemies to lovers with genuinely witty banter!

I'll admit I went into this book expecting another rushed romantasy trying to jump on the trend while the genre's booming but I was utterly blown away by how phenomenal this book was. The romance is a legitimate slow burn, the lovers start out as genuine enemies, the banter is better than anything I've read in years (I genuinely laughed out loud multiple times while reading) and there's an actual plot holding it all together. The fact that I have to wait for the second book to see how this story ends is going to kill me.

Aurienne is one of the best FMCs I've read in years; she's rigid, clever, flawed in such genuine and delightful ways and I loved the fact that she had a very distinct outlook on the world that didn't simply vanish the second a hot guy with questionable morals arrived in her life. Likewise, I adored Osric for lots of clever, well thought-out reasons ... but mostly because he's baby girl and a massive fucking pathetic loser for Aurienne. I love a deadly man who loves a woman who could crush him like a bug with a single look.

The romance is definitely the focus here but the plot was still intriguing and I'm going to be stressing about how it all pans out until the next book releases. Safe to say I'll be picking up anything and everything Knightley writes in the future.

Slow burn
Forced proximity
Enemies to lovers
Romantasy
Healer x assassin
Opposites attract

I’ll admit, I hadn’t read the fan fiction that this book is based on but I have read and loved other Dramione fics. I actually like seeing the similarities between the original work and traditionally published fanfics like this. I thought this book had a unique but easy to follow magic world. The two main characters are great and easily recognisable as the inspiration characters that we love. But the best parts of this book are the dry humour (this is a very funny book) and the LEGIT enemies to lovers slow burn. I am really excited for the influx of traditionally published fanfics we are getting soon (including this one).

Read this if you:

- are sick of books being advertised as enemies to lovers and slow burn but that aren’t
- are/were a fan of fanfics, especially Dramione lovers
- want to read fantasy/romantasy but are intimidated by heavy world building

Absolutely phenomenal!
I am gagged!
Did not even realise I was turning the last page until it was blank on the other side!
Where to even start?
I fell in love with absolutely everything this book had to offer. The world was intriguing, the orders and politics kept me engaged, the characters... Oh lawd the characters. I am so unbelievable obsessed with Aurienne and Osric's dynamic. The tension, the banter, the GIVING IN!!!! Sweet jesus, have mercy on me. All they did was kiss and I am hooked. I am sat. I am waiting (im)patiently for book 2.
The writing style was so fun to read, and I think it was a big part of why I liked the characters so much because the two went hand in hand together,

It’s been a long time since I read about actual enemies who are reluctantly falling in LIKE with each other (love is way too generous). The burn was so slow that it was barely even burning - THIS is the kind of romantasy I want 🤌

The duality of Aurienne and Osric’s bickering and bantering with their reluctant yearning was so freaking good. The MCs were so witty and sarcastic that it read like a macabre romcom with super dry humour. This was literally the book of my dreams, but I can also understand why other romantasy readers might not be into the writing style.

It’s more fantasy than romance with a bigger focus on the world’s politics and magic system. The MCs’ dedication to their respective magical Orders fuels all of the romantic angst - so I was absolutely fine with this. Yearning > smut and I will die on this hill.

The only thing I hated was that it ended JUST when I was getting the tummy flutters. But I lie, I can’t hate it because it was expected. This is the first in a duology so of course it ends with absolutely nothing resolved. I am officially heartsick and begging on my hands and knees for the next book.

—-

So very thankful to Hachette ANZ and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

—-

Tropes:
✨ Enemies to lovers (they’re barely even friends)
✨ Historical fiction and Celtic folklore
✨ Politics and secrets
✨ Magic and Orders
✨ Forbidden/unattainable love
✨ Opposites attract
✨ Forced proximity
✨ Touch her and you die
✨ Open door spice (honestly not really)

My my my wasn't this was a bit of fun!! The witty banter between our main characters was for me, pretty bloody great. I loved the dynamic between the FMC & MMC. They had 'chefs kiss' such distinct personalities, however, I found myself favouring Osric's chapters. Mostly because he came across more nuanced then Aur. At the beginning I didn't love her stuffy doctor vibe. The pacing I found pretty steady (if not a bit repetitive) and the book itself was incredibly easy to read although I do have a few negs.

I found some of the plot and world building lacking. This won't be a problem for some, however for me I just wish it felt more resolved. I love an intricate magic system and world building and this just didn't have it for me. Second, I think if you go into this story understanding that was propels the plot forward is the reason that out main characters are in each other's lives, then it's fine. However, overall not much happens. Also unsure if the magic system or fantasy elements really add much based on the above points?? Felt a bit free and loose or magic for the sake of magic. I also think maybe I wish this was a standalone book. Would have been nice to have this wrapped up in one because then maybe more would have happened. Honestly, interested to see how it all resolves.

Regardless...overall this book is still a lot of fun! Witty, clever and easy to read. It not going to push your limits of understanding but if you're looking for something as a palate cleanser or to get you out of a reading rut, this is one to give a go! Big thank you to Hachette Aus & NZ for the e-ARC.