This book started off so well but around 33% it got boring and dragged until the last 20%. This book was funny at parts and very Hermione/Draco coded which I liked. I liked how it had its own world building and was more or less just inspired by Harry Potter and not copy paste but change some names of things. I will admit that the ending confused me and I don't know if I will continue on.

This book was one of the most unique reading experiences I’ve had in a while! The Irresistible Urge to Fall in Love with Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley was amazing.

The writing style had me immediately hooked and the story itself is brilliant – a healer and a killer, both at each other's throats, but somehow finding themselves working together for their own personal gains. This book was so ridiculously witty and sharp that sometimes I couldn't even keep up with it all. The banter between Aurienne and Osric was gold. There’s this perfect mix of chemistry and rivalry that makes their dynamic so much fun on paper. The writing style was clever, laugh out loud funny, but also deliciously tense as the characters start to actually care for each other. The mix of humor and tension throughout was so refreshing.

Honestly, the only downside is that I have to wait for the next book now.

Oh I'm so torn on this one. I think it actually falls somewhere between and 2 and a 3 for me as far as ratings go.

One of the difficulties in transitioning from being a fanfic author to an original author is that fanfic already has an established world and characters that you're playing with, and those worldbuilding skills can end up underdeveloped in authors making the leap to original works as a result. I think Knightley has the potential, and certainly the imagination to eventually get there, but I don't think her skills are quite as honed at this point as she seems to think they are.

The plot is fine, but follows a lot of the same story and character beats as Knightley's most famous Dramione fic (<i>Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love</i>), which is likely fine for new readers but I found to be boringly repetitive. It's definitely not the exact same plot, but parts of it were similar enough to be distracting. The characters eventually grew on me, but too slowly for it to be a satisfying read. The two main characters (who have the distractingly awful names Osric and Aurienne) were both arrogant, selfish, and hard to root for. Their banter was less witty than the author wanted it to be, and there were points where they just came off as insufferably pretentious. The ending is also decidedly unsatisfying. I know that this is a duology and a slow-burn, but I felt like it ended right when things were starting to actually get interesting. The prose was also insufferably purple at points (I genuinely rolled my eyes when the word "oeillade" was used at one point, and there is a lot (like, a lot) of random and unnecessary French words scattered throughout where an English synonym would have been fine). There are also way more conversations about penises than I've ever had in my entire life, why is everyone in this book constantly talking, referencing, or joking about cocks and balls? Are people having conversations like this in real life and I'm just not?

This whole review sounds very negative, which is not my intention. I did generally enjoy the book, and I liked the bits of world building that we did get. I think the concepts here are sound, and Knightley does do a good job building the slow-burn romance (even though there is no romantic payoff in this book. Presumably it will be in the sequel). She's clearly pulling from a lot of already established fantasy tropes (deofol are a little too similar to Pullman's daemons mixed with patronuses for me), but there are also a lot of little details that she puts in that I thought were nice touches (I thought the critique crickets were cute, and would have loved to have learned more about the hedgewitches). Overall I think it's a decent first foray into original fiction, but there's definitely room for growth. I'd be interested to see what Knightley does after this duology is completed and she doesn't have her fanfic framework to fall back on.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the ARC!

This was not at all what I hoped for. Excruciatingly slow and bogged down with so much jargon and dense prose that it was not enjoyable to read at all. I know this is based on a fanfiction - one I've read and loved! - but without the help of the fanfiction world, this was borderline unreadable and not at all enjoyable for me. Two stars.

I was so freaking excited to receive an ARC of "The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy." I loved author Brigitte Knightley's prior writings and was eager to see her talent transfer to the trad pub world. Unfortunately, this book did not quite live up to my expectations. While it certainly showcases Knightley's talent at writing entertaining, knife-sharp banter and engaging characters, the world-building falls quite short. It felt a bit like I joined a book that had already been in progress with no way to catch up on what I missed. I could see the potential for a fascinating magical world but it was never actually realized. I also thought the romance between Osric and Aurienne lacked development. I simply didn't see any sort of through-line from where they actively despised each other to where they were suddenly romantically interested. The ending also felt incredibly abrupt, even knowing this is the first book of a duology. I was at 90 something percent on my Kindle and had no idea how Knightley would get the book to a reasonable ending place. The answer was that she simply didn't.

All of this said, I will read book 2 in the duology. While "Irresistible Urge" has numerous issues, it also does have moments of sheer brilliance and I can certainly see the potential for Knightley's writing to only get better and better. I look forward to her authorial development, even if I was not blown away by her debut book.

3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and to Berkley Publishing for a complimentary copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

I was so prepared to love this book. there’s a lot going for it in terms of premise, tropes and I (usually) love a fanfic that went trad.

my biggest issue is that for the majority of this book, I felt like I was missing information. at first, I thought it was perhaps because I didn’t read the fic it’s based off of first. but after reading some other reviews, this book is completely different from the original fic. so I think the problem more was that we start what feels like in the middle of a story. the MMC (Osric) has an incurable disease, there’s an epidemic raging on, and our FMC (Aurienne) is just kind of there? we’re thrust into the midst of what should be a flurry of action, but nothing feels like its happening. there’s no sense of urgency in any of the characters, and that ends up hollowing them out. I do want to note that there’s around a hundred page difference between the arc and the page count of the published book, so it’s possible that the author is adding more.

this was by no means “bad”, or obviously stopped me from finishing the book. it’s still worth a read, because I just have this feeling that the author’s work is only going to get better from here.

thank you to Orbit for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun slow burn of a novel! 🥰 and it will have a sequel. I loved following our two main leads and getting to know them as they got to know each other. There were some laugh out loud moments and I’m excited for the sequel!

the scream I SCRUMPT when I was approved for this arc caused many of my coworkers to turn their heads, confused. when I told them I was approved for one of my most anticipated reads of the year, they cheered for me with many ooos and aaas, such is the way of Libraryland. and this book...
the most chaotic romantasy I've read to date --- witty banter, entirely opposing mcs, the most ridiculous (in the best way) happenstances whilst the universe tries to unite our love birds (they're fighting it the entire way through)
the vibe of this book is very much romcom but in a fantasy setting. I think fantasy purists might turn up their nose at the Unseriousness of it all, but many contemporary romance readers might find themselves dipping their toes into the fantasy genre and Not Hating It. a trade off, sure, but those of us (myself included) who have no such standards for their fantasy will enjoy this with the love I share with a lot of other romantasy titles.
BK killed her debut, and I truly am in agony as I await the second half of this duology to be brought to life.

After hitting the 20% mark I realized that this one was just not for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read early

This is a fascinating magical fantasy. The world building is on point and so detailed. And I love that its origins are in Draco/Hermione fanfic. If I hadn’t known that at the start, it would have quickly became obvious. And the writing is so sharp! So funny. Like filthy funny and I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for the second book. Thanks to Ace for the ARC.

A banter-filled romcom meets slow-burn enemies-to-lovers meets political intrigue complete with a World Threatening Danger.

Osric Mordaunt, one of the greatest Fyren assassins of the day, is facing a ticking time bomb. His magic is failing – and no magic means he’s no longer useful to the Fyren Order. Except they don’t really do “retirement” plans.
Aurienne Fairhrim, one of the greatest Haelan healers of the day, is facing an unbeatable enemy. A deadly Pox is ravaging the youth populace, and the Haelans are desperately trying to stem the tide with no funding or resources from The Powers That Be.
His funding for her healing powers. The pair strike up a devil’s bargain despite their opposing Orders and general disdain for one another. In between romps under the full moon recreating mythical healing rituals and assassinations, the two start to find each other (occasionally) less intolerable. But the threat of the Pox and the political machinations behind the scene still loom large…

First, I have to acknowledge a point of interest that has been raised by many other reviewers. The author started as a Dramione (Draco Malfoy + Hermione Granger, Harry Potter series) fanfiction writer. The characters of Osric and Aurienne bear some physical resemblance to how Draco & Hermione were described in said fanfics. But the personalities are quite different, as are the plot(s) and the system of magic. The biggest resemblance between the original series, the fanfic, and this book is that The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy also takes place in Britain. So, point acknowledged and set aside.

The author has built a fairly original system of magic in which some members of the populace join an Order and receive a corresponding tācn that allows them to wield magic. In theory, anybody can do magic – but without the tācn, magic is weak and undirected. Each of the Orders is headquartered in a different tīendom (ten petty kingdoms in what we know as the UK) but are not politically affiliated with any one particular tīendom. I appreciate the glossary that the author provides at the start of the book, as this information is not made clear in the actual storyline. The uniqueness of the magic system and how it relates to organizations and political powers is refreshing.

The characters of Osric and Aurienne (and many of the other characters) start as exaggerated and flat. He’s an assassin with no moral compunctions, she’s an uptight academic type. It takes a long time to start shedding different light on the characters and rounding them out. Of course, isn’t this how we see our own enemies – two dimensional caricatures rather than real people? As Osric and Aurienne uncover more about one another, they start to accept the things that previously irked. Sometimes murder is warranted. Sometimes an academic logical brain makes better plans. Etc.

This is a slow burn. Sloooowwww. As in, don’t expect emotional payoff in this book. Perfect for romance readers who enjoy the burn, or romance readers who want something different. Also generally great for readers who want lighthearted irreverent humor with a heavy dose of verbal sparring and banter.

A delightfully witty story of a healer and an assassin who hate each other because of their respective positions, yet are forced together under strange circumstances and embark on hilarious adventures. Fantastic world building weaved seamlessly into the story, making it feel like I've known this world forever. The character's slow realization that there may be some disgusting and unwanted feelings stirring was hilarious and had me giggling and kicking my feet. I'm simply dying for the next one!

This book was a highly anticipated read for me and while it had aspects I absolutely loved, others fell disappointingly flat.

Brigitte Knightley's talent for whip-smart writing, vibrant scene-setting, bold characters, and unapologetic, sharp-as-knife humor is on full display. Her skill and unique tone shined throughout. I laughed out loud throughout the story, and delighted at her quirky characters, lore, and world-building. The tone was pitch-perfect for me.

That said, this book could have used a heavy dose of developmental editing. While the scenes move at a fast-paced clip, the overall plot pacing is disjointed, as is the romantic pacing (more on that below). This is an issue I think mainly lies with the publisher and editors. There is simply no need for this to be a duology, and if that was imperative then again...the need for developmental editing was missed. I fear it led to a book that drags on plot and romance.

The most disappointing aspect to me was the character development. Which, is a huge blow when reading a romance.

We were introduced to two powerhouse main characters with bold, distinct naturally opposed personalities. And I LOVED them from the start. But as the story wore on....they just....stayed the same. Nearly every opportunity to reveal more depth or nuance or character development was seemingly passed over for another joke or example of each character's stubbornness even in their internal thoughts. We were left with one-dimensional characters who simply thought each other was hot. It was stagnant in a way that even defies the pacing required of a Slow Burn.

Again, on this last point, my 'blame' lies with the editors/publishers. I will enthusiastically read the next book and subsequent books and look forward to seeing her growth as a writer. But this story suffered in predictable, avoidable, ways. Fan fiction authors are afforded a contextual short-hand in their fics that allow them to skip over meaningful development because it can be inferred by their readers. In original fiction, it's up to the author to craft the world, situations, internal reflection, and romantic tension that makes us understand why their characters are falling in love. To this point, I wish her team had provided more support in her transition from fan fic to original fiction in building that skill and its presence in this book.

As a rabid fan of Brigitte’s other work, Irresistible Urge was one of my most anticipated 2025 releases, and while it was utterly adorable, with all of the A+++ god tier banter that her fans will immediately recognize and appreciate, this one fell a little short of my (admittedly sky-high) expectations.

This is cozy, cute, and replete with all of the quirk and personality that you’d expect, but the tradeoff is that this feels much, much slower than I expected, making the plot feel needlessly dragging across a duology that would have perhaps better sufficed as a standalone. As much as I love Adrienne and Osric in all of their adorable enemydom, their journey (in this installment at least) lacked the narrative meat to carry two full books.

The elements of worldbuilding we get in this are FASCINATING — Tācns! Orders! Deofols! I want to know so much more about all of it! — but there is so little explanation or exploration of these concepts, shortchanging the reader’s fascination with the concepts and squandering the potential for an interesting, fleshed out world.

If this was slow-paced but took its time introducing more thorough worldbuilding, or was fast-paced with underdeveloped worldbuilding, I could make more excuses for it, but so many cool, interesting new elements left underexplained paired with a lack of substantive romance or forward-moving plot made the slow pace feel all the more plodding.

If you’re a fan of cute, quirky, cozy romances — similar to India Holton’s series! — you’ll probably enjoy this a lot! Just don’t expect it to be overly exhilarating or romantic to start. The good news is that book two is likely to be excellent, considering how book one painstakingly sets the stage for a stronger plot and romance in the sequel. I'll definitely (and enthusiastically) read the sequel, but I'm hoping for a bit more excitement in book two than we got in book one.

My favorite book of the year? I'm calling it now.

It is simply SPECTACULAR, and there's just no other word for it. Brigitte's writing style just sings to me and draws me in in a way nothing else can. Witty, absurd, tense, romantic- it works on so many levels. Sometimes I image that she sat at her computer typing this draft, laughing maniacally at the most ridiculous but engaging lines I have ever read. And I love her all the more for it.

The slow burn WORKS, the chemistry WORKS, the storyline WORKS and there's just something about seeing true loathing slowly make its way toward true love that makes me want to squeal, cry, and shout to the world that THIS!!! THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE ENEMIES TO LOVERS!!!!!

Mordaunt is blatantly flawed, yet so damn charming. Aurienne is really her own worst enemy, arrogant yet struggling internally. (Imagine Draco and Hermione, but like, amped up a few notches). Together, they fuel a tension and a yearning and a chemistry that is so palpable it will make your heart race. The world building and magic system are fun to read, and the "race against" time aspect keeps you on edge, wondering how much time they truly have left to make things happen.

And if you're a fan of DMATMOOBIL, you'll enjoy the subtle easter eggs she throws in. <3

Read it for the:
-slow burn
-race against time
-enemies to lovers
-tension and yearning
-warring groups (Orders)
-mystery
-ridiculous, over-the-top, laugh-out-loud, witty, hilarious, engaging, poetic prose. (Bronte but modern, with a touch of the absurd).

Thank you Berkley, for the ARC!

This was not the book for me. I feel like you could really tell that this was originally a fanfiction. The world building was not really there and it left me confused on how things in this world worked for a pretty long time. Not for me.

Cute, unique, and bingeable! This book was such an easy read, and the idea of an assassin and healer called my name so hard. I cannot wait to see where this story goes in the next book!

My most anticipated book of the year, Brigitte Knightley's THE IRRESISTIBLE URGE TO FALL FOR YOUR ENEMY, far exceeded my expectations. I knew Knightley could write because I devoured her fan-fic Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love over the holidays. Brigitte Knightley's authorial voice is sharp and funny and piercingly beautiful when the plot calls for it, and she nailed the self-absorbed goofiness of her version of Draco Malfoy.

The cover art for Irresistible Urge makes the Dramione connection clear, but the book is not fan-fiction with the intellectual property filed off. It's a completely original romantasy that takes place in a very different magical United Kingdom from the world J.K. Rowling (boo hiss) created. And that's a good thing — I didn't want a Hogwarts retread, and it's such a joy to romp around the English countryside and learn a new magical system.

Knightley's authorial voice sings here, too. Osric Mordaunt and Aurienne Fairhrim are equally brilliant and stubborn hotties who eviscerate each other in pitch-perfect dialogue. Irresistible Urge delivers and then some on enemies-to-lovers tension, humor and longing. I look forward to shoving this book at anyone who asks me for a romantasy recommendation.

An early contender for my favorite book of 2025.

I was so excited to read this but it just wasn't the book for e. I didn't enjoyed the humor ( I found it cringe and uncomfortable), I didn't like the placing and the lack of world building. I didn't enjoyed the couple or the storyline either. I wish I liked this but like I said, it wasn't the right book for me.

This was a cute slow paced fantasy and not at all like what i was expecting. It’s a very slow burn and for a good part of the book I don’t know if i would classify it as heavy fantasy but there is magic and spells and stuff. This is a cozy read with a fmc that is a healer and into STEM research and medicine. I love that aspect so much and how brilliant the fmc was. The mmc is morally grey and technically the villain in the book because he’s a killer and he comes to the fmc to get help with his degenerative disease and see if she can help slow it down.

Right away i loved the banter, there’s that enemies to lovers aspect because of what the mmc does and the fmc is happy to not help him. The world-building isn’t much though, the lore is well explained so i was a bit confused about the mystery element and why people were being killed but i didn’t focus on that. The magic system and fantasy element is clunky. This is a really slow slow burn, there’s tension and banter and both characters get attracted to each other but don’t act on it for a long while. There isn’t much steam but it didn’t need it, the romance worked well and both characters were so cute. I liked the humor and snark it’s not a rom com but the quiet and dry humor worked for me. Thanks to Ace Books for this arc for an honest review.