Thank you to Hachette and NetGalley! This was one of my anticipated reads this year, and it didn't disappoint in any way, shape or form! I expected nothing less from the writing in her fanfictions - and somehow this was better. To start, Audrienne and Osric were enemies. Not the "we kinda each other and we'll kiss about it", kind of enemies, but ACTUAL enemies. Coupled with the banter that had me highlighting whole pages and the breadcrumbs of their love that kept me scrambling for more, this book was everything anyone wanting a slow-burning, tension filled story could want. It had me sitting on the edge of my seat in one moment, then fully feeling for the characters the next. I love a bad bitch who knows exactly who she is and what she's worth FMC, and a (sorta) filthy rich bloodthirsty hilarious MMC, and that's what I got. I can't wait for the next one! I already want more.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy" by Brigitte Knightley is a fantastic debut that beautifully blends fantasy and romance. Knightley presents a well-researched and imaginative take on a world where magic exists, exploring what might have happened if England had repelled the French in 1066. While her rich and descriptive writing may feel a bit dense for newcomers, fans of her source material will appreciate the familiar nuances, including delightful Easter eggs sprinkled throughout.

The relationship between Osric and Aurienne is both captivating and relatable, making their journey feel personal. Instead of ending on a dramatic cliffhanger, the story wraps up with a subtle suggestion of what’s to come, leaving our characters at a crossroads that perfectly balances their connection. The recurring theme of the moments between dreams and reality adds depth to their story, and I can't wait to see where Knightley takes us next!

this was a masterful debut. i find it genuinely hard to believe that Brigitte Knightley has the same 26 letters to work with as i do, because she writes like she was born to do it. the language she uses in her prose had me believing everything i was reading. i believed the folk-stories she referenced in the way i believe in the fact there's a sky above me right now. i believed that her well developed, hilarious characters were falling in love. the time that i took reading this was purposefully dragged out on my behalf because i didn't want to stop reading it. i already knew Brigitte was a force to be reckoned with from her fandom writing, but she's cemented herself in every bookstore and every library for as long as she continues to write with The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy. no notes.

God, I wanted this book to be god-tier for me SO badly. I was so excited for this book. I loved DMATMOOBIL, it was my first ever fic and it is glorious.
But something was lost in the transition from a fanfic space, to a trad published space. A spark was lost.
What made DMATMOOBIL so incredible was the banter, the pacing, the hilarity, and the outrageousness. This book feels reigned in. It feels like it had to be written for “proper” reading adults. And it suffers for that.
The book isn’t overly long, but it feels like it is. It is drawn out, the slowest of slow burn and while Dramione coded it feels a little too stiff.
I love the premise of the book, but the balance is off between osris’ illness and the pox. The supporting cast are great, but we don’t get enough of them, let alone the Deofol’s.
I also question the need for a series. Is it going to draw things out that don’t need to be drawn out? Could we not have had a 509/600 page standalone that cut out some of the unnecessary guff?
I guess only time will tell.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still a wonderful book, I guess it just fell a little flat of my admittedly mighty expectations.

ARC review time!!
As some of you know, I just about pee'd myself when I got the ARC for this book because Brigitte Knightley went and made me fall in love her as a Dramione fanfic author (well, that and my pelvic floor isn't what it used to be after having kids), but this is her debut novel as a published author!

I came into this one straight off the back of a super heavy dark romantasy so getting into the light, British Banter took me a couple of chapters and it was so worth it!

We have:
☠️ STEM Romance
☠️ Enemies to Lovers
☠️ Witty, hilarious Banter
☠️ 'I don't know if I love you or hate you' vibes
☠️ Magic and Assassins
☠️ A-hole MMC I wanted to kick in the teeth, but he's too pretty and says funny things so maybe I want to have his babies 🤷‍♀️

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD add this to your tbr when it releases on July 8th.
Pre-orders are also up on my website!
www.witchybooks.com.au

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book!

As someone who doesn't generally enjoy most romantasies, this was such a joy to read and a breath of fresh air. Knightley has a way of writing that is truly so engaging, and a sense of humour that is a wonderful undercurrent to the story overall.

The magic system was fascinating to explore, and I love the merges with science as well. The main characters, Aurienne and Osric, both had very distinctive personalities and voices throughout their POVs. I feel like in many books we're more told rather than shown the developing sexual tension between two characters, but the growing bond between the pair felt natural and left me desperate for more of them!

This story swept me off my feet, and is so incredibly special that I just know it’s going to be massive. I heard about this book through some people I follow who are a fan of Knightley’s fanfics but I’ve never read any of her work so I didn’t know I was in for an insanely delicious enemies to lovers work of ART.

We’ve got our MMC Osric, a slightly vain, sassy, and perpetually unserious assassin and FMC Aurienne, a talented healer whose Order and morals are by nature, completely opposed to Osric’s. Both characters are extremely competent and therefore arrogant, and are constantly at odds with one another, creating the most entertaining dynamic as they are forced reluctantly work together after he bribes her to heal him from a mysterious illness.

This book features witty banter the likes of which I’ve never read before, and fleshed out characters that are actually enemies for a reason and whom I absolutely adore. The magic system in this book was well-thought-out and completely unique, with 8 distinct orders that wield magic (referred to as “seith”) in different ways, ranging from healers and engineers to trained assassins. This book was a great introduction into how this world works, but I can’t wait for it to hopefully be explored further in the next one.

Knightley has somehow struck the balance between writing a story that sounds so fancy and proper (I learned about 100 new words through the course of reading this book) and also being SO FREAKING FUNNY. It was insanely good at getting a chuckle out of me at literally every single page. The romance we get in this is sooooo yummy and a slow burn that I wish to devour it’s so good. It felt perfectly paced and left me wanting more so much so that I need the second book right now and the wait might actually kill me.

There are so many quotes I have highlighted that I’d love to share here but I think everyone deserves to read this book for the first time with absolutely nothing spoiled at all because it’s really that good.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy was a delight to read and I can’t wait for more people to find it and love it like I did.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

🦢Thank you to Hachette Australia & New Zealand, Brigitte Knightley, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of "The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy" to review. 🐺

When first we meet moral stalwart, Aurienne, the talented healer has been forced into a grudging partnership with Osric, a deadly assassin from a rival order. The two clash constantly as they attempt to cure his illness and uncover the truth behind the deadly pox that is spreading through the population. Plenty of insult is added to injury, when the two realise that an unwelcome attraction is developing between them.

While the enemies-to-lovers trope absolutely tickles that part of the brain that delights in the idea of someone falling in love with your most feral self, the slow-burn in this book is also exquisitely done.

Now, when I tell you that it’s slow burn, I'm saying it standing on all ten toes. Trust. Despite this, the pace doesn't drag for a second thanks to the continuous stream of elite banter that flows between the pair.

While the chemistry between Aurienne and Osric could have easily hooked me for 400+ pages on its own, it sits against an intriguing fantasy plot and a magic system that is completely captivating in its own right.

Out on July 08, 2025, "The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy" is an unmatched five-star Comedic Romantasy not to be missed.

Why does it have to be over?!? This book did exactly what I hoped it would. It gave me the snarky, adventurous enemies to lovers (SLOW BURN) that I wanted. DMATMOOBIL is so close to my heart, it’s a book that made me kick my little feet so to read another book with beautiful prose, a great plot and strong characters was a delight. I feel the book could have kept going (just make it a big book!!!!) but I’m so ready for the second edition! I’m ready for a massive post book blues now

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy is a excellent showcase of Brigitte Knightley's wit and mastery of prose. A true enemies-to-lovers story, this is a slow burn filled with many laugh out loud moments and moments of deep tenderness. Knightley weaves magic into every sentence with every word deliberately chosen for maximum impact. I eagerly await news of the second book (chomping at the bit, really)..despite the first still not yet published.

For the Dramione fans - this will not disappoint. You will find the same humour, brilliant turn of phrase and intriguing storyline that is the root of why we love Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love.

Thank you to Hachette Australia and New Zealand for the opportunity to read the eARC via NetGalley.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I was not expecting this book to be so exceptionally funny or quick witted. It was vulgar, it was bloody, and the longest of slow burns. Despite not getting a super deep look into the thoughts, or motivations of the main characters due to the third person omniscient POV, they are fleshed out enough to care about, to want them to succeed (even when it comes to the killing). We learn bits and pieces about them slowly throughout the story, and I found them both incredibly intriguing.
There's not a whole lot of plot until closer to the end. It's really just a bunch of scenes of the two characters having to spend time together. But that was okay because that's what I wanted.
I feel it necessary to mention I never read this when it was in its fanfic form. I have in fact never read a Dramione fanfiction (I was a Jily reader myself). It did not feel like a fanfiction to me. The world was well developed, though a bit overwhelming. There was a lot of info about the Orders, and the kingdoms within this gaslamp fantasy alternate timeline Britain. I feel it would be easier with a physical book to flip back to the map and info at the start of the book, than it was in the ebook.
Unfortunately, loses that star for the extremely abrupt ending. It wasn't just a cliffhanger. It genuinely felt like this was a bigger book that has just been ruthlessly chopped in half.
Will I be reading the sequel whenever it comes out? Hell yes.

TLDR: The easiest 5 ⭐ I've ever given 😌

This simply did not disappoint. For those of you who come to this book from Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love, you know what to expect. For those who didn't come via fandom, buckle up.

Brigitte's writing is one of my favourites. She manages to weave magic and humour into just about every sentence she writes. I don't think I've ever come across an author quite like her, it's unique and magical and I'll probably read everything Brigitte ever writes.

I was giggling and kicking my feet for most of this book, and for someone who only maybe highlights 1-2 things when reading, I made 17 highlights!

Aurienne and Osric loathe one another and it makes their eventual hate-yearning feel absolutely delicious. Their banter and tension was simply phenomenal.

"It was hard, being perfect in an imperfect world, but Aurienne managed." This basically sums up the book because it was utter perfection.

One of my most anticipated reads for 2025 and it did not disappoint in the slightest. I will now desperately await news of book two, despite this one being six months away from publication.

So grateful to Hachette Australia for letting me read an eARC of this!

A hilarious and entertaining magical adventure with plenty of banter! One of the few romantasy books I've enjoyed so far - the characters were fun, had conflicting values that weren't casually dismissed for shallow romance development and the magic system was easy to follow but interesting.

Thank you Hachette for the ARC!

Brigitte Knightley's writing is some of my favourite writing of all time

I was first introduced to her writing in Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in love and have remained obsessed since She's unlike any author I've read and this is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2025 I can just tell, and there's some absolute top tier books being released this year

Aurienne and Osric absolutely despise each other and I genuinely believed their disdain for one another, but the occasional glimpses of their flirty behaviour and the slow trust they built with each other was so much fun to witness

I did originally think this was going to be a standalone but realised at approximately 85% that there was no way it could be

I am in dire need of the next book pls Brigitte I am not above begging

This book took me completely by surprise, it was an anticipated read, but I loved it even more than I thought I was going to. I'm always a little wary of books that are inspired by or drawn from fanfiction because I tend to find they struggle to stand on their own when removed from the fanfiction context.

But this book is the perfect example of how something can be inspired by fanfiction and still develop it's own world and story. The world-building is incredibly complex and intricate. The dynamic between the main characters is SO good, with a classic dramoine vibe but subverted through the unique personalities of the characters and the circumstances of the story. And the romcom/ unserious elements only work to make the story even more endearing.