Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I loved EVERYTHING about this book. Absolutely no notes, I would read this all over again right now if I had the time!

Woman in STEM meets PhD of murders is completely accurate and I loved how at odds Aurienne and Osric are. The yearning hit a little different in this one. Giggling and kicking my feet is an understatement - I was screeching.

I don’t know why but I didn’t expect this book to be funny. I was cackling through most of this book. It was somehow so serious yet so lighthearted at the same time and it just made it so easy to read.

The wait for book 2 will be criminal, especially because this book isn’t even out until July!!

The Irresistble Urge to Fall For Your Enemy is a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romantasy featuring a scholarly healer and a gentleman assassin, set in an exquisite fantasy world!

I enjoyed this read more and more the longer it went on, but a few of the criticisms I heard before reading this ARC were confirmed after finishing it myself: people without a background in Dramione fanfiction or basic Harry Potter lore will be utterly lost.

Don’t get me wrong - I loved this. It was a breezy, fun read that felt like fic in the best way, but it isn’t a fully fleshed-out story. The world-building is practically nonexistent. We get a glossary at the beginning that explains the fundamentals of this setting and its people, but the story fails to fully paint a picture of how this world works and to dive deeper in the mechanisms of it.

It’s painfully clear that this world is a Harry Potter pastiche - which is fine, because the author clearly used aspects of her HP fics as a foundation - but a reader still needs to feel like the world is a living, breathing place.

Furthermore, we don’t learn enough about Aurienne and Osric at the beginning. Yes, this is remedied as the story progresses, as it should be, but for 40% of the book, I kept thinking that someone unfamiliar with Dramione fics, who doesn’t instinctively recognize these two as Hermione and Draco stand-ins, wouldn’t be having a good time. This was written as if every reader has that context, and as a standalone, soon-to-be-published novel, it shouldn’t be that way.

Also, I don’t have a problem with penis jokes or sex jokes. Or pee and poop jokes. Or any sort of crude humor - hell, I make them myself and can be childish about them. They can be funny. I’m not on some high horse about them. But I found the sheer number of them staggering. Maybe that’s just me, but the gross-out jokes were almost excessive. Sometimes, they even pulled me out of the romance, which is a shame because the pining was masterfully done.

That, I can say: the romance was slow, filled with yearning, and the perfect amount of patheticness from Osric’s side. I loved it. And oblivious, cold, competent heroines like Aurienne are my bread and butter, so I relished the build-up and the slow unfurling of their attraction. So much so that I was mournful when the book ended. I wanted more.

In that regard, this novel took the best aspects of fanfiction: the deep, slow-burn tension that fanfic writers, including Knightley, excel at, and played them masterfully.

Still, it wasn’t a perfect book. The world-building was too thin, the characters felt a little too shallow, and it’ll surely be confusing for anyone unfamiliar with Dramione fanfiction or the Harry Potter world.

Luckily, I’m into both, so those flaws didn’t ruin my reading experience. For anyone else, I’d really caution against going into this blind without at least some context of it.



Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit UK for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book, the relationship dynamics reminded me a lot of the Emily Wilde series and I think that readers of that series will also enjoy this. However I found the writing to at times to be overly complicated with a lot of medical references and also rather juvenile with the amount of ball jokes. I did like the hate to wait do I like this person relationship between the two main characters and I’m interested in continuing on with the story.

This was such a fun and unique book.
Our healer FMC and the morally grey assassin-for-hire MMC are both hyper competent, sharp-tongued and confident. This was a great combination with dry humor, hilarious banter and a mystery element that kept me guessing.
They absolutely cannot stand each other at the beginning and to watch this slow burn unfold was highly entertaining. Also, both have some kind of animal companion and those were hilarious as well.

By the end of the book, I was rooting so hard for them 🫶🏼 Can’t wait to see where the second book of this duology takes us.

✨Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the gifted eARC✨

4.5⭐

Firstly the banter between the FMC & MMC was some of the best I've ever read, it was so funny right in at the first chapter.

Osric and Aurienne are in completely different Orders, he is a contract killer/assassin and she is a healer, but they strike a mutually beneficial deal where he needs her help to heal his ruined seith and she needs funding for help with the pox outbreak. Which means these enemies need to work together and this leads to actions and decisions that both would never normally make until they met each other.

The overall world building was really easy to understand and the different kings and queens added a great bigger plot which made the ending of the book make me want to read the next one straight away!

Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, forbidden association, slow burn its all there and a personal highlight is Osric's internal thoughts were so funny in his chapters.

Thank you NetGalley & Little Brown Book for this ARC.

This was a weird read for me. While I enjoyed it as I was reading, I found myself lacking the usual pull to pick it back up the next day. It wasn’t until around the 80% mark that I finally felt somewhat invested, which made for a frustrating reading experience.

One of the biggest struggles for me was the language and word choice. The author went all out with the writing style, and while I understand the intent, it just didn’t work for me. Instead of coming across as smart or witty, it often felt clunky, and I had to reread sections to fully grasp what was being said.

The world-building also felt underdeveloped. There was an extensive glossary at the beginning, but it was difficult to retain all the information while reading. As an ebook, especially, flipping back and forth to check details became a challenge, which left me feeling a bit lost at times.

That said, I did enjoy the banter and witty conversations throughout the book. They were fun and engaging, though at times they overshadowed the plot rather than enhancing it.

Overall, this was a decent read, but it didn’t fully click for me. The writing style, world-building issues, and pacing prevented me from getting truly immersed, so I can’t rate it higher than 3 stars.

this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and my heart literally stopped when i got the opportunity to read it before release! i absolutely loved dmatmoobil so i had really high hopes and was beyond happy to find out brigitte would be publishing a book!
the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy was so silly and chaotic in the best way possible. brigitte has such a distinct writing style - she is really good at blending her wit and dry humour with poetic romance and yearning!
i loved osric and aurienne so much, despite having very different moral compasses they’re both charming and really grow on you. watching them go from mutual loathing to trying to deny their feelings to slowly warming up to each other was funny and delicious at the same time. the way they argued and bickered had me laughing the whole time and the situations they sometimes found themselves in on their (mis)adventures were so ridiculous i couldn’t stop reading.
even though osric&aurienne are obviously the stars of this book, the magic system was interesting and i liked the world-building. where can i get a deofol?! i also loved the subtle nods to dmatmoobil and how brigitte sprinkled them in. i felt like the ending was kind of abrupt but honestly this was a lot of fun and i’m already dying of anticipation for the sequel!
～thank you to little, brown book group uk + orbit and netgalley for the arc!

4,5 stars

This was so funny, I’m still laughing.

The first impression was not great; I don’t like having to learn a bunch of new words just to understand a book, but I quickly got over it. The magic system was not that complicated, and the glossary at the beginning made it very easy to follow.

Aurienne is a healer, and “harm to none” is her life motto. Osric is an assassin, proudly enjoying a conscience-free existence. As it turns out, Osric desperately needs a healer, and Aurienne is his only hope.

This was a brilliant enemies-to-lovers story. I absolutely adored the author’s sense of humor and writing style. The dynamic between Aurienne and Osric was delightful; the haughty puns, the dry comebacks, and the extraordinary eloquence and intelligence shining through their banter. I couldn’t get enough of them.

I loved how their relationship slowly evolved from animosity to curiosity and then to a very inconvenient attraction. I can’t wait for the next book to see where this story takes us next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy delivers exactly what its title promises—a deliciously slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance filled with snark, yearning, and two characters who absolutely should not fall for each other… and yet.

Osric, the deadly-yet-charming assassin, and Aurienne, the no-nonsense scholarly healer, are on opposite sides of a deep ideological divide. Their interactions are electric, with razor-sharp dialogue, subtle (and not-so-subtle) tension, and enough repressed feelings to fuel an entire library of academic rivals-to-lovers fanfiction. If you love Dramione-coded dynamics, this will be right up your alley.

The book is definitely a true slow burn—so much so that it might test the patience of readers who like their romance with a bit more action. While the witty banter and constant push-and-pull were a joy, the plot itself felt like it took a backseat until the final chapters. The worldbuilding is intriguing but a bit dense for a duology, and at times, I found myself wanting a bit more movement beyond just smoldering glances and intellectual combat.

That said, the writing is sharp, the humor is spot-on, and the tension is top-tier. If you’re in the mood for a fun, trope-filled romantasy where the yearning is borderline unbearable (in the best way), this is a fantastic pick. Just be prepared to wait for that payoff! And yes—more fork-related murder in book two, please.

I’m one of the people going into this that did not read the fan fic.
Unfortunately this just didn’t work for me, I felt the world was overly complicated and it took away from the actual story.
I just couldn’t connect to this book at all

4.5 ⭐️. I had an absolute blast reading this book. The writing, banter and wit was chef’s kiss. Trope wise, it’s the truest of slow burns and true enemies to (what I hope in the future is) lovers (and yes read that as they have a legitimate, almost star crossed reason to hate each other initially). Here’s a taste of some of the many, many lines I highlighted while reading…

“'Not everything can be said with words,' said Osric. 'That's why we invented longing looks.”

“Osric found himself almost looking forward to their inevitable skirmish.” (Reviewers note: me too, Osric)

“He spent too much time that afternoon continuing their discussion in his head, resulting in an imaginary argument in which he featured prominently with sharp and witty rebuttals. He considered sending his deofol to Fairhrim with a script, so that she knew what he was capable of.”

“Osric swept a hand through his hair. She ignored him. He flexed his abs. No reaction. He bit his lip. Disregarded. He made a deep guttural sound when she wiped cold hlutoform against him. She told him to act like a grown man. She was the Worst.”

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

my expectations may have been abit too high for this one which is entirely my fault but i enjoyed it nevertheless.
The premise of this book was there, the assassin and a healer complete enemies who very clearly despised eachother but that seemed all there was too it.

It is a VERY big slow burn which is very dramione coded and what we love but this was slower, however it had lots of humour and witty charm that did make me laugh out loud which is something i don’t usually do when reading. I loved the back and forth jokes between the two of them, both arrogant in their own ways but with a lot of banter in their sense of humours.

The world building was fun, it seems like a very interesting world but also very complex for a duology i honestly only remembered both of the main characters orders and the witches.

The plot was interesting but i didn’t feel there was much too it nothing really happened until literally the last few chapters of the book!

I think for someone who loves slow burn romance this is great but i personally love slow burn with lots of plot! The cover is ABSOLUTELY beautiful though!

Thank you very much to Little Brown Book Group UK for the ARC as this was an anticipated read for me❤️

4.3⭐️

I haven’t read this author’s fanfic (although it is on my never ending TBR), so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this, but this chaotic story was so much fun, and the writing style made me laugh even during some gory scenes.

You are dumped straight into the world without much world building at the start, but things are explained along the way. Audience and Osric’s relationship is a joy to watch, and I loved their banter.

The cliffhanger at the end was perfectly painful, and I can’t wait for the next book to see how things pan out!

(Oh and thank you as always to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

3.5 rounded up for goodreads and netgalley.
Overall, I had a good time reading this book. The first hundred of pages were quite funny for me (hilarious even), I was not expecting the humor. The rest of the book’s bits of humor fell flat for me though. But it gave the book a cosy feeling, as if I was reading a cosy romantasy. I did like that.
However, I did not like the over-presence of sex in the book, it was so random at times it really thew me off. The main female character is okay, but I’m not a fan of the male main character — I did like the fact that he was being ridiculed throughout the book, that was a nice and refreshing touch. The plot is easy to follow and thickens as the story progresses. I can totally see myself reading the sequel.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Osric, an assassin, needs healing and turns to Aurienne, a scientist from a rival Order. She agrees to help in exchange for funding to fight a deadly pox. Forced to work together, their animosity turns into unexpected attraction.

This was fun and irreverent. I don’t think the humor and tone will be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. You definitely have to lean into the silliness. It felt like what Villains & Virtues was trying to do, but more successfully in my opinion. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic was built up really well, and I loved the bickering, quips and back-and-forth between the main characters. A great example of how to do slow burn well. The side characters were also quirky, no bland characters to be found in this book. I thought the seith magic system was cool and unique. I was invested in the plot and am eager for the second book in the duology.

The only thing that I felt could be improved was that if the author wanted to move into the political intrigue, the world-building could have used more depth. It felt like it needed to be fleshed out a bit.

As a die hard Dramione fan, this book didn’t disappoint and has become one of my best reads of 2025.

This is a real slow burn enemies to lovers: the growth of their relationship is perfectly intertwined with the plot of the story and neither aspect loses importance compared to the other. The banter is really fun and never corny, as well as the characterization of the main characters with their strengths and weaknesses.

Fully delving into the world building is still a bit difficult, but since it is a duology it is justified as we will surely only learn certain things during the course of the story.

The only thing I found difficult to manage was the use of archaic English, but this could also be my limitation as I am not a native English speaker.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown UK for this ARC.

𝙄’𝙙 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡

I’m not entirely sure what I’m meant to do with myself now that I’ve finished this book? I need more!!!!

I really really loved this book. It was so funny and irresistible in so many different ways. Both Osric and Aurienne are very likeable characters and I was giggling all throughout the book at their wittiness and clever comebacks.

It’s definitely a slow burn and I was FUMING that it ended on such a romantic cliffhanger but I can’t wait to read the next book as soon as it’s out (which may be a while since this one isn’t even out until July, cry)

If you enjoy a romantasy with enemies to lovers, grumpy x grumpy and irreverent humour, you will EAT this book up!!! 5 stars across the board.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK & NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

✨ A charming assassin with a sharp blade (and sharper wit), slaughter: his love language.
✨ A grumpy healer who definitely doesn’t have time for his nonsense.
✨ Forced proximity, enemies-to lovers, with the slowest burn & heaps of yearning that had me screaming, “JUST KISS ALREADY.”
✨ Banter so good I want to frame it.

Also… Did we already know that Brigitte writes the best banter? That we were in for the most fun rom-com of 2025? * DELIVERED IT IN SPADES *

To what matters:

Osric and Aurienne are the definition of I hate you, but also, why are you so hot? Their chemistry? 🔥 Their bickering? Top-tier. So if you’re on for strong, independent FMC and golden retriever snarky MMC, going on an journey, people running into forks 20 times, tension so thick you could slice it with a dagger… this one’s for you!

I had so much fun with this one! A lot of books claim to be slow burn but few deliver - this one absolutely does. The dynamic between the two main characters just worked and the development felt earned, every inch closer to begrudging respect felt like a mile. Easy to fly through, captures the feeling of staying up until 3AM feverishly reading a fanfiction on your phone, which I suppose is fitting. I loved the integration of magic and science, the world felt fresh and yet rooted in myths in a way that made everything more compelling. I do wish we’d gotten more time to expand upon the plot and reach some resolutions but I know this is a duology, so I’m excited to see how things develop.

A brilliant read. Characters to love and also ones you love to hate. A nice slow burn with an intriguing plot running through.
The world building was gentle , with the use of places and stories that were familiar (being from the UK), which was lovely as I am used to heavier fantasies with super complex worlds.
The only issue I had was the ending. I wanted more. I wouldn't say it was unsatisfying, but there is so much room for a sequel, and I would have loved this to be a nice standalone.