If this book isn’t already on your radar, it should be!

This book follows a healer and an assassin who must work together to cure a fatal disease, all while trying not to kill each other in the process.

One thing about the book that I wasn’t expecting was how funny it was. From the very first page to the very last, the humor never let up for a second. This humor really shines in the banter between our two leads, who complement each other so well. Where Osric is carefree and witty, Aurienne is more stoic and dry in her delivery.

This is a real enemies-to-lovers dynamic, and I ate it up. These characters genuinely hate each other, and it’s not just vibes either. The hate is rooted in who they are fundamentally as people, and it just worked so well. The romance is also very slow burn, which is my preferred style for romance and romantasy. I want to feel the tension between the characters. I want to be on the edge of my seat when they start to soften toward each other. I want to be reading until 2 a.m., unable to put the book down because he just noticed the color of her eyes. That’s what I want, and that’s what this book gave me.

The world building was a little sloppy for my taste. I’m not quite sure if this takes place in our world or if it’s a slightly altered version of it. I wish we had more information about the world as a whole—how it works and the dynamics between the different orders. I think more setup would have helped make some of the plot less confusing. I really enjoyed Knightley’s writing style; it’s very unique and worked really well with the plot of the story. However, at times it was a little much and would have benefited from another couple of rounds of editing.

As a whole, this was a well-crafted story that felt like the perfect length. It wasn’t too long or too short and set up book 2 really well. I’m very interested to see where this story goes moving forward.

Thank you so much to Orbit UK for gifting me an ARC of this book ahead of its official release.

A hilarious charming book, that has left me desperately wanting book 2! I haven’t laughed this much reading a book in perhaps ever – I HAVE to know how it ends.

From the get-go you are immediately thrown into the world and story, there’s no info dump or endless world building (in fact all you need to know is provided in a very helpful glossary). There’s no preamble, and it’s really refreshing as you are immediately hooked. You’re not waiting for the story to start.

After the glossary, any extra world building is interwoven throughout, generally introduced through conversations between characters, which made it feel very natural. You are never overwhelmed by a barrage of information that you’ll forget three pages later. Instead, you learn what is necessary when it is necessary.

The story is interesting and captivating.

It’s an enemies-to-lovers (the factions they are part of are enemies) Assassin x Healer romantasy, in which Aurienne (the FMC healer) is forced to help cure Osric (the MMC assassin) of his affliction. Interwoven into this healing journey is the mystery of a deadly pox that has re-emerged with deadly consequences. It’s a romantasy x mystery combination, that is also a slow burn. For most of the book the romance takes a back seat – it has a legitimate captivating plot beyond the romance.

The characters are amazing and so well created.

The banter? The tension? Perfection!

Osric is a fantastic MMC. He is a self-absorbed, arrogant, sarcastic, clever, witty and I love his dialogue and inner monologue. From the very first line, I wanted him to succeed. Aurienne is a competent, strong, clever FMC who knows what she wants and doesn’t want to compromise her morals. She whole heartedly believes in what she does, has excellent wit and is not afraid to go toe-to-toe with Osric.

It felt like I was reading a rom-com, and I wouldn’t hesitate to read it again.

DNF – 23%
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for your Enemy is a slow-burn romantasy about an assassin who needs healing from an incurable decease and the healer who takes on the task of trying to heal him.

I’ve had high hopes for this book, ever since learning about it and it was such a let-down. I find it a real shame that I struggled so much with this book it let me to DNF’ing it at 23% after having read around 90 pages.

My main issue with this book is the lack of foundation surrounding the world and the characters. From the very beginning, I felt like I was missing information. It was as if the whole beginning in which the world and characters were established were removed from the start of the book, making it feel as if the book started in the middle of the story without any context.

The second part for me is the writing style. It just didn’t work for me at all, I found it annoying and the dialogue between the characters felt very juvenile. This while knowing these characters should be adults, they gave 12=year-old feelings with the dialogue.

I also feel like the book was very character driven, with all the dialogue that was just too cringe. I’ve read 90 pages and felt like hardly anything of note happened for the plot.

The book overall reads and feels very much as a fanfiction, where the characters and the world are already established and thus need no further explanation or introduction. Since that isn’t the case anymore, that was what made me struggle so much with this book. The characterisation seemed forgotten and the world building to establish it all felt flimsy and weak.

I was intrigued by the synopsis and the promising story between a healer and an assassin with an interesting magic system.
My favorite thing was the communication system and how it was tied to one's personality and magic, giving them a unique appearance.
Unfortunately, a combination of things prevented me from enjoying and connecting to this book and its characters.
I will start with the writing style that made the characters appear too much like caricatures, leaning heavily on humor that didn't leave a breathing space for anything else, and in the end, made it feel forced and awkward most of the time.
Furthermore, some remarks were too crude, and Aurienne's were baffling for me because, as a healer, she had no problem mentioning several times that she had no remorse whatsoever dallying until Osric dies and taking his money. That and the fact that she refused to help him was a thing that made me dislike her character so much that I couldn't get over it.
Osric, on the other hand, felt like a doormat instead of an assassin by the way he was treated. It often made me pity him for that fact instead of him being sick.
The ending of the book felt too sudden, and not a cliffhanger type of sudden, but the type that nothing gets resolved, and you get zero answers just when things pick up speed.
I am grateful for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, but I think this story wasn't for me, unfortunately.

3.5⭐️

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review- this was one of my most anticipated reads this summer and I was so excited to get my hands on it!

It has so many things to love:
💜 enemies-to-lovers
🗡️ he falls first
💜incredible banter
🗡️slowest of all slow-burns
💜forced proximity
🗡️ assassin x healer
💜women in STEM
🗡️Magic - fab use of ley lines and pagan.

But there were a few things that just didn’t work for me. First and foremost- the world building. What age was this set in? The inclusion of science and engineering with a somewhat medieval Britain was all round confusing. I couldn’t quite place what the pubs/houses/fashion was meant to be and it all felt a bit higgledy-piggledy. I feel it could have used a bit more world building. The focus of the story was the conversations between the two main characters, but a bit more background and world knowledge would have been helpful.
Next- The Magic.
I enjoyed the idea of orders and tacn, studying a magic to excel in it - but how did one choose their path? Was it a choice or some innate magic some people had? The Deofols- how did these work? Did everyone have one? We’re the like Deamons in Phillip Pullmans His Dark Materials, or only something you had if you had magic and trained to use them?
The banter- absolutely brilliant back and forth but unnecessarily crude and rude a lot of the time- very fixated on the same topics which just made the characters feel a lot younger and more immature then they were meant to be. So many genital and toilet jokes.
Storyline- very slow. There’s wasn’t very much action or driving force to it which felt a bit plodding.
The language used- I don’t think I’ve ever had to use a dictionary so many times when reading a book. This also confused the world building a bit cus the constant use of French words and old English was a bit of a mess- is this a French occupied England? Or olde England? The mix of county names both familiar and foreign also furthered this world confusion.

But overall it was enjoyable and I will be reading the next one! It’s just a slower story that you have to not think about to hard and go with the flow.

This is an alternate history where the UK is broken up into ten Tiendoms and magic is common. Each king/queen of the Tiendom has their own political agenda and are vying for power, so a group of magical assassins are able to not only exist, but thrive in a world where people will pay handsomely to kill their enemies.

Osric is just such an assassin, but when he is injured and his magic is at risk, he has to solicit the help of magical healer, Aurienne to fix him. The only problem: there is no known cure. But Orsic is desperate, and the healers quadrant need money to fund a vaccine for a pox that is killing children, so they form an unlikely truce. But when the healer’s order is targeted, Orsic might be the only person in a position to help. Osric and Aurienne investigate a conspiracy that will leave them reeling.

I thought this was a well-written book. It was quite witty and funny. Aurienne and Osric felt like caricatures at the beginning, but they slowly evolved into characters I grew fond of. My only critique is that the book was half of a complete book. It ends abruptly, and I don’t mean on a cliffhanger. I mean nothing in this book is resolved. It had barely started building up to a climax that never came and will probably occur in book 2. It’s not a self-contained book with an overarching storyline like most duologues/trilogies.

I want to recommend this book because I did enjoy reading it, but this is probably one of the few times I will say wait for book 2 before reading.

DUN DUN DUNNNN (3.5⭐️🫣)

Okay, I know this is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, so please be gentle with me. I really wanted to love this book. It ticked so many of my boxes: enemies to lovers, banter, magic, alchemy, cute sidekicks, and a broody mmc that gave me all the Draco Malfoy vibes.

But… the chuckles didn’t quite escape me. The butterflies in my stomach? Didn’t take flight. Instead, I felt a bit bogged down by all the scientific terminology, which left me more confused than captivated.

Maybe it’s because I’m in a bit of a reading slump and nothing’s quite hitting the way I want it to. My heart still belongs to Rory Myndacious (it’ll take a seriously swoon-worthy MMC to dethrone him).

Overall, it was enjoyable, but it didn’t quite sweep me off my feet. Solid 3.5 stars. Here’s hoping the next one hits me right in the feels. 💫

DNF at 23%

The prose reads like the author had a thesaurus permanently open. Despite alternating perspectives, both characters sounded virtually identical, making it difficult to connect with either of them. The writing lacked emotional depth, leaving me detached from the story as a whole.

There’s little to no world-building. London is mentioned once, but after that, locations feel entirely imagined without any grounding—so I couldn’t tell if this was set in the real world or a fantasy one. The humour, too, felt forced, like it was trying too hard to be clever. Ultimately, the characters felt flat, the setting vague, and the writing overly ornamental without substance.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK in exchange for an honest review.

I had so much more fun with this book than I was anticipating, right from chapter one: 'Irresistible Bastard meets Immovable Bitch' I was chuckling away. The magic system was fantastic, with the main characters being diametrically opposed as healer (Haelen) and assassin (Fyren) and their tācn and deofol (cross between patronus and familiar) and the costs they each face for using their seith (magic) were really interesting.

The dynamic between Osric and Aurienne was the best thing in the book. The growth from enemies to friends(ish) or allies to heading towards romance was such a fun journey and did not feel rushed despite the short length of the book. Not to mention how much I loved their banter. Osric's inability to wear a hospital gown will forever keep me entertained.

The author did a fantastic job of developing them both as characters. They were both grumpy and vain and had many flaws alongside their strengths, which made them both seem so much more realistic. I enjoyed their building romance and the mystery element of the cause of the Pox.

I very much look forward to reading the second half of the duology.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*

This book is a TRUE enemies to lovers fantasy which has a rom-com feel to it!! I love a book where I am equally invested in the MMC and FMC, and that is exactly how I felt about this book! In this book we follow the MMC Orsic Mourdaunt who is a deadly assassin, and the FMC Aurienne Fairhrim who is a healer and scientist. Both characters belong to opposing orders, but find themselves having to work together as Orsic’s health is declining and he’s in desperate need of healing, and Aurienne is the only healer equipped to heal him!

The dynamic between these two characters was truly a joy to read. I loved seeing these characters bickering and arguing whilst getting to know each other, and slowly come to care for one another and become attracted to each other (although neither will admit it). What I loved most about this book is the very dry British humour and sarcasm between Orsic and Aurienne which constantly had me giggling and smiling throughout! I also thought the magic system in this book was quite unique, and the story and premise of the book was quite different from other fantasy books I’ve read.

Overall I rated this 3.5⭐️(rounded up)! As much as I enjoyed it, I was not a massive fan of the long chapters, and although it is a true enemies to lovers slow burn, I do feel there could’ve been more tension built up between the characters as the story progressed!

Book review: The irresistible urge to fall for your enemy
My rating: 4 ⭐️

What an absolute joyride this book was! It was brimming with all the wit and chaotic flirting you need in the world.

Our two main protagonists are a recipe for disaster: Aurienne, an upright, smart, and stubborn member of the Healen order whose focus is on healing and research, and Orion, her charming, snarky, handsome and handsome (which he loovvveesss to remind us of) adversary from Fyren - an order of assassins with the blood of about *100 people* on his hands.

When Orion discovers he’s suffering from an incurable condition, he does what any self-respecting morally questionable assassin would do and seeks out the help of someone from the enemy camp. Enter Aurienne, who wants absolutely nothing to do with him. And yet, through sheer sneakiness, manipulative charm, and persistent pestering, Orion gets her to try and treat him.

Now, let’s talk about the writing style which was a double-edged sword. The banter? Top tier. The flirtation? Hillarious. I found myself cackling like a lunatic at all hours of the day. But this rapid fire repartee came at a cost: the world building took a bit of a backseat. I often found myself flipping pages trying to understand all the orders, magical terms, and general setting. There’s a lot going on, and the book doesn’t always pause long enough to help you catch your breath and appreciate the many happenings of the world.

That said, the character development was fleshed out. We get deep into the psyches of our two leads, watching them wrestle with their duties, their moral codes, and their inconveniently growing attraction to each other. I lived for their internal chaos. Picking just a few quotes to highlight was difficult, but here are some that perfectly encapsulate the enemies to lovers:

1- “Why are your shoulders scratched up like this?” asked Fairhirm (Aurienne).
“I’m having an affair,” said Osric, sexily.
“With a rodent?” asked Fairhirm.

2- “If this treatment was a cure for evil, it would be fatal to you.” (Aurienne)
“Oi.” (Osric)

3- “There hasn’t been a cow here in months. Present company excepted.” (Osric, to Aurienne)

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this chaotic adventure. Once I managed to untangle the worldbuilding, I was fully hooked. I’m already impatiently awaiting the sequel and for the return of these two and their inability to communicate like normal human beings :)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! 🫶

I am deeply conflicted, although not surprised. And I am irritated, but also intrigued by the continuation of this story.

The writing in this was mostly very witty and flowed well, which could be surprising due to the vocabulary used in some instances. I didn't mind it. I thought it added to the ambience. And since this book is mostly vibes, we have to give kudos where they are due. But I also must call out the overuse of capitalization for the most random things. Some I understood, others were just waffling. But it read pretty quickly, and though it left me irritated at certain points, I finished it in 3 days.

This brings me to the humour. In the beginning, I was having a good time with their banter and witty thoughts about the other. This lasted until about 20%, at which point I'd grown tired. And then the dick jokes began in earnest. Listen. If your humour consists of 90% dick jokes, bully for you. I'm pretty fond of all kinds of humour, myself. However, it was very clear the author was actively trying to be funny and did not know how to do it other than poke fun at genitalia. Unfortunately, dangling those bits at me does not make me forget this book barely had a plot for the first 80%.

Shall we talk about the plot? Let's. The premise tries to carry it but at some point someone must have decided it wouldn't suffice. For the little worldbuilding we got, the healing is what the book should be handling, though. There is no reason this should be a duology, but I'll harp on that later. Instead, we get a suggestion of a plot at around 80%. Yes, there was some foreshadowing. Not enough, and the lack of proper worldbuilding really hindered this reveal.

Out of the 8 Orders, we know about 2 because of the main characters, with some tidbits about the third due to necessity. For a book about magic, this felt anything but. It was so underutilized, and it was never properly explained how and why people chose/were chosen by each Order. Or what their abilities consisted of. And do not get me started on the kingdoms. How am I to care about this new plot when I know nothing about this world?

Another thing that contributed to plot-less feel of this book is the fact that the plot was being carried out in the shadows in favour of having the two main characters interact to talk about their findings. The only time we witness a finding being had is because they are together and bicker about it throughout, of course.

I will now be a pain about this duology business. I would have rather got a 500-page standalone book (my e-arc had 272, mind) over a duology. Because I am waiting with bated breath for the sequel? I am intrigued enough, but no. Because nothing gets resolved in this first book. It just ends. Yes, please do carry over plot points to the sequel, but there has to be a finished arc at least per book. But no, things just hung in the air.

And now for the elephant in the room—the romance. (Did you think I was going to mention this author's fanfic origins? No. I do not care about that. Mainly because none of the characters resembled Hermione and Draco. Maybe this book is for Dramione shippers, but as I've never been one, I can't comment.) It is a proper slow-burn, that I must applaud. Which normally would have worked for me, but alas, we have two interchangeable protagonists whose only difference might be their moral code.

They talk the same and mostly think the same, are both insufferable, oh-so-good at their respective fields (the absolute best, of course), and are both arrogant about their capabilities and good looks. Which of course never get properly challenged. Faults? None. Vulnerability? Non-existent. Their only cons are that the other finds them insufferable. This extends to most other characters, of course. Only Leofric is exempted from this, because his only purpose is to provide a nipple or ball joke and then disappear. Even the deofols (think Patronuses that speak, or daemons from His Dark Materials) have more of a personality than their owners.

TW: a bit of casual gore here and there.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Brigitte Knightley and Orbit for the chance to read and review this book.

4.5 stars!
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy is everything I imagine and want in my romantasy novel. The characters are thoroughly fun, worldbuilding sufficient to establish a believable setting, plot genuinely engaging and the dialogue & slow burn yearning to die for!

I feel that publishers and authors overuse the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope in marketing campaigns and very rarely do the books actually deliver on that promise, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Urge definitely does: the characters’ backgrounds and values are almost direct opposites of each other (at least at the beginning), and reading about their clashing, reluctant collaboration and gradual earning of each other’s respect was immensely gratifying. I also appreciate how Osric is a genuine a$$ who does terrible things – albeit portrayed in a cheeky, light-hearted way. Not to spoil anything but despite his growing feelings for Aurienne, his personality doesn’t do a 180 and he doesn’t become a pathetic idiot slabbering at the heroine’s feet, proving to be ‘good’ all along.

The banter is 100% the highlight of this story and Brigitte Knightley’s thesaurus of a vocabulary, witty comebacks, and creative ways of poking fun at the characters made me laugh out loud and chuckle quite a few times.

There is very little spice in this book, which, I hear, is one of the draws of romantasy. I think the little we get is just enough to tease both the characters and the reader and it felt earned, contributing to building the sexual tension between the protagonists.
By the end of the book, I not only wanted these two stubborn silly mares to be together, I believed they were made for one another, despite their glaring differences.

A lot has been said about how this was originally a Dramione fanfiction and I’m not going to lie, the protagonists are very strongly Draco / Hermione coded (if you’re familiar with their fanfic iterations), although I highly doubt Draco was 20% as witty as Osric is in this book. In addition, despite its short length (and a cliffhanger ending), Brigitte has managed to portray a very vivid, D&Desque magical, semi-contemporary-semi-historical world. The magic is used quite conveniently – for healing, shadow walking / violence, communicating via magical animal companions and, most often, quick travel, but this didn’t bother me, I appreciated the clever ideas. I could easily read an epic fantasy story set in this world with the romance as a minor subplot – the worldbuilding is fascinating and political intrigue established enough to offer a lot of potential for further storytelling.

I highly recommend this debut and can’t wait to read the sequel!

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for an e-ARC for review!

The Irresistible Urge to fall For Your Enemy is a slowburn enemies to lovers romance set in a unique fantasy world. A magical version of the UK split into smaller states (or 'tiendoms' as they're called in the book). Our protagonists are from rival magical orders; Aurienne is from the healer order and Osric is from the assassins for hire order, so they are natural rivals.

In terms of the romance this is very slowburn. We do get chapters from the perspective of both protagonists, so you can see the development of their thoughts and feelings about each other, but they are still very much on the journey from enemies to lovers by the end of this first book, not at the destination. Aurienne and Osric's relationship from the beginning is full of sniping at each other and banter. They are almost constantly insulting and winding each other up. It got a bit repetitive and silly for me after a while, but I know there are plenty of readers who will eat this up and love it.

This story had a good start with lots of potential for an interesting world and magic system, and near the end I felt like things were finally starting to happen, but there was a real lull in the middle for me. The focus was on the interactions between our protagonists, but not a lot of significance actually happened. There is little development on the reason they're forced to work together, or the political sides of the story, and I wanted more. It may well pay off in the next book, but for this one on its own it was just ok for me.

This book will suit romantasy fans who love slow burn romance, cocky protagonists, and characters toeing the line between insulting and flirting.


As a side note that I need to add to get this out of my system - I couldn't get over the use of the word 'jobbie'. "Osric wrapped up a jobbie by dragging corpses into tragic poses next to an upturned carriage." Excuse me? He wrapped up a what now? I am so confused by the author's use of this word. From what I can tell they're American, so perhaps this means something else than the British slang uses for it. I don't understand why they didn't just use the word job if they meant an assassin job/order. Why would an assassin call their kill order a 'jobbie'?! Please tell me this is a common phrase for Americans or something. Saying "wrapped up a jobbie" has a whole other meaning to me! The copy I read was an ARC, so perhaps this will have been changed in the published version.

I was already a huge fan of the writer’s now famous Dramione fan fic on ao3. Ever since I found out that she had a book deal in the same vein, I’ve been waiting excitedly for a chance to read.

All of the humour, razor sharp banter and toe-curling romance is still here in this new story, with all of the same plot beats that made it so delicious (this is a slooow-burn romance.)
The only set back is that she has had to create her own world-system, rather than rely on the Harry Potter setting, which required barely any explanation.

If you can ignore the thin world-building and just enjoy the main relationship between our two adorable MC’s then you’re going to have a great time.

I had such a fun time reading this new book by Knightley! It was such an anticipated read for me and it did not disappoint. I was absolutely living for the banter and tension between our two main characters, and found the plot super engaging. I cant wait to see what happens next!

This book was absurdly fun in all the best ways. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but it completely won me over with its dry wit, chaotic banter, and characters who clearly want to stab each other as much as they want to kiss. Osric is a charming menace and Aurienne is the definition of sharp, stubborn brilliance — together, they’re a slow-burn disaster I couldn’t look away from.

The enemies-to-lovers dynamic was deliciously slow and gloriously petty, and the dialogue? A+ chaos. If you like snark, tension, magical academia, and two hyper-competent idiots emotionally combusting in the same room, you’ll have a great time here. Not perfect, but honestly hard not to love! Also, a special shout out for this cover art which ALWAYS stops my doom-scrolling. Incredible!

The Irresistible urge to fall for your enemy is a smart, snarky, and surprisingly heartfelt romantic fantasy that had me hooked from the very first page. Set in an alternate England where magic and science coexist uneasily, the story follows the reluctant alliance between Osric Mordaunt, a deadly assassin from the Fyren Order, and Aurienne Fairhrim, a brilliant healer-scientist from a rival faction.

Their relationship starts off as hate, Aurienne despises everything Osric stands for but as they’re forced to work together to cure a magical illness and stop a dangerous outbreak, sparks inevitably fly. What unfolds is a deliciously slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance filled with razor-sharp banter, morally grey dilemmas, and the kind of tension that makes your heart race.

Knightley’s writing is clever and vivid, blending humor, angst, and emotional depth in a way that makes the world feel alive. While some readers might find the pacing slow at times or the humor a bit unconventional, I personally loved the bold tone and the fresh take on fantasy romance tropes.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review💜

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy Review

“Hate could feel strangely like something else.”

🗡️ True Enemies to Lovers
🧪 The Slowest Most Brutal of Glorious Slow Burns
🗡️ Assassin x Healer
🧪 Reluctant Attraction
🗡️ Hypercompetent Idiots
🧪 He Fall First (and harder)
🗡️ Utterly Savage Banter (as a Love Language)
🧪 Is it really Flirting without a Knife to the Throat?

“If we haven’t aggravated each other to the verge of flying at one another’s throats, the day is wasted.”

I fear it may be official. This slowest of torturous slow burns has well and truly stolen my heart. I don’t think I have ever made more highlights in a book before. This book was just full of Moments that needed marking. Everything about this story was genuinely just so enjoyable, it was whimsical and cosy but also so full of adventure and twists.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy follows Osric, a ridiculously charming assassin who has by all accounts an incurable illness and Aurienna, an exceptionally skilled Healer who has been tasked with saving his life. After he attempts (and fails) to kidnap her of course. Isn’t that how all great love stories start? It is definitely the start of a great adventure, one where they are not only on the hunt for the mythical cure for Osric but also to uncover the strange going’s on in the kingdoms.

The magic system was interesting and easy to understand and it entwined seamlessly into the alternative (failed Norman Conquest) UK setting. You will be completely absorbed in this world with its hints of political intrigue, its whimsical landscapes and its hilarious characters.

Seriously if you need a laugh, have a little look at the map for this book. The pub names brought me far too much joy. Seriously, The Randy Unicorn? Amazing.

“What did having one’s hand kissed by a Fyren feel like? Reckless. Heady. Like life being lived. Like an impending disaster.”

If you enjoy characters who are both highly competent but also utter idiots for each other, this is the book for you. A slow burn is definitely my weakness and Brigitte Knightley may just been the queen of excruciating, tension filled, slowest of gloriously slow burn romances. If you live for those little moments of ‘will they, or won’t they’ where they are mid argument and suddenly they find themselves staring at the others lips or the brush of a signet ring against a wrist (I know, I know. Just trust me, it was indecent) this book is full of them.

The dynamic between these two was everything. The wit, the ‘I may hate you but I fear I’ve met my match in you’ banter. Aurienne is a FMC with a backbone. She does not budge on her morals and her wit is as sharp as one of Osric’s blades. I just adored her. And naturally so does our MMC Osric. This man, with his sarcastic inner dialogues. He is so insufferably arrogant but also such a lovable rogue. You just know these two are going to be swoon worthy, right from their first interaction.

“Fairhrim pressed fingers to her temples. ‘Mordaunt.’ (She said his name like it was a swear word and he rather liked it.)”

Another weakness, animal companions. Each magic user has their very own Deofol. An extension of their magic they can use to communicate with others. These Deofol have their own personalities and they really know how to win the readers over. I loved them and I can’t wait for more of their shenanigans.

“The deofol was now attempting puppy-dog eyes, but, given that it was a creature of soul-corroding darkness, the endeavour was more perturbing than anything else.“

It’s safe to say that this book may become my entire personalty for the foreseeable future and I have no regrets. I will be sat here looking longingly out the window, very similarly to how Osric looks at Aurienne, until book 2 arrives. I can’t wait. Till then I will leave you with this absolute gem.

“‘Besides, isn’t forgetting you preferable to continuing to hate you?’ 
‘I’d rather you hate me than not think of me at all.’”

I swoon!

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown UK for the e-ARC!

This book ended up being entirely too cozy and cute for its own good. It started off a bit slow, but the banter and hatred picks up speed throughout the book and made it a super quick read.

What I liked:
- The Banter
- Somehow both darkly comedic and cozy at the same time
- By the end the mystery to carry this series forward really came to light
- the writing was fun and the sense of humor was dry and British

What I didn't like:
- The main premise of their relationship kind of gets forgotten (or so it feels) for the last 20% of the book for a larger plot point
- The glossary at the beginning of the book is relied on too heavily as a worldbuilding tool and was a bit disappointing
- The lack of compelling side characters. They are all a bit flat and I think you probably need a bit more entourage in the next book and I don't have a lot of feelings about any of them yet

This book is great if you're a Dramione fan to begin with and if you are very new the romantasy genre. This reads like a contemporary rom com with fantasy elements so if that is something that appeals to you this book will tick all of the boxes. For me, I would have loved to see more world building and fantasy elements underpinning the story as you probably could have removed all of the fantasy and still had a compelling story.