This started off delightfully funny, and I really enjoyed the banter between the two leads. However, their encounters soon became quite repetitive. I found the use of obscure language more distracting than clever. I don’t mind the occasional flourish, but having to pause to look up words like solipsistic, obstreperous, cicatriced, soi-disant, and oeillade took me out of the story and seemed unnecessary.. I'm still interested enough in the overarching plot to continue with book two, but I do think this story would have been stronger as a standalone. With the humour already starting to wear thin by the end of the book, hopefully the sequel changes things up a bit to keep things engaging.

Enemies-to-lovers is my favourite romance trope—and The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy not only embraces it; it elevates it with chemistry, heart, and emotional resonance.

I love the building dynamic charged with sharp banter, underlying passion, and simmering vulnerability. The heroine is relatable, witty, and beautifully flawed—her self-deprecating humour and inner dialogue add an emotional realism that grounds the romance. Knightley populates her world with standout side characters—protective siblings, loyal friends, and a charming mentor—that enrich both the plot and the protagonists’ growth.

💖 In short - it's a trope done right
If you crave enemies-to-lovers, emotional slow burn, protective instincts, subtle soft moments, and a fiercely satisfying happy ending, this book delivers in spades. It's an intoxicating blend of romance and character evolution, delivering the emotional payoff that we all anticipate—while still surprising along the way.

Let me start off by saying that I loved that we were thrown straight into the thick of it with this story, there was no messing around! Also, I could see the set up from the first page (not a bad thing per se). However, I was really not a big fan of the writing style - it took me out of the story and at times the humour felt forced and a little juvenile.
The chapters also felt incessantly long and I felt like the story really wanted to spell out the ‘enemies to lovers’ pipeline.

Idk, this book just felt very tropey and I think it relied a lot on the ‘dramionie’ niche to draw in the reader (personally I don’t mind either way but I was shocked to find out this wasn’t directly adapted from fanfiction because the MCs read very much like the two characters from Harry Potter).

Overall, although I wanted to love this soo much, I really struggled and had to put this book down to avoid falling into a slump. I only ended up finishing it because I was able to get my hands on an audiobook upon release. This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and unfortunately it just fell so flat with me, didn’t draw me in, and the writing style, unfortunately was the kicker for me at the end of the day. The odd writing style is more noticeable during the audio and the plot only starts to pick up in my opinion around the 70-80% mark.

I can understand why some people love this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. If you’re a fan of the ‘Dramionie’ niche and also like books such as ‘Assistant to the Villain’, I feel like this will likely be something you would enjoy!

Tysm Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early. All opinions in this review are my own.

My rating: 2.75☆

3.75 ⭐
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy is a slow burn romantasy between an assassin and his healer that had me giggling throughout!

These two truly dislike each other from the outset, but Aurienne gets roped into helping find Osric a cure for his terminal illness. On their quest to find a cure they find they might not dislike each other too much after all...

“It hadn't been love at first sight, but at last sight.”

“He's more important to me than I would wish him to be,"... "For what it's worth, I think you're more important to him than he'd like you to be, too.”

The book is humorous although I don't think this banter will be everyone's cup of tea...

Read this if you like:
🩻Enemies to lovers (but like the tamer side of enemies, more loathing to lovers)
⚕️Weird little animal sidekicks
🩻The slooooowest of slow burns
⚕️Lots of banter
🩻He falls first & hard
⚕️Touch her and 💀 stabby MMCs (🍴 IYKYK)

The book also starts with a glossary that introduces your to the magic system and the different orders (short and to the point, not like WTHMH 😅), followed by a pronunciation guide (super helpful because man, I would have gotten it all wrong without this!) And the chapter headers??
Chapter 1: Irresistible Bastard Meets Immovable Bitch 😂

So all enjoyable? 😬 Not 100%
🤏🏼Although Osric falling is clear from his POV, Aurienne still pretty much loathes him
🤏🏼3rd person (this is personal preference)
🤏🏼All the medical jargon was a tad much
🤏🏼Although there was a glossary, it was almost a bit too much to the point as it tells you what the orders are but not how it all links up.

Overall I enjoyed it and will pick up book 2 in the duology.
Will I recommend it to a friend? 🫣It depends, if you are looking for something with banter, then yes. If you want a full on romantasy with full on ETL, maybe not 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you Netgalley & Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Well, I wish I would have known that this book was based on a fanfiction before I started reading it - that would have explained the lack of worldbuilding/minor explenation of the magical system. If I didn't read the glossary at the end of the book beforehand, I would have been totaly lost. I must admit, the author delivers the slow-burn trope perfectly - not tender emotions until the last chapters of the book! And the banter at first was amazing, until I got tired of all the sexual humor - seriously, were there no other ways to make the dialogue witty???

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of the eBook.

It took me a long time to get into this book, probably wasn’t until around the 40% mark that I really started to get into the story. I mainly think this is just due to the writing style and it not quite being for me.

Once I was in, I did enjoy the story and would like to read the next book in the duology as we are very much left awaiting a continuation and I would like to see where the story goes. I did like the characters once I got to know them better and learn more about them. I did find myself laughing out loud towards the end of the book.

Didn’t quite live up to the hype for me but I am tempted to go back and give the original fanfic a go!

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘖𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘜𝘒 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊.

I've never read any Dramione fanfiction, so I come from the fortunate position of reading this as its own entity with no previous work to compare it to.

A slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers tale that feels relatively contained and perhaps lower-stakes than a lot of other romantasy offerings. An academic healer must work together with a morally corrupt assassin with a terminal diagnosis - shenanigans and tension naturally ensue. Comparisons have been made to Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and that's probably the fairest nod that I've come across when it comes to the vibe of the writing. Fairly light, often humourous, rarely profound or needlessly complicated. Academic pursuits conducted by the FMC alongside the MMC (who would shiv a fairy, work colleague or bandit for you without missing a beat).

It ticks a lot of trope boxes, and Osric and Aurienne feel relatively familiar as MCs. What I really enjoyed was the magic system, in that they're having to dig back through folklore and old scribblings to find a solution to Osric's health issues. We're talking full moons, flocks of gannets and hedge witchy things. Give me all the unserious eldritch shit! I also like that it's a slooooow burn. None of this insta-love crap.

The ending feels pretty abrupt, so it's less a duology and more a book split in two parts. I'm looking forward to book two, but I'm not exactly in suspense. A fun, cosy(ish) read that has its fun by virtue of two competent, sparring characters.

When I started this book and read about all the different orders and the magic system in the glossary, I got really excited because it sounded very good and interesting and seemed to have a lot of potential. In the end I'm rather disappointed, unfortunately. I really liked the world and its system of magic, the different orders and the mythology it nodded to, but we learn a lot more about it in the glossary than throughout the book. The plot, where it actually happened (which wasn't much of the time), was also good and showed potential with the rediscovering of old ways and experimenting with magic, but it takes up so little space!

On the other hand I didn't much like the characters (they were very one-dimensional and stereotypical) and found the writing style very annoying. It was all so flippant and supposed to be funny I guess, but it was over the top for my taste. Even though I usually like some good banter there was waaay too much for it here, and it wasn't even funny. I was also disappointed that the story didn't get resolved in this book. I was kinda expecting this to be a standalone but it's not. I think the banter and them finding each other annoying could have been cut a lot, then there would have been time for a proper resolution in the end, not some abrupt ending that left me unsatisfied. And that at a point where it was finally getting interesting.

If you know about the author's background in fanfiction it kind of makes sense for her to have written the story like this, after all many fan fiction stories are centred around the characters and giving them alternative endings and storylines. But then, we mostly already know these characters and the world they are set in very well, so we don't need a lot of world-building and character backgrounds for the story to work. With independet works however we *do* need that background and worldbuilding so we can relate with the characters and understand the world. And even though I got excited about the world here, the execution and the characters lacked the depth for me to get really invested in the story.

For fans of true enemies to possibly lovers and sloooow burn, this might still be a hit, I wasn't wholly convinced and am not sure I will continue this series, even though I wanna know how it all turns out 🙄

Thanks to Little Brown and Netgalley for the e-arc!

*The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy* by Brigitte Knightley is a witty, slow-burn romantasy packed with sharp banter, aching tension, and emotional depth.
When Osric—a charming, reckless assassin—needs a cure, the only person who can save him is Aurienne, a principled healer from a rival faction. Forced to work together, their enemies-to-lovers journey is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking.

I LOVED this book so much. It had me hooked since the first chapter. The pacing was decent for the story, the plot was so interesting. But my favourite was the character developments of the main characters. This book has good dialogue and oh my word the enemies to lovers vibes were there!

One of the most wittiest book I have read this year!!
The banter is chefs kiss, slow burn romance is absolutely delicious and Sarcasm from both the sides was amazing. Although that ending was abrupt and I had a hard time in starting with so many terminologies and fancy terms but it was all worth it!
This book was worth it😤
I can't wait to read 2nd book😩❤
Need it now!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for providing me with an eARC of this book!

This is obviously a very big release this summer and one I was interested in! I was never into Dramione fanfic but know that this book is based on a big one that definitely intrigued me. And I am happy that I ended up enjoying it!

The first 15-20ish % dragged a fair bit for me as Knightley just seemed to dump all the possible world building she could into these chapters. I think this might have been slight overcompensation as she was trying to differentiate from the source material. I still don't remember much of the world, and the world isn't really the point.

I thought the magic system was interesting, but it was clear which bits were pretty directly lifted and just slightly changed from HP. Not necessarily a problem but not totally subtle either.

The real highlight of this book was, as I think should be expected, the romance and the main characters. I liked Aurienne a lot - she was no-nonsense but still quite funny. But Osric? Genuinely one of the funniest characters I've encountered. His POV chapters were definitely my favorite. Combined, the two had real chemistry but also hilarious banter. I actually laughed out loud at a few parts.

I am definitely going to read the next book and am excited for it. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a genuinely funny read with characters who definitely have chemistry. It is worth pushing past the first 20ish percent!

Sorry this book was not for me just couldn’t get into it. I found it a bit slow. I personally like a book to grip me early on. I also found that since it wasn’t quite a fantasy made up land then I found it hard to emerse myself. Unfortunately I am going to have to DNF this one.

I <i>really</i> wanted to get into this book but I literally couldn’t.
I wasn’t sure if it was because I just didn’t vibe with the plot, but something about this book lacked. I found myself wanting more and still left with some questions. I just think the world building was messy and it just wasn’t developed enough to make me believe it or care about anything. The plot holes were messy for me and took me out of the book completely.
The characters came off flat for a lot of it and I just found myself not caring much at all about anyone.


Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC copy.

3,75 stars . I tried so many times to get through this book 😔...... As fas as the solution for the MMC's illness concern , I think it was a bit complicated for inexplicable reasons. The hostility between the main characters didn't convince me and the beginning of the book until the first half was somewhat difficult to get you hooked.

Overall a book with some charming moments, but I still have some reservations.

Firstly, the things I liked: its overall witty, and has some good bits of written banter. The plot is interesting and contains a couple mysteries and bits of intrigue that I enjoyed uncovering. The characters are broadly compelling, if a little archetypical.

I did feel like unlike some other fanfic-derived books, this did not do enough to divorce itself from its source material. It was still very clearly Harry Potter fanfic, with the names and magic system changed. While I don’t inherently take issue with authors using existing literary worlds as a space to explore their own stories, when published they need to do more to make the work their own (The Hurricane Wars does this beautifully, drawing on southeast Asian mythology to create something that feels unique).

Likewise, the main characters lacked the depth of original MCs. In fanfic, authors can lean on the fact that readers have pre-existing knowledge of the characters and world. Here it felt like these characters were not sufficiently fleshed out to make them feel like their own people. In the end, it felt like Hermione and Draco - unfortunate both in the lack of originality and in the continued reference to the work of a problematic author.

That being said, the writing is broadly good and the story is sweet and funny. I certainly enjoyed my time reading this book.

Thank you to Little, Brown Books UK and Netgalley for the e-arc and for Tabetha for gifting me her copy 🥹

Now this is how you write a slow burn ❤️‍🔥

Brigitte's writing is a mix of funny, charming, cheeky and sometimes downright disgusting. I was laughing/gasping out loud at almost every page. I haven't had this much fun reading a novel since I don't know when. If you want true enemies-to-lovers look no further, as the banter between FMC & MMC is unmatched.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis: Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of Assassins, is in dire need of healing. Naturally - such is the grim comedy of fate - the only healer who can help is Aurienne Fairhrim, preeminent scientist, bastion of moral good, and member of an enemy Order.

Aurienne is desperate for funding to heal the sick - so desperate that, when Osric bribes her to help him, she accepts, even if she detests him and everything he stands for.

I've been quite vocal about how excited I was for this book and given the discourse I've become privy to in recent weeks, I feel the need to say that I do not support JKR or her views in anyway. My love for Irresistible Urge & Brigitte doesn't cancel that out. However I hear and respect both sides of this debate and, as such, have made a contribution to Transcend Australia to show my support.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Australia and New Zealand and of course the Author Brigitte Knightley for allowing me to read an early release of The irresistible urge to fall for the enemy.

A healer who is very talented in her field, who's asked by a bigheaded and self absorbed assassin to help find a cure for his life threatening disease.This book was enjoyable and humourous. The banter between the two main characters was consistently funnny and believable. They are both attracted to each other but won't admit it even to themselves at times. Their "relationship" is kept secret and neither of them want to be seen with each other. There is some world building around a disease that is killing people that the healers are trying to cure.

There are a lot of sexual references and talk about sexual organs, also medical references and some gorey details of cadavers and patients. A lot of innuendos and adult themed jokes and content.

A fun time. Full of interesting interactions and enjoyable characters.

An intriguing premise with a clever twist on both magic and history, but one that required a bit of patience to fully engage with.

Set in an alternate Britain where the Norman invasion never happened and magic is practised more like a science, the worldbuilding here is rich and unusual. The story kicks off when a healer is bribed into treating an assassin with a degenerative injury—one that's slowly robbing him of both power and sensation. What follows isn’t the fast-paced plot you might expect from that setup. Kidnap attempts fail, blackmail backfires, and instead the pair find themselves reluctantly working together to defy the odds: curing the incurable, stopping a plague, and uncovering a broader conspiracy.

The concept is genuinely fascinating, and the blend of magic and quasi-scientific method is handled well. That said, the pacing is very slow burn—both in terms of plot and character relationships. The writing leans heavily into complex, sometimes overwrought language; at times it felt like the thesaurus had been raided, but oddly, that ended up suiting the tone of the world.

A note on the content warnings: they were quite cautious, and while appreciated, might lead some readers to expect a much more intense romantic or sensual subplot than actually appears. This is more of a cerebral, careful burn—with a rather abrupt ending that left things feeling slightly unresolved.

Worth a read if you enjoy dense worldbuilding, political intrigue, and magic systems grounded in logic rather than whimsy. Just be prepared to take your time with it.

While the premise sounded very interesting, I found the execution unfortunately lacking: the magic system and the world building was pratically non-existent and I found the little information we got to be confusing and sparked even more questions that were left unanswered. The writing felt clunky and difficult to get through (especially the dialogue with all the 'she said' / 'he said')...and the pace was a bit all over the place, slow and redundant.
I had such high expectations for this story that it was truly painful to decide to DNF the book...but after giving it 60% and not vibing with it I had to accept this book was simply not for me. I'm so glad that most of the readers loved it, but gutted that I did not have the same experience. I'll for sure be giving Brigitte Knightley another try...maybe it was just bad luck!

Enjoyed‎‎‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ₊⊹⁀➴ 3.75
─..★.──────────

Some mixed feelings but I think I had a good time! I liked the writing style for the most part. It was playful, silly, easy to read - something I see carrying over from fanfiction and, for romcoms, is perfect. Of course I'm weak for animal companions so the Deofol familiars were a hit. Cinder and Ciele add a lot to this story and I hope we see more of them in book 2!

Sadly some other things felt a bit... hollow? I know this book is inspired by a fandom that I am not a part of, but it lacks a solid foundation of its own. The (human) characters don't have enough depth and the worldbuilding is strange - we have advanced technology with modern lighting and sophisticated medical equipment, but we also have gas lamps and the scandal of flashing ones ankles. Then in some scenes there are men in crude leather armour fighting with shields and spears. Are we contemporary? Late Victorian? The Middle Ages? The idea behind the waystone pubs was great, but the rest of the setting feels floaty and inconsistent.

I'm also concerned that there is a scene in this book that misses the mark in its handling of sexual consent. I understand that Osric is a morally grey character, but in a romcom I expect there to be certain lines that won't be crossed by the LI.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

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✦ Content warnings: sickness, gore, torture (mild), mistreatment of a corpse
✦ Rep: bisexual biromantic FMC, women in STEM
✦ Mood: snarky, nerdy, fanfic-inspired