What? No! WHERE IS THE REST?!?!

What a place to end....a realisation of love and then, nothing. No more pages!

A fantastically funny book, this. The two characters clash perfectly, with the tiniest hints of attraction breaking through their mutual loathing and mistrust. The banter had me literally snorting with laughter.
I also love the hint of mystery with the pox outbreak playing an unexpected role in the dealings between healer and assassin.
One of my favourite reads so far this year.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK + Orbit for this highly anticipated ARC!

OMG. This was just delicious. *chefs kiss*

I well and truly ate this up. Enjoyed every bit of it! No notes, literally. I did not know what to expect because I didn't get a chance to read the Dramione version just yet, but this blew my mind. Such a refreshing and gem of a book.

What I loved most:
- proper slow burn and the build up of tension was crazy
- super easy to follow and comprehend about the world building and various characters
- such well rounded and distinct characters, each with their own personality
- quick fire banter and wit between the main leads but also their little animal companions
- humorous dialogue and unhinged plot points and scenes
- well plotted and developed mystery kept me hooked on the story aside from the romance aspect
- loved the microtrope of the FMC looking after the MMC
- loved the clinic scenes
- just a lil spice to hold me over
- so many words I did not know lmao this book made me learn and improve my vocabulary

Would read again, as well as anything else Brigitte Knightley writes! SO KEEN FOR THE NEXT BOOK! Highly, highly recommend!

Overall rating: 5/5

Okay this is based on a Dramione fanfiction called Draco Malfoy and the mortifying ordeal of falling in love. I loved it and I can't wait for book 2!

A huge thank to Netgalley for providing with an eARC and to the person responsible for taking such an amazing fanfiction and publishing it!

I gave it 4/5 ⭐ only because they decided to end the book when things were getting good!

Like many others, I read and loved the author's most well-known fanfic, so I was pretty sure I would enjoy this book. And I was right!

The main thing I love about <i>The Irresistible Urge...</i> is the writing. It's full of humour and very dialogue-heavy, and the style really works for me. I particularly loved the increasingly ridiculous pub names.

This might be the first romantasy book described as slow-burn that actually fits the term. Instead of instantly finding each other irresistible (heh), Aurienne and Osric don't even feel attraction until over halfway through the book, and their relationship progresses based on emotions rather than simple lust.

There are a few small issues I had with this that I had to mention: firstly, the made up names for things are all pretty awkward sounding. Seith, hlutoform, thrymsas (apparently this is a real Old English coin name, but I still think it's a bad choice) - none of them roll off the tongue. The book ends in an odd place and there is no real climax for the story.

I would encourage you to check out a sample of this before buying, as I understand not everyone loves the writing style as much as me. But I definitely recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I truly appreciate the opportunity to read The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy and want to acknowledge the effort and passion that went into crafting this story. Brigitte Knightley has a captivating writing style, the premise is intriguing, and I can see how fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope will find much to enjoy here. I particularly enjoyed the banter and the slow burn between the characters, though my main issue was with some lack of clarity in the world-building and magic system.

While this particular book wasn’t the best fit for me, I recognize the appeal it will have for others who love a mix of romance and rivalry. My experience and opinion differ from the general feedback the book has been receiving, so I’ll definitely encourage romance readers to keep it on their radar.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I sincerely appreciate this experience and look forward to reading what Brigitte Knightley writes next!

ChatGPT

Hai detto:
Can you translate this text into english from italian?
Ero super emozionata prima di leggere questo libro visto che l’autrice è una delle mie autrici dramione preferite. Questo romanzo è sicuramente diverso da ciò che ho letto in precedenza di suo e mi ha stupito sotto diversi punti di vista.

Innanzitutto, i personaggi sono pazzeschi. Ben caratterizzati, pieni di sfaccettature, ironici, sicuri di sé, divertenti, accattivanti. Insomma, sicuramente i protagonisti hanno influito positivamente sul mio giudizio totale, proprio come l’uso dell’ironia e della comicità: è davvero difficile riuscire a non sorridere con alcune battute dei protagonisti. Altre, invece, un po’too much forse, un po’ cringe (avrei dosato con questo aspetto). So che non piace a tutti un libro fantasy romance con così tanta ironia, ma io l’ho apprezzato.

Nota dolente, secondo me, è il world building, che è poco sviluppato. Avrei preferito dei paragrafi dedicati a questo aspetto piuttosto che i numerosi capitoli iniziali tutti simili in cui lei guarisce lui. Anche questa cosa non mi ha convinto; la prima metà del libro mi è sembrata un po’ ripetitiva, nonostante capisca che serva per sviluppare lentamente il rapporto tra i protagonisti.

Ecco, arrivando al loro rapporto, ho solo cose positive da dire! Questo sì che è slow burn! Per me lo slow burn non è mai abbastanza, quindi amo un bel libro iniziale (primo di una dilogia) privo di scene spicy e con pochi momenti di tenerezza. So, però, che non fa per tutti, quindi se non siete fan dello slow burn questo libro non fa per voi.

In generale, ho AMATO la storia e i protagonisti, seppur non sia un libro perfetto.
ChatGPT ha detto:
I was super excited before reading this book since the author is one of my favorite Dramione writers. This novel is definitely different from what I’ve previously read from her, and it surprised me in several ways.

First of all, the characters are amazing—well-developed, multi-dimensional, witty, confident, funny, and captivating. The protagonists definitely had a positive impact on my overall opinion, just like the use of irony and humor: it's really hard not to smile at some of their lines. Others, however, felt a bit too much, a little cringe (I would have toned this aspect down). I know that not everyone likes a fantasy romance book with so much humor, but I appreciated it.

A weak point, in my opinion, is the world-building, which is underdeveloped. I would have preferred dedicated paragraphs for this aspect rather than the numerous initial chapters that all felt similar, where she keeps healing him. This also didn’t fully convince me—the first half of the book felt a bit repetitive, even though I understand it was meant to slowly develop the relationship between the protagonists.

Speaking of their relationship, I have only positive things to say! Now this is slow burn! For me, slow burn can never be enough, so I love a good first book (the first in a duology) without spicy scenes and with only a few tender moments. However, I know this isn’t for everyone, so if you’re not a fan of slow burn, this book isn’t for you.

Overall, I LOVED the story and the protagonists, even though it's not a perfect book.

I had seen this pop up a lot on socials and was delighted to be approved to read it. Unfortunately, and I seem to be in the minority here, it just didn’t grab me like I thought it would. I found it hard to engage with the story, and the characters weren’t overly likable for me personally. However, there’s lots of buzz about this book and I can see its appeal, it just wasn’t for me!

𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝟻-𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎!

I honestly didn’t expect to find my favorite book of the year already in March, but I think The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley is going to be tough to beat. Not only did I adore this book, but I couldn’t even find a flaw. And trust me, I tried—this book is perfect.

What can you expect? A thrilling, #dramione coded, enemies-to-lovers romance featuring a reckless assassin, happily missing a conscience, and the no-nonsense healer he pays to help him out.
Get ready for denial, unwilling chemistry, slaughter as a love language, and, of course, a painfully slow burn that’ll have you on edge.

Aurienne and Osric will steal your heart. It’s a 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 enemies-to-lovers—lately, this trope has been seriously overused (so many books I’ve read recently can be boiled down to one of two scenarios: 1) they’re “enemies” because one of them stole the other’s candy or some other ridiculously trivial reason; or 2) they’re sworn enemies but are already in bed by page 23). This is the 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥. Not only do Osric and Aurienne come from opposing factions, but they represent everything the other despises. Watching them slowly realize the other isn’t just black or white, but full of endless shades of grey, was one of my favorite parts.

Add in an original world-building, a political intrigue plot that expands bit by bit, fantastic banter, and humor that’ll have you dying of laughter.

Did I mention the slow burn?

Slightly disappointed that this didn't resonate with me like I hoped but the buzz has been great so it looks like it has found it's right audience! The writing style is great, looking forward to future reads.

I took a while to come up with a rating for this one!

While I enjoyed my time with this story, I felt that the world building was both incredibly detailed but also not explained very clearly. There was so much terminology (granted, explained in the glossary), that I simply could not keep up, and as I was reading digitally, I just couldn't be bothered having to scroll all the way to the glossary to check the meanings. There were so many times when I felt confused at a medical explanation or term and it took me out of the story a bit trying to understand.

Having said that, the banter and relationship of the main characters were definitely a highlight. The slow burn was very satisfying, and I especially adored the second half of the book where both characters see each other more than just a means to an end. I thought the development of their relationship was done really well. And the banter.... incredibly satisfying.

The side characters fell a bit flat, and I feel like it would've made the world and the main story stronger if they were more developed.

Overall, a solid read, especially in the second half ( although I did not expect this to not be a standalone...).

Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital copy of this book!

This was so freaking good; I don't even know how I'm supposed to function now that it's over. I want and need book two immediately.

I am a huge Dramione girlie. I love them, and always devour any new AO3 fics. So of course, I've read Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love and adored it. It is one of my favourite fics of all time, and is a perfect example of why Dramione is the best. Now, whether this has affected my reading of Irresistible Urge, remains to be seen.

So I couldn't believe it when it was announced that DMATMOOBIL was being traditional published, AND being traditionally published by Orbit (one of my favourite publishers). I was beyond excited, and was already planning my shamelessly begging email request.

This book is so freaking good, I don't even know where to start. I love so much that although the characters have obviously been changed and adapted to fit the story, there are still shadows of Draco and Hermione. They're still in there, but not enough to put you off if you're not a fan of the ship.

And the humour! Oh my GOD this book is so funny. I'm such a boring reader who never laughs out loud while reading a funny scene, but this book honestly had me laughing out loud while clutching my sides. Brigitte has managed to perfectly capture the British humour; I can just imagine some of these exchanges happening.

The slow burn enemies-to-lovers is giggling, feet-kicking perfection. I'm not typically a fan of a slow burn (I'm too damn impatient) but maaaan this was good. You could see the hate bubbling into something more before their (and our) eyes; morphing into something akin to friendship or even more. I adored it. And I think the ending was perfect for the slow burn too; it doesn't feel too torturous or quick. It's a really nicely paced and effective slow burn.

I think the story gets better the further into you get; I feared at the beginning that I was struggling to properly engross myself in the story. However, the more the story developed and the relationship between the two of them developed, the more I struggled to put the book down.

I really enjoyed this one and cannot wait for MORE!

Coming out July 8th and I’m already sat for any special edition out there✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My reading experience can be summarized by “came for the Dramione fanfic vibes, stayed for

• the absolutely captivating and quirky writing style
• the laugh-out-loud puns
• the characterization
• a REAL slow burn enemies to lovers romance
• a simple yet effective worldbuilding
• did I say REAL SLOW BURN ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE? yes? Beware, it’s the slowest burn ever”

This is for you if you liked Assistant to the villain, The Love Hypothesis and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries✨

Thank you @netgalley and @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for giving me a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Alright, I received an early copy of The Irrestible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy , so I was pretty eager to read it, seeing all the stuff about it. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get into the book. The writing style, especially in the first few chapters, feels kind of disjointed and clunky. Sentences feel weirdly short, which made it a little difficult to understand what was going on.

However, once you get past the first maybe two chapters, the story really picks up from there and once Aurienne and Osric meet, that's when it truly shines. Their banter is absolutely hilarious, and the enemies-to-lovers (yes, they're true enemies) dynamic really makes the story what it is. Their reluctant partnership is born out of desperation from both their sides, Osric needs a healer for his sickness, and Aurienne needs funding to help battle against a vicious disease. As they work together, and grow slowly (and I mean slowly) close, their banter becomes more and more funny.

I did think the humour was a tad bit juvenile, but if you're like me, you'll end up finding it pretty funny after a certain point. What I would have loved though, was getting to know more about the magic system of the book. We did get a lot of hints about it, but perhaps a little more information would have been nice. It seems pretty interesting though, and hopefully we get to learn more about the power division in the next book.

Overall, The Irrestible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy was a pretty fun read, and I will be looking forward to book 2 when it comes out!

I went into this not knowing that it was basically fanfiction. Wish I had..

These sorts of books rarely work for me and this was no exception. The writing was so over the top and annoying, I did not feel any connection to the main characters or any characters really and there was no world building to speak of. They mentioned London sometimes, there was magic and they belonged to these orders but nothing was explained in a satisfying way. I had no real concept of this world, its characters or the time frame it was supposed to be set in.
And that confused me sm up until I found out about the fanfiction. Then all of a sudden, it made sense. Because if you write fanfiction the world and the characters are already established. You don’t need to work on that because most people already know Hermione and Draco, you don’t have to develop these characters because they already exist. But if you take the fanfic out of its natural habitat then that background information falls away, and you do need to work on characterisation and world building to create a new story that can stand on its own. And that just didn’t happen here imo.

All the above is obviously enough to make me dislike the book but to top it all off there were these weird immature dick jokes everywhere. Idk if I even want to call them jokes because I never found it funny, but other people seemingly did so take that as you will.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher Little Brown Orbit and author Brigitte Knightley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

The banter? Hello?! Miss Brigitte here knew what she was doing when writing their story.
But first let's begin from the very start. A deadly, charming assassin condemned to death by his own body rotting inside from the Fyren Order of Assassins by the name of Osric Mordaunt needs a healer, a good healer, and the only one that has a shot at saving him goes by the name of Aurienne Fairhrim. The problem? Aurienne is an Haelan, enemy order of the Fyren. who wants nothing to do with him.

But when fundings to save children become scarse, and Aurienne decides to take secretly the assassin unwillingly under her care, everything changed.

They're there opposite: light against shadow, life against death, good against evil. Aurienne wants nothing to do with him just as he much as he hates her being the only one that can save him.

Them being opposites is exactly what makes this book so interesting. Their banter was hands down one of the best I've ever read. And can we just talk about the slowburn inside this book? I was burned, skin scorched as I kept on going, flipping thought pages as I tried tasting more of their growing hating relationship.

The only reason this isn't a 5 star was because in some way it felt as nothing actually happened that made the plot move a lot. even if it did - and I assure you it did, it still felt as way too many doors had been opened and barely a couple had been closed, much less closure than I expected.

4.25⭐️ 0.5/1🌶️

ADD. THIS. TO. YOUR. TBR. NOW.

A few key features of The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy:
🖤 Enemies to lovers
🔥 Slow burn
💬 Witty banter
👀 Dual POV
❤️‍🔥 He falls first—and harder
✨ Dramione vibes

Three things I need to say right off the bat:

1 - I highlighted SO MUCH in this book. I had to restrain myself from highlighting full pages.
2 - The slow burn is deliciously slow 🔥
3 - How the HELL am I supposed to survive until the sequel is released?!😭

This book will hook you from page one and refuse to let go—even after you finish it.
Set in a fascinating magical world and told through dual POV, this story follows two intelligent idiots who both think they’re the main character.

And let me tell you, there’s no better witty banter than what happens between Osric (an assassin) and Aurienne (a healer). This is the kind of enemies-to-lovers I live for—just amazingly done.

I read the last 25% of the book SO slowly because I didn’t want it to end. I’m already itching for a re-read… or better yet, an audiobook with a full cast. I want this as a movie, a TV show—I want it ALL.

This book isn’t even released yet, and I’m already desperate for the sequel.😭

Every once in a while, a book comes along that completely consumes you, pulling you into its world so intensely that you forget everything else. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy was exactly that for me. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and I can confidently say—it exceeded every expectation.

For those who don’t know, this book is a reimagining of the beloved Dramione fanfic Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love, but it is so much more than just a rewrite. While the worldbuilding, plot, and character names have been transformed into something fresh and wholly original, the essence of Osric (Draco) and Aurienne (Hermione) is still beautifully woven into the narrative. There’s just enough familiarity to make longtime fans nostalgic, but the book also firmly stands on its own, creating an entirely unique and captivating experience.

🖤 What I Loved:

✨ Enemies to lovers & slow burn at its finest – There are few things I love more than a slow-burn romance filled with delicious tension, razor-sharp banter, and two characters who challenge each other at every turn. Aurienne and Osric deliver all of that and more. The chemistry between them is electric, the insults are laced with unspoken feelings, and the gradual shift from reluctant allies to something deeper is handled masterfully. And let’s be honest—Osric falls first (obviously), and I was right there swooning with him.

🔥 A plot that grips you from page one – What begins as a simple favor quickly spirals into a complex, high-stakes mission with political intrigue, danger, and the potential to stop a war. The way the story unfolds is brilliantly paced, keeping you constantly engaged while deepening the emotional stakes.

🖊️ The writing—just chef’s kiss – Brigitte Knightley didn’t just earn a spot on my favorite authors list—she bulldozed her way onto it with sheer talent. Her writing is sharp, witty, intelligent, and so effortlessly immersive that I found myself hanging onto every word. The humor, the depth, the tension—it’s all executed flawlessly.

⭐ Final Thoughts:

I truly cannot express how much I adored this book. If I could give it 10,000 stars, I absolutely would. From the phenomenal characters to the gripping plot to the exquisite writing, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy is easily one of my top books of 2025.

Now, the real problem? The agonizing wait for book two. Brigitte Knightley, please take pity on us!

📖 If you’ve read this or are planning to, let’s scream about it together! I need people to share this obsession with! 🙌

4⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

I had fun with this one! It was my first fan fic vibe book and it was entertaining! I enjoyed the banter (even though sometimes I felt it was a bit silly goofy). This was a good slow burn enemies to lovers and fun romantasy! Sometimes I felt slightly disconnected to the plot but wasn’t too much of an issue for my understanding

this book is not out yet and I already read it two times, because I couldn't stop myself🤭

I love it so much, Aurienne and Osric banter is everything, I adore their dynamic and their arguments. It was so much fun, reading their interactions, the humour was top tier, can't count how many times I was giggling and kicking my feet over them

the plot was interesting, there were some shocking moments, overall it was delightful experience. Aurienne was great, she's the best, she stood on business and didn't take shit from anybody. Osric was... well he was just Ken (I love him too tho, cus the way he protected Aurienne - swoon😩)

and the slow burn is actually sloooooow, I love it so much that they don't immidiately jump each other

also I would add splash to content warnings and no, I won't elaborate, see for yourselves

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

So enjoyed this! Brilliant banter, adorable characters, hilarious dialogues,... it was everything you'd love about enemies to lovers, just superb. If it had 500 more pages, I'd read it, can't wait for this story to continue.