3.5 ⭐
I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
While the title promised a spicy enemies-to-lovers romance, the execution was a bit of a slow burn—very slow.
The chemistry between the main characters simmers for the majority of the book, but the “enemy” dynamic started to feel repetitive. The banter, while entertaining at first, dragged on to the point where I found myself getting a little tired of it. Things didn’t really start to shift until around the 70% mark, which made the pacing feel unbalanced.
That said, the last 20% completely hooked me. The emotional payoff and unexpected cliffhanger ending definitely made the wait worthwhile. I appreciated how the story finally leaned into the tension it had been building all along, and that final stretch left me intrigued enough to want to pick up Book 2 when it’s released.

A solid read for fans of ultra-slow burns and sharp-edged romance—just go in knowing you’ll need a bit of patience.

THIS BOOK!!! I haven't fallen so in love with a book in ages!!

Firstly I looooove this combination of science and magic so much it's just perfect for me!

Secondly the banter!!! Oh sweet heavens I was well fed with this banter. I was laughing out loud through this entire book!

The tension and build up was immaculate. The slow burn was BURNING!!

I just wish it hadn't ended!!! I need more rn!

This romantasy had such a fun premise—assassin meets healer, enemies-to-lovers vibes, all the ingredients for a deliciously tense slow burn. But the execution? Made me want to grab that fork and stab something with it.

The dialogue often dragged, the humor didn’t quite land (ancient phrasing + modern slang = tonal whiplash), and the vocabulary got so unnecessarily complex it felt like the book was trying to win a spelling bee, which yanked me out of the story more times than I could count. Oh, and if I have to hear “clutch my pearls” one more time, I might start flinging pearl necklaces at fictional characters.
Kudos to my favorite quote though:
“𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦,” 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘖𝘴𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.
That actually made me smile. Not intentionally, maybe, but I’ll take my joy where I can.

And the ending? There wasn’t one. It felt like someone hit pause mid-scene and said, “Sequel, I guess?”. Still, there’s potential here. The tension simmers, the world’s got flair, and I REALLY wanted to love it. I could see the vision, it just needs a little… shaping. But book two’s going to have to work some serious overtime if it’s going to win me back.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this early in exchange for my honest review.

This was a lot of fun!
Alternative old England, with a good magic system, political warring and the slowest enemies to lovers burn.
I really enjoyed the constant bitching between most of the characters throughout, especially the Deofols! They were delightful, I would like one please. The humour was great, gross, filthy and full of word puns that had me snorting. The verbal injuries were as frequent as the physical. The secondary plot unfurled slowly and really gathered steam towards the end and I'm definitely interested in how that's going to develop on bring the mc's even closer together.
Pace and writing are great, loved the chapter headings. I read this with a constant little smile/smirk, easy to read, hard to put down. Can't wait for the next installment!
Special mention to the Crickets! Brilliant!
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the arc, all thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

So much fun. I'm not usually a fan of enemies to lovers, but this is so well done. It's the slowest burn, with each ember gently being fanned. I think it really helps that this is the first of a series, so there's plenty of time for sparks.
I really liked the magic system, and the historical side was fascinating; the etymology and the alternate development of kingdoms and religious orders.
There was also just the right amount of humour.

The book is overall fairly entertaining and filled with a lot of banter between the two enemies and it is fun to watch how both of them start to fall for each other (him first and harder than her). It needs to be noted however that the book has a very explicit and lewd humour and that might not be everyone’s taste. I am usually not a big fan of that and, though it was entertaining most of the time, some jokes/moments just felt a little too much for me personally.
What started as a forced collaboration between the Haelan healer Aurienne and the Fyren assassin Osric to heal the latters seith, proceeds to uncover much more deeper/darker secrets within their Orders and especially their government/kingdoms. I did not know that this book is part of a duology when I was reading it, so when it ended on a cliffhanger I thought my ePub was missing its last pages. I am curious to see what will happen in its sequel.

My overall rating for this book is 3,25⭐️.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for giving me access to this ARC. :)

Loved the banter in the book. Was easy to follow. The chapters weren't split in the epub file. There were times I laughed out loud. Shared review on Goodreads.

The worst part of this book was every time I had to put it down. Witty, romantic, and just perfectly crafted.

The world-building was brilliant. I loved all the different orders and how they interacted. I loved the way Aurienne and Osric were clearly defined enemies, on different sides of good and bad. It made the enemies to lovers very believable and kept me guessing how they were going to make it work in the end. I also really appreciated the use of old English place names, and little details denoting the place they were in, like the pub names.

The burn was slow, but there were these perfect little hits of pining that I absolutely loved. And the premise of their time together was such a refreshing take on forced proximity.

The banter between the two characters was so genuinely funny that I laughed out loud a lot and I really appreciated the way the author used speech and normal prose to craft their arguments in different ways.

Overall, 10/10, would read again.

I really wanted to love this book and discover a new favorite. I truly did, especially since the story seemed interesting. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into it. The writing style isn’t bad, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it, and I couldn’t connect with the story the way I had hoped to.

The characters seemed fairly interesting, but I didn’t feel much for them — I just couldn’t grow attached to them the way you hope to with well-written characters

I am not familiar of fanfiction so Brigitte was a new author to me but when I saw this cute cover, I couldn't resist! The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy is an amazing enemies to lovers story with magical creatures set in a fantastical world. 

Auriette is a healer, her life' s purpose to save people from sickness. When a strange illness befalls on poor children , she will do anything to cure them, even if that means working with her worst enemy.

Osric is rich, a talented killer but his body is failing him. He needs the best healer and that's Auriette, the austere woman who prefers smoldering him than saving him. 

These two though need each other so they have to put their animosity aside. 

I have to say in the beginning I was a little lost. The author built a world with strange creatures, she used unfamiliar words so that got me confused. When though I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed the story. 

Auriette is an intelligent, capable scientist which I loved and Osric is witty , charming and deadly in fun way. These two are truly enemies and there are reasons for their animosity.  When they work together though, the water gets muddied and there is no good/bad guy. 

This book won me over for its humor. It's quirky, fun and entertaining. The characters do banter well even in inner dialogue.

I had no idea that this book would end with a cliffhanger but the fact I tapped the last page for more says something! I really enjoyed this story and I can't wait for its final book which hopefully comes soon!

4.5 stars rounded up.

This book is 75% banter, it's savage and I'm here for it. This is true enemies to lovers and I loved every second of it.

The main storyline is Aurienne (a healer) trying to stop a disease slowly killing Osric (the literal opposite of a healer). This was great, but the subplot with the pox really ramped up towards the end of the book, and I am invested. This is the reason I wish I didn't read ARCs - the agonising wait now between books!

If you like very slow burns, enemies to lovers, and hilarious banter, read this book!

I did enjoy the book, there was some parts I wasn’t sure on or followed, I think I got a little confused on some of the characters. But overall I did enjoy it

This isn’t your typical fantasy romance. It’s clever, character-driven, and packed with sarcasm and snark. If you enjoy morally grey characters, intelligent world-building, and enemies-to-lovers written with intention, this is one to pick up. Just… be emotionally prepared when you realise it’s a duology.

Witty, clever, full of delightful puns, this story is a little tour de force of comedic personality clashes and inevitable falling into romance.
The world building and magical system within the story has a solid internal logic and while the story riffs off many other stories in the genre, Brigitte Knightley’s writing style, with her tongue firmly in her cheek, keeps it all feeling fresh.
Such great fun and very much looking forward to the second volume.

As one who has read Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Falling In Love, I should have prepared myself to laugh my ass off. I spent the whole time cackling. The writing was so witty and different from what I usually read.

This is not, however, a trad published version of the fanfiction. The plot is different. The characters, although slightly Dramione coded (Good brown-haired smart female and Bad white haired cocky male, enemies), do differ in backstory and personality. The magical system is not in any way related or similar to HP's. If you go into this book expecting wands, potions and spells, you'll probably be disappointed.

I did feel that the characters could have been better developed. They are perfect archetypes of what one would expect of good and evil. Especially Aurienne, she only had her smarts and arrogance going for her. Orsic did feel a bit more fleshed out but I would love to see more sides of him. I wish we'd also have more moments between the MCs and the side characters.

Their relationship had a slow development, as I had hoped. It started off with them hating each other's gutts, forced to work together and then somewhat respecting the other's role in their arrangement, to finally starting to care and develop feelings. However, the third person writing is not conductive to passionate romance, hopefully in the sequel it translates better.

The start of the plot was slow but full of information about the world. I enjoyed the world building inspired by old British lore. The different Orders were not deeply explored, we learn more about the Fyrean and Haelen orders than the rest, but I'm hoping the rest will have a bigger role in the sequel, especially with the recent discovery by the MCs by the end.

This is a good debut, imo. I do love Knightley's writing and sense of humor so I might be bias here. Can't wait for the sequel.

DNF @ 6%. I skimmed a bit forward and I know I won’t be able to get into the end of the first chapter. I am so angry, it was the worst published writing I’ve ever read in my life. I wanted to say it feels like it’s written for toddlers but that will be an insult to toddlers. I was losing brain cells by the sentence and I wanted to claw my eyes out. It’s not even funny. What are we even doing here.

eARC provided by NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK

Unfortunately I could not finish this book.

I really liked the premise but the banter between the two main characters really irked me and I just didn’t have the desire to continue reading when I couldn’t connect with either main character.

Thank you for giving me an ARC copy to review!

*2.5 stars*

I really wanted to love this book, especially after hearing so many good things, but sadly, it just missed the mark for me.

Going in blind (I hadn’t read the original fanfiction it’s based on), I struggled with the first 25–30% of the book. and I really had to push myself to keep going. The beginning felt clunky, weighed down by ambiguous world-building and overly complex language. Even with the glossary at the start, it often felt like I was reading in another language, which made it hard to follow the story.

That said, I was really intrigued by the fantasy elements, especially the concept of seith and the mystery on how to stop Ostric’s rot. I liked that this wasn’t rushed or wrapped up too conveniently.

Aurienne and Ostric had their moments, and their banter had me giggling a few times. Their witty and creative retorts were a delightful addition. But their chemistry didn’t fully click for me until the final chapters. I think the romance would’ve felt more satisfying if their connection had been more clearly developed throughout the book.

The ending left me torn, I was finally getting into the flow of the story, only for it to abruptly end. I wasn’t ready for it to end (in both a good and frustrating way), and despite my issues with the pacing, I am curious to see where book two goes.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC.

This book was such a fun surprise! The unique magic system really stood out and gave the story a fresh twist. It’s also genuinely funny — the banter had me laughing out loud more than once.

Be warned: it’s an extreme slow burn, but the tension is worth it. The chemistry builds so naturally that by the end, you're fully invested. It ends on a serious cliffhanger, so I’m definitely picking up the second one ASAP!

If you're into enemies-to-lovers with magic, humour, and a painfully slow romance — this one's for you.

If you're into the enemies-to-lovers trope, this one definitely has some fun moments. Knightley's writing is pretty sharp and witty, especially when it comes to the banter. Those early exchanges were a highlight, and I was genuinely invested in seeing how their dynamic would play out.
The character development was interesting to watch unfold; the slow burn was there, and you do see them shift from enemies. However, for me, some parts of their journey felt a little drawn out, and I didn't quite connect with them as deeply as I'd hoped. There are also some cool underlying ideas about society and morality, which added a nice layer to the story.
Overall, it's a solid read with some really strong points, particularly the dialogue, but it didn't completely blow me away. Still, if you're looking for a new take on the trope, it's worth checking out!