Thankyou for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first ARC and I was extremely surprised and excited when I was accepted for it as I had heard so much hype around this title.

Unfortunately, I don't think I am the target audience for it. I spent so much time confused by the quite significant lack of world building and found myself constantly referring back to the glossary at the start to try and understand the new world and magic system. To be honest, it didn't help greatly.

The enemies to lovers trope was done well and the slow burn pacing worked well for their characters. But again, due to the lack of world and character building I only got a very vague feel at why they disliked eachother so much.

The humour and banter I actually really enjoyed to begin with and I had a few moments that made me chuckle out loud, however, as the book progressed it started to grate a little and felt a little teenage boy toilet humour.

I also had no idea this was a fanfic before jumping in, maybe those who read that would have more understanding as to the world and all the magical/medical terms introduced that I struggled to fully understand. I was also thrown a little by the random capital letters at the start of some words.

I can see it being a fun read for others though and I'm sure many will find it more enjoyable than I did. Maybe it just wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

where the hell was the world building??? i know this is fanfiction to trad but it needed another 50 pages at the beginning because damn i got whiplash from the constant naming things i was supposed to know. personally i did not like anything about this.

3.25 - 3.5 ⭐

thanks to netgalley for providing me an early release of this in exchange for a honest opinion!

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩
: ̗̀➛enemies to lovers
: ̗̀➛assassin x healer
: ̗̀➛slowwww burn
: ̗̀➛acts of service? kinda.

The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy was a pretty fun read overall. I really liked the writing style, dry British humour without feeling overdone, and I enjoyed the witty banter between the characters. Their conversations were always super engaging. The romance itself was a true slow burn (they don’t kiss until around 95%), but I thought the pacing actually worked well for their dynamic. They're also pretty solid enemies, as they have very opposing moral beliefs.

I did enjoy their relationship, but I wasn’t always sure why the characters were doing what they were doing. Some of their motivations felt unclear, which made it harder to fully connect with them. Also, there were a lot of dick and toilet jokes. Like… a lot. Not necessarily bad, but it got repetitive after a while.

The world-building also felt a bit vague & I didn’t totally get the setting or how things worked outside of the romance. Anyways, I still had a good time reading it. I liked the vibe, the humour landed for me, and I’d probably check out the second book!

4⭐️
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit for gifting me a E-ARC in exchange of an honest review.
I kept seeing so many people reading this book for the past few month so the moment it hit my inbox I had to start it and honestly I had such a good time!
This book is an enemies-to-lovers romantasy between a healer and an assassin, Aurienne and Osric, who absolutely cannot stand each other, and with reason. Yet we follow them as they have to work together for their mutual benefit while blurring the line of their animosity.
I am not lying when I say that I actually laughed out loud while reading, the puns, the comebacks, honestly the author’s sense of humor and writing style was just really fun to read and quite refreshing. This book reminded me a little to butcher and blackbird, as it doesn't take it self serious, but for me at least this was a bit better.
So that all to say that I really recommend this book, it was fun, quick paced and easy to read, and just what I needed to be honest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for the arc!

All the stars!!

I had seen several of my friends (and a lot of people I don't know) loving this so when I saw that this was available to request on NetGalley and having read the description I just knew I had to request it and I was so happy when I got it that I did a happy dance, haha.

This book was so damn good. I have no words to describe how much I loved it.
I loved the banter and bickering between Aurienne and Osric and their deofols, the humor, the world, the characters. Everything. I loved it all so much! And I can't wait for the rest of the world to experience it!

This very quickly turned into a favorite!

Thank you again to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK and Orbit fort the arc!

The comedic writing in this book scratched an itch in my brain I didn’t know I had. There’s not loads of action and I do see where some of the more negative reviews are coming from, but this is a character led story over and plot and I would read about these characters watching paint dry for 400 pages, if they were snarking at each other the whole time.

There was still enough story for me and the build up of tension was spectacular. It is truly the slowest of slow burns and semi enemies to lovers, but the dark humour and perfectly executed dialogue take this book to a completely different realm to standard Romantasy fare. The enemies also at times seem more antagonistic colleagues rather than out and out enemies trying to tear each other apart, so don’t go in expecting extreme enemy behaviour and I think you’ll love it.

**3.5 stars** This book is heavily romance focused and character driven. The world building heavily relies on a glossary at the start, and honestly has quite a few holes. Exactly how far does the Tiendom span? Why do the Orders just let people like the Fyrens kill people? What about those without a Tacn who don’t belong to an order, are they just okay with random murders happening or people getting possessed? It’s definitely not the most thoroughly described or explained world or magic system, and with writing that kept feeling juvenile and still WattPad esque, I shouldn’t have enjoyed it this much. But I did… I loved Aurienne and Oric’s banter and the stupid sexual humor. It’s a perfect summer read for fun vibes, silly humor and an absolutely adorable end to the first installment.

Okay!! One of my most anticipated reads of 2025! It wasn’t what I was expecting but I’m on the less it was a very fun read with low stakes, enemies to lovers slow burn and amazing banter! It was throughly enjoyable! It was like reading a rom-com & fantasy in one! Magical healer and assassin who needs to cure his illness very STEM vibes book! The pronunciation guide was top tier! And yes it took me a while! The map and concept was rally refreshing. It was fun! I think Brigitte has a very unique way of writing that won’t be for everyone but it was a good time! Not your traditional Romantasy more a mix of romance & romcom. I enjoy it was a good binge read.

This book unfortunately did not appeal to me. I read the first 25% and didn’t feel attached to the characters or intrigued by the story. I’m sure this will appeal to a different audience but this one was not for me, I won’t share links for this as I do not like to leave negative public reviews on authors hard work

I loved the fanfic and I continue to love it on its own merit as a novel, this felt like enemies to lovers wrapped in a warm hug

Billed as a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romantasy, with talk of dark comedy, had me expecting a book I would really enjoy. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
From the outset it was hard to work out why the two characters would ever find anything appealing about each other. They are forced to work together under duress, and even when they start to show signs of interest there’s no real attempt to help us understand their shift in attitude.
I gleaned little understanding of the world of the book, and the over-reliance on penis jokes and toilet humour was boring.
If it weren’t for the fact that this fulfilled a reading challenge this would have been a rare DNF for me. I’m sure this book will have its fans, but I’m not one of them.

This was an entertaining read, if one that suffers from the author's background in fanfic - and let me be clear, there is AMAZING writing in a lot of fanfic and I would never use it as an insult. This book is not exactly a reworking of the author's famous Dramione fanfic, but it is grown from the bones of it, and that shows in ways that make this book feel a little underbaked and gappy.

What I'm mostly talking about here is that there is a real lack of characterisation in the MCs of this book, and it's most likely because when one is writing fanfiction, they're drawing from a shared understanding with the reader of who these characters are and what they're like BEFORE you even begin to tell your story. If you're writing Dramione, the reader already knows the basics of the characters and fills in the blanks for themself. But if you're writing Dramione-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off, as the author is doing here, then it is not possible to rely on the pre-existing characterisation of canon or fanon, and yet, The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy does exactly that, so the blanks just hang around blankly. We don't learn enough about Aurienne or Osric to care for them as themselves, rather than as ciphers of Hermione and Draco. They aren't well-rounded. They're fun, for sure, but they don't feel like full people. The same is true of the world-building, but this I will say is at least dipped into more deeply than the character-building.

There is also a very "online" quality to the humour, for want of a better word - lots of Humorous Capitalisation and dick jokes - that works in context but may take some adjusting for readers expecting a slightly more serious way of writing.

Overall, this book won't be for everyone, and I think coming to it cold, I would have been really put off by it. Reading it with the understanding that it's a Dramione AU, it was entertaining enough, and I did enjoy the banter and the development of the relationship. I will read the sequel!

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.