Thank you LittleBrownBookGroup and Netgalley for the eArc of this book.

I’m conflicted by this book which is why it gets a 3 star. I did enjoy some aspects but also found myself getting bored and wanting to skip to the end. I struggled to pick up the jargon despite the glossary and the world building was lacking.

The slow burn in this book is a VERY long slow burn which I think is due in part to the slow pacing of the book. I enjoyed the beginning and the end but the middle felt very repetitive (travel to a new place, attempt to heal MMC, fail, try again). I actually found the secondary plot of the pox and its origins more interesting which looks to be continuing into book 2.

The main characters are not likeable and neither have any redeeming qualities. The side characters were not well developed and forgettable to the point I didn’t know we had met some before when they reappeared. I did enjoy the animal companions and the relationships they had with their humans.

The humour of the book is dry and snarky which didn’t always hit the mark for me and again felt a bit repetitive and in your face. After the 10th penis joke, it gets a bit boring!

I really wanted to like this, but the pacing felt very slow and I didn't find the humor funny at all. I think this one just wasn't for me.

As a huge fan of the original fanfic, I was really looking forward to reading The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy. Overall, I did enjoy this book but there was a couple of elements which fell short for me.

Aurienne and Osric were interesting characters. They were both very stubborn and their banter was fun. The story is a very slow burn enemies to lovers which I enjoyed.

However, I do wish the magic system had been developed more. I would have liked to know more about the magic system and how it worked.

I will be reading the second book in this duology when it releases though.

I had dnf‘d this but then finished to not ruin my Netgalley rating. I didn’t enjoy this book at all unfortunately. I didn’t like either of the main characters. I expected sizzling enemies to lovers and slow burn but it was in fact not burning at all. The humor was not my cup of tea, it felt so forced and didn’t even make me smirk a bit. Would I have enjoyed the story more, I‘d probably had no problem with learning so much world-Building. But for the mentioned reasons I didn’t like the immense world-building and found it absolutely not necessary to tell the story. Not every magic thing needs a word that is just specific to this story. The Glossar in the beginning had to make up for bad story telling in my opinion. I don’t want to learn all the terms beforehand to understand the story. Why couldn’t it be part of the story itself and only for further reference in the end? Also the story felt way to long and even the mystery elements of it couldn’t get me. I was very disappointed because I was so looking forward to this release.

Hilarious! Perfect for fans of Assistant to the Villain!

I absolutely loved this book! It’s witty and hilarious, I laughed out loud so many times! The banter was incredible and the mix of angst, vulnerability, and bickering made it all so much fun!
I adored the worldbuilding, the setting, and the sidekicks 🫶🏻
There wasn’t a single thing I didn’t enjoy. Adorable and fun!
5 stars! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!!

1.5 stars

Came for the enemies to lovers slow-burn and left disappointed. This was glacial-paced and lukewarm at best, and I needed more than that, and this comes from someone who's not loving spicy books lately, so.. you see my frustration.
Also, there is little to no world building.
The characters were very one-dimensional, and the plot itself felt messy, but the most disappointing part of this one for me was the "humor." At least please make me laugh, but instead, I kept looking around for a camera as if I was in The Office because none of the humor landed. Not even a chuckle.
Overall, I had such high expectations, and this was such a disappointment.

thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyed‎‎‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ₊⊹⁀➴ 3.5
─..★.──────────

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 everything else 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. It was unnecessary and my opinion of Osric definitely suffered for it.

I do just want to note here that I'm happy to see the contemporary romance trend of FMCs in STEM roles is continuing to carry over into the fantasy genre space. This one didn't feel reflective of real-world STEM fields but I appreciate it all the same.

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

────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
✦ Content warnings: sickness, gore, torture (mild), mistreatment of a corpse
✦ Rep: bisexual biromantic FMC, women in STEM
✦ AO3 tag: slaughter as a love language
✦ Mood: snarky, nerdy, fanfic-inspired

I was very excited to read this book, having heard great things, but ultimately it unfortunately just wasn’t for me. The humour was very juvenile, and the banter felt the same. The MMC didn’t seem redeemable - he isn’t remorseful about his work, he just seems greedy and selfish. I had hoped for some witty banter and instant chemistry, but instead the MFC is disdainful and the MMC is unlikeable. I have never been a fanfic reader, and I am sure this will appeal to Dramione fans, but I couldn’t understand the magic system or the appeal of the two leads. They had very little fleshing out and felt quite flat. This may be as in a fan fiction they would be instantly recognisable, but I found it hard to understand what was happening and get into the story. The story had definite potential, and the underlying illness and hunt for a cure was compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit and author Brigitte Knightley for this eARC

I’ll be honest I did not have the highest hopes for this book.
One: the cover did not speak to me at all.
And more importantly two: I have been burned so many times with the promise of a slowburn enemies-to-lovers only for it to turn into an insta-lust, no-enemies-in-sight that I’m starting to develop some serious trust issues.

However, and this is the BIG but - The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy is EVERYTHING it promises and more!
I loved and devoured this book.
The writing is quirky and super witty, the world building is great, the magic system interesting and our main characters are just *chef’s kiss*.
I am so, so glad I gave this book a chance and can only recommend it to everyone who wants a TRUE slowburn enemies-to-lovers!

I'm not going to lie. It took me a hot ninute to get into it. At first, I found it confusing and slow, but after a few chapters, it started coming together for me.

Loved the characters and loved the banter. I actually found myself cracking up laughing at half the stuff in there.

It would have been good to have more world building, I know it's set in London, but it just didn't feel like it? I was a bit lost trying to picture each place they went.

All in all, it was a fun book that will have me laughing for the foreseeable future, and im excited for the next book

A forced collaboration ensues: the brilliant Woman in STEM is coerced into working with the PhD in Murders, much to Aurienne's disgust. As Osric and Aurienne work together to heal his illness and investigate the mysterious reoccurrence of a deadly pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction, which only fuels the heat between them...

Unfortunately I'm not feeling any heat for this book. I wanted to like it, and I really tried but I just couldn't get through the overly complicated language and the lack of world building. I was thrown in at the deep end with no life jacket and I felt it.

There was also something about the characters and their banter that I just couldn't get behind, the dialogue felt off to me and it just added to my struggles rather than offering any relief.

This book had me absolutely howling the entire way and I enjoyed it so much!

It was definitely easier to picture some aspects of the book (especially starting!) from the original works and basings, but honestly this was good!

It was definitely slow burn, but the plot, the way the characters interacted and the banter had me hooked almost immediately!

I’m really interested to see where their story goes and what’s going to happen next, I will say the ending was a little surprising for me, and I deffo had to flick back to the start to understand what they were on about 🤣

I also think the romance was written REALLY well and was perfectly paced for the situation!

I was so excited for this. I have never read any of the fanfiction by this author, so this was all completely new to me. However it fell incredibly short. The humour throughout was pushed far too hard, it was crude and childish and reminiscent of a 13-year old boys sense of humour. Like so many balls and faeces and such humour. And the writing style is a choice itself, with multiple commas in many sentences and brackets to add more humour to the situation. It's not bad but it's definitely a strong stylistic choice, much more reminiscent of YA book storytelling not an adult novel.

Also, in this. The main male lead is not repentent or even sorry for the fact he works for the guild of assassins and proudly carries their version of the dark mark on his arm. There's no redemption. No - what I'm doing is wrong but I was forced into it. Just - I enjoy killing and I'm going to stop this healer from actually saving lives for my own selfish gain.
And sadly the romance couldn't save it for me either. They had no chemistry. No spice or friction nothing. I love a slow burn so it's not that, I just didn't see them together ever.
The plot is the last thing that could have saved this, but it to was just, okay. I find it hard to believe they have all this advanced science and still know nothing about the magical nerves in the body.

It's rare I read a book where I just, don't care what happens to anyone. Like I wouldn't even read a summary of book 2 to see the ending. Such a shame it had such potential.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and my heart literally stopped when I got the opportunity to read it before release! I absolutely loved DMATMOOBIL so I had really high hopes and was beyond happy to find out Brigitte would be publishing a book!
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy was so silly and chaotic in the best way possible. Brigitte has such a distinct writing style - she is really good at blending her wit and dry humour with poetic romance and yearning!
I loved Osric and Aurienne so much, despite having very different moral compasses they’re both charming and really grow on you. Watching them go from mutual loathing to trying to deny their feelings to slowly warming up to each other was funny and delicious at the same time. The way they argued and bickered had me laughing the whole time and the situations they sometimes found themselves in on their (mis)adventures were so ridiculous I couldn’t stop reading.
Even though Osric&Aurienne are obviously the stars of this book, the magic system was interesting and I liked the world-building. Where can I get a deofol?! I also loved the subtle nods to DMATMOOBIL and how Brigitte sprinkled them in. I felt like the ending was kind of abrupt but honestly this was a lot of fun and I’m already dying of anticipation for the sequel!
～Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group UK (Orbit) and NetGalley for the ARC!

Read if you like: slow burn, enemies to lovers, fantasy with a smidge of romance, healer x assassin, forced proximity

Am I reading the same book as everyone else?? I was STRUGGLING to get through this book. You immediately get thrown into a world with a bunch of gibberish that takes you at least 70% of the book to fully understand.

Osric is not a good person, he blackmails and is an assassin who is dying. Aurienne is arrogant, and an incredibly intelligent researcher that is forced to heal him. Both of the MC’s have dry humour that I didn’t find funny at all. They were boring and I hated their dialogue 🥲

I wasn’t sucked into the world at all because the world building was NOT it. The writing style was not for me, it was filled with a lot of long and overly complicated words that I didn’t understand. I couldn’t tell if they were made up words or if it was actual English. It was so complicated that I couldn’t focus on the world at all. Where is the witty banter and funny dialogue that everyone keeps mentioning?

I wouldn’t say this is a romantasy, it’s a fantasy book with like 1% romance. A slowburn romance with zero yearning and chemistry is BORING. The two were such flat characters

The last 10% of the book is where the book actually became decent. I wish it was introduced much earlier because the first part of the book was getting repetitive with Aurienne trying to heal Osric and it not working. The last 10% is not good enough for me to want to read book 2 though 😬✋🏻

What do you get if you place two head strong people together to solve a medical condition in 'the Old Ways'. Lots and lots of Banter.

Osric Mordaunt needs help from another Order than his own. Awful to begin with but even more as this Order has the most north pointing moral compass. Such a dull way of living if you ask him.
Aurienne Fairhrim can't understand why someone with such low morals and perfectly fine with taking lives has been dumped in her lap to be helped. They both can't stand each other but they need each other to solve their mysteries and to hopefully cure (and make an vaccine to) a deadly disease. If that means they gotta do that while, creatively, verbally despising one another, so be it. The heart will get what it wants one way or another...

I loved every part of this. So much so I scared my partner with all my giggles, snorts and laughter while reading this book.
The banter, the way we are slowly warmed up to their characters, the snappy remarks and the word plays. I have never highlighted so much in a book as I have in this one. Taken completely out of context no one would understand the highlights and yet I know exactly what was happening. I love Brigitte Knightley's writing, the fast paced conversations, and the creative ways of describing a reaction from a character.

Osric Mordaunt, you are my favourite microbe turned bullet point.

For those curious to read it due to DMATMOOBIL, the fanfic this author wrote: it has similarities in the concept and the two people not fitting for each other but warming up and molding to one another. However, the magic system is different, the things they gotta consider are different, settings are completely different and there are added extra's. There are a lot of fun nudges to the fanfic and I see you with your sugar and milk intake, Osric. All in all this book is just, as the internet says, 'More Cake!' More of the same thing we love.

If you love fantasy, magic with a Cost system, true enemies to lovers, semi-crime solving, banter banter and witty banter, quirky remarks, strong female characters, high interaction slow burn, he falls first and harder, a head strong opinionated FMC, an equally opinionated MMC, and hypercompetenent idiots, this book is for you.

If you do not like conversation heavy story progress, evisceration as a love language or back and forth banter this book might not be for you.

I am looking forward to the next part of this Dearly Beloathed series.

Thank you to Netgalley, Orbit Books and Brigitte Knightley for allowing me to read this digital ARC.

I tried to get into this book twice, and unfortunately, I couldn't get past 50 pages. The story feels like a bad fanfiction (and trust me, I know what I'm talking about because I've read a lot of fanfiction when I was younger and even written a few). From the very first chapter, we're just "thrown" into the plot without any preface or even a short backstory. The glossary at the beginning of the book is more off-putting than intriguing. I'm sorry, but this just isn't "my kind of book."

If you’re looking for a true slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance, look no further - this book absolutely nailed it.

I’ll admit, I struggled to get fully immersed at first due to some heavy medical info-dumping. However, once I hit the 40% mark, I couldn’t put it down. I became completely enamored with the plot and the characters’ witty banter.

The tension between Aurienne and Osric was palpable. Their chemistry was scorching, and every interaction was both hilarious and emotionally charged. Their internal monologues added layers of angst and vulnerability, really fleshing out their reluctance to fall for each other and the roots of their animosity.

The writing style was refreshingly humorous, completely unlike anything I’ve read before. There was a comical undertone laced throughout that had me cackling at the sheer unhinged brilliance of it all. Why did I find onions so funny??


I’m so excited to read the next installment and watch their connection continue to develop. The romance was a true crawl of a slow burn, and while I didn’t expect it to move at that pace, I was gripped all the same.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! 🫶🏻

There was a time when this book would have been my latest favourite thing, but I think I'm past it now. Might be the age or a change in tastes, but this book did not click with me at all. I'm sceptical about this trend of publishing fanfiction and it might be a bit of prejudice on my part, and maybe that is part of the reason why I could not finish this.
All this to say, I know that 4 years ago I would have enjoyed this but not right now. Not good not bad, just for another reader.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so much fun! I haven't read the Dramione fanfic the author is best known for, but I might have to now.

Aurienne and Osric stood on their own as characters, not just stand-ins for Hermione and Draco. Their banter was great, and I found the book in general very funny (personal opinion, YMMV). The slow burn was magnifique, very much to my liking.

The glimpses of the world were awesome, I would have loved to see a bit more development for it. Understandably, the book focuses on the Orders the MCs belong to -- Haelan (healers) and Fyren (assassins) -- but there are so many others that I'd like to know more about. To understand the terminology used, you do need to read the definitions at the start of the book. Otherwise you're thrown straight into things and it can be very confusing (source: I skipped the definitions, read the first page, and went back to read the definitions).

The ending completely threw me, though. It felt like a regular chapter, and then the chapter ended and I was left blinking at my screen wondering what just happened. I know this is going to be a duology but it felt really inconclusive.

Anyway, am I reading book 2? Yessir. Am I hoping I'll get an ARC for it so I can devour it before it's published? Of course.