What a gorgeous debut!

The writing and dynamics were so sharp and crunchy, and it made for such a fun, enjoyable read. The magic systems and manoeuvres between orders were intriguing, and I loved the fabrication of the magical medical specialty and its nomenclature. I was especially impressed by the re-appropriation of existing medical terminology and prefixes and suffixes. It added depth and grounded the world building well, making everything seem tangible and believable.

The character arcs were great and no situation our two main characters were put in felt outlandish in the context of the story. I loved that we got to see each of them in different contexts. However, I do wish that we saw more introspective character development and reflection from our two main characters (as is my personal preference) but nevertheless this was a fun read. I eagerly await the second instalment.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so wildly up my street. Laugh out loud funny, ridiculous, magical and a proper actual enemies to lovers situation. I need the next one as soon as possible.

I can see why some people wouldn’t be into it, it’s a very specific brand of humour - but it’s my specific brand.

The relationship is such a fantastic slow burn, and the growing and changing of it is well thought out. It makes sense, nothing feels forced.

Also any book that has mention of “clitoris allsorts” is a 10/10 for me.

Delightful! I realised at the 70% mark this had to continue into other books, but I loved the plot and the characters so much I was glad for it. Already excited for number 2.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, and Orbit books for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC.

What a book. I was so grateful to receive an ARC of this, I kept hearing great things about it, so was thrilled to have the opportunity to read an advance copy. I can’t tell you how much I laughed aloud whilst reading this book, Brigitte Knightleys writing is incredibly witty and engaging, and there were lots of hilarious lines in the book, so much so that I found myself highlighting so many. Osric and Aurienne are extremely likeable characters, and I absolutely loved the banter between them, and it was so fun to see how their relationship developed over the course of the book, I found myself so invested and shipping them wholeheartedly. I found a lot of the minor characters very well written and entertaining as well. I would’ve loved the world building to be more immersive than it was, I loved the descriptions of the various locations, but found myself wanting a bit more regarding them. I wasn’t expecting the book to end like it did, I’m hoping it means there will be more, as I was left hungering for more. But what a fantastic read, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and would definitely recommend to anyone

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ¼

Now THIS is enemies to lovers!!

From the very start, Knightley's writing won me over with her remarkable world building and the palpable hatred that shone through during every interaction shared between Aurienne and Osric. It was comical, witty and incredibly well thought out.

In recent years, I've felt that authors have used the label 'enemies to lovers' purely to sell a book, rather than actually putting in the work to make it feel genuine and realistic. Knightley couldn't be further from that. You can see how much effort has gone into creating this slow-burn, loathing relationship. It has meaning and substance. As a lover of the trope, it makes me so incredibly happy to see it done well and honestly, it almost teeters on the edge of being too slow!

Knightley can only go up from here. She's got a great foundation to write a sensational follow-up to this duology and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for the ARC.

This one was so much fun and almost reminded me a bit of Good Omens? Not due to the plot, but the 'vibes'. Silly magical vibes with a touch of a lot of irony and humour that, mostly hit the spot, and other times fell short.

It took me a while to understand the world building and the magic in this one, but once I did, I was into it. Though, knowing this had been inspiried by Harry Potter and a Hermione x Draco pairing, it was hard not to imagine a similar world and give the characters, Audrienne and Osric, attributes the original ones have. So, partly, to understand what has happening, I think it helped knowing where the inspiration came from. I also think the writing really stands out with this one, and at times it has detailed descriptions and actions, really getting you immersed into the story, and other times everything happens quickly and the writing is sharp and straight to the point, moving the plot at a rapid pace.

What about the romance? Well, there is hardly any romance in this one YET if you ask me. There just a lot of yearning and longing, and feelings. So many feelings neither of our main characters want to recognize. Perhaps that can be called romance too in a way depending on how you see it. I can imagine people finding the romance not being the centre of the book frustarting, but as someone who loves a good slowburn and frequently reads fanfics on AO3 that are longer than I would like to admit, I enjoyed it.

As for the plot itself, I would have liked this to be slightly more developed. At times, I felt like I didn't really get why they were going to the different places, visiting various people, and how it would help Audrienne heal Osric, which is the main plot point we are given at the start of the book. I would have loved more of a deep dive into what was wrong with him, other than what we got, and how she could fix it of all people except for her being 'the best', as well as see Osric detoriate more and what effects this has on Audrienne's continious work. Thoughout the book, despite being described as dying, he appeared to be mostly fine.

All in all, it is a worthy read for those who want a fun silly read with a delicious slowburn. I heard this being described as a 'fantasy romcom' and I have to say I agree with that. I might even classify it as cosy fantasy with romantic elements since it has the comfort of this genre. However, we can't forget that behind all the humor, it does take quite dark turns, so it doesn't fully belong in this category.

I can't wait for the next installment already, and all i can say is, I need the slowburn to BURN.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Where do I begin.
I know this was a pull to publish fanfiction and so the characters originally had different names and existed and built upon a world that readers were already familiar with HOWEVER as this is supposed to be a published book now, I found if lacking in every department.
It reads like fan fiction. Full stop. Yes it’s whimsy and some of the conversations and their retorts are funny and I laughed, I’m not denying that. But the writing itself is a bit clunky. Now when you factor int he additionally layers of a complete lack of world building, character development and very uneventful plot line it all looks quite bleak. I could see Aurienne and Osric as Hermione and Draco but as characters in their own right there simply wasn’t enough to make them seem like cartoon characters rather than people I could root for, or hate or fall in love with etc. The magic system and the world it’s set in isn’t very well explained and really you learn so much more from the glossary on the back, which in my opinion is wrong because that’s supposed to be a companion for when so much is happening that you’re getting a lil confused and need to check in on a detail rather than use it as a part of the book itself. Lastly the plot was just… lacking. He’s the big bad guy and needs her the ever righteous woman who doesn’t like him and then they discover some underlying plot, but that about sums it up. There’s nothing more. I also found the romance aspect of this so incredibly forced and cringe rather than cute and whimsy and a classic enemies-to-lovers.

thank you to netballey and the publisher for this arc!

i was a huge fan of knightley’s original source material based on draco and hermione from harry potter and i felt this stayed loyal to her original while also becoming its own story and world.

it was immersive, romantic, funny and a very enjoyable read. i think any fans of enemies to lovers, romantasy and fans of the original will enjoy ‘the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy’.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
I enjoyed this story.
I don't know what I think of the pace of the book, some times it could have been a bit faster and other times a bit slower.
I liked the contrasts in the story and there was plenty of excitement.
I also found the magic system in the world very interesting.
4⭐️ from me!

As many others did, I had such high hopes for this book & the story. I hadn't read the first version of the fan-fic, and I really wanted to like this knowing that it was based on Draco & Hermione but it really didn't give me what I was expecting.

It's a lot of reading for not a lot of progress, the world building could use some work unfortunately. I did enjoy the humour in it but after a while the jokes weren't hitting the same. The writing style just wasn't for me, very long words that if I didn't have the dictionary function on my kindle I wouldn't have known what they meant.

The translating into french was also a little random. also didn't like the way the end of most chapters was just quickly wrapped up with an outside looking in perspective. 'He said' 'she said' type content rather than more meaningful interactions with the characters.

I'm sure some people will absolutely love this, but it wasn't for me. DNF at 35%.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love the enemies-to-lovers trope, and I am also a huge fan of the Hermione-Draco pair. Therefore this book was definitely up my alley and I devoured it in less than a day. The banter between the two main characters was genuinely funny, though there were moments when it felt like the author was trying a bit too hard to throw in a joke. I wish Aurienne and Osric had had a bit more depth—they both had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t fully explored. Same goes for the world-building, which could’ve been more fleshed out. As for the "spicy" scenes near the end, I’m not sure they added much to the story. But, for a first original work, there’s a lot of promise here, and I’m definitely excited to see what this author does next! :)

I had incredibly high hopes for this book, but it left me feeling a bit let down. I'm a huge fan of Dramione fan fics - but having not read the original behind this book, I was at a loss.

The outline sounded fantastic and had so much potential, but I was left quite lost.

The world-building is lacking, leaving many aspects unexplained, and the abundance of random, made-up words only added to the confusion. While I enjoyed the idea of the story, the overall reading experience was quite challenging. DNF at 35%

So I am absolutely heartbroken at the review, as I remember greatly enjoying the fanfic that this evolved from (but did I though?! I’m now questioning everything!!) as *respectfully* I really did not enjoy this and DNF @ 24%

I LOVE fantasy romance, banter etc but this was just taking it all a bit too far. Completely lost all the charm that was there from the original fanfic work and honestly I think a lot of my enjoyment came from that because it was depicting already established and loved characters - Draco and Hermione. So there was little need to build them up, sadly in this book that was completely lack and I appreciate a lot had to be changed in order for it to make a trad publishing deal but the 'world building' was a muddled mess.

I am SO SO glad people are loving and enjoying it though as I want great things for the author - I think I'll just instead look out for her new and fresh work instead.

Thanks so much as always for the ARC in exchange for a review, just sorry it wasn't for me!

I went into The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy with an open mind, but unfortunately, it ended up being a frustrating and disappointing read for me.

Let’s start with the writing style. Overly complicated, needlessly verbose, and filled with French phrases that served no real purpose. I suppose the intent was to make the prose feel witty and sophisticated, but instead, it just felt exhausting. The only saving grace? The banter, which was well-done at first but eventually wore thin.

Now, the worldbuilding. This book is another example of how fanfic-turned-trad-pubbed-novel struggles when removed from its original, familiar universe. The setting lacked depth and any real sense of place, which made it impossible to immerse myself in the story.

And then, there were the jokes. The humor in this book relies heavily on crude, juvenile jokes. I found myself cringing more than laughing—especially at the recurring butt joke. Yes, the plot involves the MMC retrieving an object from someone’s rectum, and no, the book does not let you forget it. At some point, it stops being funny (if it ever was) and just becomes vulgar for the sake of it.

Speaking of things that took me out of the story: there is a character named Tartiflette. As in, the French potato dish. I don’t even know what to say about that. *cries in french*

Plot-wise, nothing really happens until the very end, making this book feel like a stretched-out cash grab when it could have easily been a standalone. Instead, it drags until the last possible moment before anything remotely interesting occurs.

Finally, the scene that made me the most uncomfortable: a moment where the MMC, while the FMC is asleep next to him, decides to pleasure himself "He watched her through half-lidded eyes, telling himself, at first, that it was to make sure that she wouldn’t wake up while he relieved himself (…) He watched her breathe. He tightened and relaxed his grip upon himself in keeping with the rise and fall of her chest.” I don’t care how much of a “bad guy” he’s supposed to be—this scene was unsettling at best, outright predatory at worst. I don’t see how I’m supposed to root for this romance when one half of it does that.

Ultimately, this book wasn’t for me. The writing tried too hard, the humor missed the mark, the worldbuilding was weak, and the romance felt tainted by one particularly disturbing scene. If you’re thinking about picking it up, I’d recommend approaching with caution.

Thank you Little Brown Book Group UK for this ARC

4.5 stars 🌟
This was a wonderful read. This is a great choice for someone looking for a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers, banter filled fantasy.
I enjoyed the world building, even though some aspects could have been explained a bit further.
The relationship between the two main characters fills my enemies-to-lovers heart with joy.
I'm excited to see how this story continues!

This was one of my highly anticipated reads of 2025 but I was left a little disappointed. The premise of the story sounded amazing and I loved the potential it had, but I feel like people who didn’t read the original fanfic will be left very confused. The world building is non existent, so there is a lot left unexplained and there are so many random made up words thrown in, which just confused me even more. I really liked the storyline but it was just so difficult to read!

I expected to enjoy this. I didn't expect to love it to the extent I did!

Firstly, the writing style is beautiful. The author excels at description and there were several scenes where she created a truly romantic atmosphere. Her writing does get quite flowery in places but the story is well edited and this never hampers the forward movement of the plot.

The world building is solid. The story is set in a fantastical version of a city which I think is London during an uncertain time period - electricity is mentioned so perhaps the turn of the last century. The use of a real setting but so changed by magic as to be almost unrecognisable reminds me a little of Babel and Sorcery of Thorns both of which I loved. I enjoyed the description of the magic system and the inclusion of 'deofols' - magical animal spirits linked to a specific person - it reminded me of the daemons in the Phillip Pullman books. Although this book is billed as romantasy and there is a lot of interaction between the two main protagonists it feels like solidly written fantasy to me rather than a romance novel with a bit of magic and supernatural creatures thrown in.

The burn is very slow which suited me fine and there is almost no smut. I wonder if this might change in the sequel but for me, I love the intensity of the dialogue and the amount of time the characters spent together without engaging in carnal acts!

My only criticisms of this book are the cliffhanger ending - there is a significant shift the character's relationship toward the end but it is by no means satisfying and with this book not even out yet I'm left wondering how long I will have to wait for a sequel. My other criticism is the insertion of a new plot device in the final chapter which I don't think was referenced earlier in the story. I feel like this could have been signposted a little better earlier in the book. These are minor complaints though. I loved this book and I will prostrating myself at the feet of the publisher desperate for a glimpse of the sequel!

3,75 stars!! <3
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy was exactly what I thought it would be.
I ADORED the fact that Brigitte created an original story but included the essence of the DMATMOOBIL fanfic in it.
The utter disgust the characters felt for each other? UGH, true enemies to lovers just there.
Their banter was on point and made me kick my feet along the book and overall, I loved it.
It would have been a five stars for me were not for the plot and setting.
I feel like, for all of us Dramione lovers, the story made sense because we could recognise the associations, but for a reader encountering this story for the first time, they'll feel lost and overwhelmed. I wish the world setting and the magic system would have had a deeper development. That way, it'd be easier to understand why the plot went how it went.
However, it is a fantastic job for a debut and I only wish the biggest success for the author.
I can't wait to read the next!

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group, Orbit, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start this review by stating that I’ve never read any previous work by Brigitte Knightley, so I didn’t really know what to expect from this. To say I was surprised would be an understatement—I absolutely adored this. I have some opinions, yes, but I adored it.

This is primarily a fantasy with a romance subplot that grows as the story progresses—a super slow one. These characters really can’t stand each other at the beginning and only agree to work together as a means to an end. The author does a really good job of slowly developing their relationship, making the reader grow to care for them as the characters do for each other.

My main issue with this story is the underdeveloped worldbuilding. I know this story primarily takes place in a previously known world, so changing it all and making it a whole new world with its own magic system must not have been easy. I appreciate Brigitte’s work, but it could’ve been better. There are too many terms that are just thrown at the story, and maybe the reader can piece things together by context, but nothing is really well explained. Perhaps if there had been numerous info dumps, I would have totally hated it, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not super happy with it, but it could’ve been worse.

The main characters are amazing, especially Aurienne. I really enjoyed reading her struggles to reconcile her morals with helping Osric, and even more when she starts to have complicated feelings about him. I can totally see where the author may have taken inspiration from, but she did a really good job of making them her own.

When I first started reading this, I hadn’t realized this was part of a duology, so I am absolutely hyped for the second book.

I was so looking forward to this, and while I totally loved the humour and had a few laugh out loud moments, this didn't hit the mark for me. There was very little background given about the characters or the world so I didn't feel fully engaged, and the plot fell a little flat.
I wish I could rank it higher, but I think this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you so much to Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC via NetGalley and for giving me the opportunity to share my honest thoughts on the book.