The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy | Book Review
Author: Brigitte Knightley
Series: Dearly Beloathed Duet
Genre: Adult Romantasy
Publisher: Orbit UK.
Release Date: 08/07/2025
Rating: 5/5 🌟
Synopsis:
Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, is in dire need of healing. Naturally – such is the grim comedy of fate – the only healer who can help is Aurienne Fairhrim, preeminent scientist, bastion of moral good, and member of an enemy Order.
Aurienne is desperate for funding to heal the sick – so desperate that, when Osric bribes her to help him, she accepts, even if she detests him and everything he stands for.
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.
Review:
tw//: murder, violence, sexual content, child death.
i loved this book. duh, obviously! you saw the five star rating above! but, i’m reiterating it loudly cuz i actually did. as a dramione reader, since this book was announced, i knew i was gonna like it and give it probably a three+ star rating! i didn’t know that i was gonna love it this much tho!
aurienne is a type A lovable firecracker and osric is a self absorbed jokester with questionable morals. and somehow they banter their way from strangers serving in opposing Orders to reluctant doctor/patient to begrudging co-workers to somewhat friendly acquaintances with an annoying persistant *crush* (it’s actually love not a crush) on each other … wow, they didn’t become lovers!!? yes, dear reader! this book actually *did the thing* and followed on its tagline of “a slow-burn enemies to lovers” meaning the enemies are going through the different stages before reaching the lovers destination!
as an english major who sat for a whole semester listening to lecturer drone on and on about the “ye olden” kingdoms of the british isles, i’m quite delighted that the author chose an alternate version of that U.K. as the setting for this novel. the adventures our protagonists go on throughout the land were very reminiscent of the astérix et obélix cartoon adventures which i remember liking as a child. and the magic system reminded me so much of fairy tail which i adore!!!
the plot essentially is: in a world, where magic (seith) exists, eight orders formed over the years to teach a select few how to use it for a variety of purposes. some orders are good (bright paths) and some are bad-really bad- (dusken paths). an assassin (osric) that belong to an order where they execute their weak, finds out he’s loosing his seith due to a recent combat injury (shit!💀). now he has to beseech with one of the healing order’s top healers to dig up an old paper she presented at a conference years ago, which hypothesise that there is a way to reverse “seith rot” via the “ye olden ways” of using magic! this top healer (aurienne) refuses immediately on principle but acquiesces when osric offers to fund the healan order’s efforts to develop a vaccine against the pox virus that’s reeking havoc on vagrant children. from then on, their adventures begin and all seems hopeless for a while there for osric’s sake. then, the haelan order HQ gets attacked and kingdom higher-ups start asking around about who is this generous anonymous donor!! oooh, something is amiss!
yeah, this novel was fun, funny, and adventurous. and i enjoyed it immensely. i can’t wait for its sequel! also, i listened to the audiobook and the narrators did a phenomenal work, so you definitely need to check it out!
ps. bear in mind, this novel is just part one, and it ends on a cliffhanger in the middle of some exciting events!
