Book Review: The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
Published: July 8, 2025
Series: Dearly Beloathed #1
Genres: Adult // Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Open Door)
Quick Thoughts: All in all, I ended up liking The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy way more than I expected. It was a the perfect start for a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance with amazing yearning. If you are looking for a breezy, fun romance, I'd definitely recommend this one.
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What is The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemyabout?
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.
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy Review
It took a few days of sitting with my thoughts to realize how much I adored The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy. It was such a fun, slow-burn romance, and I'm glad I stuck with it and finished despite a few issues I had with the book overall.
Setting & World
I put off reading this for a long time because I knew it was heavily inspired by a Harry Potter fanfic. I've never read Harry Potter or watched the movies, so I went in worried I'd be missing whatever context made everyone else rave about it. Obviously I don't know if I would have enjoyed it more if I was familiar with the Harry Potter world, but I did notice a major lack of worldbuilding that confused me throughout the first half.
We never get a full picture of how the world works and we don't learn much about Aurienne or Osric until nearly halfway through. Because of these missing details, I felt disconnected from the plot, and there were long stretches of the story that didn't quite make sense to me. A lot of the scenes and conversations left me feeling like I was missing some key explanation or context. That feeling went away the deeper I got into the book, but the story never felt fully fleshed out either.
Romance
What saved it was the romance, which, to be fair, is the most important part of the story anyways. I thought it was the most perfectly executed slow-burn, enemies-to-maybe-lovers. The yearning is also amazing without being too over the top and corny. And the banter and humor throughout is 10/10. I could not get enough of Aurienne and Osric together.
So, should you read The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy?
So all in all, I ended up liking this way more than I expected, and I'm currently reading the next one. My main regret is that I didn't go in with the right expectations. If I had known not to focus so much on the details of the world and how it all works, I think I would have enjoyed the first half a lot more. If you are looking for a breezy, fun romance, I'd definitely recommend this one.
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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Potential spoilers ahead ⚠️
Terminal illness
Violence/Murder
Torture of Side Characters
Past Abuse/Child Abuse
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Potential spoilers ahead ⚠️
Enemies to lovers
Slow Burn
He Falls First
Slow Burn
Icy/Cold FMC
Forbidden Love
Love interests in their 30s
Forced Proximity
Reluctant Allies
Quest/Mission
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Book one sits at roughly three pepper out of five. There are no on-page spice scenes together there are two solo scenes in Chapters 18 and 19.
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This one is up for debate! Though the original marketing materials stated this was based off a Dramione fanfic, the author has been clear that she wrote it as its own original story rather than a repackaging the fan fic.
However, according to those who have read the fanfic, it carries strong Dramione vibes and the leads will feel familiar to anyone who knows Draco and Hermione.
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It grew out of the author's own well-known Dramione fic, Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love, which she published online as isthisselfcare. The novel reuses some of that story's tropes but reworks them into something new, and the original fic can still be found on AO3.
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No, it’s book 1 of a duology called Dearly Beloathed. The story wraps up in the second installment rather than in this book alone.
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Yes. The follow-up, The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy, picks up Osric and Aurienne's story and is out now. It's the second and final book in the duology.
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Eventually, yes but this is a real slow burn, so the kiss doesn’t happen until the very end.
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No. Even with an assassin at the center, the vibe is closer to a clever, funny fantasy romantic comedy than anything grim. There's violence tied to the plot, but the overall tone is light and banter-heavy.
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There's no official rating system for novels, but it's published and sold as adult fantasy romance.
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On the romance side, Osric and Aurienne kiss at a party and Osric realizes he has fallen for Aurienne.
They also find out that the pox has been engineered to raise a Dreor army (an order that’s been dying out).