Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5/5 Stars)
Spice Rating: 🔥½ (1.5/5 - A Slow Simmer That's Still Heating Up)
Plot Rating: 📚📚📚 (3/5 - Intriguing Premise, Meandering Execution)
The Setup: When Fanfiction Grows Up and Moves Out
"The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy" by Brigitte Knightley is a debut romantasy that originated as a beloved Dramione fanfiction. That origin story colors everything about how readers approach it. Some come with nostalgic affection for the original work, while others arrive fresh-faced and curious, wondering if this can stand on its own without the scaffolding of Harry Potter's world.
The answer? Sort of. Maybe. It depends on what you're looking for.
This is a book that's simultaneously charming and frustrating, witty and overwrought, engaging and exhausting. It's a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romantasy featuring a morally rigid healer and a gentleman assassin, set in an alternate historical London with magic, mysterious Orders, and enough sexual tension to power a small city—if only that tension would actually go somewhere.
Plot Summary: A Healer, An Assassin, and a Whole Lot of Walking Around
Aurienne Fairhrim is a preeminent scientist and healer, a member of the Haelan Order, and a bastion of moral good. She's brilliant, principled, and has no time for nonsense—especially not the nonsense perpetrated by members of the Fyren Order, a group of assassins who represent everything she stands against. Aurienne needs funding to continue her research healing sick children suffering from a deadly pox.
Enter Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order and a man with a problem: he's dying. His magic is failing, and he needs a healer—specifically Aurienne, because she's the best, and Osric only accepts the best. The fact that she loathes him is merely an inconvenient detail.
Osric makes Aurienne an offer she can't refuse: help him, and he'll provide twenty million for her research. Enough to save countless children. Aurienne, despite her moral objections and visceral disgust at helping a murderer, accepts. Because sometimes, doing good requires making deals with the devil—or at least, with a very attractive devil who won't stop making comments about his superior cheekbones.
What follows is a forced collaboration between two people who couldn't be more different. Aurienne is all rigid morality and scientific precision, while Osric is loose ethics and deadly charm. They embark on a series of quests to heal his mysterious illness, traveling to various locations during full moons, attempting different treatments, and consistently failing to find a cure. Along the way, they bicker, banter, insult each other's appearance (particularly their respective cheekbones), and very, very slowly begin to see each other as something more than enemies.
There's also a mystery brewing: the deadly pox seems to be spreading in suspicious patterns, and darker forces may be at work. Osric takes on various assassination contracts, and their investigations gradually reveal a larger conspiracy threatening both their Orders.
The book ends on an abrupt cliffhanger—the kind that feels less like a natural stopping point and more like the author ran out of pages mid-sentence.
Character Deep Dive: Hypercompetent Idiots in Love (Eventually)
Aurienne Fairhrim: Ice Queen with a Spine of Steel
"It was hard being perfect in an imperfect world, but Aurienne managed."
This opening line tells you everything you need to know about Aurienne. She's arrogant, brilliant, and utterly convinced of her own superiority—and honestly? She's not wrong. Aurienne is genuinely exceptional at what she does. She's a gifted healer, a dedicated scientist, and someone who takes her moral principles seriously.
I found Aurienne refreshing. She's not a doormat, she's not apologetic about her intelligence, and she doesn't soften herself to make others comfortable. She speaks in logic, walks with perfect posture, and has no patience for incompetence or immorality. She's described as having "queenly hauteur" and wearing her disdain like a designer gown.
The problem is that Aurienne, for all her brilliance, is somewhat one-dimensional. We know she's smart, moral, and dedicated to her work. But beyond that? Her character doesn't have much depth. We get hints of a loving family background, but it's barely explored. Her motivations are clear but not particularly complex. She exists primarily in relation to Osric—as his opposite, his foil, his eventual love interest.
Osric Mordaunt: The Assassin Who Adopts Stray Dogs
"Don't look so grim. It's the monster you need tonight, not the man."
Osric is introduced as dangerous, charming, and utterly convinced of his own irresistibility. He's a member of the Fyren Order, which means he kills people for money, and he's very good at it. He's also got a soft spot for stray animals (he adopts every dog and cat he encounters and names them things like "Rigor Mortis," "Arson," and "Crème Brûlée"), a surprising appreciation for beauty, and an ego the size of London.
Osric should be insufferable but somehow manages to be charming instead—at least, most of the time. He's constantly peacocking, trying to get Aurienne's attention, and being deeply offended when she remains utterly unimpressed by his "superb masculinity." His internal monologue is often hilarious, full of wounded pride and genuine confusion.
"Osric swept a hand through his hair. She ignored him. He flexed his abs. No reaction. He bit his lip. Disregarded. He made a deep guttural sound when she wiped cold hlutoform against him. She told him to act like a grown man. She was the Worst."
Like Aurienne, Osric suffers from a lack of depth. We learn he had an abusive father, but this backstory is barely explored. His motivations for being an assassin are never examined. He kills people, but we're told he has a code, though this is never tested or challenged in any meaningful way. He exists primarily as Aurienne's opposite and eventual love interest.
The Dynamic: A Glacial Burn That's Still Frozen
The relationship between Aurienne and Osric is the heart of this book, and it's... complicated. Their banter is genuinely entertaining. They trade insults with the precision of master swordsmen, each trying to out-snark the other. The humor is dry, witty, and often laugh-out-loud funny.
"'Insult me again and I'll have your head.' 'You'd be in possession of at least twice the amount of brains, then.' 'Perhaps I should let you. It would be the charitable thing.'"
The problem is that this is essentially all we get for the vast majority of the book. They bicker, insult each other, occasionally have moments of grudging respect, then go back to bickering. The emotional development is glacially slow—so slow that by the end, they've barely progressed beyond "maybe I don't hate you quite as much as I thought."
This is marketed as a slow burn, and it absolutely delivers. Perhaps too well. There's minimal physical contact, one kiss near the very end, and a scene where Osric pleasures himself while Aurienne sleeps nearby (which is creepy regardless of how the book tries to frame it). The sexual tension is there, but it's so understated and slow to develop that it can feel frustrating rather than tantalizing.
Tropes That Define This Story
Enemies to Lovers: This is true enemies-to-lovers, where the characters genuinely dislike each other based on their opposing moral frameworks. Aurienne heals, Osric kills. She's light, he's shadow. Their powers literally cancel each other out.
Forced Proximity: They're forced to work together to heal Osric's illness, which means spending a lot of time in close quarters, traveling together, and gradually getting to know each other.
Slow Burn: This is one of the slowest burns you'll ever read. If you're looking for a romance that takes its time, this is it. If you want any actual romance to happen in book one, you might be disappointed.
He Falls First (and Harder): Osric develops feelings for Aurienne long before she reciprocates, and watching him struggle with this unwanted attraction is one of the book's highlights.
Morally Gray Hero: Osric is an assassin, but he's given enough sympathetic qualities (he adopts strays! he appreciates beauty! he has a tragic backstory!) that we're meant to see him as redeemable.
Scholarly Heroine: Aurienne is a scientist and healer, dedicated to her research and her patients. She's the "Woman in STEM" to Osric's "PhD in Murders."
Banter as Love Language: These two communicate primarily through insults and sarcasm, which gradually evolves into something more affectionate (though you have to squint to see it).
Hypercompetent Idiots: Both characters are exceptional at what they do, but they're complete idiots when it comes to recognizing their own feelings.
Touch Her and Die: Osric is very protective of Aurienne, though this doesn't really come into play until later in the book.
Trigger Warnings: Surprisingly Tame for a Book About Assassins
For a book featuring an assassin as the male lead, "The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy" is relatively tame in terms of content warnings:
- Graphic violence: Osric kills people, and some of these deaths are described in detail, though not gratuitously
- Torture: Minor characters are tortured on-page
- Death of minor characters: Multiple deaths occur throughout the story
- Medical content: Detailed descriptions of fictional diseases and medical procedures
- Sick children: Scenes set in hospital-like settings with ill children
- Abusive parent (backstory): Osric's father was abusive, though this is mostly referenced rather than shown
- Dubious consent (one scene): The scene where Osric masturbates while Aurienne sleeps nearby is problematic
- Swearing: Frequent use of profanity
The book is notably light on sexual content, with only limited scenes near the end.
What Works: The Strengths That Keep You Reading
The Humor is Genuinely Funny
When this book is funny, it's hilarious. The banter between Aurienne and Osric is sharp, clever, and genuinely entertaining. The author has a gift for dry, witty dialogue. Lines like "Aurienne had touched a great many unpleasant things in the course of her career—secretions, purulent exudates, effusions of every description—but none were as loathsome as a Fyren" are both disgusting and delightful.
The humor is intelligent without being pretentious (most of the time), and when it lands, it really lands. The running joke about who's prettier is absurd and wonderful. The names Osric gives his adopted animals are perfect.
Aurienne is Unapologetically Competent
In a genre that sometimes struggles with strong female characters, Aurienne is refreshingly unapologetic about her intelligence and abilities. She doesn't soften herself for Osric, doesn't pretend to be less capable, and maintains her principles even when it would be easier to compromise. She's allowed to be arrogant, cold, and difficult without being punished for it by the narrative.
The Slow Burn is Actually Slow
If you're tired of books that claim to be slow burns but have the characters making out by chapter three, this book delivers on its promise. The burn is genuinely slow, with the characters spending most of the book in denial about their attraction. For readers who love yearning and pining, this scratches that itch.
The Writing Can Be Beautiful
When Knightley isn't trying too hard, her prose can be genuinely lovely. Lines like "It hadn't been love at first sight, but at last sight" and "She was a thing between desire and impossibility" are genuinely romantic and well-crafted.
What Doesn't Work: The Weaknesses That Hold It Back
The World-Building is Severely Lacking
This is the book's biggest problem. The world-building is essentially non-existent. We're told there are eight magical Orders, but we only really learn about two. The magic system is never properly explained—we know magic exists and it's tied to these Orders, but how it works, where it comes from, and what its limitations are remain mysteries.
The setting is supposedly an alternate historical London, but the time period is never clearly established. There are references to the Julian calendar and real-world countries, but also magic, kingdoms, and ancient orders. The technology level seems inconsistent. The dialogue feels modern despite the supposedly historical setting.
Multiple reviewers noted that this feels like a fanfiction stripped of its original world-building without having new world-building properly developed to replace it. And they're right. If you're familiar with the Harry Potter universe, you can probably fill in the gaps. If you're not, you're left confused and frustrated.
The Pacing is Glacial
The first half of this book is slow. Very slow. The characters meet, bicker, try to heal Osric, fail, bicker some more, try again, fail again. This pattern repeats for a significant portion of the book. While the banter is entertaining, the actual plot doesn't kick in until well past the halfway mark.
The second half picks up considerably, with actual stakes and a mystery to solve, but by then, some readers will have already given up.
The Characters Lack Depth
Both Aurienne and Osric are entertaining on the surface, but they lack the depth and complexity that would make them truly compelling. We're told about their personalities and motivations, but we don't see them tested or challenged in meaningful ways. Their backstories are barely explored. Their internal conflicts are surface-level.
They exist primarily in relation to each other, rather than as fully realized individuals with their own arcs.
The Romance is Underdeveloped
For a romance novel, there's surprisingly little actual romance. The characters spend most of the book denying their attraction, and when they finally start to acknowledge it, the book ends. There's one kiss near the very end. The emotional connection that would make their eventual relationship feel earned never quite develops.
The chemistry is there in theory—the banter suggests it, the tension hints at it—but it never really ignites. By the end, I understood intellectually why these characters might be attracted to each other, but I didn't feel it.
The Writing Can Be Overwrought
While the writing can be beautiful, it can also be exhausting. Knightley uses unnecessarily complex vocabulary (words like "inutile" instead of "useless") that feels more like showing off than serving the story. There's also random French thrown in for no apparent reason, and bizarre capitalization choices that pull you out of the narrative.
The humor, while often funny, relies too heavily on crude jokes. The writing style requires you to pay close attention and work for your enjoyment, which some readers will appreciate and others will find exhausting.
The Verdict: A Mixed Bag with Potential
"The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy" is a book that will divide readers. Some will find it hilarious, charming, and refreshingly different. Others will find it frustrating, underdeveloped, and exhausting. I fall somewhere in the middle.
This book is for readers who:
- Love genuinely slow-burn romances where the characters don't get together in book one
- Enjoy witty, intelligent banter and dry humor
- Appreciate strong, unapologetic female characters
- Don't mind working for their entertainment (complex vocabulary, dense prose)
- Are fans of the original fanfiction and want to see these characters in a new setting
- Can overlook weak world-building in favor of character dynamics
- Enjoy enemies-to-lovers where the enemies part is real and sustained
This book is NOT for readers who:
- Want well-developed world-building and magic systems
- Prefer faster-paced plots with clear direction
- Need significant romantic development in book one
- Want deep, complex characters with fully explored backstories
- Dislike humor that relies heavily on crude jokes
- Prefer straightforward prose without archaic vocabulary
- Need a satisfying ending rather than a cliffhanger
- Want a standalone story rather than the first half of a duology
Final Thoughts: Potential Waiting to Be Realized
"The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy" is a debut novel, and it shows. There's clear talent here—Knightley can write witty dialogue, create entertaining character dynamics, and craft beautiful sentences. But there's also a lack of polish, a failure to fully develop the world and characters, and a pacing problem that makes the book feel longer than it is.
The book's biggest strength—its slow-burn romance—is also its biggest weakness. The burn is so slow that by the end of book one, we've barely gotten any actual romance. The characters are entertaining but lack depth. The world is intriguing but never properly explained. The plot meanders for much of the book before finally finding its footing in the second half.
I'm giving this book 3.5 stars because while it has significant flaws, it also has genuine charm. The banter made me laugh, Aurienne's unapologetic competence was refreshing, and there were moments of genuine beauty in the prose. But I can't give it higher because the world-building is too weak, the pacing is too slow, and the romance is too underdeveloped.
This feels like a book that needed another round of developmental editing—someone to push Knightley to flesh out her world, deepen her characters, and tighten her pacing. The bones of a great story are here, but they're not quite fully formed yet.
Will I read book two? Probably. I'm curious to see where this story goes, and I'm hoping that with the setup out of the way, the second book can focus on actually developing the romance and resolving the plot threads. But I'm going in with tempered expectations.
Bottom Line: "The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy" is an entertaining but flawed debut that shows promise but doesn't quite deliver on its potential. It's a book that's easier to appreciate than to love, with genuinely funny moments and refreshing character dynamics undermined by weak world-building, glacial pacing, and underdeveloped romance. Worth a read if you're a fan of slow burns and witty banter, but don't expect a fully satisfying experience from book one alone. This is very much the first half of a story, and it feels like it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go adopt a stray dog and name it "Diverse Felonies." Because if nothing else, this book has given me excellent pet-naming inspiration.
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