The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy: Book 1 of the Dearly Beloathed Duology
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Loyalties are tested in this slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romantasy following an assassin and a healer forced to work together to cure a fatal disease, all while resisting the urge to kill each other—or, worse, fall in love.
This stunning hardcover features a cover with foil, beautifully designed endpapers, and a black-and-white interior map!
When Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, falls ill, he realizes he needs the expertise of a very specific healer. As fate would have it, that healer belongs to an enemy faction, the Haelan Order.
Aurienne Fairhrim and her fellow Haelan are inundated by sick children suffering from an outbreak of a long-forgotten Pox. Unable to get the funding needed to launch an immunization program, the Haelan Order is desperate for money – so desperate that when Osric breaks into their headquarters to bribe Aurienne to heal him, she is forced to accept.
As Osric and Aurienne work together to solve not only his illness but the mysterious reoccurrence of the Pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction which only fuels the tension between them.
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Community Reviews
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy had me laughing, swooning, and immediately reaching for the sequel. Brigitte Knightley wrote exactly what I want from enemies to lovers romance. Osric and Aurienne are intelligent, stubborn, capable, and perfectly matched in their ability to drive each other insane.
Osric Mordaunt is an assassin with a serious problem. A degenerative magical illness is slowly killing him. The healer most capable of helping him belongs to a rival Order. Aurienne Fairhrim has problems of her own. A devastating outbreak of Platt’s Pox is infecting children. Her Order desperately needs funding for an immunization program. Osric has money. Aurienne has medical expertise. Neither particularly wants to work with the other.
Their reluctant partnership ends up creating some hilarious banter. It never felt like humor was tossed onto the page simply to make the characters seem witty. Osric and Aurienne are both incredibly smart and their verbal sparring reflects that intelligence. I expected some of the humor to make me cringe. Instead, I laughed out loud several times.
Their personalities complement each other so well. Aurienne is principled and dedicated to saving lives. Osric is a confident assassin who has very few reservations about taking them. Their opposing professions create a fascinating moral delimma as they begin investigating the connection between Osric’s illness and the mysterious resurgence of Platt’s Pox. Watching two people with such different ideas about right and wrong slowly develop respect and trust was very satisfying.
The overarching mystery of the Pox gave their partnership more a purpose beyond the romance. Their search for answers grows into a much larger conspiracy involving the Pox, political power, and the Orders themselves. I loved watching Osric and Aurienne realize how capable they were together once they stopped treating cooperation like a personal defeat.
The attraction between them is hot. Their verbal sparring builds the sexual tension steadily. Osric’s confidence certainly extends beyond his abilities as an assassin. I appreciated his commitment to being exceptionally thorough when Aurienne finally gets a taste of what he has been promising. The slow burn made their chemistry even more entertaining. These two spend so much time insisting they cannot stand each other while behaving like two people who very clearly do.
Knightley completely won me over with her writing and has officially made my list of authors to watch.. The humor is good, the mystery kept me curious, and the romance gave me two characters whose relationship I wanted to follow beyond a single book. I loved Osric and Aurienne enough that I immediately picked up the sequel and have already finished it.
Pick this up if you like intelligent enemies, ridiculous amounts of sexual chemistry, a magical medical mystery, and banter sharp enough to qualify as a weapon.
the slow burn is real and i am on the edge i need book TWO NOW PLS
4.5 but rounding to five because i think this was wonderful fun (also bc dramione bias). definitely think that world building could've been fleshed out more, just to add to the history and dynamics between orders. perhaps this will be explored in the next one. i'm hopeful but as always, Brigitte's writing is witty laugh out loud and deliciously creative.
4.5 but rounding to five because i think this was wonderful fun (also bc dramione bias). definitely think that world building could've been fleshed out more, just to add to the history and dynamics between orders. perhaps this will be explored in the next one. i'm hopeful but as always, Brigitte's writing is witty laugh out loud and deliciously creative.
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