Having been a Harry Potter girl growing up, then turning into a devoted Dramione fanfic consumer, I have been beyond excited to kick off the summer of Dramione with The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy.
In Brigitte Knightley’s debut novel, this originally Dramione fanfic, two unlikely enemies enter a reluctant alliance in a delicious and morbid pursuit, layered with witty banter, dry sense of humor, and unrelenting tension as they search for a cure.
This post contains a full synopsis of The Irresistable Urge to Fall for Your Enemy and review with spoilers. Enter at your own risk!
Osric Mordaunt (Draco Malfoy) is a member of the Fyren Order of assassins who is dealing with a terminal injury that means he’ll lose his magic, and his intolerant order does not tolerate weakness. Aurienne Fairhrim (Hermione Granger) is of the Haelan Order, an order of properness and healing, and she is the only one who is even qualified to treat Osric’s condition. When Osric donates to a cause that makes it impossible for Aurienne to resist his offer of treating him, the two of them find themselves on an adventure where they travel the untouched path to find an unlikely cure.
I found The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy a different take on the romantasy genre, wonderfully weird, somewhat Victorian, and yet found it at times difficult to follow. Not sure if the original appeal of this book for me was the Draco and Hermione in Harry Potter setting, but having removed them I found the magic system difficult to follow, the text hard to parse, and the lack of world building had me filling the gaps on my own from time to time. That being said, I did have moments of kicking my feet and enjoying the slow burn and will consider jumping into the second book, even if it’s just for the sake of morbid medical jokes.
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy
Description
The first in a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romantasy duology featuring a scholarly healer and a gentleman assassin, set in an exquisite fantasy world, perfect for fans of The Love Hypothesis and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries.
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.
Romance tropes
Enemies to lovers
High interaction slow burn
Hypercompetent idiots
He falls first and harder
Evisceration as a love language
Tropes
- Enemies to lovers
- Forced Proximity
- He falls first
- Slow burn
Review
Where did you hear about this book?
Where did you hear about this book?
Overall Impressions 😊
I had some pretty high expectations going into this book, knowing that Dramione fanfic readers have really high standards. Unfortunately, I found the book a bit lackluster, mainly because the writing style was really hard to get into. I was expecting romantasy elements that, while not quite urban fantasy, would have a more approachable tone. But this is written in a very Victorian, sometimes Shakespearean style. Although I appreciated the wit and banter that went into it, I struggled to stay engaged.
I also found myself frustrated and occasionally bored, not realizing this was an enemies-to-lovers romantasy duology. Aside from Osric and Aurienne meeting at various locations and bickering with one another, not much else happened.
However, I did enjoy any and all interactions between Aurienne and Osric. Aurienne’s disgust was palpable, Osric’s detachment from the world was oddly enjoyable, and the dry humor and wit between them made for genuinely fun reading. The author is clearly very clever with comebacks and snapbacks, which gave me such delight. The weirdly morbid medical discussions scattered throughout the book had me bursting into laughter unexpectedly and made me have so much fun.
In short I didn’t have the best time I was expecting to have in this book, but had a good time nonetheless.
Perfect For Fans Of… 🌟
If you liked Harry Potter and especially were into Draco Malfoy and now turned into an enemies to lovers enjoying, slow burn chasing, yearning enthusiast, this one’s for you. There are whole paragraphs about one of them seeing an ankle, which is very Victorian.
But more importantly, this is probably going to cater well to fans of The Love Hypothesis and the like. There is a ton of medical jargon and jokes throughout the book, like an unexpected amount. Not to mention, this book hits the formula of he falls first and harder while the main character is oblivious to the fact. So if you’re a romantic who enjoys a pathetically down bad man, you’ll be right at home.
It also gives weirdly historical fiction but with some pretty modern science, it’s an unexpected hybrid that somehow works, so if you enjoy the Duke and I and likes you’ll have a great time with his.
Characters 👥
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy’s two main characters are Aurienne the scholarly healer and Osric, the gentleman assassin.
Aurienne Fairhrim is a textbook Hermione Granger. Prim, proper, a complete know-it-all, exceptionally bright, and undeniably knowledgeable. She has a keen sense of humor and a sharp tongue in a way only brilliant people can field, and she takes no one’s bullshit. She is unapologetically righteous, and it’s a wonderful ode to the character she’s based on.
Osric Mordaunt, on the other hand, is a gentleman assassin whose sardonically dry sense of humour and disdain for Aurienne in their reluctant partnership (as she is a member of an enemy order) is palpable. He is further away from Draco Malfoy’s character in the books and more so portrayed as a Victorian gentleman who knows what he wants, so if you love historical fiction, you’ll be right at home with these characters.
However they feel kind of shallow. They almost feel like echoes of Draco and Hermione instead of fully fleshed out individuals themselves. I was not able to connect with them as much as I’d like to and I was not worried for or about them.
The side characters are there usually for comedic relief. I didn’t care for Xanthe or much else, as they serve as dialogue outlets for the main characters. However, I did enjoy the Deofols quite a bit, but mostly because they mimic their creators and add onto the delicious hate these characters tend to spew on one another.
Plot 🗺️
The plot of the first book of the Dearly Beloathed duology is tried and tested this time set in an exquisite fantasy world. Osric Mordaunt has to work with his mortal enemy Aurienne Fairhrim if he wants to recover from his illness and live. Aurienne, the brilliant woman that she is, of course rejects him. However, the mysterious reoccurrence of a deadly pox is nothing to scoff at, and since Osric donates 20 million coins to find an immunization for the endeavor so the only healer who can cure him would even consider working with him, their forced collaboration is inevitable.
They navigate the Old ways while resisting their attraction in this new world we actually are very familiar with. Cue some very tense moments, clutched pearls and an arc well setup in a duology that promises to deliver in the second book.
Honestly, this has all the things I love in a slow-burn romance and a true enemies-to-lovers story. Who doesn’t love a grim comedy of fate? It’s partially my bad that I didn’t realize this would be a duology, so I was pretty vexed that it felt like nothing happened in the first 60% of the book.
However, once we reached the last 100 pages (and I know, I should know better than to be so hypnotized by the last 100 pages of a romantasy book) I am pretty on board with this duology now. Especially with the way the book ended, I am happy to pay the price of first book if some of the plot lines set up in next book pay off, namely since I’m a sucker for the he falls first trope.
I’m also fully aware my inclination to enjoy the trope shadowing the issues with it though. It doesn’t change the fact that nothing really happened the first 70% then some intense physical attraction and _boom_ I’m in love, and I didn’t super care for that development. Maybe that’s the writing style feeling somehow shallow and complex but I just couldn’t get as invested as I was hoping to be.
My Favorite Quote to Hook You 📣
“He liked rare things. He cherished the exceptional.
Brigitte Knightley. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy
Writing Style and Narration ✍️
The book is written in dual POV. We oscillate between Osric and Aurienne. However, the language is sort of omnipotent, even though we’re seeing things from one of their perspectives, we’re not quite removed from noticing the other characters’ behavior. This is one of my pet peeves. That said, I do enjoy the MMC’s POV most of the time, so I can live with it.
So I think the signals here were mixed for me, because I kind of expected a fanfiction-style writing set in a Harry Potter world, but found myself reading a lot of odd sentences and almost Victorian old English. Maybe my adversity to the writing style is because it was unexpected, but my gripe with it is that this is a brand new romantasy world we’re being introduced to, and it made it really hard to follow the text and also learn all the new terms.
Luckily, there is a glossary at the end, but for the life of me, I don’t understand why the publisher chose to put it at the end, since some stuff is nearly impossible to decipher. I am including the order breakdown for you at the bottom of the post if you’re as confused as me.
That being said, once you get used to the almost romantic writing style, the banter grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. The author is clever. So, very clever. The comebacks and the main couple’s banter is exquisite. You’ll giggle and kick your feet.
However, the mention of bodily fluids and excrements in casual context will probably also make you gag. It’s so irreverent and weirdly inappropriate at times that you can’t help but snort at how absurd some of the dialogue is, which I’m assuming is the point.
It’s not for everyone, but it was for me, at least the dialogue. Would’ve loved to see the language be toned down since it raised the barrier to entry to this repurposed world of wizarding, but now that I made it through five hundred pages, I reckon the next book will be much easier to digest.
Summary
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Aurienne Fairhrim is of the Haelan Order, one of the bright paths working in Swanstone Fortress. She is righteous, prim and proper, and a brilliant healer. She focuses on Seith (the source of magic in this world) networks.
Osric Mordaunt is of the Fyren Order, a dusken path of assassins with hundreds of kills under his belt. Osric lives in Rosefell, a large mansion all of his own with his housekeeper. He enjoys rare things and wealth.
When Osric receives an injury to his neck, his Seith network becomes damaged. The Fyren Order does not tolerate weakness, let alone someone losing their ability to use their Seith, so Osric begins looking for a cure. He sees multiple doctors who tell him he needs to see Aurienne Fairhrim, a legendary healer who had a theory about Old Ways (basically magic) which is a last, impossible resort and Osric’s only hope. Aurienne, however, would never work with Osric since their Orders are enemies and they disdain one another.
Osric breaks into Aurienne’s office, threatens her and attempts to kidnap her. Xanthe, an older healer, walks in. Aurienne has no inclination to work with Osric. Xanthe and Aurienne discuss the Pox outbreak, a recurrence of an eliminated disease in children. They’d like to immunize against it, but they don’t have the funding. Osric donates 20 million coins in exchange for Aurienne helping cure him.
The two begin working together, reluctantly. Aurienne had a hypothesis while she was in school where she could use magic to heal Seith networks. However, it’s unproven and based on folklore. They spend every full moon trying to recreate some of the folklore to see if Aurienne can heal Osric, which they fail over and over again.
They bicker, and fight, and insult one another. They go to bathhouses, forests, and other magical places from the stories to try to recreate experiments of the past. Osric’s condition worsens, his power becoming inconsistent and his appendages becoming numb.
Meanwhile, the Pox worsens, more and more children becoming sick. Swanstone becomes close to an immunization. They also get attacked by a mysterious assassin.
Osric loses the ability to use his Seith. Panicked, he calls for Aurienne. Aurienne arrives, realizes this is not his disease but an emboli. She agrees to help Osric if he investigates who tried to infiltrate the healers’ castle, to which Osric agrees.
One full moon, they’re at a lighthouse from the legends. When the moon rises at dusk, they feel the tug of magic and something ethereal happens around them. Aurienne tries to heal Osric and it feels different, yet Osric isn’t healed.
Aurienne gets invited to the castle of a Duke to see his sick child, to which Osric accompanies her. They suspect this is the person who ordered Swanstone’s infiltration. Osric sneaks away at night to scout the castle and finds bottles of Pox virus disguised as a scotch. The next day they confront the Duke, who tries to kill them, and in return Osric kills them all.
Next diagnosis session, Aurienne checks on Osric and realizes she’s slowed the progression of the disease.
Her further research reveals that all the locations the folklore stories are on the leylines (the magical paths Waystones take to break someone down to their particles and make them reappear elsewhere), and the more crossings they have, the more potent the effect on the story is.
Osric hears from his Order that someone is infiltrating Swanstone. Knowing the only reason a Fyren would infiltrate anywhere is for an assassination, Osric intervenes, killing someone from his Order, a big betrayal for him. In the scuffle, he gets stabbed in the abdomen, a near fatal wound.
He calls for Aurienne, and her Deofol tells him that she’s at the opera and to go to his house. Osric arrives, meets Aurienne’s family, and collapses. Aurienne heals him and he stays in her family’s house for days. The two of them become closer, the tension between them tugging at one another. They both begin fantasizing about one another but don’t act on it.
Aurienne and Osric discuss their findings and the mysterious Pox outbreak and the lengths someone has gone to infiltrate the Haelan Order and how Fyren would never do such a thing unless there was an enormous amount of money involved. Osric helps Aurienne realize Dreor, another dark path Order, can only be created via the dead. They realize someone is trying to create more Dreors, which can only mean one thing: war.
On Aurienne’s family’s anniversary, Osric and Aurienne dance and laugh, realizing what they could be if they were not enemies. The night goes on, and they kiss, only to make one of Aurienne’s suitors give up hope.
That changes things though, with Osric realizing he is indeed in love with none other than his enemy.
The book ends with the Pox mystery unresolved, Fyren Order still on the hunt for the betrayer and likely the doctor trying to come up with immunization, and an Osric in love with the one woman he shouldn’t be.
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy Spicy Chapters
How Spicy is The Irresistable Urge to Fall For Your Enemy: Dearly Beloathed (Book 1): 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Whether you want to get to the heat or want closed-door modifications here’s the list of spicy chapters below.
- Chapter 18 🌶️🌶️🌶️
- Chapter 19🌶️🌶️🌶️
- Chapter 20 🌶️
Orders
Haelan
Ingenaut
Leyfarer
Warden
Agannor
Dreor
Fyren
Hedgewitch
They don’t make hate on first sight like this anymore 😬💘
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy is a forced proximity, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers adventure set in an exquisite magical world that should be the echo of the Harry Potter universe but feels like a new world. If you like Victorian-era settings meshed with modern medical language, dry humour laced with witty banter, and characters that are appealing (although they can feel underdeveloped at times), this one is probably an enjoyable read.
I, for one, will probably pick up the next installment, even if it’s just to appease my curiosity about where the story goes. And since I am a sucker for the he falls first trope and a die-hard Hermione Granger fan, you know I’ll be there.
What did you think of The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy? If you read the original fanfic, does it live up to your expectations? And if you’re a Dramione regular, do you like any other Dramione better than the others?
I’m diving into Rose in Chains next, but let me know what you think in the comments! And sign up for our newsletter to get an update on when I inevitably compare the two!
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