“The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy”, Brigitte Knightley
Published July 8, 2025 • Book 1 of the Dearly Beloathed duology
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.
“If she had a flaw, it was that she was the Best, and she knew she was the Best. Some called it arrogance. She called it competence untainted by performative humility.”
THE BANTER. It is TOP DRAWER. You think you know good witty banter in books published before July 8, 2025, but you are simply ✨wrong✨. Brigitte Knightley invented A5 wagyu beef-level banter. It is so good it slowed down my reading speed because I had to stick on a tab every page, and then I ran out of tabs!!?!
And this is what I mean by ENEMIES-to-lovers (slow burn-dancing to the lovers part). There is no love at first sight. They genuinely loathe each other for 98% of this book, which makes the inevitable LOVER part coming in the second book (that’s not a spoiler, let’s bffr) all the more satisfying.
Fun tidbit: I finished this book minutes before Julie Soto’s Rose in Chains author event in Sacramento started. We support the Dramione authors-to-trad pub pipeline in this house.
Now…about the Dramione of it all. Everyone says it’s a reworked Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by thisisselfcare—fantastic fic, sharp wit from Chapter 1 to 36. But Brigitte clarified in a Tumblr FAQ post that “IRRESISTIBLE URGE is a new work; it is not a “pull to publish” of Mortifying Ordeal.” Additionally, she also stated that “The Mortifying Ordeal will continue to pspsps on AO3”. (If you read the dedication page of Irresistible Urge, you’ll get it.) I appreciate the Dramione girlies raving about DMATMOBIL (aka Batmobile) on book review sites and all over socials, but the truth is these are two different works, and it would be a disservice to either one if we continue to conflate them. Read both separately, appreciate them, and spread the word. <3 Brigitte deserves all the accolades.
Anyway, this is how much I enjoyed the book. I had never in my life tabbed so many pages. Each one was a hilarious quip or some such quotable by a specific person in a specific context. This was a delight to read, and I can’t wait to reread this. Or perhaps try the audiobook…?
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
murder • violence • death
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Owned: hardcover with signed bookplate from The New Romantics