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Reviews tagging 'Child death'
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
31 reviews
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okay this book is a SLOW BURN! It takes you a minute to really figure out what is going on. Stick with it. The payout is totally worth it. The banter was bantering. The humor was dry. 5 stars.
I'd say this is like a fantasy version of Butcher and Blackbird. Funny. Murders. Mystery. Slow burn romance
I'd say this is like a fantasy version of Butcher and Blackbird. Funny. Murders. Mystery. Slow burn romance
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Murder
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, War
Minor: Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Terminal illness, Torture, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content
adventurous
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I laughed out loud so many times during this book that it startled my cats. Is it groundbreaking? No. Is it juvenile? At times, yes. And yet, the characters manage to be more than just caricatures of Draco and Hermione. This book is largely just set-up, and I look forward to seeing the payoff with eager anticipation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was already half in love with this book the moment I saw the cover—and once I saw it had enemies-to-lovers ? Say no more, I was in.
The plot intrigued me with its mix of magical experimentation of curing Osric’s illness and a mysterious plague sweeping through the city, especially since it’s affecting children. The tension and mystery build with every chapter, and it kept me turning pages.
One of the biggest highlights for me was the slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance.
We’ve got a grumpy, hard-edged healer (Aurienne) paired with a flirty, mischievous assassin (Osric)—and their dynamic is hilarious and chaotic in the best way. Their deoufol (animal familiar) adds even more charm to the mix.
I loved how their relationship evolved over time. What began as a reluctant partnership gradually turned into something far more vulnerable and meaningful.
The writing style felt really different from what I’m used to, and since English isn’t my first language, it took me a bit to fully settle into the flow.
Some of the vocabulary was unfamiliar, but thankfully I read it on my Kindle, so looking things up was easy.
The banter between the main characters was fun, though I’ll admit a few of the dry humor moments didn’t quite land for me—but that’s more of a personal thing.
The world-building is unique, though it would’ve been easier to get into the world if the details were revealed as the story went on, instead relying on a glossary to explain everything upfront.
Still, once I got the hang of it, the story became easier to follow, and I found myself genuinely intrigued by the world.
This is the first book in a duology, and that ending left me curious enough to stick around for the sequel—just to see what lies ahead for Osric and Aurienne.
If you’re into dual POV romantasy set in an alternate England—with enemies-to-lovers, forbidden romance, he-falls-first, forced proximity, witty banter, and a dash of dry humor—this one’s definitely worth checking out.
I received a review copy through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content
Minor: Child death, Death, Torture
Osric and Aurienne may be Dramione coded but I got huge Assistant to the Villain vibes - Oric is just not that the villainy. He's more the bad boy who's actually a good man - he just does a few unalivings every now and then, lol.
Osric may be a thief and an assassin but he also has a lovely relationship with his housekeeper and the frenemyship he has with another assassin will leave you chortling. Aurienne is hyper intelligent, focused and a gifted researcher but warm and cuddly is not her forte. But even she cracks when the magical malady that is affecting children (and only the poorest at that) strikes the local population and she and her fellow healers are left, without any major resources, to try and stem the pandemic.
Osric and Aurienne are soon entangled together in a forced proximity blackmailship as he endows her medical institute with cash and in return she just has to cure him of an incurable illness! Theses two have wicked banter and the witty repartee was wonderfully glib.
The world is queer normative and there was never a big drama when a little nugget of someone's sexuality or preferences were dropped into the narrative. There needs to be more of these kinds of worlds in my humble opinion. This is not a spicy romance, in fact there's only one scene I think that could be called steamy but there is much alluded to and spoken about so may not suit a younger/easily offended reader.
If you need any more urging to read this wee gem, here are a few of my stand out quotes:
“Irresistible Bastard Meets Immovable Bitch”
‘There was a heap of steaming excrement right in front of Aurienne, and it could talk. ‘
Aurienne said thank you, she would consult him next time she needed advice from an Abscess with inferior hair. Mordaunt, vexed, said how dare she, when her bun looked like a perfect onion?’
‘Can you stop fingering him while I’m speaking to you?’
‘You do realise,’ said Wellesley, ‘that you’ve only got one man here.’
‘No,’ said Aurienne with ruefulness born of sad truth. ‘I’ve got a monster.’ Now Mordaunt moved.
Osric may be a thief and an assassin but he also has a lovely relationship with his housekeeper and the frenemyship he has with another assassin will leave you chortling. Aurienne is hyper intelligent, focused and a gifted researcher but warm and cuddly is not her forte. But even she cracks when the magical malady that is affecting children (and only the poorest at that) strikes the local population and she and her fellow healers are left, without any major resources, to try and stem the pandemic.
Osric and Aurienne are soon entangled together in a forced proximity blackmailship as he endows her medical institute with cash and in return she just has to cure him of an incurable illness! Theses two have wicked banter and the witty repartee was wonderfully glib.
The world is queer normative and there was never a big drama when a little nugget of someone's sexuality or preferences were dropped into the narrative. There needs to be more of these kinds of worlds in my humble opinion. This is not a spicy romance, in fact there's only one scene I think that could be called steamy but there is much alluded to and spoken about so may not suit a younger/easily offended reader.
If you need any more urging to read this wee gem, here are a few of my stand out quotes:
“Irresistible Bastard Meets Immovable Bitch”
‘There was a heap of steaming excrement right in front of Aurienne, and it could talk. ‘
Aurienne said thank you, she would consult him next time she needed advice from an Abscess with inferior hair. Mordaunt, vexed, said how dare she, when her bun looked like a perfect onion?’
‘Can you stop fingering him while I’m speaking to you?’
‘You do realise,’ said Wellesley, ‘that you’ve only got one man here.’
‘No,’ said Aurienne with ruefulness born of sad truth. ‘I’ve got a monster.’ Now Mordaunt moved.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, War
I gave this book my best shot, I really did, but after putting it down for 10 days I have realized that I don't have the ~irresistible urge~ to pick it back up again.
I feel like this book does a lot of telling. Telling me what the characters said instead of having the dialogue; telling me that Osric is an evil person and Aurainne is a good person; telling me that seith is finite. However, at the same time it doesn't tell me enough. What makes Osric an evil person? Wouldn't a good person want to heal anyone who came her way because it was the right thing to do? Is the magical world secret? How am I supposed to know what costs a lot of seith, or how it is recovered, or how it is used? It seems like you just shove your seith at things and hope that solves the problem?
Another thing I struggled with was how obvious it was that this book used to be Harry Potter fanfiction. Don't get me wrong - that's not the problem in an of itself. The issue is that the deofols are an obvious substitute for patronus messages, and don't seem to have any other use. The waystones are an obvious substitution for apparition and don't seem to have any other cultural significance even though they're at social/cultural hubs. Aurainne is supposed to be based on Hermione Granger, but where is her compassion and empathy? Osric is supposed to be based on Draco Malfoy, but he feels like a caricature of an evil person instead of someone with specific goals and motivations that are being met through their actions, and who believes their actions to be for the good of someone, even if that someone is themself.
There also doesn't seem to be any direct conflict between the orders, but they hate each other? And people continue to purposefully chose to be in orders that are explicitly considered to be evil? I don't understand why. There is no clear character motivation, no clear world politics, and I feel like half of the world building is in the glossary at the beginning of the book. You shouldn't need to read a glossary to understand a 360 page romantic fantasy's world building - you have space to flesh out the book by another 3k-8k words instead if you need to. But also, separate from the glossary is info about the Orders and a pronunciation guide, both of which are lovely to have. Why have those at the end, when the glossary is at the front? Why not combine them all into the same place? I LOVE that the Order info and pronunciation guide were included at the bottom of the content notes, but you could also move the glossary to the back and add another page number to the content warnings. If people aren't understanding the magic system unless they read the glossary, that's a structural issue with the book that needs to be addressed.
Lastly, and this is very minor, why are some words capitalized for seemingly no reason? Is it to show sarcasm? Is it a title? Is it to show emphasis? I straight up don't know. But Aurainne is not only a "Phenomenon," but also the "Best" and I feel like we would still understand that she's exceptionally good at her job without being *told* so many times. Show us! The scene with her in the lab was an attempt at showing, and I enjoyed it for the most part. Aurainne does seem to only be characterized by her austerity and stickler-ness, but it was a start. Why is she like this? There doesn't seem to be any hint as to if anything happened to her that caused her to be such a no-nonsense person even around people she is supposed to have fellowship and camaraderie with. Is this just who she is? She doesn't seem to have any sense of humor at all, or a soft spot for any of her fellow Haeleans, or a love of her work. It feels like she does this because it is right, not because it is something she loves in any way. What does she love instead of her job? How come in over 1/3 of the book we haven't seen any other emotions in her? Same with Osric, though to a lesser degree because he obviously values his life more than anything, and is doing whatever it takes to keep it. What does he do other than kill people? Do the people in this world live by their jobs? That's pretty boring.
Anyway, while my above feedback might not seem to support this, I don't hate this book. I simply don't care enough about the plot or the characters to continue, which honestly might be worse.
Thank you to Berkley Romance for the ARC and the opportunity to leave an honest, voluntary review.
I feel like this book does a lot of telling. Telling me what the characters said instead of having the dialogue; telling me that Osric is an evil person and Aurainne is a good person; telling me that seith is finite. However, at the same time it doesn't tell me enough. What makes Osric an evil person? Wouldn't a good person want to heal anyone who came her way because it was the right thing to do? Is the magical world secret? How am I supposed to know what costs a lot of seith, or how it is recovered, or how it is used? It seems like you just shove your seith at things and hope that solves the problem?
Another thing I struggled with was how obvious it was that this book used to be Harry Potter fanfiction. Don't get me wrong - that's not the problem in an of itself. The issue is that the deofols are an obvious substitute for patronus messages, and don't seem to have any other use. The waystones are an obvious substitution for apparition and don't seem to have any other cultural significance even though they're at social/cultural hubs. Aurainne is supposed to be based on Hermione Granger, but where is her compassion and empathy? Osric is supposed to be based on Draco Malfoy, but he feels like a caricature of an evil person instead of someone with specific goals and motivations that are being met through their actions, and who believes their actions to be for the good of someone, even if that someone is themself.
There also doesn't seem to be any direct conflict between the orders, but they hate each other? And people continue to purposefully chose to be in orders that are explicitly considered to be evil? I don't understand why. There is no clear character motivation, no clear world politics, and I feel like half of the world building is in the glossary at the beginning of the book. You shouldn't need to read a glossary to understand a 360 page romantic fantasy's world building - you have space to flesh out the book by another 3k-8k words instead if you need to. But also, separate from the glossary is info about the Orders and a pronunciation guide, both of which are lovely to have. Why have those at the end, when the glossary is at the front? Why not combine them all into the same place? I LOVE that the Order info and pronunciation guide were included at the bottom of the content notes, but you could also move the glossary to the back and add another page number to the content warnings. If people aren't understanding the magic system unless they read the glossary, that's a structural issue with the book that needs to be addressed.
Lastly, and this is very minor, why are some words capitalized for seemingly no reason? Is it to show sarcasm? Is it a title? Is it to show emphasis? I straight up don't know. But Aurainne is not only a "Phenomenon," but also the "Best" and I feel like we would still understand that she's exceptionally good at her job without being *told* so many times. Show us! The scene with her in the lab was an attempt at showing, and I enjoyed it for the most part. Aurainne does seem to only be characterized by her austerity and stickler-ness, but it was a start. Why is she like this? There doesn't seem to be any hint as to if anything happened to her that caused her to be such a no-nonsense person even around people she is supposed to have fellowship and camaraderie with. Is this just who she is? She doesn't seem to have any sense of humor at all, or a soft spot for any of her fellow Haeleans, or a love of her work. It feels like she does this because it is right, not because it is something she loves in any way. What does she love instead of her job? How come in over 1/3 of the book we haven't seen any other emotions in her? Same with Osric, though to a lesser degree because he obviously values his life more than anything, and is doing whatever it takes to keep it. What does he do other than kill people? Do the people in this world live by their jobs? That's pretty boring.
Anyway, while my above feedback might not seem to support this, I don't hate this book. I simply don't care enough about the plot or the characters to continue, which honestly might be worse.
Thank you to Berkley Romance for the ARC and the opportunity to leave an honest, voluntary review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder