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A review by savvyrosereads
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to the publisher for the free book!
Rating: 3/5 stars
When assassin Osric goes to beg (and coerce) assistance from healer Aurienne, she reluctantly allows herself to be bribed to assist him…but their hate may just turn to something very different.
I really wanted to like this book, and the writing style is one that is normally right up my alley: both beautiful and funny, with equal parts depth and wit. I can definitely tell why some people have loved this, and the characters in particular grew on me quite a bit as the book progressed. If you like a somewhat campy and adventurous fantasy, you particularly might enjoy this one!
Unfortunately, in an overall sense something about this book never really clicked for me personally. It was slow in many parts and felt repetitive, with no real plot and even less world building. The ending felt really lackluster after so much build up, and while I may read book two simply because I’ve already invested so much time, I’m not exactly left feeling eager for it after this lead in.
Finally, I know there was a lot of controversy surrounding the publisher’s Dramione themed marketing here…but whatever you might think of that decision, this is *not a Dramione coded book at all* — which makes the whole thing feel entirely bizarre to me. Still, an obligatory disclaimer: JKR is terrible and supporting her is deeply harmful to trans folks. There is absolutely no reason to elevate her IP in any way…and really no reason to do it through this book, which, again, bears no resemblance to Dramione or anything else HP-related, in my view.
CW: Blood/murder/gore; medical content; mild sexual harassment; mentions of past physical abuse
Rating: 3/5 stars
When assassin Osric goes to beg (and coerce) assistance from healer Aurienne, she reluctantly allows herself to be bribed to assist him…but their hate may just turn to something very different.
I really wanted to like this book, and the writing style is one that is normally right up my alley: both beautiful and funny, with equal parts depth and wit. I can definitely tell why some people have loved this, and the characters in particular grew on me quite a bit as the book progressed. If you like a somewhat campy and adventurous fantasy, you particularly might enjoy this one!
Unfortunately, in an overall sense something about this book never really clicked for me personally. It was slow in many parts and felt repetitive, with no real plot and even less world building. The ending felt really lackluster after so much build up, and while I may read book two simply because I’ve already invested so much time, I’m not exactly left feeling eager for it after this lead in.
Finally, I know there was a lot of controversy surrounding the publisher’s Dramione themed marketing here…but whatever you might think of that decision, this is *not a Dramione coded book at all* — which makes the whole thing feel entirely bizarre to me. Still, an obligatory disclaimer: JKR is terrible and supporting her is deeply harmful to trans folks. There is absolutely no reason to elevate her IP in any way…and really no reason to do it through this book, which, again, bears no resemblance to Dramione or anything else HP-related, in my view.
CW: Blood/murder/gore; medical content; mild sexual harassment; mentions of past physical abuse
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment