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readwithria 's review for:
The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy
by Brigitte Knightley
DID NOT FINISH: 34%
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