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sam_pvmind 's review for:
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy
by Brigitte Knightley
I went into The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy with an open mind, but unfortunately, it ended up being a frustrating and disappointing read for me.
Let’s start with the writing style. Overly complicated, needlessly verbose, and filled with French phrases that served no real purpose. I suppose the intent was to make the prose feel witty and sophisticated, but instead, it just felt exhausting. The only saving grace? The banter, which was well-done at first but eventually wore thin.
Now, the worldbuilding. This book is another example of how fanfic-turned-trad-pubbed-novel struggles when removed from its original, familiar universe. The setting lacked depth and any real sense of place, which made it impossible to immerse myself in the story.
And then, there were the jokes. The humor in this book relies heavily on crude, juvenile jokes. I found myself cringing more than laughing—especially at the recurring butt joke. Yes, the plot involves the MMC retrieving an object from someone’s rectum, and no, the book does not let you forget it. At some point, it stops being funny (if it ever was) and just becomes vulgar for the sake of it.
Speaking of things that took me out of the story: there is a character named Tartiflette. As in, the French potato dish. I don’t even know what to say about that. *cries in french*
Plot-wise, nothing really happens until the very end, making this book feel like a stretched-out cash grab when it could have easily been a standalone. Instead, it drags until the last possible moment before anything remotely interesting occurs.
Finally, the scene that made me the most uncomfortable: a moment where the MMC, while the FMC is asleep next to him, decides to pleasure himself "He watched her through half-lidded eyes, telling himself, at first, that it was to make sure that she wouldn’t wake up while he relieved himself (…) He watched her breathe. He tightened and relaxed his grip upon himself in keeping with the rise and fall of her chest.” I don’t care how much of a “bad guy” he’s supposed to be—this scene was unsettling at best, outright predatory at worst. I don’t see how I’m supposed to root for this romance when one half of it does that.
Ultimately, this book wasn’t for me. The writing tried too hard, the humor missed the mark, the worldbuilding was weak, and the romance felt tainted by one particularly disturbing scene. If you’re thinking about picking it up, I’d recommend approaching with caution.
Thank you Little Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for this ARC
Let’s start with the writing style. Overly complicated, needlessly verbose, and filled with French phrases that served no real purpose. I suppose the intent was to make the prose feel witty and sophisticated, but instead, it just felt exhausting. The only saving grace? The banter, which was well-done at first but eventually wore thin.
Now, the worldbuilding. This book is another example of how fanfic-turned-trad-pubbed-novel struggles when removed from its original, familiar universe. The setting lacked depth and any real sense of place, which made it impossible to immerse myself in the story.
And then, there were the jokes. The humor in this book relies heavily on crude, juvenile jokes. I found myself cringing more than laughing—especially at the recurring butt joke. Yes, the plot involves the MMC retrieving an object from someone’s rectum, and no, the book does not let you forget it. At some point, it stops being funny (if it ever was) and just becomes vulgar for the sake of it.
Speaking of things that took me out of the story: there is a character named Tartiflette. As in, the French potato dish. I don’t even know what to say about that. *cries in french*
Plot-wise, nothing really happens until the very end, making this book feel like a stretched-out cash grab when it could have easily been a standalone. Instead, it drags until the last possible moment before anything remotely interesting occurs.
Finally, the scene that made me the most uncomfortable: a moment where the MMC, while the FMC is asleep next to him, decides to pleasure himself "He watched her through half-lidded eyes, telling himself, at first, that it was to make sure that she wouldn’t wake up while he relieved himself (…) He watched her breathe. He tightened and relaxed his grip upon himself in keeping with the rise and fall of her chest.” I don’t care how much of a “bad guy” he’s supposed to be—this scene was unsettling at best, outright predatory at worst. I don’t see how I’m supposed to root for this romance when one half of it does that.
Ultimately, this book wasn’t for me. The writing tried too hard, the humor missed the mark, the worldbuilding was weak, and the romance felt tainted by one particularly disturbing scene. If you’re thinking about picking it up, I’d recommend approaching with caution.
Thank you Little Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for this ARC