The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy

After my last read was rather heavy on the emotional damage *cough* Alchemised *cough*, I was very much in the mood for something fun. And what better choice than a book about an assassin who is slowly dying, a healer who absolutely despises him, and two enemy magical orders that would probably rather see each other dead than working together?

Sounds lighthearted enough, right?

In The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy we follow Osric Mordaunt, a member of the Fyren, an order of assassins, whose seith—the magical system that gives the Fyren their abilities— who is slowly deteriorating after an injury. His physicians can’t help him, and if the degeneration continues, Osric isn’t simply just going to lose his magic. He is going to die.

His last chance is Aurienne Fairhrim, a brilliant healer, that belongs to the Haelan order.
There is just one tiny problem: The orders of Fyren and Haelan are sworn enemies.

So naturally, Osric’s solution is to bribe her.
Honestly? I respect the commitment.

Aurienne and her fellow Haelan are desperately trying to fight an outbreak of the Pox, particularly among small children, but are in desperate need to get funding for their research and treatment. And Osric offers exactly that. In exchange for Aurienne’s help. Their arrangement has to remain secret, because treating a Fyren goes against everything Aurienne and her order stand for.

And so begins what is essentially the most dysfunctional collaboration imaginable.

I have to admit that the beginning was a little difficult for me to groove into the world-building and the magical orders, with their seiths, the scientific and medical terms, the Old Ways, different magical abilities and an entire system of rules that takes some time to get your head around.

And then there is Aurienne’s medical vocabulary.

At times, I genuinely felt like I had accidentally walked into an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, except Meredith Grey was treating a dying assassin with magic instead of performing surgery. But once I got a little more into that the world started to make more sense and I found myself really appreciating the differences from others.

The magic system in particular was one of my favorite aspects of the book. It doesn’t feel like the standard romantasy formula where everyone has one vaguely defined magical ability. The different forms of magic, the seith and especially the idea of the Old Ways made the world feel much more layered and special to me.

Once Aurienne and Osric start working together, though, things become really entertaining.
Because these two absolutely cannot stand each other.

Aurienne sees Osric as pretty much everything she despises about the Fyren. He is an assassin. He kills people for a living. He represents an order whose entire philosophy clashes with her own. And, to make matters worse, he is an insufferably smug flirt who seems to think making suggestive comments is an acceptable form of communication.
Osric, meanwhile, seems genuinely delighted by the fact that Aurienne cannot stand him and makes it his mission to make her roll her eyes as often as possible.
It‘s hilarious.

Their banter was easily one of my favorite parts of the book. They constantly challenge each other, argue over their opposing beliefs and find increasingly creative ways to insult one another. And while some of the humor is definitely on the sillier and side, I found myself giggling on various occasions.
Especially because Osric is such a disaster.

One thing that’s really unfortunate about him though is, that he is in fact blonde.
You know, I have my principles.
But luckily, they made him white-blond, which is a totally different thing.
There are exceptions, and he‘s one of them.

What makes Osric so lovable, besides his good looks, is that he isn’t the typical brooding Shadow Daddy I usually gravitate towards. He’s an assassin, yes, and he definitely has his darker moments, but he is also incredibly awkward, sarcastic, shamelessly flirty and occasionally just… ridiculous.

He makes suggestive comments to basically anyone who happens to be nearby, has questionable taste in friends, and somehow manages to be both threatening and deeply unserious at the same time.

Aurienne, meanwhile, was exactly the kind of FMC I like reading about. She is intelligent, capable and fiercely independent. She doesn’t need Osric to save her, and she certainly doesn’t suddenly abandon everything she believes in because she finds him attractive.
In fact, she spends a good portion of the book being extremely annoyed by him and shows him exactly that, with every bone in her body.

Luckily, their relationship doesn’t magically transform from enemies to lovers overnight. No, they follow the road from reluctant cooperation to curiosity to then respect and only much later we get to see the growing attraction to each other.
If you want a book to really catch me, let the guy fall first.
Osric starts to admire Aurienne long before he is willing to admit that this small admiration might be turning into something else.

And Aurienne?
Well.
She‘s is in denial.

The healing attempts take up some good portion of the first half of the story. They experiment with different approaches to the Old Ways, an ancient magic, and travel to different places but they repeatedly fail to solve Osric’s condition.

One of my favorite attempts, however, is the one involving the hot springs.
Because naturally, what better place to attempt an ancient magical healing ritual than a bathhouse that turns out to actually be a brothel?

And if the situation wouldn‘t already be ridiculous enough, we get to see the two try to maintain their dignity while surrounded by naked bathers.
This is exactly the kind of absurdity this book does surprisingly well.

Additionally, there are the so called deofols.
These magical little creatures might have stolen the show for me.
They’re basically talking magical companions in whichever form who have personalities of their own, and their interactions with the main characters provide some of the really funny moments. They’re clever, sassy and absolutely not above making fun of the people they’re supposed to be helping.

Honestly, I would happily read an entire spin-off just surrounding them.

As the story progresses the Pox outbreak becomes increasingly worse. What initially seems like a separate problem gradually becomes much more story-centered.

The second half was significantly stronger in my opinion. Once the mystery surrounding the Pox and the other complications starts developing, the book takes up more speed. The danger becomes more tangible, the stakes rise, and the relationship between Osric and Aurienne becomes increasingly difficult for them to ignore.

And then we get to that szene.

Osric showing up at Aurienne’s doorstep, injured after his fight with Brythe, who he killed for her, is probably my favorite scene in the entire book.
Because we all know the classic trope where the MMC takes care of the injured FMC.

Turns out, we desperately needed the reverse.

Aurienne taking care of Osric while he’s completely vulnerable?
Her running her fingers through his hair while he sleeps?
Her finally realizing that she would actually be devastated if he died?

How am I supposed to read that and NOT kick my feet?

It was one of those moments where the slow burn finally pays off and you realize that all those interactions insulting each other have actually been building towards something.
And I think that’s ultimately what worked so well for me about Osric and Aurienne. Their relationship doesn’t rely on instant attraction. They genuinely have to overcome the fact that they represent everything the other person has been taught.

There is something incredibly satisfying about watching them slowly realize that the person standing in front of them is a lot more complex than the label attached to their Order. Imprinted on their palm.

But how frustrating is it, that just when the relationship and the overarching plot finally started to get serious, the book ended.
Still, by that point I was invested enough that my reaction was less “Why would you leave me hanging like this?” and more “Fine. I guess I have to get the sequel.”