Spoiler Free Review: The Irresistible Urge To Fall For Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed #1) BY Brigitte Knightley

Title: The Irresistible Urge To Fall For Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed #1)

Author: Brigitte Knightley

Pub. Date: July 8th 2025

Genre: Romantasy

Format: eARC

Publisher: Orbit Books

Pages: 416

GOODREADS | BARNES & NOBLE | LIBROFM | AMAZON

☆☆DRC PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW☆☆

Aurienne Fairhrim is a scientist working under the Haelan Order of healers during a time where the children in the land are being afflicted by the Platt’s Pox outbreak; deadly and without a present cure. She has her plate quite full when Osric Mordaunt, a member of the Fyren Order of Assassins, seeks her out in a desperate plea for help. Osric has what is known as seith degeneration aka seith rot, when the magic running through your veins begins to die out. Seen as incurable and a death sentence for those who operate under the Fyren Order, Osric is desperate to try anything before his Order finds out his magic is dying out and kills him first. He has it on good word that Aurienne has researched seith rot but hasn’t made much progress on testing her theories out and he’s down to be her first subject in hopes something will fix him. What he wasn’t expecting was to see beyond the snark and disdain Aurienne has for him and find himself attracted to her. He’s not willing to take her adamant refusals to work on him. One generous donation made to the Haelan Order of Healers secures Aurienne’s help even though the LAST thing she’d ever do is help keep a Fyren living, breathing, and killing others. This slow-burn/hate-to-love/He falls first relationship will have you wondering how this could lead to a romance when all these characters represent, stands in their way.

*•.¸♡ 𝙰𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚛—𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚞𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜, 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗—𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝙵𝚢𝚛𝚎𝚗. ♡¸.•*

Full disclosure, I haven’t read any fan fiction so I have nothing to compare this to except for perhaps some similarities in character traits. Aurienne’s snark was top tier, her confidence in her specific skill set and intellect are unmatched except by maybe Hermione herself. I enjoyed my time reading her and Osric’s verbal sparrings even as he began to soften his blows a bit when he started catching feelings. Oftentimes smirking and shaking my head, these are some memorable characters. Hate-to-love may not be my favorite trope but I’m beginning to think it’s because mostly it’s pitched that way yet it lacks the hate aspects of that trope. Not here. Aurienne had me wondering until the very end if this was going to be a case of unrequited love and she was going to leave my boy Osiric pining after her. My only gripe with this first installment in the Dearly Beloathed duet is the magic system…I just wanted it to be ironed out a bit more, who doesn’t love animal familiars?!?! They too had their own personalities but I felt as if we didn’t get much time in the development of the magic system. While I appreciate the author’s show-don’t tell approach, I wanted to see more of that side of their world. They did go through the trouble of providing us with an index of the Orders (back of the book) in this world with details as to what they oversee, however we don’t see very much of those Orders. There is however a mystery unfolding as Aurienne’s order uncovers darker forces at play in the political sphere, I suspect we’ll see more of that in the next book as we get answers to those questions we’re left with by the end. Pick this one up if you love bad a** women in STEM with a penchant for snark, hate-to-love with an emphasis on the Loatttthhhhe (haha!), and animal familiars who match their counterparts. I’m definitely grabbing a copy of The Exquisite Torment Of Loving Your Enemy slated for a July 2026 release.

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Spoilery GUSH Review: Jade City by Fonda Lee

Title: Jade City

Author: Fonda Lee

Pub. Date: June 26th 2018

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Orbit

Pages: 560 pages

GOODREADS | BARNES & NOBLE | AMAZON

Characters: 10/10 Atmosphere: 10/10 Writing Style: 10/10 Plot: 10/10 Intrigue: 10/10 Logic/Relationships: 10/10 Enjoyment: 10/10

Rating: 70/10 = ☆☆ 5 Stars☆☆╮

Rating system created by The Book Roast

☆☆ “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐎𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐝𝐞.” ☆☆╮
Jade City was one of my last reads in 2021 and thank the Universe for that! It was everything I was told it would be and more, simply intoxicating being in this world. If you’re a fan of Godfather type stories or just gravitate towards age old feuds paired with cut throat politics doused with some magic, the Green Bone Saga is a MUST read! The island of Kekon is ruled by two crime syndicates, the Kaul family run the No Peak Clan who are considered royalty; and its rival the Mountain Clan. These clans at one point in time operated as one in the best interest of Kekon however, after a fall out between the original leaders they separated and each claimed businesses and districts to protect. The island is rapidly changing and attracting attention from foreigners due to being the only site of Jade production. Jade, the green magical gems that grant superhuman abilities to those with the right training and heritage is HIGHLY coveted and fiercely protected. The Kaul family is of the mind that Jade needs to stay within Kekon since it’s not only dangerous in the wrong untrained hands but also the core of their culture. Kungfu is taught in the academy that churns out street soldiers with each of the clans has their own school with competitive training. To be trained in Kung Fu and placed as first a “Finger” who can rank up to a “Fist” working for the “The Horn” is an honor and aspiration for many young men. Jade distribution is carefully monitored with knowledge that there is a black market set on making it accessible to the outside world. The Mountain and its “Pillar” who is their leader, is of the mind that Jade is already being illegally sold so why not make it so they sell and control its distribution for the good of Kekon. We have two Pillars from opposing clans with differing views on the future of their island. A peace treaty of sorts is in place at the start of this story however greed and a lust for power soon ends that treaty and fills the streets with blood.

The Kaul family legit came across as all too real, they were fleshed out to the point it felt as if you were at their dinner table about to throw down! There’s a lot to take in with regards to family history and old alliances. The Kaul’s Pillar is the Grandfather who is now experiencing the start of Dementia and is transitioned out of his role. His grandchildren Lan (next Pillar), Hilo (The Horn), and Shae (sister who left Kekon in search of her purpose outside of the family) are the next generation of leaders who are learning the ropes and trying their best to fill some very big shoes. This of course means that they’re bound to disagree and bump heads and I absolutely LOVE books featuring sibling dynamics! Shae & Hilo who are already multi-faceted characters deliver when it comes to showing the good, bad, and ugly of sibling relationships. This is the type of Urban Fantasy I eat up, where the author does such a stellar job at vividly painting you a picture of what it feels like to walk down the street in their city that all the work is done for your imagination. There are some scenes that just stick out in my mind and one of them is definitely Shae’s return cause it was so bad a** and feminist AF! she is the wild card in the deck and I couldn’t get enough. Only one word comes to mind when I hear Hilo’s name and that is LOYALTY! now I don’t know if that changes later on but at the moment he is one of my favorite characters. Also, it takes a real brave one to kill off your favorites and Fonda Lee has now joined the ranks of such authors. I am proceeding with caution as I ready up to start Jade War *wish me luck*

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Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at @Breaking The Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

Published by: Orbit

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Publication Date: October 24th 2017

Pages: 480

*click on image for Goodreads link

CONTROL THE MAGIC, CONTROL THE WORLD

In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled — taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army. Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire empire.

Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations.
But fate has bound the heir and the mage. And as war looms on the horizon, a single spark could turn their city into a pyre.

The Tethered Mage is the first novel in a spellbinding new fantasy series.

Many of my fellow Adult Fantasy bookworm buddies here in the blogosphere know that I’ve made this the year my return to Adult Fantasy. This isn’t to say I will be leaving YA Fantasy behind but rather in typical Lilly fashion, I will remain a versatile & diverse reader. I am currently reading my first adult fantasy in years, Red Sister by Mark Lawrence & enjoying it immensely. My curiosity today led me to Orbit’s home page since I know them to be one of the well known publishers of quality high Fantasy. I didn’t get very far though, my eyes feasted on this beauty & I stopped dead in my tracks. Both cover & Synopsis have my name written all over it haha! I also decided to do something I have only done once before (and never heard back lol)…I requested this book from the publisher (eeeeeK!) and hope to the Book Gods that I get approved. Zaira sounds like my type of protagonist…the bad a** with no desire to follow a corrupt government’s rules. Lady Amalia has also caught my interest since in the short synopsis, LOVE when scholarly characters are thrown into unlikely partnerships! these two sound like an unlikely pairing & I’m super curious to see what adventures they get into.