The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed Book 2)
by Brigitte Knightley
July 7, 2026
Genre: romantasy
The stakes are high, the love is forbidden, and the slow burn turns steamy in this swoony, witty, and heart-stoppingly romantic sequel to instant New York Times bestseller The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy.
This stunning hardcover features a cover with foil, beautifully designed endpapers, and a black-and-white interior map!
Osric is a member of the Fyren Order, a guild of assassins who gleefully murder for money. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer whose Order’s motto is Harm to none. Clear-cut absolutes separate them: good and bad, right and wrong, light and dark . . .
Until they don’t.
When Osric first bribed Aurienne to heal him, he never imagined those lines would begin to blur. But every healing session draws them closer together. He finds himself developing unwanted feelings for Aurienne as her capable hands heal his body—and his heart.
Aurienne’s perfect life has been flung into chaos in the form of a devastatingly handsome assassin. She should be in her research lab, not illicitly healing a Fyren every full moon—nor wrestling an attraction to him that threatens to slip into something else.
Things go superbly sideways when Osric and Aurienne discover more about the deadly Pox deliberately unleashed through the Tīendoms. The plague may be the work of another Order—an Order far nastier than either of them can handle.
As the lines between Osric and Aurienne continue to blur, the balance between peace and war, and love and hate, trembles, shifts, and hinges on a heartbeat.
I did not read the first novel, but the author did a great job of catching you up. The glossary, Pronunciation Guide, and the explanation of The Orders were very helpful and well done.
I had a little trouble with some of the text when a word means the same thing in the "English" language, but you catch on fast with all the meanings. I thought the book was very well written, funny, sad, and exciting, and just plain enjoyable. I normally do not read books of this nature- and words I can't pronounce—I think old age has something to do with it—but as I stumbled along the first chapter or 2, I found out I was enjoying myself as I continued.
I give Ms. Knightley 4.5 Barts
website
Brigitte’s modus operandi is to write what she wants to read: enemies-to-lovers romances that put the unresolved back in UST. Her work is enjoyed by fans of slow burns, tongue-in-cheek romcoms, and suffering. The spirits of Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome pervade her writing, but Austen is at its soul.
She is represented by Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
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