The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed)

Name: The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed)
Brand: Ace Books
SKU: 9780593819487
Price: 37.20 USD
Availability: InStock

$37.20

Product Variants

Biographical Note:
Brigitte Knightley's modus operandi is to write what she wants to read: enemies-to-lovers romances that put the unresolved back in "unresolved sexual tension." Her work is enjoyed by fans of slow burns, tongue-in-cheek rom-coms, and suffering. The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy is her second novel and the sequel to The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy.

Review Quotes:
"Brigitte Knightley does it again! The undeniable thirst for antagonistic banter is at long last quenched, divinely. A clever, wry delight, as swoon-worthy and charming as it is funny and irreverent. Sign me up for everything Brigitte Knightley writes."--Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

"Knightly has done the unthinkable and written an exceptional sequel that is so dazzling in its world building, so delightfully irreverent, and so undeniably sexy that readers are certain to love it as much as (or more than!) the first book in the series."-- Booklist, starred review

"Brigitte Knightley returns with her epic conclusion to the Aurienne and Osric love story. I have an irresistible urge to reread this again, immediately. Full of beautiful prose, hilarious banter, swoonworthy romance, intriguing mysteries, epic battles, and original magic, Knightley is in a league of her own! For those craving an enemies-to-lovers fix, you will find it all here. This is an explosive duology that makes me believe in magic and all things impossible!"--Danica Nava, USA Today bestselling author of Love is a War Song

"Everything Brigitte Knightley writes is pure gold, and The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy was everything I could have wanted! The tension-filled, perfect slow burn of my dreams, and an incredible conclusion to Aurienne and Osric's story. Knightley's humor is effortless, her storytelling immersive, and I cannot wait to read everything she writes next!"--Naina Kumar, USA Today bestselling author of Flirting with Disaster

"Knightley has done it again, crafted an agonizing romance coupled with a torturous plot that kept me reading far too late into the night. For readers who truly want to be laughing out loud and then sobbing into the pages, this is the book for you. A beautiful piece of writing from an impossibly talented writer."--Hazel McBride, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Fate Forged in Fire

"Combining laugh-out-loud humour and impossibly beautiful prose is a difficult feat to achieve, but Knightley pulls it off perfectly in this incredible follow up to The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy... A cracker of a plot, coupled with the most deliciously slow of slow burns, builds to a crescendo that is at once cathartic, healing, and heart-warming in the most satisfying of ways."--Keshe Chow, Sunday Times bestselling author of Strange Familiars

"An exquisite conclusion to a brilliant duology--the banter is knife sharp, the romance is a sexy, continuous boil of tension, and the world-building is incredibly immersive."--Elissa Sussman, bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask

"This book gave me that heart-squeezing feeling I always crave from a good romance! Brigitte Knightley's writing is as charming as ever, I could sink into her prose for days. A very satisfying conclusion to this wonderful duology; I hope this is just the first of many romantic adventures I'm whisked off to by Knightley's pitch-perfectly whimsical pen."--Yulin Kuang, author of Reese's Book Club pick, How to End a Love Story

Publisher Marketing:
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.

Review Citations:

Library Journal 05/01/2026 pg. 105 (EAN 9780593819487, Hardcover) - *Starred Review
Booklist 06/01/2026 (EAN 9780593819487, Hardcover) - *Starred Review