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Protagonist and antagonist
Are there moments of respect or admiration between them?
Thank you so much for the ask, @kaylinalexanderbooks!!!
I'll answer for Supernova Initiative, Of Starlight and Beasts, Song of Thorns, and Enchanted Illusions!
Supernova Initiative
One of the main antagonists of this story - especially in Jack Tithus' arc in the book - is a man known as The Director, whose real name is, as of yet in the story, unknown. He is responsible for the Junction's entire subdivision of sciences (which is a great deal) - to the public, he is considered an upstanding and philanthropic scientist who is incredibly respected by his peers. In reality, behind closed doors, he is a sadistic, immoral, and incredibly brutal man who is willing to commit atrocities - including numerous illegal experiments on human patients - in the name of what he calls "progress". Jack Tithus, the main protagonist of the story and an intergalactic thief, becomes trapped in the Director's schemes after he and his crew get arrested by the Junction in a heist gone wrong and ends up accepting to become one of the Director's test subjects in order to protect his younger sister from a facing a similar fate.
As an answer to the question: I don't think there are any moments of respect or admiration between them, at least none that are mutual. Jack very much resents, despises, and fears the Director and for a lot of good reasons. Meanwhile, I don't really think The Director is capable of feeling respect or compassion for another human being - he views people, especially his test subjects, as specimens to be studied, like animals in a zoo, and considers himself somehow superior to his fellow human beings. He is capable of feeling a certain sense of "curious admiration/fascination" but more in a sense like a bully holding a magnifying glass over a burning ant. He has a very twisted scientific mindset.
Of Starlight and Beasts
The main antagonist of this series is the Crimson Queen, a dark sorcerer and ruthless ruler who intends to conquer all the kingdoms in the continent and "snuff out the Light" in her neverending quest for revenge against the magic of the people responsible for the deaths of her husband and child centuries ago. The main protagonist of this story is Corah Stormryder, a brave knight-in-training from the capital city of Tirawen, who embarks on a quest to prevent the advance of the Crimson Queen's army and save the kingdom and everyone she loves.
Surprisingly, yes, there are moments of respect and admiration between them, especially after they get to know and understand each other a bit more. Meira, the Crimson Queen, is primarily a woman who has had her hopes and dreams destroyed by the people she trusted in one of the most brutal ways possible - the terrible deaths suffered by her husband and innocent child as a result of this. Corah also knows what it is like to be betrayed and abandoned, having been forced to face those feelings at a very young age when her mother walked out on Corah and her father. Both of them also know that there is something fundamentally wrong with the magic system of their world and that know that the truth has been terribly twisted to the benefit of the corrupt nobility. I think that, in a sense, they understand each other - Meira does see a bit of her younger, more naive self, in Corah's pursuit of valor, while Corah occasionally understands Meira's blind rage and grief, in some cases. But where they fundamentally diverge is that Meira has allowed herself to become so blinded by revenge and her wish to take down a corrupt system, that she is doing to countless others what was done to her centuries ago, meanwhile, Corah would never hurt someone innocent for the mistakes of another and is actively looking for a way to halt the system of lies their kingdom is built upon without losing herself or hurting others in the process.
Song of Thorns
This book has two main protagonists, Roselyn Lethia, a young village girl who discovers a corrupt scheme involving the nobility after her older brother goes missing, and Renn Atrius, a young dhampir who became a thief and is seeking a way to avenge the brutal murder of his father. The main antagonists of this story are most members of the Royal Family of Hyghsummit, who are almost cultish in their ways - especially when it comes to the practice of the elusive Sanguinex, or blood magic, which was a type of magical art that humans... weren't exactly supposed to be able to cast. Out of all these villains, the most important one, story-wise, is King Larkin of Hyghsummit, who is the head of the Royal family and a master of the Sanguinex arts. He is also quite possibly the villain who is most invested in hunting down the protagonists, and who really does not want to lose his current status quo.
No, I don't think this book has any moments like that. While King Larkin often gets "amused by the thrill of the hunt" when it comes to his pursuit of the main protagonists, he definitely does not respect them. He views them more as a petty nuisance that must be eliminated, two pebbles in his path to continue his family's legacy, and he will not have his wish denied. Meanwhile, Roselyn mostly fears the royals in the same amount she despises them - mostly, in her eyes, they are an evil that needs to be exposed and an obstacle in her path to saving her older brother, especially since the Royal family is behind his kidnapping. As for Renn, he holds a strong hatred towards human royalty - when he was five years old, Renn watched his father (an innocent young man who only wanted to find a way for vampires like them to live in peace) be brutally murdered by a vampire hunter who was friends with the human nobility. It's no surprise Renn hates human royals as much as he does. So, the King views them as a nuisance, and both of the protagonists have very personal reasons to hate the nobles - not a very good mix to create "respect and admiration" lmao.
Enchanted Illusions
The villains of this series are the members of the elusive Hemlock Society, who seek to banish Myths and cause a civil war between humans and magical creatures. The main protagonists of each POV in this story are Augustus & Harriet, Cailean & Agatha, Evangeline + Thaddeus & Ambrose.
Strangely, it depends. Some of the protagonists and antagonists in this book have very strong, personal grudges against each other and despise one another tremendously, but some of the more "morally grey" protagonists (such as Augustus and Thaddeus) enjoy the "cat and mouse" game they play with the villains throughout the story, and due to their sometimes more extreme way of handling things, sometimes even the villains feel a sense of admiration of these heroes' wit and occasional ruthlessness. The leader of the Hemlock Society, Abernathy Calsen, is very much a "Moriarty" type of evil mastermind, and often feels amusement out of toying with the main cast - he at the same time admires and despises them, but in a very distant, chess-player sort of way. He admires how they think outside of the box, and how they do everything in their power to thwart the plans he's set in motion, even when that's a foolish effort in his eyes. An interesting dynamic, to say the least.