THAT TIME I GOT DRUNK AND SAVED A DEMON by Kimberly Lemming – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Series: Mead Mishaps #1
Published by Orbit on January 2 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Kimberly Lemming’s series opener is silly, spicy and doesn’t take itself too seriously. 

“It was funny—a few weeks ago, being so close to not one, but ten orcs would have absolutely terrified me. Yet here I was, showing my new friends Isaak and Baraku how to create the perfect dry rub for roasted pork.”

The title and cover pretty much say it all: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon is a fun, escapist fantasy with lots of spice and lovable characters. There isn’t much depth to this story, but then again it isn’t being marketed that way, so if you’re in the mood for a quick, sexy read, this will probably scratch that itch.

Cinnamon Hotpepper and her family own a spice farm, and Cinnamon is content to stay home, work on the farm, and cook meals using the spices they grow. She also enjoys drinking every now and again, and one night she’s had a little too much to drink when she winds up rescuing a demon trapped in a rock slide. The demon tries to attack her, but she gets away after throwing a cinnamon tree branch at him. Later the demon shows up at her house, curious about the weird reaction he had when the cinnamon touched him. In this world, demons usually aren’t able to exist near humans because they are kept under control by the magic of the goddess Myva. 

But something in the cinnamon caused this magic to break, and now the demon, whose name is Fallon, is determined to release the other demons by finding Myva’s source of magic—her soul is hiding in a jar in a temple—and destroy her. And he wants Cinnamon to help him.

Cinnamon has no interest in going on quests or saving demons, but Fallon does have gorgeous long black hair and muscles for days, so she agrees. Destroying Myva is the easy part. Keeping Fallon at arm’s length is going to take all of Cinnamon’s will power.

This is a romance, front and center, so in my opinion the world building was a little lacking. I was actually surprised to find a map at the beginning of the book, since this doesn’t seem like the sort of fantasy story where a map would be needed. But the fact that this world is shaped like a broken heart—a literal heart shaped land mass bisected by a river—was simply adorable, so I really have no complaints. I did enjoy the idea of a “fake” goddess who has taken control of the poor demons and imprisoned them for centuries, and in fact the demons turn out to be the good guys, so it was a lot of fun to meet various types and get to know them. In fact, both male leads from the next two books in the series make an appearance here, so I do like that the author intends to give her characters crossover appearances in other books.

So I wasn’t very concerned with the “quest” to destroy Myva, which is pretty predictable. Instead, I found myself invested in the characters, who are a lot of fun. Cinnamon is an outspoken young woman who loves to eat (I loved that about her!) and cook, and of course she surprises Fallon on their journey with all sorts of wonderfully spiced meals. In the beginning, she insists on bringing a bunch of spices with her, even though Fallon doesn’t understand why she would need them, so extra points for Cinnamon being such a cute, feisty character.

Fallon, on the other hand, is your typical horny guy (demon) who falls for Cinnamon right away and has an alpha male attitude about finding a wife and “claiming” her, which I wasn’t too thrilled with. But Cinnamon has her own ideas about falling in love, and luckily she resists Fallon at first (but of course that doesn’t last long, otherwise we wouldn’t have this story). Their attraction felt mutual, and although they dance around jumping into bed together, there’s a very explicit foreplay scene that gets the reader ready for the real deal. I wonder if the author built her story around a spice farmer just so she could justify how much “spice” is in this story, lol.

I also really enjoyed a lot of the side characters, including Cinnamon’s close-knit family (brothers Cumin and Chili included, lol!) and her bestie Brie (who, you guessed it, is a cheesemaker). There’s a sad backstory about her younger sister Cherry who disappeared four years earlier, but don’t cry because I peeked at the synopsis for book #3, and I believe Cherry returns as the MC for that book.

Overall, this was a lot of silly fun. The writing itself isn’t anything to get excited about, and I didn’t care much about the plot, but if you come for the laugh-out-loud humor and loveable characters (and the sex of course!), you’ll probably have a great time too.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.