OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Kimberly Lemming is on an eternal quest to avoid her calling as a main character. She can be found giving the slip to that new werewolf that just blew into town and refusing to make eye contact with a prince of a far-off land. Dodging aliens looking for Earth booty can really take up a girl's time.

But when she’s not running from fate, she can be found writing diverse fantasy romance. Or just shoveling chocolate in her maw until she passes out on the couch.

 

FORMAT/INFO: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human was published on March 5th, 2024 by Orbit Books; it was originally self-published on May 23rd, 2023. It is 352 pages long and is told in first person from multiple POVs including Cherry and Dante. It is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Cherry always told herself that if she were a princess in a story book trapped in a dragon's castle, she wouldn't wait around for someone to rescue her. But after five years of escape attempts, she's ready to take any help she can get. Unfortunately, that help arrives in the form of...another dragon. He's more than willing to help her leave, so maybe she shouldn't have spiked his drink first. But Cherry knows through hard experience that you can't trust any demon, especially one that claims to be your fated mate and destined to love you. Cherry wants nothing more than to return home, but first she needs to spend time with this Dante fellow and make sure he's not going to burn it to the ground once they get there.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human is an absolutely charming fantasy romance that fired on all cylinders. For some context, I found the first book in this series, Saved A Demon (abbreviating for sanity), a pleasant but shallow spicy adventure; the second book, Yeeted a Love Potion, didn't really work for me at all, especially as all it took for the female lead to fall in love was one night of great sex and absolutely no relationship building.

Saved a Human, on the other hand, takes its time building up the central romance and making you fall for the characters as much as they fall for each other. I think it's telling that the longest book in the series has been my favorite, because the author had the time to really flesh out the characters in a way that she didn't in her shorter works. (And even as the longest book in the series so far, this is still a breezy 350ish pages.) Yes, a few things still rubbed me the wrong way, like the way the demon males in this series walk around insisting the human females are destined to fall in love with them because they are fated mates and those females just need to accept that. But even as Dante smugly declares this, he also gives Cherry the space she needs to decide on her own if she has feelings for him.

It was this chance to watch the relationship grow that won me over. Dante essentially takes Cherry on a flying road trip to see whatever sites and adventures her heart desires. He's delighted when she's delighted and Cherry is delighted to explore and see the world. She's been trapped on an island for five years, and in her absence, magical creatures have started roaming the lands? She wants to see ALL OF THEM - and Dante is more than happy to oblige. By the time these two finally had their first real spice scene, it felt completely earned.

CONCLUSION: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human is full of magical heartwarming moments and is easily my favorite in the series. There's still the trademark humor and madcap adventures (and occasional Very Gruesome Ends for bad guys) that the series is known for, as well as some Very Spicy Scenes in the back half of the book. But that extra time spent with the characters made it really feel like the author hit her stride with this entry. If the author's future books are in line with this one, I will definitely be a devoted fan.