This book was what I define as an absolute delight. I honestly never wanted to leave this world and am so glad this is an on-going series. At times, some of themes were a little heavy for the sarcasm, but as I've continued with the series, I can confidently say that this is not the case in later books, so go ahead, get drunk and save a demon. You won't be sorry.

I debated between 3 and 4 stars, but chose to round up in the end since I enjoyed it a lot more than not. I found some parts of it to be a little slow for me, and the interactions between our characters didn't interest me a lot, but I still found it to be fun and enjoyable.

I decided to pick this book up purely based on the title.

Cinnamon is a spice trader who dreams of a cozy life. Unfortunately, she saves a demon named Fallon while she's drunk. Now, Fallon wants Cinnamon's help to free his people from an evil witch. Cinnamon is left with no choice but to go along with the scheme.

Along the way, the two get into adventures and fight people with nefarious intentions. They even make some friends as they go.

This book was so much fun! I wish the pacing had been more consistent, but that's my only complaint. If you want a romance book with a fantasy setting following witty characters, this is the one for you. Kimberly Lemming's world also sets up plenty of potential for the sequels.

If you're interested in fantasy romance, definitely give That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon a read!

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive a review copy of this! The cover, title, and blurb promised lots of fun and that’s exactly what it delivered. It was the beginning to a couple of weeks of lots of laughter as I went through the entire series at once (including the short stories).

This book started right out with humor and carried that all the way through despite its serious plot. We quickly meet the main characters, who both were fun and interesting in their own ways. While it started out with a series deal between the two, it became clear quickly that something more was developing. For a book that’s based on so much humor, I really enjoyed the development of their relationship. It felt pretty natural.

The one thing that did suffer though was the plot. This book had a pretty cozy feel to it the way it was written and combined with the humor, I felt that the plot was too grand and serious to be solved in the timeframe of this book. Things were too convenient or rushed at times.

Overall though, this book was a lot of fun. I received the audiobooks and really enjoyed the narrator’s normal story voice. I struggled a little with some of the voices she did but overall it was a good experience.

You can also find a rambly review of the series on TT in a few days.

I like that her name was cinnamon. It was fun to read this, she goes on an adventure that takes us through a magical time and it's nice when she meets him. I like reading this one.

Wowee this book was something! This was my first adventure into the smutty romantasy world.
I want to preface my review by saying that maybe this genre isn’t exactly for me, but I still enjoyed it! If this type of book is up your alley or sounds fun to you, then you should definitely pick it up! It was a grand time & I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

I of course want to mention the content warnings up front. This is very spicy! And there was some gore, which I wasn’t expecting (not my fav).

This book was very fun & not boring in the slightest.
The world is sort of old-fashioned yet the writing is quite modern, but you get used to it quickly. The writing felt a little disjointed from time to time; there’s a lot of slang, but then also random big words that seemed out of place in the more casual writing. Nothing too bad, but it pulled me out of the story a couple of times.

Overall, I had a good time. This definitely kept me entertained and had me blushing at the pool! (Maybe not the best for reading in public lol)

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Every fourteen years or so the wards keeping demons away from humanity start to fade and the goddess Myva selects four mortals to rise as heroes and restore the ward, protecting humanity safe and sound. Cinnamon has built her life around avoiding being one of those chosen ones so that she can live a life of peace and quiet on her family’s spice farm. Wine drunk after a celebration of the latest chosen one from her village, Cin inadvertently rescues a demon from the mind effecting magics of an ancient evil. An evil he desperately wants to free all demons from. Dragged along on this demon’s quest, Cin can only comfort herself with thoughts of home and this truly, fabulously hot man yet again destroying his shirt.

Kimberly Lemming’s That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon is the kind of book that got my attention almost entirely on the weight of its blurb. I like the idea of this protagonist who really does not want to be the chosen one, who has done as much as she can to grow up boring enough to have a comfortable non-fantasy hero life. She has done everything possible to avoid adventure, has just seen what should be her last chance to be dragged into it pass, Cinnamon should be in the clear to just live her life as she wishes. And then a demon comes crashing to earth and all of that goes right out the window. Delightful bit of situational irony and a mad start to the whole adventure.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon is, of course, a romance novel but in a funny way it hardly felt like one for a lot of the time I was reading it. On the face of it, the story felt very like something I would expect from a table top role-playing game run amongst friends. There is this feel to it like Lemming was going through the story as she wrote and finding points where her characters needed to find a way forward, so she looked at the situation and said, ‘yes this, and also,’ and then continued on with whatever option would be the funniest or the most fittingly ridiculous. Lemming is writing a comedic story and doing a fantastic job of it. It feels organic, both delightfully out of control and tightly written so that none of the scenes feel over long or wasted. It is really well written.

The characters themselves are delightful. From Cinnamon being willing to help save demonkind from this evil witch, but also really not wanting to go on an adventure because she has avoided that her whole life. To Fallon teasing her and having to pull himself back from doing violence when it would make sense as a reaction to him. Like, Fallon feels like he is from a civilization with different rules and moral focuses and it works pretty well in the moments that it comes up. There are a couple of secondary characters, Usha and Felix, who provide helpful information that helps build out the world while also fleshing out those characters. They feel like Lemming gave them as much thought as she did Cinnamon and Fallon. It is all quite well handled.

Honestly, the only thing that I can think of that did not work for me was more of a place where the standards of romance novels broke through the otherwise excellent comedic writing as well as the character work. Through out the book there are moments where Cinnamon is caught off guard by how hot Fallon is or where she realizes that she is more attracted to him than she wants to be, moments where Fallon does things that are thoughtful or teasing. And all of these moments fit nicely in with the rest of the narration. They are from Cinnamon’s perspective and in her voice. But then we get to the moments where Fallon expresses his attraction to Cinnamon in his own words, moments where he is baring his soul to her, and I found myself rolling my eyes because he suddenly sounded like a dozen other romance novel guys. And the thing is, there is nothing offensive about the scenes, the writing does not suddenly become bad, this did not even make me want to put the book down. It just felt like a break in tone and voice.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon. It is a well written story with solid humor and characters that I want to get to read more about. I really want to play Pathfinder with Lemming, almost as much as I want to read the next two books. This one gets a five out of five from me. Definitely give it a shot if you get the chance.

3.5 stars

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon was surprisingly fun. I was not expecting this to be as enjoyable as it was. Cinnamon's personality reminded me of someone from Louisiana and it made me a little homesick for my besties back home. I also loved how layered of a fantasy romance this was. One second it's a fun romp of avoiding quests to being drunk and saving a demon (oops) to having said demon crash into the family home and reveal that the goddess they worship is actually an evil lich torturing demons to a quest to pirate adventure to a smutty romp. It had layers! I enjoyed all the directions it went and how much fun all the characters, both main and side characters, were. Definitely recommend this one and it does have cozy vibes.

Wow what a time! I went into this story with zero expectations, just the promise of a good time from some fellow readers. Boy were they right! That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon is a wonderfully irreverent rom-com, filled with modern slang, good humor, and sexy demons. What more could you want? Following along Cinnamon as she traverses her adventure was just honest fun, and a breath of fresh air to read. I was immediately hooked from the first page, and I flew through this in 2 sittings! The writing was intriguing without being complicated, and the quest had just enough twist to keep me invested all the way through. I recommend this to anyone who wants a quick fantasy escape (that comes with a little spice of course!).

I give this book a shinning 4 stars. I had not read any of Kimberly Lemming's previous works but I plan on reading her backlog now!

I finally got around to reading this and thought this was a fantastic and hilarious romcom! I absolutely loved Cinnamon's hilarious adventures and can't wait to pick up the next one.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Ultimately I wanted more character development and more time spent on world building. The humor wasn’t my type and, as a southerner myself, the southern humor was particularly cringy for me. I did enjoy the BIPOC POV and the kindness of both main characters. The romance was cute and there was good banter between Cinnamon and Fallon. It’s a very cozy, low stakes, whimsical fantasy and I just wanted more.

The title is what caught my attention followed closely by the title. This was such a fast read for me! I couldn’t put it down!

This book was the perfect combination of fantasy, romance, adventure, and spice!

It was light and fun and sucked me in right from the beginning.

I absolutely loved the modern slang. I literally laughed out loud on multiple occasions.

I think I've found a new favourite author and can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Also...DRAGONS!!

This series is silly, snarky, and sexy by turns. Cinnamon has a unique and hilarious voice as our heroine and narrator….love seeing more diverse characters in fantasy!

There <i>is</i> an actual underlying plot…but it’s by no means the reason anyone will be reading these books 😂 This is fun, mindless romantasy designed to put a smile on your face.

Thanks to Kimberly, Orbit Books & Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Had me laughing throughout the entire book. I loved it all. The characters were very entertaining and the plot was easy to follow.

This book was everything I want out of a fantasy romance! Hilarious and fun adventure with an unforgettable diverse cast, this book was a great getaway all the way through and I can’t wait to read what comes of Cin and her friends in the books that follow!

This was such a fun book. It was fast-paced and all the characters were lovable. I enjoyed how the story progressed. It was a quest-type story with a diverse cast of characters. I would read the next books in the series!

This book has been on my TBR since it was independently published. The story itself had a rough start. I am used to being thrown into the middle of things, but never quite in the way that Lemming managed. It was very off-putting, especially with the initial intensely cosy vibes. But after that initial shock and once the book got past its initial struggles it quickly fell into a pleasant rhythm that alternated between cosiness, action, fluff, and smut. There was a plot! It wasn't anything particularly complex, but since this book is more here for the vibes I would have to say it did its job. The characters were loveable, and the romance, while it was very fast-paced served its purpose. In the ARC copy, there were several typos and grammatical errors, all of which I hope have been remedied since publication. All that said, this book was all-around good vibes! I'm so excited to read the next entry!

Special thanks to Orbit Books for providing me with an eARC of this book. The full review will be up on Geekyst 05/03/24.

I love this Cozy Romantasy! It was both equal parts Fantasy and Romance and spicy spicy. I love the sass that Cinnamon had and how head over heels Fallon is for her. I'm excited for Felix and Dante to get books as well.

Who doesn't love a fun fantasy adventure/romantic comedy/monster romance? No one! This book delivered on all of its promises and was such a fun read!