Book Review: That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Human by Kimberly Lemming

‘That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Human’ is the third book in Kimberly Lemming’s Mead Mishaps Series, which is available to read via Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription. It was published in 2023 and follows the love story between Dante and the missing and presumed dead Cherry Hotpepper.

Cherry Hotpepper has haunted the narrative since the beginning of the series, so for her to be revealed as alive after all was a great way to invest the reader into the events of the story from the get go, especially considering that readers know very little about the grumpy, older storm dragon for whom she is mated.

I’d argue that after reading the first two Mead Mishaps books, I have high expectations for anything Kimberly Lemming writes. Her comedy is fantastic, and is heightened by her strong worldbuilding and sense of character voice, and reading this book only strengthened by love for Lemming’s work and excitement for her next project!

I enjoyed this story, from the return of Alexis, the cursed sword, to the way in which Lemming gives readers a teasing indication of what the quest Cherry and Dante end up on will be, only to subvert it. Something I really enjoy about this series is how, these romantasy stories dip into the cosy fantasy genre, and each can be read as a stand alone.

Cherry, like all of the female leads in this series, has a strong sense of self and a clear character voice. While there are similarities between her and her sister, Cin and their best friend Brie, Cherry is very loud and bawdy, while thriving on curiosity.

Something else I loved was how Cherry’s trauma was distinctly different from Cin’s trauma. Despite Cherry’s abduction being the catalyst for both girls’ trauma, Cin being the one who couldn’t save her sister, and Cherry being the actual abductee, meant that Cin went on thinking her shortcomings caused her sister’s death and made her more cautious, fearful and reserved, while Cherry finding herself captive on an island only spurred on her desire for adventure and her curiosity, and while she was initially enraptured by Dante’s castle, was quick to declare she wanted to be free of it and explore.

Similarly, by having two dragons as the love interests in the series, meant that readers could easily draw conclusions about similarities between Dante and Fallon, but while they are similar in the sense that they are both strong dragons with human mates who happen to be sisters, I was relieved to see that the similarities essentially stop there.

Dante’s impulsive nature, and delight to encounter his mate outweights all logic beyond whatever the previous love interests experienced and I was very amused by how this spur of the moment decision haunts Dante and makes him second-guess everything. It made a lot of the story even funnier than one of Lemming’s books is bound to be.

Of all three of the Mead Mishaps books, this one was by far my favourite. It cemented my love for Lemming and her work and I cannot wait to read more of her books in the future. I would wholeheartedly recommend this series if you’re looking for something steamy but also something with heart and personality! Her books are fantastic!