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A review by booksalacarte
That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon by Kimberly Lemming
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
That time I got drunk and saved a demon- 2⭐️ 3🌶️
Fantasy
Unwilling-hero FMC
POC
Allies to lovers
Mystical creatures
Secret history
He falls first
I was so excited to get the ARC for this book. One that I had seen rave reviews for all over tiktok. Unfortunately the story didn’t quite live up to the hype. The idea of following a strong, black, anti-hero, who winds up being roped into a quest to save the day is a fun one, I just didn’t know if I was supposed to read it as a satire or not. The medieval vibes with modern duologue and slang didn’t fit as nicely as I had hoped. I cringed at the literal Hamilton lyrics quote.
I found so much of the sincere moments were cut by random jokes or the FMC almost breaking the 4th wall with breaking down Fantasy or romance novels and comparing her quest to them. I wanted to take it as tongue in cheek, but it happened so often that it wasn’t silly. It was annoying.
I really loved the realistic moments, like a mom calling her kids by the wrong names, the changing of minds about captivity and slavery… But the pacing inconsistencies took away from the potency of the statements. While I liked the sentiments of having the heavy topics present, they seemed so out of place in this rom-com fantasy
The world building was barely there and what was there was so slap-dash that much of it was sidelined bad dialogue and rushed plot.
The open door spice scenes were meh. I just didn’t enjoy the two main characters because they were inconsistent. Things were cheesy and surface level.
I wanted to like this. But I just didn’t.
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for an Advanced eRrader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Fantasy
Unwilling-hero FMC
POC
Allies to lovers
Mystical creatures
Secret history
He falls first
I was so excited to get the ARC for this book. One that I had seen rave reviews for all over tiktok. Unfortunately the story didn’t quite live up to the hype. The idea of following a strong, black, anti-hero, who winds up being roped into a quest to save the day is a fun one, I just didn’t know if I was supposed to read it as a satire or not. The medieval vibes with modern duologue and slang didn’t fit as nicely as I had hoped. I cringed at the literal Hamilton lyrics quote.
I found so much of the sincere moments were cut by random jokes or the FMC almost breaking the 4th wall with breaking down Fantasy or romance novels and comparing her quest to them. I wanted to take it as tongue in cheek, but it happened so often that it wasn’t silly. It was annoying.
I really loved the realistic moments, like a mom calling her kids by the wrong names, the changing of minds about captivity and slavery… But the pacing inconsistencies took away from the potency of the statements. While I liked the sentiments of having the heavy topics present, they seemed so out of place in this rom-com fantasy
The world building was barely there and what was there was so slap-dash that much of it was sidelined bad dialogue and rushed plot.
The open door spice scenes were meh. I just didn’t enjoy the two main characters because they were inconsistent. Things were cheesy and surface level.
I wanted to like this. But I just didn’t.
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for an Advanced eRrader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Slavery, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Gore