Welcome to THE MONSTER BOTHERER!

We are thrilled to welcome back our new reviewer Emma Penman, who exclusively reviews monster romance, and has returned for another week of Monster Bothering. We decided that as all her reviews have a specific aim, we’ll house them all in one handy feature-cage!

Whilst not necessarily bothering many monsters herself, Emma will be letting us know which monster romance books are worth bothering with…

Content warning: These books are explicit. 

A lot of monster romance stories take place in the modern world, or at least a version of it. That’s great. I love the idea of bumping into a minotaur at my local coffee shop or my English professor being an orc, but deep down, I’m a fantasy girl. Always have been and always will, so the setting of That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon ticked so many boxes for me. Not a mobile phone in sight, just hordes of demons, a big bad lich and a spot of piracy to boot. 

Cinnamon, our female lead, is a spice farmer with a taste for the strong stuff. After a night out at the local inn, she heads home only to stumble across a demon. After a brief scuffle she runs for safety only to get pounced on and pinned (not in the fun way this early on!) and reaching for something to defend herself bops the demon with a stick of cinnamon, which removes the curse that has been placed on him. From that point Cinnamon learns that her goddess is fake, what she knew about the world is a lie and she is whisked from her simple life to go on an adventure. All while nursing a hangover. 

Our male lead, Fallon, is just fantastic. Sarcastic, funny, kind, hot, would kill a man for looking at his woman funny kind of vibes, oh he’s also a dragon shifter. No red flags from me. I’m usually a bit on the fence about shifters. I want my monsters monstrous, so the typical shifter trope of human form/monster form doesn’t do it for me. Luckily Fallon still has dragony aspects when not in his giant flying reptile form so it gets a pass. 

The author is incredibly self aware of exactly what she’s writing. There’s no pretentiousness, no awkwardness, she sets out to write an enjoyable, spicy, mini adventure and she does it beautifully. I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud at a book, yeah sure the occasional smile will come up but not the “oh crap I hope I didn’t just wake up my husband” kind of laugh, the one that sounds a bit like a pig choking and a car horn mixed together. No? Maybe that’s just my laugh. Even the character names show us that we’re just here for some fun. There’s Cinnamon Hotpepper, with her brothers Cumin and Chilli and a rather nasty bandit called Jeff, oh and the cheesemaker best friend “Brie”. No mystical, mythological tampon (you know who I mean romantasy readers) names here. While it’s all a bit silly, and there’s nothing wrong with being serious, it’s refreshing to sit down and see that the author is encouraging you to just have fun, to take a load off and enjoy the ride. It’s clear that she had a blast writing it, that joy just shines through the pages. 

Spice is plentiful, and not just from Cinnamon’s farm. The sexual tension between Cin and Fallon is strong, and while we don’t get to the smut straight away, the teasing and flirting between the pair makes up for it. Well written, not cheesy in the slightest and still filled with the charm of the rest of the book so it doesn’t feel out of place or disjointed but is enough to make you hold your breath and curl the toes quite a bit. To be honest, I didn’t think it would be as spicy as it was but I’m so glad it exceeded my expectations. Fallon is truly a dragon daddy for all. 

Absolutely would bother with That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon. I binge read the rest of the series and am seriously craving more. The balance was perfect, I wanted to be friends (and lovers) with all of the characters and the world building was spot on. Lemming has this great style of writing that draws you in close and doesn’t let you go. It’s a cosying down, raining outside, with a cup of tea book that makes you forget your troubles for a bit and that’s what we need right now. 

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon is available on Bookshop.org