Early Review – I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom Com (Cosmic Chaos, Book 1) by Kimberly Lemming (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Humor
Length: 304 pages
Publisher:‎ Berkley
Release Date: February 18, 2025
ASIN: B0D4K1PWB7
Stand Alone or Series: S1st book in the Cosmic Chaos series
Source: eGalley for Review from NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Dorothy Valentine is close to getting her PhD in wildlife biology when she’s attacked by a lion. On the bright side, she’s saved! On the not-so-bright side, it’s because they’re abducted by aliens. In her scramble to escape, Dory and the lion commandeer an escape pod and crash-land on an alien planet that has…dinosaurs?

Dory and her new lion bestie, Toto, are saved in the nick of time by a mysterious and sexy alien, Sol. On their new adventure, they team up with the equally hot, equally dangerous Lok, who may or may not be a war criminal. Whether it be trauma, fate, or intrigue, Dory can’t resist the attraction that’s developing in their trio….

As this ragtag group of misfits explore their new planet, Dory learns more about how and why they’ve all ended up together, battles more prehistoric creatures than she imagined (she imagined…zero), and questions if she even wants to go back home to Earth in this hilarious and steamy alien romance adventure comedy romp.”

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Cosmic Chaos series. I got this on eGalley from NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: This was a fun and light-hearted read with quite a bit of alien sex in it. This is ridiculous and goofy and completely unbelievable. However, it was still a fun quick read that was a nice break from more serious reads. It made me laugh out loud a few times, but I also rolled my eyes at how completely silly it was as well.

Dorothy is a wildlife biologist until she suddenly (unfortunately) gets mauled by a lion. It ends up okay because at that moment she is also abducted by aliens. She wakes up and scrambles to escape the spaceship she’s on only to end up in an escape pod with the very lion that tried to kill her. But the lion can talk now, so it’s all good I guess. She crashes on a strange planet only to be rescued by a sexy alien named Sol, who gets into it with another sexy alien named Lok. They are all developing strangely intense attractions to each other that might not be completely natural.

I struggled a bit with the whole premise that the three characters involved were forced to lust after each other. This does give the tone of the book a bit of a yucky feel for me; this was navigated decently but wasn’t my favorite theme. Also the whole premise of a weird earth kind of substitute and a breeding program to save a species was just a bit too goofy to quite make sense to me.

All the above aside, some of this book is laugh out loud funny (if you can get past the goofiness). I did end up getting strangely attached to the characters. There was a lot of action and it was fast-paced. This was a quick read that was entertaining. It had some very risque and dirty sex scenes in it as well. I struggled a bit with these since they kind of were, but kind of weren’t consensual. I also thought the sex scenes got strangely repetitive and was left wondering what was up with the whole male knot organ thing (this gave me flashbacks to Hazelwood’s “Bride” book).

My Summary (3/5): Overall I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as Lemming’s Mead Mishaps series. I found the Mead Mishaps series to be a lot more funny, sweet, and cozy and enjoyed the fantasy setting more. This was just a bit too far over the goofy line for me, and some of the sex scenes gave me more of a “yuck” feel than a “great chemistry” feel. I did end up becoming strangely attached to the characters here, and I thought the world was crazy (maybe a bit too crazy). I am on the fence as to whether or not I will continue reading this series. I didn’t hate this, I just didn’t love it either. Mostly when I finished this I was like, “Well, that was a quick and weird read. Moving on.” If you are a big Lemming fan, I would give this a try and see how you like it.