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The Baby Dragon #1
Het Baby Dragon Café
Het Baby Dragon Café is een cosy fantantasyboek met een hartverwarmende romance en babydraken.
Wanneer Saphira haar café opent voor gasten én hun babydraken, blijkt het runnen van de zaak vol kleine vuurspuwers een stuk lastiger dan gedacht. Als ze de charmante maar knorrige Aiden ontmoet, stelt hij voor dat Saphira zijn ondeugende babydraak Sparky traint, in ruil voor genoeg geld om het café draaiende te kunnen houden.
De zorgeloze Saphira en grumpy Aiden verschillen van elkaar als dag en nacht. Kunnen ze een manier vinden om samen te werken – en zal er dan zelfs een klein vonkje overslaan?
Wanneer Saphira haar café opent voor gasten én hun babydraken, blijkt het runnen van de zaak vol kleine vuurspuwers een stuk lastiger dan gedacht. Als ze de charmante maar knorrige Aiden ontmoet, stelt hij voor dat Saphira zijn ondeugende babydraak Sparky traint, in ruil voor genoeg geld om het café draaiende te kunnen houden.
De zorgeloze Saphira en grumpy Aiden verschillen van elkaar als dag en nacht. Kunnen ze een manier vinden om samen te werken – en zal er dan zelfs een klein vonkje overslaan?
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 16, 2025
3446 people are currently reading
27661 people want to read
About the author
Aamna Qureshi
11 books814 followersAamna Qureshi is a Pakistani, Muslim American who adores words. She is an award-winning and USA Today, Amazon, and Times bestselling author who grew up on Long Island, New York, in a very loud household, surrounded by English (for school), Urdu (for conversation), and Punjabi (for emotion). Much of her childhood was spent being grounded for reading past her bed-time, writing stories in the backs of her notebooks, and being scolded by teachers for passing chapters under the tables. Through her writing, she wishes to inspire a love for the beautiful country and rich culture that informed much of her identity.
When she's not writing, she loves to travel to new places where she can explore different cultures or to Pakistan where she can revitalize her roots. She also loves baking complicated desserts, drinking fancy teas and coffees, watching sappy rom-coms, and going for walks about the estate (her backyard). She currently lives in New York. Look for her on IG @aamna_qureshi and Twitter @aamnaqureshi_ and at her website aamnaqureshi.com.
When she's not writing, she loves to travel to new places where she can explore different cultures or to Pakistan where she can revitalize her roots. She also loves baking complicated desserts, drinking fancy teas and coffees, watching sappy rom-coms, and going for walks about the estate (her backyard). She currently lives in New York. Look for her on IG @aamna_qureshi and Twitter @aamnaqureshi_ and at her website aamnaqureshi.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,445 reviews
February 19, 2025
There’s a lot of cozy fantasy out there of which the writing is not great. That’s fine, you don’t go into those books expecting Nobel prize-worthy writing. If it’s *good enough* I can usually manage to look away and enjoy the ride. But there HAS to be a line. The writing can not be SO bad, that every single aspect of the book becomes ridiculous and unbelievable. I am begging publishers to stop publishing books that did not get further than the initial, fun idea for a book. An idea is not a book. The story has to make sense, too.
All of the problems in this book—which are barely enough to hold up the plot or excuse the character’s irrational behavior to begin with—turn out to *not* be problems at all. They just sort of fizzle out into an ‘oh well guess it was not a big deal after all’ which leaves the reader with a constant feeling of whatever is the opposite of euphoria.
An example: there is a moment where the MMC discovers something about the FMC’s past, and he’s all like: she can never know about this, I’ll have to keep my distance because if she discovers this she will feel so betrayed and hate me and dragons for the rest of her life. Then about 10 pages later, he just tells her everything on a random afternoon and she’s just like ‘Oh. Well. Thank you for telling me I guess.’
The same thing happens with the ‘main problem’ of the MMC. It all fizzles out into nothing and was all a lame excuse to draw out the romance for as long as possible. Even the author realized this was an overwhelming case of insta-love and tried to create reasons for the characters to not be together. Since these reasons make no sense, they just sound like whiny 12 year olds.
And I get that cozy fantasy is about low stakes, but that’s not an excuse for bad writing. There has to be something to drive the plot forward, there has to be a motivation for the way characters act and the choices they make. This book was just another one that fell victim to wanting to write in certain tropes (grumpy x sunshine, in this case), but having no idea how to make them believable. Every single choice and behavior from the characters was based on nothing (which also made the MMC completely irredeemable.)
Aside from that, the writing in itself was just not good. It’s overly simplistic, extremely repetitve and reeks of being chronically online: things like ‘work-bestie’ and ‘she had a VISION, damn it’ get thrown around. The character’s thoughts don’t go much further than ‘she was so happy. He was annoyed. He was so cute, oh my god.’ Show don’t tell does not exist.
There are way too many exclamation marks in places where they don’t belong and most of all, it was CRINGEY. I visibly shuddered when the FMC thought ‘he was so silly! Goodness!’ in regards to the MMC’s ‘romantic’ behavior. Not to mention the way she talks and thinks about dragons. First of all, they’re basically dogs. This story is about dogs. There’s nothing to distinguish baby dragons from puppies. Replace the flames with biting furniture and it would be the exact same. Dragons get referred to as ‘draggos’. Yes, as in ‘doggos’. Think of the most annoying dog person you know and how they talk to their dog (I am that person in my life tbh) and then imagine reading that stuff written out for 300 pages.
I cannot even talk about the romantic scenes. They all read like they were written by a 50 year old virgin and used every cliche in the book.
The FMC mentioning that her favourite tree is the golden shower tree was my absolute last straw. At least I laughed out loud once during this book.
In the end, I just wanted to finish it so I could write this review fully informed. It’s time for publishers to take cozy fantasy more seriously. It’s a wonderful genre that deserves good writing and definitely deserves more than one editing round.
All of the problems in this book—which are barely enough to hold up the plot or excuse the character’s irrational behavior to begin with—turn out to *not* be problems at all. They just sort of fizzle out into an ‘oh well guess it was not a big deal after all’ which leaves the reader with a constant feeling of whatever is the opposite of euphoria.
An example: there is a moment where the MMC discovers something about the FMC’s past, and he’s all like: she can never know about this, I’ll have to keep my distance because if she discovers this she will feel so betrayed and hate me and dragons for the rest of her life. Then about 10 pages later, he just tells her everything on a random afternoon and she’s just like ‘Oh. Well. Thank you for telling me I guess.’
The same thing happens with the ‘main problem’ of the MMC. It all fizzles out into nothing and was all a lame excuse to draw out the romance for as long as possible. Even the author realized this was an overwhelming case of insta-love and tried to create reasons for the characters to not be together. Since these reasons make no sense, they just sound like whiny 12 year olds.
And I get that cozy fantasy is about low stakes, but that’s not an excuse for bad writing. There has to be something to drive the plot forward, there has to be a motivation for the way characters act and the choices they make. This book was just another one that fell victim to wanting to write in certain tropes (grumpy x sunshine, in this case), but having no idea how to make them believable. Every single choice and behavior from the characters was based on nothing (which also made the MMC completely irredeemable.)
Aside from that, the writing in itself was just not good. It’s overly simplistic, extremely repetitve and reeks of being chronically online: things like ‘work-bestie’ and ‘she had a VISION, damn it’ get thrown around. The character’s thoughts don’t go much further than ‘she was so happy. He was annoyed. He was so cute, oh my god.’ Show don’t tell does not exist.
There are way too many exclamation marks in places where they don’t belong and most of all, it was CRINGEY. I visibly shuddered when the FMC thought ‘he was so silly! Goodness!’ in regards to the MMC’s ‘romantic’ behavior. Not to mention the way she talks and thinks about dragons. First of all, they’re basically dogs. This story is about dogs. There’s nothing to distinguish baby dragons from puppies. Replace the flames with biting furniture and it would be the exact same. Dragons get referred to as ‘draggos’. Yes, as in ‘doggos’. Think of the most annoying dog person you know and how they talk to their dog (I am that person in my life tbh) and then imagine reading that stuff written out for 300 pages.
I cannot even talk about the romantic scenes. They all read like they were written by a 50 year old virgin and used every cliche in the book.
The FMC mentioning that her favourite tree is the golden shower tree was my absolute last straw. At least I laughed out loud once during this book.
In the end, I just wanted to finish it so I could write this review fully informed. It’s time for publishers to take cozy fantasy more seriously. It’s a wonderful genre that deserves good writing and definitely deserves more than one editing round.
February 22, 2025
2.5/2.75ish⭐️
January 12, 2025
This is my first 0 star rating.
This book has no redeeming qualities and I only dragged myself through it for my NetGalley ratio. 🥲
Following the death of her grandmother, Saphira uses her inheritance to an open the baby dragon cafe she had always dreamed of. In reality, this is an expensive endeavour and things are looking unsustainable when her espresso machine is destroyed by dragon fire, with no funds to replace it. A chance encounter with super rich super hot (🙄) Aiden from one of the most affluent dragon riding families couldn’t be timed better because he gives her a couple thousand dollars upfront plus $500 a week to train his baby dragon. Aiden’s neglect and overall disdain for his dragon is Saphira’s gain because the income supplements the cafe and she can live out her fantasy of owning a baby dragon which she isn’t allowed to do as she’s not from a dragon family. Not much else happens and they live happily ever after.
The most important thing to know is you shouldn’t read this is you’re wanting a ‘cosy romantasy’ as promised. This is a contemporary romance with dragons in place of dogs. Literally nothing about this plot would need to change if the dragons were substituted (including the FMC constantly referring to them as draggos 🤮). I hate contemporary romance so I would never have picked this up if I’d had more accurate expectations. The whole thing just made me cringe, from the insta-love to the spoiled rich MMC who is actually an asshole and this is all justified and excused by the FMC.
I like cosy fantasy because of the low stakes but there is not a single stake to be seen in this book. There is a potentially intriguing connection between the main characters in relation to the outlawed and dangerous sport of dragon racing, and it goes absolutely nowhere. This is the only plot point with an opportunity to create tension and drama that actually means something, and whenever it was brought up the result is basically ‘don’t worry it’s fine’. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
There is nothing original about any of the characters, and they all read significantly younger than they are. This books feels like a millennial trying to write a gen z cast and it’s disastrous. I normally don’t criticise the talent of authors because there will always be readers who love an author’s style, BUT I think this book was secretly written by a 12 year old or someone who should focus on writing for 12 year olds. The language is so plain and there’s a painful overuse of certain adjectives.
If you want an easy to read contemporary romance, I would say give it a go. This isn’t a book for fantasy readers.
This book has no redeeming qualities and I only dragged myself through it for my NetGalley ratio. 🥲
Following the death of her grandmother, Saphira uses her inheritance to an open the baby dragon cafe she had always dreamed of. In reality, this is an expensive endeavour and things are looking unsustainable when her espresso machine is destroyed by dragon fire, with no funds to replace it. A chance encounter with super rich super hot (🙄) Aiden from one of the most affluent dragon riding families couldn’t be timed better because he gives her a couple thousand dollars upfront plus $500 a week to train his baby dragon. Aiden’s neglect and overall disdain for his dragon is Saphira’s gain because the income supplements the cafe and she can live out her fantasy of owning a baby dragon which she isn’t allowed to do as she’s not from a dragon family. Not much else happens and they live happily ever after.
The most important thing to know is you shouldn’t read this is you’re wanting a ‘cosy romantasy’ as promised. This is a contemporary romance with dragons in place of dogs. Literally nothing about this plot would need to change if the dragons were substituted (including the FMC constantly referring to them as draggos 🤮). I hate contemporary romance so I would never have picked this up if I’d had more accurate expectations. The whole thing just made me cringe, from the insta-love to the spoiled rich MMC who is actually an asshole and this is all justified and excused by the FMC.
I like cosy fantasy because of the low stakes but there is not a single stake to be seen in this book. There is a potentially intriguing connection between the main characters in relation to the outlawed and dangerous sport of dragon racing, and it goes absolutely nowhere. This is the only plot point with an opportunity to create tension and drama that actually means something, and whenever it was brought up the result is basically ‘don’t worry it’s fine’. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
There is nothing original about any of the characters, and they all read significantly younger than they are. This books feels like a millennial trying to write a gen z cast and it’s disastrous. I normally don’t criticise the talent of authors because there will always be readers who love an author’s style, BUT I think this book was secretly written by a 12 year old or someone who should focus on writing for 12 year olds. The language is so plain and there’s a painful overuse of certain adjectives.
If you want an easy to read contemporary romance, I would say give it a go. This isn’t a book for fantasy readers.
May 23, 2025
✩ 3 stars ✩
What to Expect:
➼ Slow Burn
➼ Small Town
➼ Fake Marriage
➼ Only One Bed
➼ Closed Door
➼ Cozy Fantasy
➼ Dual Narration
➼ Third Person Dual POV
I’m grading this one on a cozy curve, but I honestly thought this was pretty cute. I was expecting this to be a low stakes palate cleanser and that’s exactly what it delivered. With all the fantasy I read, sometimes this is exactly the kind of book I’m looking for - something somewhat predictable with a guaranteed HEA that I can relax and enjoy.
Some of the writing choices and verbiage did bother me a little, but not enough to dramatically reduce my rating. In particular, I found the use of the word “drago” to be extremely cringe and the words “baby dragon” were included far too frequently in my opinion. As endearing as a baby dragon cafe sounds, it did also seem like the dragons were really not meant to be indoors. Sure, she earned enough money to cover her expenses this time, but clearly she should expect similar accidents like this in future. It all just seemed like a lot more trouble than it was worth to me honestly, but whatever makes her happy I guess. 🙃
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the Dream Harbor series (The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, etc.) because they definitley give off the same vibe. The same cozy Gilmore Girls esque small town feel with the addition of cute baby dragons! Win win!
Thank you to Harper Collins publishing and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. ✨
✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼
Pre-read: The Knight and the Moth is requiring more brain power than I currently have available, so I’m taking a break with some baby dragons. 🐉
Thank you to Harper Collins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. My first ever physical ARC! 🎉
≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫
Connect with me on Instagram
What to Expect:
➼ Slow Burn
➼ Small Town
➼ Fake Marriage
➼ Only One Bed
➼ Closed Door
➼ Cozy Fantasy
➼ Dual Narration
➼ Third Person Dual POV
I’m grading this one on a cozy curve, but I honestly thought this was pretty cute. I was expecting this to be a low stakes palate cleanser and that’s exactly what it delivered. With all the fantasy I read, sometimes this is exactly the kind of book I’m looking for - something somewhat predictable with a guaranteed HEA that I can relax and enjoy.
Some of the writing choices and verbiage did bother me a little, but not enough to dramatically reduce my rating. In particular, I found the use of the word “drago” to be extremely cringe and the words “baby dragon” were included far too frequently in my opinion. As endearing as a baby dragon cafe sounds, it did also seem like the dragons were really not meant to be indoors. Sure, she earned enough money to cover her expenses this time, but clearly she should expect similar accidents like this in future. It all just seemed like a lot more trouble than it was worth to me honestly, but whatever makes her happy I guess. 🙃
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the Dream Harbor series (The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, etc.) because they definitley give off the same vibe. The same cozy Gilmore Girls esque small town feel with the addition of cute baby dragons! Win win!
Thank you to Harper Collins publishing and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. ✨
✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼
Pre-read: The Knight and the Moth is requiring more brain power than I currently have available, so I’m taking a break with some baby dragons. 🐉
Thank you to Harper Collins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. My first ever physical ARC! 🎉
≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫
Connect with me on Instagram
January 18, 2025
DNF at 33%/page 106
The fact that this is listed as adult absolutely blows my mind. It reads as incredibly young YA - every now and again a character has a horny thought, but other than that, there is nothing to suggest that this should be called adult.
The writing. God, the writing. Whoever edited this, needs to find a different career.
This read like a first draft that needed A LOT of work done to it. More the bare bones of an idea than an actual, fully realised and developed story.
The info dumping is painful. The telling not showing is insane - everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) gets over explained. There is no trust in the reader to be able to either remember things that have just happened or to be able to understand any action or thought. So everything is repeated again and again.
The tone is so juvenile, even childish. The sentence structure and word choice is so simplistic and pedestrian. The number of times I was told that characters were laughing was a lot for the number of pages I’d read.
There was no depth to the characters at all. They were paper thin and just had no complexity whatsoever.
The romance was just cringe. The insta-lust was just eyerollingly cliche. The mmc and mfc had negative chemistry.
The attempts at backstory weren’t great, tho Aiden’s was easily the worst.
Then there is the fact that this is hardly even fantasy. Yes, there are dragons, but honestly, they’re a stand in for dogs and if you swapped every mention of dragons for dogs, you’d not notice the difference. There was nothing else fantastical in this story - if you removed the dragons, you’d have no idea that this was considered fantasy.
I guess if you’re not all that into fantasy, and like contemporary romance, that might now be a problem, but I want a cool fantasy world with my baby dragons.
Also: Sparky? There wasn’t a better name for a baby dragon? I’m unreasonably annoyed at how bad the name of the baby dragon is.
The fact that this is listed as adult absolutely blows my mind. It reads as incredibly young YA - every now and again a character has a horny thought, but other than that, there is nothing to suggest that this should be called adult.
The writing. God, the writing. Whoever edited this, needs to find a different career.
This read like a first draft that needed A LOT of work done to it. More the bare bones of an idea than an actual, fully realised and developed story.
The info dumping is painful. The telling not showing is insane - everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) gets over explained. There is no trust in the reader to be able to either remember things that have just happened or to be able to understand any action or thought. So everything is repeated again and again.
The tone is so juvenile, even childish. The sentence structure and word choice is so simplistic and pedestrian. The number of times I was told that characters were laughing was a lot for the number of pages I’d read.
There was no depth to the characters at all. They were paper thin and just had no complexity whatsoever.
The romance was just cringe. The insta-lust was just eyerollingly cliche. The mmc and mfc had negative chemistry.
The attempts at backstory weren’t great, tho Aiden’s was easily the worst.
Then there is the fact that this is hardly even fantasy. Yes, there are dragons, but honestly, they’re a stand in for dogs and if you swapped every mention of dragons for dogs, you’d not notice the difference. There was nothing else fantastical in this story - if you removed the dragons, you’d have no idea that this was considered fantasy.
I guess if you’re not all that into fantasy, and like contemporary romance, that might now be a problem, but I want a cool fantasy world with my baby dragons.
Also: Sparky? There wasn’t a better name for a baby dragon? I’m unreasonably annoyed at how bad the name of the baby dragon is.
May 23, 2025
Thoughts
Okay where can I get a pet dragon from?🫠🐉 this was so cute!!! -- yes it was obvious from the cover but I'm not gonna lie at first glance I was hesitant going into this thinking it would be boring and soulless 🙈 yes I know talk about judging a book by its cover.. Guilty 🙆🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️ but it delivered and took me by surprise and I just wanna be part of their tiny cutesy world 🥹 can't wait to dive into book 2 😍
Tropes
▪︎ Grumpy x sunshine
▪︎ Small town setting
▪︎ Cosy fantasy
▪︎ Fake marriage
▪︎ Low spice
▪︎ Dual POV
Plot Summary
Saphira has always dreamed of running her own café, and thanks to her late grandmother's inheritance, she opens the first baby dragon–friendly spot. But running a business full of little fire-breathers isn’t exactly easy. When grumpy gardener Aiden shows up needing help with his troublemaking dragon, the two clash—hard. As Saphira teaches him how to connect with his dragon ; sparks fly between them too. In the middle of cozy chaos, burnt furniture, and budding feelings, they just might find something even sweeter than coffee.
Okay where can I get a pet dragon from?🫠🐉 this was so cute!!! -- yes it was obvious from the cover but I'm not gonna lie at first glance I was hesitant going into this thinking it would be boring and soulless 🙈 yes I know talk about judging a book by its cover.. Guilty 🙆🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️ but it delivered and took me by surprise and I just wanna be part of their tiny cutesy world 🥹 can't wait to dive into book 2 😍
Tropes
▪︎ Grumpy x sunshine
▪︎ Small town setting
▪︎ Cosy fantasy
▪︎ Fake marriage
▪︎ Low spice
▪︎ Dual POV
Plot Summary
Saphira has always dreamed of running her own café, and thanks to her late grandmother's inheritance, she opens the first baby dragon–friendly spot. But running a business full of little fire-breathers isn’t exactly easy. When grumpy gardener Aiden shows up needing help with his troublemaking dragon, the two clash—hard. As Saphira teaches him how to connect with his dragon ; sparks fly between them too. In the middle of cozy chaos, burnt furniture, and budding feelings, they just might find something even sweeter than coffee.
January 16, 2025
DNF, whoever edited this book needs to be fired
July 31, 2025
➳ 3.75 ☆! 🥯 spoiler free + mini review
⤷ very cozy and i cant wait for book 2 !!!
₊‧꒰my thoughts꒱ ‧₊
⤷ omg this was the perfect book to read after all the crazy book i read at the beginning of this month😭 i honestly thought it would be lower than a 3 because of the avg but i was pleasantly shocked! this book is nothing crazy, but it def has its own charm that i dont see in every book! it seemed insta-lovey, but not really bc it took a while til they finally admitted feelings 🙂↕️ writing was also super cute and matched the vibes for this book! i mean, ill admit there were some quirky moments but honestly im just here for all the fluff sooo...!! anyway, i can already see all the future couples and found family so im super happy w this read 🤭 happy early fall tehe !!
➳ “Saphira knew she should be practical and wear trousers or jeans, but she loved how a pretty skirt made her feel. (Her love for aesthetics over practicality was a real problem.)”
➳ “I don’t like coffee,' he said, sounding fully and absolutely serious.
Saphira gasped, a bit dramatically, but he had said something quite horrifying. She clutched her heart as if she’d been shot.”
----------------------
🥯| ₊‧꒰preview!!꒱ ‧₊
⤷ starting a cute lil fall book at the end of july? yes. yes i am. after all of the other books ive been reading, this is my reward! a sweet and lighthearted romcom BUT with dragons and cafes! already loving it 🫂💐
⤷ very cozy and i cant wait for book 2 !!!
“It feels like everything leading up to meeting you was just the prologue to my life; after meeting you, the real story began. Like my real life started the day I met you. Which is all to say—I love you. Deeply, passionately, madly, I love you.”
₊‧꒰my thoughts꒱ ‧₊
⤷ omg this was the perfect book to read after all the crazy book i read at the beginning of this month😭 i honestly thought it would be lower than a 3 because of the avg but i was pleasantly shocked! this book is nothing crazy, but it def has its own charm that i dont see in every book! it seemed insta-lovey, but not really bc it took a while til they finally admitted feelings 🙂↕️ writing was also super cute and matched the vibes for this book! i mean, ill admit there were some quirky moments but honestly im just here for all the fluff sooo...!! anyway, i can already see all the future couples and found family so im super happy w this read 🤭 happy early fall tehe !!
➳ “Saphira knew she should be practical and wear trousers or jeans, but she loved how a pretty skirt made her feel. (Her love for aesthetics over practicality was a real problem.)”
➳ “I don’t like coffee,' he said, sounding fully and absolutely serious.
Saphira gasped, a bit dramatically, but he had said something quite horrifying. She clutched her heart as if she’d been shot.”
----------------------
🥯| ₊‧꒰preview!!꒱ ‧₊
⤷ starting a cute lil fall book at the end of july? yes. yes i am. after all of the other books ive been reading, this is my reward! a sweet and lighthearted romcom BUT with dragons and cafes! already loving it 🫂💐
January 23, 2025
A cozy fantasy by a Muslim author!!!
Tropes:
✨grumpy x sunshine
✨fake marriage
✨pet baby dragons
✨small town
✨desi inspired cafe
☕️ 2 or 3 sittings read
☕️ very low stakes
☕️ light and comforting
☕️ writing is YA but there is slightly more intimate scenes towards the end (no spice)
☕️ cinematic setting I could fully picture it in my head
I received a digital advance reader copy from the publisher via Edelweiss plus. All opinions are my own.
Tropes:
✨grumpy x sunshine
✨fake marriage
✨pet baby dragons
✨small town
✨desi inspired cafe
☕️ 2 or 3 sittings read
☕️ very low stakes
☕️ light and comforting
☕️ writing is YA but there is slightly more intimate scenes towards the end (no spice)
☕️ cinematic setting I could fully picture it in my head
I received a digital advance reader copy from the publisher via Edelweiss plus. All opinions are my own.
Want to read
October 18, 2024The Baby Dragon Café? This book better be getting the cutest cover ever.
Update: Well yes, this is cute.
Update: Well yes, this is cute.
February 23, 2025
Listen, I am 100% that millennial that still says "doggo", and even I found the term "draggo" to be insufferable. Someone fire those editors too, because they slept on this job.
March 7, 2025
I have nothing nice to say about this book, but sometimes, constructive feedback is a kindness in itself. I know it is not easy for Qureshi to be a marginalized writer (Muslim, Pakistani) in a predominantly white industry. At the same time, we cannot blindly praise projects solely on the basis of identity politics. Bad writing is bad writing, regardless of how the author identifies.
THE BAD WRITING IN QUESTION:
Before I speak, let me just share these excerpts.
The usage of exclamation points is actually very excessive in this novel.
“Draggo.”
Stopped was used twice within the paragraph.
Out of context, you would expect the writing to be from a middle grade book, younger YA at most. This is an adult cozy romantasy novel. The main characters are 25 and 28, respectively. Unfortunately, they read as teenagers, but more on that later.
If I can offer some Qureshi lore here, the author was contracted with a book deal in her early twenties. She started off with a small publishing company for a passable YA historic romance novel (though I think it was billed as fantasy), then went on to write a YA contemporary, before getting agented and taking on a adult romance retelling of Emma. Avon UK hired out Qureshi for this cozy romantsy series featuring a dragon world so we can expect The Dragon Bakery cafe later this year, as well as a YA Fantasy featuring witches. THIS IS IMPRESSIVE, she should be proud of getting so many book deals. BUT. The nonstop pace of these projects is working against her ability to grow as a writer and this book in particular shines through as something wholly insufficient for a writer who’s been in the game for 4? 5? years now.
I fear there is no one in the author’s close circle who is being honest with her about how poor and stagnant her writing continues to be despite her many books. When I read, I manage to forgive a lot because the point is suspension of disbelief. But bad writing takes me completely out of the story: sloppy sentence structure, awkward phrases, and random zillenial lingo were especially terrible in the prose of this book.
INFANTILIZED MAIN CHARACTERS:
The FMC is named Saphira and she owns The Baby Dragon cafe. The MMC is Aiden and he is part of an esteemed dragon rider family but prefers to garden, the only problem is that his late brother left him a dragon egg and the resulting baby dragon needs to be trained. After the most random run-in at Saphira’s cafe after hours, Aiden sees her positively interact with his dragon Sparky and hires her to train him.
THE TWO OF THEM ARE SAURRR CRINGE TO READ ABOUT I AM SORRY.
I think there was a lot of potential for character building, clearly the two of them are dealing with grief as Saphira is an orphan and Aiden lost his brother. But their inner monologues are nonsensical candy floss:
“The usage of “ma’am” in reference to her was a low blow, making her feel ancient at age twenty-five, when really she was so young and spry!”
*
“Saphira stared at his hands as he worked, the long, elegant fingers, the veins leading up his forearms, then the shape of his biceps. Heat flushed through her, and she had the inane urge to bite him.”
*
“When Aiden had found Sparky, all she felt was relief—until Aiden snapped at Sparky. Snapped! At a baby! Who did that?!
Did Aiden not know how special and wonderful Sparky was? He simply took the baby dragon for granted. If Sparky was hers, she would never do that.”
*
“Okay, give me two seconds.” She gave Sparky a little treat, then got to work at the espresso machine, then handed him a mug of what seemed to be a latte, except it had a greenish tint to it.
Far be it from him to question her, however. She looked at him expectantly. Holding his breath, he took a small sip, bracing for the green tint to mean the milk was curdled or expired or fungus-ridden.
But he was surprised to find it tasted perfectly fine; it was pretty good, actually, with a nutty flavor.
“It’s good,” he told her. “What is it?”
“A cappuccino made with pistachio milk.”
“Oh? I’ve literally never heard of that before.”
MAYBE THIS WORKS FOR PEOPLE. But for me, the narrative almost seemed to infantilize these two supposedly adult characters. I would not trust either to drive a car, let alone rear a baby dragon.
SPEAKING OF CARS,,,,,,,,
LIGHTLARK LEVEL WORLD BUILDING:
Remember when we all kinda laughed at how Alex Aster named everything so on the nose (ie. Isla going to the Lightlark Island, Oro king of Sunling, Grimdark ruler of Nightshade, Azul rule of Skyling, etc.). Well Qureshi said to hold her drink because in The Baby Dragon cafe we have:
- red dragons called Garneta breed
- yellow dragons called the Opala breed
- blue dragons of the Azure breed
Mind you, we do not get further clarification on how all these dragons are distinct. I personally don’t get the latest dragon craze that’s sweeping through the romantasy world, but I would think the most interesting thing about dragons in your story would be freedom to go wild with inventing new species and lore. Literally How to Train Your Dragon gave y’all the blueprint! What is going on with these generic dragons that have no interesting evolutionary features?
You may argue that the dragons are babies so they don’t reveal the breadth of their abilities in the story. But I find that so utterly boring. With the way Qureshi set the world up, the dragons could be placeholders for dogs as other reviewers have mentioned. *Shivers* Draggo, doggo.
I’m also at a lost for how to place the setting of this story. The fantasy aspect is the dragons but there is SO MUCH modern lingo that kept driving me CRAZY:
“Don’t gas him up too much,” she said. “One compliment was more than enough.”
*
“Oooh pretty. There’s a bit of formality to it that makes me feel like I’m in Pride and Prejudice.”
*
“Thank you.”
“Love you, byeeeee.”
IT’S SO ODD NGL, every reference to IRL stuff just wrenched out of the story. Another writer might been able to pull it off. But Qureshi is so ON THE NOSE with everything that you can see how the story will unfold from a mile away. Case in point: she set up the characters and tropes for the next few books, Theo x Lavinia (friends to lovers) and Emmeline x Luke (enemies to lovers). I swear subtly is a lost art.
CONCLUSION:
The author needs to take a break, go to a writing retreat, take some lessons on craft. She has potential for sure, but the speed in which she writes everything is creating slop in book format that will turn off potential readers.
***
PRE-READING:
Crossing my fingers that the guy isn’t white (me from the future: He was in fact, white)
THE BAD WRITING IN QUESTION:
Before I speak, let me just share these excerpts.
”What were you guys talking about?” Theo asked.
“Sparky and his sexy rider,” Lavinia said, giggling to herself.
Saphira made an affronted face. “I do not remember even once referring to Sparky’s rider as sexy!”
The usage of exclamation points is actually very excessive in this novel.
”How could he not want to pick Sparky up every moment he got? Saphira loved being around the little draggo, holding him in her arms, smushing his little face, keeping him always as close as possible.
Aiden must have sensed Saphira was peeved because he bent down and scooped Sparky up. Sparky got a bit hissy for a moment, but then he seemed to remember Saphira was watching and glanced over his shoulder at her. She gave him a stern glance, and Sparky begrudgingly remained calm.”
“Draggo.”
”Aiden stopped then, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Was he being lame? He must have been boring her with his superfluous botanical knowledge. He stopped, feeling awkward”
Stopped was used twice within the paragraph.
Out of context, you would expect the writing to be from a middle grade book, younger YA at most. This is an adult cozy romantasy novel. The main characters are 25 and 28, respectively. Unfortunately, they read as teenagers, but more on that later.
If I can offer some Qureshi lore here, the author was contracted with a book deal in her early twenties. She started off with a small publishing company for a passable YA historic romance novel (though I think it was billed as fantasy), then went on to write a YA contemporary, before getting agented and taking on a adult romance retelling of Emma. Avon UK hired out Qureshi for this cozy romantsy series featuring a dragon world so we can expect The Dragon Bakery cafe later this year, as well as a YA Fantasy featuring witches. THIS IS IMPRESSIVE, she should be proud of getting so many book deals. BUT. The nonstop pace of these projects is working against her ability to grow as a writer and this book in particular shines through as something wholly insufficient for a writer who’s been in the game for 4? 5? years now.
I fear there is no one in the author’s close circle who is being honest with her about how poor and stagnant her writing continues to be despite her many books. When I read, I manage to forgive a lot because the point is suspension of disbelief. But bad writing takes me completely out of the story: sloppy sentence structure, awkward phrases, and random zillenial lingo were especially terrible in the prose of this book.
INFANTILIZED MAIN CHARACTERS:
The FMC is named Saphira and she owns The Baby Dragon cafe. The MMC is Aiden and he is part of an esteemed dragon rider family but prefers to garden, the only problem is that his late brother left him a dragon egg and the resulting baby dragon needs to be trained. After the most random run-in at Saphira’s cafe after hours, Aiden sees her positively interact with his dragon Sparky and hires her to train him.
THE TWO OF THEM ARE SAURRR CRINGE TO READ ABOUT I AM SORRY.
I think there was a lot of potential for character building, clearly the two of them are dealing with grief as Saphira is an orphan and Aiden lost his brother. But their inner monologues are nonsensical candy floss:
“The usage of “ma’am” in reference to her was a low blow, making her feel ancient at age twenty-five, when really she was so young and spry!”
*
“Saphira stared at his hands as he worked, the long, elegant fingers, the veins leading up his forearms, then the shape of his biceps. Heat flushed through her, and she had the inane urge to bite him.”
*
“When Aiden had found Sparky, all she felt was relief—until Aiden snapped at Sparky. Snapped! At a baby! Who did that?!
Did Aiden not know how special and wonderful Sparky was? He simply took the baby dragon for granted. If Sparky was hers, she would never do that.”
*
“Okay, give me two seconds.” She gave Sparky a little treat, then got to work at the espresso machine, then handed him a mug of what seemed to be a latte, except it had a greenish tint to it.
Far be it from him to question her, however. She looked at him expectantly. Holding his breath, he took a small sip, bracing for the green tint to mean the milk was curdled or expired or fungus-ridden.
But he was surprised to find it tasted perfectly fine; it was pretty good, actually, with a nutty flavor.
“It’s good,” he told her. “What is it?”
“A cappuccino made with pistachio milk.”
“Oh? I’ve literally never heard of that before.”
MAYBE THIS WORKS FOR PEOPLE. But for me, the narrative almost seemed to infantilize these two supposedly adult characters. I would not trust either to drive a car, let alone rear a baby dragon.
SPEAKING OF CARS,,,,,,,,
LIGHTLARK LEVEL WORLD BUILDING:
Remember when we all kinda laughed at how Alex Aster named everything so on the nose (ie. Isla going to the Lightlark Island, Oro king of Sunling, Grimdark ruler of Nightshade, Azul rule of Skyling, etc.). Well Qureshi said to hold her drink because in The Baby Dragon cafe we have:
- red dragons called Garneta breed
- yellow dragons called the Opala breed
- blue dragons of the Azure breed
Mind you, we do not get further clarification on how all these dragons are distinct. I personally don’t get the latest dragon craze that’s sweeping through the romantasy world, but I would think the most interesting thing about dragons in your story would be freedom to go wild with inventing new species and lore. Literally How to Train Your Dragon gave y’all the blueprint! What is going on with these generic dragons that have no interesting evolutionary features?
You may argue that the dragons are babies so they don’t reveal the breadth of their abilities in the story. But I find that so utterly boring. With the way Qureshi set the world up, the dragons could be placeholders for dogs as other reviewers have mentioned. *Shivers* Draggo, doggo.
I’m also at a lost for how to place the setting of this story. The fantasy aspect is the dragons but there is SO MUCH modern lingo that kept driving me CRAZY:
“Don’t gas him up too much,” she said. “One compliment was more than enough.”
*
“Oooh pretty. There’s a bit of formality to it that makes me feel like I’m in Pride and Prejudice.”
*
“Thank you.”
“Love you, byeeeee.”
IT’S SO ODD NGL, every reference to IRL stuff just wrenched out of the story. Another writer might been able to pull it off. But Qureshi is so ON THE NOSE with everything that you can see how the story will unfold from a mile away. Case in point: she set up the characters and tropes for the next few books, Theo x Lavinia (friends to lovers) and Emmeline x Luke (enemies to lovers). I swear subtly is a lost art.
CONCLUSION:
The author needs to take a break, go to a writing retreat, take some lessons on craft. She has potential for sure, but the speed in which she writes everything is creating slop in book format that will turn off potential readers.
***
PRE-READING:
Crossing my fingers that the guy isn’t white (me from the future: He was in fact, white)
February 18, 2025
So far I'm having no luck with NetGalley reads. And again, I'm left wondering if I read a different book than almost everyone else? (Update: now that it's been released I'm not feeling this way anymore!)
Obviously I requested this because of the dragons, but there is practically nothing else going for this book. HOWEVER, if you like a book with zero stakes and are not picky about sentence structure, you might enjoy this!
The writing was awkward (sentence structure) and bland (in its entirety), making me wonder if it's undergone any editing beyond basic spelling and grammar. Definitely better than the other NetGalley ARC I just read, but still astonishing that this is considered publishable. I FIRMLY believe the author can do better than this, because this read like a first draft.
The characters were one-dimensional, to the point that the "conflict" in the last twenty pages (not even kidding) is described to us as the result of "something they had talked about once". Like???? If this was to be the dramatic (albeit low-stakes) ending of the story, some foreshadowing or something would have been appreciated. I know it was briefly mentioned once or twice before, but you're telling me (SPOILER) the supposedly super judgy dragon riders let her open a cafe and hang out with baby dragons all day without a WORD???? And we're supposed to believe that she feels like an outsider NOW??? There really needed to be more solid buildup in order for this to hit the way it was intended to. It came out of nowhere and disappeared within the same chapter.
I DID like how their friendship was an important part of the story, but the rest of their relationship (and every relationship) was so inconsistent that I couldn't even really appreciate that.
There were some potentially interesting plot points, especially with illegal dragon racing and Sparky being one of the most-trafficked breeds, but that also went nowhere. On that note, I can say this book did genuinely surprise me: all of the little things dropped about potential plot points or conflict ended up not being important at all.
Obviously I requested this because of the dragons, but there is practically nothing else going for this book. HOWEVER, if you like a book with zero stakes and are not picky about sentence structure, you might enjoy this!
The writing was awkward (sentence structure) and bland (in its entirety), making me wonder if it's undergone any editing beyond basic spelling and grammar. Definitely better than the other NetGalley ARC I just read, but still astonishing that this is considered publishable. I FIRMLY believe the author can do better than this, because this read like a first draft.
The characters were one-dimensional, to the point that the "conflict" in the last twenty pages (not even kidding) is described to us as the result of "something they had talked about once". Like???? If this was to be the dramatic (albeit low-stakes) ending of the story, some foreshadowing or something would have been appreciated. I know it was briefly mentioned once or twice before, but you're telling me (SPOILER) the supposedly super judgy dragon riders let her open a cafe and hang out with baby dragons all day without a WORD???? And we're supposed to believe that she feels like an outsider NOW??? There really needed to be more solid buildup in order for this to hit the way it was intended to. It came out of nowhere and disappeared within the same chapter.
I DID like how their friendship was an important part of the story, but the rest of their relationship (and every relationship) was so inconsistent that I couldn't even really appreciate that.
There were some potentially interesting plot points, especially with illegal dragon racing and Sparky being one of the most-trafficked breeds, but that also went nowhere. On that note, I can say this book did genuinely surprise me: all of the little things dropped about potential plot points or conflict ended up not being important at all.
January 28, 2025
I have never been so happy for a book to be over. I lost so many braincells reading this so here is a rant <3 Also I didn't take notes... this is all off the top of my head so you really know how deep this affected me:
Writing
- the book reads like a children's picture book and if you take out the romance and made it that instead I would have enjoyed myself a lot more (but thats not saying much).
- The plot was ALL OVER. Why was there a main climax in the final 20 pages? When the previous 100 pages were filled with cringe couples content.
- Writing was bland and cringe. Sounded like a 10 year old. "glittering and glimmering". gorl what.
- Nothing interesting happened, there was potential here and there and I saw some plot lines going somewhere but nope...
Characters
-Aiden is a child. Saphira was repeatedly teaching him life lessons you would teach a 5 year old such as: 'be brave' and 'life is beautiful'. And the author did not convey these lessons in a mature way... those phrases were literally said. multiple times.
-Aiden was worried the whole book about his mommy and daddy making him fly dragons... um sir aren't you 30?... with your own buisness? And when he finally confronted them about it they didnt care at all. are you 10 years old? not only did 'you only start living once you met your girlfriend' but you also don't have BASIC communication skills.
-Aiden and Saphira are both children. You are both adults, clearly into eachother I get the slow burn for a while but holy fuck it was so immature. There are meant to be external forces that cause a slow burn, but instead I felt like I was reading about two awkward teenagers who have never spoken to the opposite gender.
-Aiden gave me the ick. "Only the best for my best girl" When I read that on the page I felt my world stop. Literally I looked at that line for 5 minutes. And thats not even the worst of what he said... I blocked out the rest.
- Saphira is also a child. Seriously... some girls talking shit about you... privately... not even to ur face makes you go risk your life? Seriously? How old are you?
- There is also no reasonings behind their actions most of the time like Saphira backing away from him... no reason... author just wanted to drag out the romance (and boy, she did).
Romance
- This is not adult. This is YA (ok maybe a bit over the line for YA but its closed doors ffs) I feel lied too.
- This relationship is not healthy. Constantly being together, always on the phone and claiming there is no life without one another (1 week or less into the relationship) is not cute and romantic its creepy and love bombing.
- Nothing was sexy. Everything was awkward and beyond cringe. There is no banter... they are literally just silent most of the time.
This makes me never want to read a contemporary romance ever again... and I actually probably wont I am traumatised. All to think this was meant to be a cozy fantasy... WHAT A JOKE.
Writing
- the book reads like a children's picture book and if you take out the romance and made it that instead I would have enjoyed myself a lot more (but thats not saying much).
- The plot was ALL OVER. Why was there a main climax in the final 20 pages? When the previous 100 pages were filled with cringe couples content.
- Writing was bland and cringe. Sounded like a 10 year old. "glittering and glimmering". gorl what.
- Nothing interesting happened, there was potential here and there and I saw some plot lines going somewhere but nope...
Characters
-Aiden is a child. Saphira was repeatedly teaching him life lessons you would teach a 5 year old such as: 'be brave' and 'life is beautiful'. And the author did not convey these lessons in a mature way... those phrases were literally said. multiple times.
-Aiden was worried the whole book about his mommy and daddy making him fly dragons... um sir aren't you 30?... with your own buisness? And when he finally confronted them about it they didnt care at all. are you 10 years old? not only did 'you only start living once you met your girlfriend' but you also don't have BASIC communication skills.
-Aiden and Saphira are both children. You are both adults, clearly into eachother I get the slow burn for a while but holy fuck it was so immature. There are meant to be external forces that cause a slow burn, but instead I felt like I was reading about two awkward teenagers who have never spoken to the opposite gender.
-Aiden gave me the ick. "Only the best for my best girl" When I read that on the page I felt my world stop. Literally I looked at that line for 5 minutes. And thats not even the worst of what he said... I blocked out the rest.
- Saphira is also a child. Seriously... some girls talking shit about you... privately... not even to ur face makes you go risk your life? Seriously? How old are you?
- There is also no reasonings behind their actions most of the time like Saphira backing away from him... no reason... author just wanted to drag out the romance (and boy, she did).
Romance
- This is not adult. This is YA (ok maybe a bit over the line for YA but its closed doors ffs) I feel lied too.
- This relationship is not healthy. Constantly being together, always on the phone and claiming there is no life without one another (1 week or less into the relationship) is not cute and romantic its creepy and love bombing.
- Nothing was sexy. Everything was awkward and beyond cringe. There is no banter... they are literally just silent most of the time.
This makes me never want to read a contemporary romance ever again... and I actually probably wont I am traumatised. All to think this was meant to be a cozy fantasy... WHAT A JOKE.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2025
It feels criminal to rate such a cute, cozy book 2 stars. Dear publishers, for the love of dragons, marketing this as a cozy fantasy romance is an absolute disservice. This is contemporary romance with a fantasy skin on.
I do like a couple things about this book:
🐲 I really like the protagonist; she is almost too much of a sunshine, but I liked her drive and how she dealt with her various little conundrums
🐲 a relationship with equal parts romantic attraction and being silly, comfortable best friends
However:
😔 the writing is incredibly simplistic
😔 the fact that there are dragons, the reason I wanted to read this, almost made me mad instead by the end of the book. The fantasy aspect is highly irrelevant and shallow.
😔 the plot has no, and I really mean zero, stakes, which made for quite frankly a dull read. There were little crumbs of intrigue and points of interest scattered throughout the book that did not amount to anything, only a predictably happy ending.
Thank you to the author, Harper Collins Australia and NetGalley for the eARC. I leave this review voluntarily.
I do like a couple things about this book:
🐲 I really like the protagonist; she is almost too much of a sunshine, but I liked her drive and how she dealt with her various little conundrums
🐲 a relationship with equal parts romantic attraction and being silly, comfortable best friends
However:
😔 the writing is incredibly simplistic
😔 the fact that there are dragons, the reason I wanted to read this, almost made me mad instead by the end of the book. The fantasy aspect is highly irrelevant and shallow.
😔 the plot has no, and I really mean zero, stakes, which made for quite frankly a dull read. There were little crumbs of intrigue and points of interest scattered throughout the book that did not amount to anything, only a predictably happy ending.
Thank you to the author, Harper Collins Australia and NetGalley for the eARC. I leave this review voluntarily.
March 16, 2025
The Baby Dragon Café is a cute, low spice cosy romance read I found lovely and relaxing to snuggle down with.
Saphira runs the Baby Dragon Cafe after losing her grandmother and using her inheritance to fulfil her childhood dream of running a cafe filled with baby dragons. Saphira loves her café but the little dragons have a tendency to cause damage, and her savings are quickly draining. When Aiden visits the cafe and sees how good she is with the baby dragons and finding out she's struggling to keep it open he strikes up a deal with Saphira; she will train his baby dragon and in exchange he will pay her handsomely for her time. But Aiden is strongly attracted to Saphira and as he learns more about her, he vows to protect her but keep her at arms length which is very hard when he needs to start spending more time with her to bond with his baby dragon Sparky. Saphira can't understand why Aidrn is so reluctant to bond with his dragon and would have given everything to have a dragon of her own.
This was a predictable but sweet grumpy-sunshine read with likeable characters, a unique setting and intriguing and absolutely adorable baby dragons.
Saphira runs the Baby Dragon Cafe after losing her grandmother and using her inheritance to fulfil her childhood dream of running a cafe filled with baby dragons. Saphira loves her café but the little dragons have a tendency to cause damage, and her savings are quickly draining. When Aiden visits the cafe and sees how good she is with the baby dragons and finding out she's struggling to keep it open he strikes up a deal with Saphira; she will train his baby dragon and in exchange he will pay her handsomely for her time. But Aiden is strongly attracted to Saphira and as he learns more about her, he vows to protect her but keep her at arms length which is very hard when he needs to start spending more time with her to bond with his baby dragon Sparky. Saphira can't understand why Aidrn is so reluctant to bond with his dragon and would have given everything to have a dragon of her own.
This was a predictable but sweet grumpy-sunshine read with likeable characters, a unique setting and intriguing and absolutely adorable baby dragons.
February 9, 2025
I have come away from this book feeling like I regained my virginity
March 1, 2025
This is as cute as the cover looks! Alternative title: How to Train Your Baby Dragon. 🐉 A perfect cosy grumpy meets sunshine contemporary romantasy about
a kind café owner, a grumpy gardener
and, of course,
baby dragons.
This small-town romance also contains tropes of slowburn, forced proximity and fake marriage. Alas,
no spice
! If you like The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore and Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, you’ll love this.
[ Contains some spoilers ]
PLOT SUMMARY
25-year-old Saphira Margala has always dreamed of running her own café. Her grandmother, the last of her family left, passed away a year ago, leaving an inheritance large enough for her to pursue her dreams of opening the first ever café in Starshine Valley for baby dragons. This also allows her to mingle with dragons as she does not have one of her own.
Though, after 6 months of the café being open, she can see why this has not been done before: baby dragons are very problematic as they cannot fly or control their fire powers until they are older – so they are constantly bumping into things and burning furniture respectively. This also makes them rather expensive guests as she needs to repair or replace the damages, costing her more than she can afford.
28-year-old Aiden Sterling is a gardener and a member of one of the Drakkon families who have owned dragons for years. His family are the forerunners of dragon racing (an illegal sport) and his parents want him to follow in the family’s footsteps. He disapproves of their ways and, since the death of his younger brother Danny, has shut himself away. However 6 months ago, a dragon egg belonging to Danny’s late dragon hatches, putting Aiden in a tricky predicament raising the baby dragon as this is the last gift Danny gave him and he doesn’t want to let him down. But he also doesn’t want to bond with Sparky.
Sparky is a very mischievous dragon who Aiden finds difficult to tame. When Saphira and Aiden cross paths and Sparky immediately warms to Saphira, Aiden comes up with an excellent idea: Saphira can train Sparky, and he will pay her enough to keep the café going.
Saphira wants Aiden to see the progress they have made by spending time with them. When situations arise, they both have to pretend they are a married couple in order to aid Sparky’s training. Saphira is viewed as an outsider. Aiden carries the guilt of what happened to Saphira’s mother. They mistake their distancing as a wish for friendship. The training won’t last forever. When it is over, what then?
OVERALL OPINIONS
As someone who is constantly on the look for books about dragons, I was so happy to encounter this which is about little baby dragons and their stubbornness—which made me wish I had one of my own! This was a lovely quick read as I didn’t want to put it down. with some funny moments! If you want something cosy with low risks, this is the book for you. It has all the vibes of a Studio Ghibli movie.
ㅤ 🧁 the author ☕
This is Qureshi’s fifth book, the second of her adult romances. I do have to say that I would not classify this as an adult book, more young adult. It feels like Qureshi is more used to creating ya novels so does not know how to write more of an adult book. This was more of a disappointing element, I will not lie, but I have enjoyed this.
As far as representation is concerned, this was great! There was lovely Muslim representation through the mention of Saphira’s culture, upbringing, Mughals and Urdu poetry. Lavinia provides curvy representation from the description of her body type. I also think that Aiden’s extreme social anxiety and desire to rehearse words before interacting reminds me of neurodivergent people and I feel this was intentional, in the best possible way.
ㅤ 🧁 the series ☕
This is the first book in The Baby Dragon Series. Qureshi has beautifully set the scene for our upcoming couples. The next story, yet to be released, is called The Baby Dragon Bakery, about Saphira’s friend Lavinia the vet and Theo the apprentice and delivery boy at the bakery. They are childhood friends and while Lavinia insists they are only as such, there is definitely more to it:
I have my suspicions that the book after that The Baby Dragon Bookshop may be about Luke Hayward who runs a rival chimera-roasted coffee company Tempest to Emmeline Sterling’s dragon-roasted coffee Inferno. Luke and either Emmeline for the enemies-to-lovers trope or Genevive considering she is studying Dragon History and will probably be interested in the bookshop. This remains to be seen.
ㅤ 🧁 world-building and plot ☕
The world-building is arguably the best part of the book. Qureshi provides a lot of information about Starshine Valley and the Drakkon families. There are different types of dragons too: Azura (blue), opala (white), garneta (red) and basalta (black), named after different stones.
I like that the Valley is divided into sections to inhabit certain animals: the biggest of these divisions is dragons as they are the most common along Main Street; griffins are at the Pines; phoenixes at the Heights; chimeras too! The Animal Hospital where Lavinia works is the perfect opportunity to cover the other animals in Book 2. I hope Qureshi takes the chance to explore more of the world as the series progresses as this has been established rather well! I would especially love more of a backstory on that large old dragon in the mountains.
This book’s plot is full of uniqueness. A contemporary setting where fantasy creatures and humans alike live. It blends nicely with a lot of real-life problems in a fantasy setting, like practical things like money and insurance but also personal issues like belonging. There were missed opportunities that should have been covered: the illegal racing (a very fascinating subject) or more significantly, Sparky’s dragon breed. He is meant to be one of the rarer and more expensive breeds, best for dragon racing. There was a potential to have Sparky get kidnapped and placed in the races and Saphira and Aiden could have worked together to rescue him.
Some of the story was show not tell, or things that could have been revealed later in a conversation rather than supplied as a backstory for the reader.
Danny should have been discussed in a conversation Aiden has with Saphira, for example. The part where we get “he recalled something she had said about her favorite flower and started planning”, this was a really sweet scene but omit this and make when he reveals the place with the flowers a surprise for both Saphira, and us the reader.
There weren’t enough conflicts, and the ones here are handled poorly:
• The actual conflict of them being like “oh they don’t love me, we must just be friends” felt too forced.
• I thought there would be more conflict through the secret about her mother coming out, especially because he fears she will hate him. He just comes out with it a third of the way through the story and she’s completely fine?? What, then, was the point? And why does Lavinia not know this secret since a lot of the other people in society do?
• The issue about her not belonging happens suddenly at the end and she leaves Aiden to undergo the ritual. I think there was more opportunity to explore this, more tension about her café and how people view her near the start.
ㅤ 🧁 parallels ☕
There were some really fascinating parallels in this book. The best was the comparison between dragons and dogs. Not only are they called “draggos” like “doggos” (a term I adored rather than cringed at) but they behave a lot like dogs too. The training process for dragons is akin to dogs, getting them to sit and feeding treats. Just like dogs, they cope with a lot of stressful things but freak out getting vaccine shots. But, more realistically and heartbreakingly, specific breeds of dragons are trafficked and put into illegal races, much like how greyhounds are put into dog races.
I like the parallels between Aiden and Saphira . They both don’t follow the crowd or expectations. They both want to try and fulfil their late family member’s wish: Saphira’s grandmother Nani-Ma left her the inheritance so Saphira can follow her dream of opening a café and she feels she is failing as she struggles to keep it open; Aiden’s brother Danny left him the dragon egg containing Sparky and Aiden feels it is all he has left of Danny so tries to look after it but feels he is failing because Sparky is misbehaving.
I love that she gets the chance to defend Aiden. And vice-versa. Stereotypically, in stories, men often are the ones defending women so this was nice to see here. I also like that Qureshi emphasises that women can be strong and independent and still have a man beside them – too many shows and books want women to think that is weak these days to be with a man.
ㅤ🧁 simplistic writing style with repetition and pacing issues ☕
The writing was touching and sweet, but lacking in real vivid descriptions at the best of times. There were some gorgeous quotes though, which you can find in my favourite quotes section below.
Various aspects were repetitive, almost like each chapter was a standalone instead of the book, reminding me of things as if I had forgotten what I had just read. Exact same phrasing. For example, both Chapter 2 and 5 mention Aiden having “to either give the dragon to his family or take care of it himself”. And I know that Lavinia and Saphira have known each other since they were little, no need to bring it up just about every time! And we already have a scene where she is surprised to find Aiden in the café instead of heading round the back since we all know he hates interacting. Too repetitive. Please do something else.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the number of times they get interrupted. The pattern goes: they spend time together, they get closer, they’re going to kiss, something happens and they get interrupted and they spring apart. I don’t know how many times this happened but it was far too many!
A few consistency issues: Chapter 11 she describes her as pretty but earlier she was beautiful. I think beautiful is a stronger word so why is it reduced to pretty? Start with pretty and build up to beautiful, then.
ㅤ🧁 to conclude ☕
Overall, this is a 3.5 rounded up. I expected more, but this has a lot of potential to be a good series if the author takes feedback on board.
<< Positives >>
🠚The cover is super cute!! This was the thing that immediately drew me to it. It’s so warm and inviting – like Saphira’s café itself!
🠚Aiden and Saphira’s romance is adorable! I especially loved the scene of them having a snowball fight. Indeed, there were lovely little moments like when Aiden makes food for Saphira and Sparky jumps on her to make sure she doesn’t get up haha.
🠚Aiden and Saphira are mature and act their age of late 20s early 30s. They communicate fairly well.
🠚Love the whole concept of this book: the merge of contemporary and fantasy.
🠚The dragons, obviously! Especially Sparky, he is so cute and always trying to help.
🠚The depiction of coping through grief was done well.
🠚The world-building was the strongest element.
<< Negatives >>
🠚This feels more like a young adult book than an adult book. I suggest Qureshi either changes the category this is under or ups her next books in the series to an adult book standard.
🠚A black dragon is missing from the book cover to represent Sparky and I would have loved if Saphira and Aiden had been included too, perhaps silhouetted in one of the windows – or standing at each window looking at each other.
🠚There are simplistic descriptions at the best of times.
🠚The plot jumped around significantly: one minute they’re here, the next they’ve gone over there.
🠚I would have loved if the time hadn’t jumped so much. Two weeks of training Sparky go by and he improves, for example, and I would have preferred to see more of the chaos and mischief that Sparky gets up to.
🠚Saphira opens up to Aiden about her grandmother via her bangles and I cringed at the “They’re pretty. You’re pretty thing”. It felt very unnatural considering she was being vulnerable. I think he should have listened more to that, sharing the grief.
🠚In Chapter 9, Saphira thinks about how she “had initially been nervous around him because she had thought that because he was so rich and handsome and privileged that he would find her to be strange” – this is never revealed before.
🠚As mentioned before, there is no spice (forget low spice).
🠚The fake marriage trope felt rather rushed, like that plot was an afterthought.
🠚The slowburn is really slowburn, I expected the kiss sooner.
🠚 The epilogue was really cute but short.
🠚 “Okie” felt cringy to read.
CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Saphira꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ She appreciates the things she doesn’t have through the things she now gets to experience with Aiden, and that’s a beautiful thing. She always remains optimistic despite everything.
-ˋˏ ꒰ Aiden꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ He’s sweet, he’s humble, he notices things about her like she only wears gold jewellery and so gets her gold jewellery. He uses his gardening business to help her business. He finds her favourite flowers for her. So, so cute! I love him.
FAV QUOTES
• “You must love life. Love it, even if you don’t have the heart for it.”
• His gaze fell on what must have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and suddenly, Aiden felt hot for altogether different reasons.
• Saphira looked at him curiously, with big, open eyes. There was something so bright about her, so quietly warm. She shone like starlight.
• There was a symphony to his work which relayed the careful calculation and thought behind the arrangements, a true artistry. It made walking through town a treat, as lovely as walking through the streets in the middle of winter with snowfall descending. Except this wasn’t a natural phenomenon; this was him.
• He wasn’t an artist by any means, but the image was one he felt the desire to paint, if only to capture her beauty, to immortalize her for the world to appreciate.
• Her gaze met with Aiden’s, and she felt the same strong emotion rise in her chest, not just for Sparky, but for Aiden. It was an ache. She thought the sensation would pass—that it was just for the moment, but she was wrong. The feeling settled deep within her, like roots in the soil.
• There was something so intimate about him saying her name, as if he savored the taste of it in his mouth. She wondered what else he might savor the taste of if given the chance.
• “You’re no accident, Saphira,” he said, voice low. “You’re a dream come true.”
• He dreamt of her all night, but there was nothing new about that. What was new was waking up with their bodies entwined, as if in their sleep, neither of them had had the good sense to stay away.
• Even as he lived it, he knew the memory of today would be a chapter bookmarked in his mind, a favorite passage highlighted, one he would return to again and again.
• He had never really believed in magic. Even though they lived in a world of dragons and chimeras and other mythical creatures, magic always seemed just a bit too far-fetched. But what he felt for her—what she, somehow, some way, felt for him—was nothing less than magical.
• “I belong,” she said, voice a whisper. | “You always have,” he said, then kissed her.
• “Our agreement may be coming to an end, but there is no ending my love for you, Saphira.”
══════════ ⋆★⋆ ══════════
I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Aamna Qureshi, Avon, and Edelweiss for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.
“Look,” Saphira said, voice soft. She had tilted her head back to look at the sky, her eyes wide. “How can anyone be blue when the sky is pink?”
There was amazement on her face, a smile tilting her lips, and all he could think as he looked at her was: “How can anyone be blue when they’re standing next to you?”
Saphira turned to him, and he realized he had said that last part out loud.
[ Contains some spoilers ]
PLOT SUMMARY
25-year-old Saphira Margala has always dreamed of running her own café. Her grandmother, the last of her family left, passed away a year ago, leaving an inheritance large enough for her to pursue her dreams of opening the first ever café in Starshine Valley for baby dragons. This also allows her to mingle with dragons as she does not have one of her own.
Though, after 6 months of the café being open, she can see why this has not been done before: baby dragons are very problematic as they cannot fly or control their fire powers until they are older – so they are constantly bumping into things and burning furniture respectively. This also makes them rather expensive guests as she needs to repair or replace the damages, costing her more than she can afford.
28-year-old Aiden Sterling is a gardener and a member of one of the Drakkon families who have owned dragons for years. His family are the forerunners of dragon racing (an illegal sport) and his parents want him to follow in the family’s footsteps. He disapproves of their ways and, since the death of his younger brother Danny, has shut himself away. However 6 months ago, a dragon egg belonging to Danny’s late dragon hatches, putting Aiden in a tricky predicament raising the baby dragon as this is the last gift Danny gave him and he doesn’t want to let him down. But he also doesn’t want to bond with Sparky.
Sparky is a very mischievous dragon who Aiden finds difficult to tame. When Saphira and Aiden cross paths and Sparky immediately warms to Saphira, Aiden comes up with an excellent idea: Saphira can train Sparky, and he will pay her enough to keep the café going.
Saphira wants Aiden to see the progress they have made by spending time with them. When situations arise, they both have to pretend they are a married couple in order to aid Sparky’s training. Saphira is viewed as an outsider. Aiden carries the guilt of what happened to Saphira’s mother. They mistake their distancing as a wish for friendship. The training won’t last forever. When it is over, what then?
No dream was too big. In a world where dragons flew through the air, nothing was too far out of reach.This is told from the third-person past-tense POV of Saphira and Aiden.
OVERALL OPINIONS
As someone who is constantly on the look for books about dragons, I was so happy to encounter this which is about little baby dragons and their stubbornness—which made me wish I had one of my own! This was a lovely quick read as I didn’t want to put it down. with some funny moments! If you want something cosy with low risks, this is the book for you. It has all the vibes of a Studio Ghibli movie.
ㅤ 🧁 the author ☕
This is Qureshi’s fifth book, the second of her adult romances. I do have to say that I would not classify this as an adult book, more young adult. It feels like Qureshi is more used to creating ya novels so does not know how to write more of an adult book. This was more of a disappointing element, I will not lie, but I have enjoyed this.
As far as representation is concerned, this was great! There was lovely Muslim representation through the mention of Saphira’s culture, upbringing, Mughals and Urdu poetry. Lavinia provides curvy representation from the description of her body type. I also think that Aiden’s extreme social anxiety and desire to rehearse words before interacting reminds me of neurodivergent people and I feel this was intentional, in the best possible way.
ㅤ 🧁 the series ☕
This is the first book in The Baby Dragon Series. Qureshi has beautifully set the scene for our upcoming couples. The next story, yet to be released, is called The Baby Dragon Bakery, about Saphira’s friend Lavinia the vet and Theo the apprentice and delivery boy at the bakery. They are childhood friends and while Lavinia insists they are only as such, there is definitely more to it:
Theo took Lavinia’s drink from her hand, taking a sip. As he did, a bloom of lipstick stained his mouth, and Lavinia laughed, leaning across the counter to wipe it away. It was a simple gesture, but Saphira could have sworn she noticed something change in Lavinia’s face as she touched Theo’s mouth, her thumb lingering at the point of contact.I am very much looking forward to their friends-to-lovers romance!
I have my suspicions that the book after that The Baby Dragon Bookshop may be about Luke Hayward who runs a rival chimera-roasted coffee company Tempest to Emmeline Sterling’s dragon-roasted coffee Inferno. Luke and either Emmeline for the enemies-to-lovers trope or Genevive considering she is studying Dragon History and will probably be interested in the bookshop. This remains to be seen.
ㅤ 🧁 world-building and plot ☕
The world-building is arguably the best part of the book. Qureshi provides a lot of information about Starshine Valley and the Drakkon families. There are different types of dragons too: Azura (blue), opala (white), garneta (red) and basalta (black), named after different stones.
I like that the Valley is divided into sections to inhabit certain animals: the biggest of these divisions is dragons as they are the most common along Main Street; griffins are at the Pines; phoenixes at the Heights; chimeras too! The Animal Hospital where Lavinia works is the perfect opportunity to cover the other animals in Book 2. I hope Qureshi takes the chance to explore more of the world as the series progresses as this has been established rather well! I would especially love more of a backstory on that large old dragon in the mountains.
This book’s plot is full of uniqueness. A contemporary setting where fantasy creatures and humans alike live. It blends nicely with a lot of real-life problems in a fantasy setting, like practical things like money and insurance but also personal issues like belonging. There were missed opportunities that should have been covered: the illegal racing (a very fascinating subject) or more significantly, Sparky’s dragon breed. He is meant to be one of the rarer and more expensive breeds, best for dragon racing. There was a potential to have Sparky get kidnapped and placed in the races and Saphira and Aiden could have worked together to rescue him.
Some of the story was show not tell, or things that could have been revealed later in a conversation rather than supplied as a backstory for the reader.
Danny should have been discussed in a conversation Aiden has with Saphira, for example. The part where we get “he recalled something she had said about her favorite flower and started planning”, this was a really sweet scene but omit this and make when he reveals the place with the flowers a surprise for both Saphira, and us the reader.
There weren’t enough conflicts, and the ones here are handled poorly:
• The actual conflict of them being like “oh they don’t love me, we must just be friends” felt too forced.
• I thought there would be more conflict through the secret about her mother coming out, especially because he fears she will hate him. He just comes out with it a third of the way through the story and she’s completely fine?? What, then, was the point? And why does Lavinia not know this secret since a lot of the other people in society do?
• The issue about her not belonging happens suddenly at the end and she leaves Aiden to undergo the ritual. I think there was more opportunity to explore this, more tension about her café and how people view her near the start.
ㅤ 🧁 parallels ☕
There were some really fascinating parallels in this book. The best was the comparison between dragons and dogs. Not only are they called “draggos” like “doggos” (a term I adored rather than cringed at) but they behave a lot like dogs too. The training process for dragons is akin to dogs, getting them to sit and feeding treats. Just like dogs, they cope with a lot of stressful things but freak out getting vaccine shots. But, more realistically and heartbreakingly, specific breeds of dragons are trafficked and put into illegal races, much like how greyhounds are put into dog races.
I like the parallels between Aiden and Saphira . They both don’t follow the crowd or expectations. They both want to try and fulfil their late family member’s wish: Saphira’s grandmother Nani-Ma left her the inheritance so Saphira can follow her dream of opening a café and she feels she is failing as she struggles to keep it open; Aiden’s brother Danny left him the dragon egg containing Sparky and Aiden feels it is all he has left of Danny so tries to look after it but feels he is failing because Sparky is misbehaving.
I love that she gets the chance to defend Aiden. And vice-versa. Stereotypically, in stories, men often are the ones defending women so this was nice to see here. I also like that Qureshi emphasises that women can be strong and independent and still have a man beside them – too many shows and books want women to think that is weak these days to be with a man.
ㅤ🧁 simplistic writing style with repetition and pacing issues ☕
The writing was touching and sweet, but lacking in real vivid descriptions at the best of times. There were some gorgeous quotes though, which you can find in my favourite quotes section below.
Various aspects were repetitive, almost like each chapter was a standalone instead of the book, reminding me of things as if I had forgotten what I had just read. Exact same phrasing. For example, both Chapter 2 and 5 mention Aiden having “to either give the dragon to his family or take care of it himself”. And I know that Lavinia and Saphira have known each other since they were little, no need to bring it up just about every time! And we already have a scene where she is surprised to find Aiden in the café instead of heading round the back since we all know he hates interacting. Too repetitive. Please do something else.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the number of times they get interrupted. The pattern goes: they spend time together, they get closer, they’re going to kiss, something happens and they get interrupted and they spring apart. I don’t know how many times this happened but it was far too many!
A few consistency issues: Chapter 11 she describes her as pretty but earlier she was beautiful. I think beautiful is a stronger word so why is it reduced to pretty? Start with pretty and build up to beautiful, then.
ㅤ🧁 to conclude ☕
Overall, this is a 3.5 rounded up. I expected more, but this has a lot of potential to be a good series if the author takes feedback on board.
<< Positives >>
🠚The cover is super cute!! This was the thing that immediately drew me to it. It’s so warm and inviting – like Saphira’s café itself!
🠚Aiden and Saphira’s romance is adorable! I especially loved the scene of them having a snowball fight. Indeed, there were lovely little moments like when Aiden makes food for Saphira and Sparky jumps on her to make sure she doesn’t get up haha.
🠚Aiden and Saphira are mature and act their age of late 20s early 30s. They communicate fairly well.
🠚Love the whole concept of this book: the merge of contemporary and fantasy.
🠚The dragons, obviously! Especially Sparky, he is so cute and always trying to help.
🠚The depiction of coping through grief was done well.
🠚The world-building was the strongest element.
<< Negatives >>
🠚This feels more like a young adult book than an adult book. I suggest Qureshi either changes the category this is under or ups her next books in the series to an adult book standard.
🠚A black dragon is missing from the book cover to represent Sparky and I would have loved if Saphira and Aiden had been included too, perhaps silhouetted in one of the windows – or standing at each window looking at each other.
🠚There are simplistic descriptions at the best of times.
🠚The plot jumped around significantly: one minute they’re here, the next they’ve gone over there.
🠚I would have loved if the time hadn’t jumped so much. Two weeks of training Sparky go by and he improves, for example, and I would have preferred to see more of the chaos and mischief that Sparky gets up to.
🠚Saphira opens up to Aiden about her grandmother via her bangles and I cringed at the “They’re pretty. You’re pretty thing”. It felt very unnatural considering she was being vulnerable. I think he should have listened more to that, sharing the grief.
🠚In Chapter 9, Saphira thinks about how she “had initially been nervous around him because she had thought that because he was so rich and handsome and privileged that he would find her to be strange” – this is never revealed before.
🠚As mentioned before, there is no spice (forget low spice).
🠚The fake marriage trope felt rather rushed, like that plot was an afterthought.
🠚The slowburn is really slowburn, I expected the kiss sooner.
🠚 The epilogue was really cute but short.
🠚 “Okie” felt cringy to read.
CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Saphira꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ She appreciates the things she doesn’t have through the things she now gets to experience with Aiden, and that’s a beautiful thing. She always remains optimistic despite everything.
She hadn’t been this excited to be alive since the cafe first opened, when an entire expanse of possibilities seemed to spread ahead of her. There were so many ways this could go wrong, but so, so many ways it could also go exactly and perfectly right.
-ˋˏ ꒰ Aiden꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ He’s sweet, he’s humble, he notices things about her like she only wears gold jewellery and so gets her gold jewellery. He uses his gardening business to help her business. He finds her favourite flowers for her. So, so cute! I love him.
He wanted to hold onto every moment that was passing, capture them like fireflies in a jar in case they were fleeting. Even if they were—even if this was all the time he was allotted, he would be content, he would die happy. Even just one moment with her had made living all these years worthwhile.
FAV QUOTES
• “You must love life. Love it, even if you don’t have the heart for it.”
• His gaze fell on what must have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and suddenly, Aiden felt hot for altogether different reasons.
• Saphira looked at him curiously, with big, open eyes. There was something so bright about her, so quietly warm. She shone like starlight.
• There was a symphony to his work which relayed the careful calculation and thought behind the arrangements, a true artistry. It made walking through town a treat, as lovely as walking through the streets in the middle of winter with snowfall descending. Except this wasn’t a natural phenomenon; this was him.
• He wasn’t an artist by any means, but the image was one he felt the desire to paint, if only to capture her beauty, to immortalize her for the world to appreciate.
• Her gaze met with Aiden’s, and she felt the same strong emotion rise in her chest, not just for Sparky, but for Aiden. It was an ache. She thought the sensation would pass—that it was just for the moment, but she was wrong. The feeling settled deep within her, like roots in the soil.
• There was something so intimate about him saying her name, as if he savored the taste of it in his mouth. She wondered what else he might savor the taste of if given the chance.
• “You’re no accident, Saphira,” he said, voice low. “You’re a dream come true.”
• He dreamt of her all night, but there was nothing new about that. What was new was waking up with their bodies entwined, as if in their sleep, neither of them had had the good sense to stay away.
• Even as he lived it, he knew the memory of today would be a chapter bookmarked in his mind, a favorite passage highlighted, one he would return to again and again.
• He had never really believed in magic. Even though they lived in a world of dragons and chimeras and other mythical creatures, magic always seemed just a bit too far-fetched. But what he felt for her—what she, somehow, some way, felt for him—was nothing less than magical.
• “I belong,” she said, voice a whisper. | “You always have,” he said, then kissed her.
• “Our agreement may be coming to an end, but there is no ending my love for you, Saphira.”
══════════ ⋆★⋆ ══════════
I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Aamna Qureshi, Avon, and Edelweiss for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.
July 22, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley & the publishers for this ARC! I did end up reading the finished special edition of The Locked Library (decided to get it after requesting it 😅 it’s way too cute).
« You’re no accident, Saphira, you’re a dream come true. »
This is a very cozy romantasy- it was cute & sweet & very silly. I will admit the execution was where it’s lost some points for me. Some things were repeated quite a few times in the book & the language sometimes left to desire.
The characters did act younger than their age though - but the romance was sweet. Sparky the dragon was the highlight of this book! I wish we would’ve gotten more interactions with the customers. The found family & friendships were a delight to read!
All in all, I recommend this as a palate cleanser!
« Just because the sun is always shining doesn’t make it any less beautiful. »
« You’re no accident, Saphira, you’re a dream come true. »
This is a very cozy romantasy- it was cute & sweet & very silly. I will admit the execution was where it’s lost some points for me. Some things were repeated quite a few times in the book & the language sometimes left to desire.
The characters did act younger than their age though - but the romance was sweet. Sparky the dragon was the highlight of this book! I wish we would’ve gotten more interactions with the customers. The found family & friendships were a delight to read!
All in all, I recommend this as a palate cleanser!
« Just because the sun is always shining doesn’t make it any less beautiful. »
January 16, 2025
I promised I wasn't in my hater era so I'll leave it at this, I should have stopped reading the moment the baby dragons were referred to as "draggos" and I read the line "a tendril of hair had come loose from her hair" so I guess that's on me.
February 5, 2025
1.75 ⭐️
This is not an adult romantasy.
This is a contemporary romance, full stop. And a YA one at that.
Frankly the dragons could have just been dogs and puppies with as much thought went into the fantasy elements (and the author refers to them as “draggos” which is…a choice 😂). The most enticing 'fantasy' element of this was the idea of legacy dragon riders and their elite families....which we don't see any of, by the way; dragon racing is just mentioned in passing as part of a main character backstory.
The vibe I got from this is very Hallmark Channel romcom...and it came with all the cheesy, corny lines to match.
Sure, there were cute moments, but there were also moments I had to remind myself that I was reading about characters that were 25 and 28, not 15 and 16..because that's about how mature they were.
The dialogue amongst characters read more like group chat for teenage girls.
The MMC had a heavy feminine energy (didn't feel like the author did much to write a male character with a masculine voice even though this is a heteronormative couple).
It was cute, cozy, and sweet at times, but as the relationship between Aiden and Saphina blossomed, there were some definite over-the-top-lovesick-puppy scenes.
It’s a book of small, in-between moments (trying a new dessert, making coffees and drinks, friends having a conversation)...which a lot of life is made up of, so I can appreciate that.
This isn't a read for a mature audience, and I probably would not recommend. I received a special edition hardcover version of this book as part of my January Forbidden Wing Subscription Box.
✔️ Contemporary, Closed Door Romance (No Spice🌶️ ❌)
✔️ Low Fantasy
✔️ Sunshine x Grumpy
✔️ Baby Dragons
✔️ Cozy Read
✔️ He Falls First
✔️ Slow Paced
✔️ Low Emotional Stakes
✔️ Healing after Loss of Family Members
********************************
✨ Preread
Y’all - I got this as part of my Forbidden Wing Book Box Subscription and it’s so stinkin’ cute. It’s even got sprayed edges with little baby dragons and coffee mugs on it. Stoppppp
This is not an adult romantasy.
This is a contemporary romance, full stop. And a YA one at that.
Frankly the dragons could have just been dogs and puppies with as much thought went into the fantasy elements (and the author refers to them as “draggos” which is…a choice 😂). The most enticing 'fantasy' element of this was the idea of legacy dragon riders and their elite families....which we don't see any of, by the way; dragon racing is just mentioned in passing as part of a main character backstory.
The vibe I got from this is very Hallmark Channel romcom...and it came with all the cheesy, corny lines to match.
Sure, there were cute moments, but there were also moments I had to remind myself that I was reading about characters that were 25 and 28, not 15 and 16..because that's about how mature they were.
The dialogue amongst characters read more like group chat for teenage girls.
The MMC had a heavy feminine energy (didn't feel like the author did much to write a male character with a masculine voice even though this is a heteronormative couple).
It was cute, cozy, and sweet at times, but as the relationship between Aiden and Saphina blossomed, there were some definite over-the-top-lovesick-puppy scenes.
It’s a book of small, in-between moments (trying a new dessert, making coffees and drinks, friends having a conversation)...which a lot of life is made up of, so I can appreciate that.
This isn't a read for a mature audience, and I probably would not recommend. I received a special edition hardcover version of this book as part of my January Forbidden Wing Subscription Box.
✔️ Contemporary, Closed Door Romance (No Spice🌶️ ❌)
✔️ Low Fantasy
✔️ Sunshine x Grumpy
✔️ Baby Dragons
✔️ Cozy Read
✔️ He Falls First
✔️ Slow Paced
✔️ Low Emotional Stakes
✔️ Healing after Loss of Family Members
********************************
✨ Preread
Y’all - I got this as part of my Forbidden Wing Book Box Subscription and it’s so stinkin’ cute. It’s even got sprayed edges with little baby dragons and coffee mugs on it. Stoppppp
April 18, 2025
Usually I DNF a book if I'm not enjoying it, but I think I had an inkling that if I continued reading that I would be able to award this book the prestigious award of "Worst Book I've Ever Read".
Congratulations to everyone involved who have created a plot with so many contradictions, two characters with the romantic charisma of two blobfish, and a new Millennial term which set my teeth on edge every time I read it - "draggo", instead of "doggo".
Semi-spoiler, but pertinent because it was the point of no return for this book:
One of the characters uncovers what I consider to be a world-rocking secret about the other character. They vow that the other character can never find out, they would hate the news, and them, for keeping the secret from them. But yet in their next interaction they tell them the secret under the guise of "they deserve to know!", and the other character responds with "thank you for telling me, let's go on a date" or words very similar to that effect.
There are other blindingly obvious contradictions, such as the lines "I never believed in magic", and then shortly (10 pages later) followed by "I've always believed in magic."
And my personal favourite "I'm going to complete this arduous task because deep down I know I don't belong", shortly followed by "I've completed this arduous task because I knew deep down I belonged all along."
The whole book reads like a first draft. The only redeemable feature is the cover art, and the last page, where the words finally stopped.
Congratulations to everyone involved who have created a plot with so many contradictions, two characters with the romantic charisma of two blobfish, and a new Millennial term which set my teeth on edge every time I read it - "draggo", instead of "doggo".
Semi-spoiler, but pertinent because it was the point of no return for this book:
One of the characters uncovers what I consider to be a world-rocking secret about the other character. They vow that the other character can never find out, they would hate the news, and them, for keeping the secret from them. But yet in their next interaction they tell them the secret under the guise of "they deserve to know!", and the other character responds with "thank you for telling me, let's go on a date" or words very similar to that effect.
There are other blindingly obvious contradictions, such as the lines "I never believed in magic", and then shortly (10 pages later) followed by "I've always believed in magic."
And my personal favourite "I'm going to complete this arduous task because deep down I know I don't belong", shortly followed by "I've completed this arduous task because I knew deep down I belonged all along."
The whole book reads like a first draft. The only redeemable feature is the cover art, and the last page, where the words finally stopped.
January 26, 2025
The Baby Dragon Cafe is truly a cinnamon roll of a book. It’s warn and gooey and sugary sweet in a way that’s a little sickly at times but so enjoyable you can’t help but gobble it up.
I think marketing this as a romantasy was a mistake and I have a feeling it could leave people feeling somewhat disappointed. This was very much a contemporary romance; with the caveat of there being dragons (which were essentially a mash up of toddlers and puppies and ridiculously fun!)
The writing was enjoyable but simplistic and because of this, while I very much warmed to them, the characters did feel a tad two dimensional at times. That being said, it didn’t bother me all that much because it was such a comfortable and easy read. I simply had a good time and that was enough for me.
Overall, with its low stakes and cosy slow burn romance, this incredibly cutesy story was a delight to read. I’m looking forward to returning to this world with the sequel!
What to expect:
- slow burn
- grumpy x sunshine (but he’s actually just shy)
- small town
- he cooks for her
- fake marriage
- only one bed
- closed door/fade to black
- cinnamon roll vibes all round
I think marketing this as a romantasy was a mistake and I have a feeling it could leave people feeling somewhat disappointed. This was very much a contemporary romance; with the caveat of there being dragons (which were essentially a mash up of toddlers and puppies and ridiculously fun!)
The writing was enjoyable but simplistic and because of this, while I very much warmed to them, the characters did feel a tad two dimensional at times. That being said, it didn’t bother me all that much because it was such a comfortable and easy read. I simply had a good time and that was enough for me.
Overall, with its low stakes and cosy slow burn romance, this incredibly cutesy story was a delight to read. I’m looking forward to returning to this world with the sequel!
What to expect:
- slow burn
- grumpy x sunshine (but he’s actually just shy)
- small town
- he cooks for her
- fake marriage
- only one bed
- closed door/fade to black
- cinnamon roll vibes all round
March 24, 2025
Let me first say that the only reason this is 2 stars and not 1, is because I had such a blast buddy reading it with some wonderful friends - Justine, Viv, Carla - thank you to them for making this enjoyable!
The Good
The concept of this book is great - a woman running a café that caters to customers with baby dragons.
Lots of cosy food and drink descriptions.
Unfortunately, that's it.
The Bad
The concept is woefully under-delivered. The dragons in this story might as well be dogs, that's how they're treated. They have no personality, they're just pets. And the main dragon, Sparky, is just a plot device to constantly interrupt the romance of the two MCs. (I love dogs by the way, would also read that book, but with different expectations!)
The world building - basically non-existent. I was so confused whether this was a made up fantasy world, or our world. I was also confused as to what era it was going for. Maybe I was expecting cosy fantasy medieval vibes with the dragons etc, but random name drops of modern tech soon confused me out of that.
The characters - I had high hopes for Saphira, but unfortunately the character building and development across the book was so poor that I ended up disliking her. Aiden started off as our traditional grump then seems to do a total 180 with no journey to get there. And the side characters were just caricatures who gossiped.
The biggest downfall of all was the writing, and the editing. Some of my biggest issues were constant repetition, not trusting us to remember anything from one page to the next. Clunky descriptions of everything, so awkward and cringy to read. Now I do feel most of these issues would have been resolved by a good harsh edit - so it puts me off this publisher going forward. I would have said this was the work of a debut author, so when I found this was her 5th published book I was pretty shocked.
Of course, this is my own personal opinion and other people may love this style of writing. It's just very much not for me.
To Summarise - this was a such a disappointment overall as I truly expected to love a book about a Baby Dragon Café! I feel like this was a contemporary romance with dragons shoehorned in to fit the cosy romantasy trend, and rushed out without a proper edit.
The Good
The concept of this book is great - a woman running a café that caters to customers with baby dragons.
Lots of cosy food and drink descriptions.
Unfortunately, that's it.
The Bad
The concept is woefully under-delivered. The dragons in this story might as well be dogs, that's how they're treated. They have no personality, they're just pets. And the main dragon, Sparky, is just a plot device to constantly interrupt the romance of the two MCs. (I love dogs by the way, would also read that book, but with different expectations!)
The world building - basically non-existent. I was so confused whether this was a made up fantasy world, or our world. I was also confused as to what era it was going for. Maybe I was expecting cosy fantasy medieval vibes with the dragons etc, but random name drops of modern tech soon confused me out of that.
The characters - I had high hopes for Saphira, but unfortunately the character building and development across the book was so poor that I ended up disliking her. Aiden started off as our traditional grump then seems to do a total 180 with no journey to get there. And the side characters were just caricatures who gossiped.
The biggest downfall of all was the writing, and the editing. Some of my biggest issues were constant repetition, not trusting us to remember anything from one page to the next. Clunky descriptions of everything, so awkward and cringy to read. Now I do feel most of these issues would have been resolved by a good harsh edit - so it puts me off this publisher going forward. I would have said this was the work of a debut author, so when I found this was her 5th published book I was pretty shocked.
Of course, this is my own personal opinion and other people may love this style of writing. It's just very much not for me.
To Summarise - this was a such a disappointment overall as I truly expected to love a book about a Baby Dragon Café! I feel like this was a contemporary romance with dragons shoehorned in to fit the cosy romantasy trend, and rushed out without a proper edit.
July 24, 2025
this book reads like something an AI generator would spit out if you asked for “Legends and Lattes but add the vague concept of dragons, every trope you can think of, and a copy-paste romance”. 🙂↔️🙊
im a great lover of cozy fantasy as my go-to comfort genre. as my favored child, i forgive these books a great many things. i do not come expecting razor-sharp prose or top-notch world-building. i do, however, expect them to be readable.
basically, the bar is in hell, and this book still didn’t clear it.
the writing? spectacularly bad. i’m talking, would not hold up to most middle-grade prose. 😭👶🏻📝
the plot? nonexistent. ❌🙅🏻♀️😵
the romance? so uninspired, so rotely copy-paste, so lacking in anything that made me feel a modicum of anything besides insane levels of cringe, that i was actually floored. 🤮🤢💩
(Side note, this was literally my face the entire time I was reading. It was a completely involuntary reaction to the cringe and very confusing for my husband because I walked around the house like this for hours as I hate-finished the book on audio).
no hate to the author who I’m sure worked hard on this book, but this should NEVER have been picked up by publishers. It is a concept of a book at best, and I’m convinced the editor, if one even existed, was AFK. I’m TIRED of major publishers peddling this kind of trope-driven garbage instead of investing in well-written or innovative stories. Mind you… this book already has TWO sequels on the way. I just-
im a great lover of cozy fantasy as my go-to comfort genre. as my favored child, i forgive these books a great many things. i do not come expecting razor-sharp prose or top-notch world-building. i do, however, expect them to be readable.
basically, the bar is in hell, and this book still didn’t clear it.
the writing? spectacularly bad. i’m talking, would not hold up to most middle-grade prose. 😭👶🏻📝
the plot? nonexistent. ❌🙅🏻♀️😵
the romance? so uninspired, so rotely copy-paste, so lacking in anything that made me feel a modicum of anything besides insane levels of cringe, that i was actually floored. 🤮🤢💩
(Side note, this was literally my face the entire time I was reading. It was a completely involuntary reaction to the cringe and very confusing for my husband because I walked around the house like this for hours as I hate-finished the book on audio).
no hate to the author who I’m sure worked hard on this book, but this should NEVER have been picked up by publishers. It is a concept of a book at best, and I’m convinced the editor, if one even existed, was AFK. I’m TIRED of major publishers peddling this kind of trope-driven garbage instead of investing in well-written or innovative stories. Mind you… this book already has TWO sequels on the way. I just-
January 24, 2025
This fits the current cosy fantasy trend perfectly, although I would say it leans more romance than fantasy. A baby dragon café is such an adorable concept, and I loved the cute, cosy chaos that the baby dragons brought to the story. I did find the writing to be quite simplistic - it started off strong in the first few chapters but then it kind of fizzled out for me. It didn't bother me too much because the vibes were so cute, and this did make for a quick, relaxing read. I do think I'll pick up the sequel!
February 22, 2025
Dnf at 80%. Wanted to put this down at 60%, but i kinda wanted to push through. At 80% though, i couldnt take it anymore.
The romance is cringy and awkward. The writing is worse than anything I’ve ever read. The author over explains everything. The word choice is simplistic and repetitive and boring.
The characters are boring, with no real background. There is zero worldbuilding. Zero creativity. Nothing happens in the 250 pages I’ve read. Every ‘problem’ causes the main characters to cry, but then the ‘problem’ is fixed within 2 pages.
I do not recommend
The romance is cringy and awkward. The writing is worse than anything I’ve ever read. The author over explains everything. The word choice is simplistic and repetitive and boring.
The characters are boring, with no real background. There is zero worldbuilding. Zero creativity. Nothing happens in the 250 pages I’ve read. Every ‘problem’ causes the main characters to cry, but then the ‘problem’ is fixed within 2 pages.
I do not recommend
August 6, 2025
A delightfully quirky and lighthearted story, set in Starshine Valley and featuring plenty of baby dragons.
This is a wonderful palate cleansing read, featuring a slow-burn romance, likeable characters and a mouthwatering cafe menu.
“More and more, Saphira was understanding that Aiden wasn’t a grump or a bore, he was just shy and nervous. A recluse. He didn’t like being around too many people - but he did like her.”
I am keen to read the next instalment in the series. Give this one a read if you like cosy fantasy stories!
Format: Paperback book
Page count: 309 pages
This is a wonderful palate cleansing read, featuring a slow-burn romance, likeable characters and a mouthwatering cafe menu.
“More and more, Saphira was understanding that Aiden wasn’t a grump or a bore, he was just shy and nervous. A recluse. He didn’t like being around too many people - but he did like her.”
I am keen to read the next instalment in the series. Give this one a read if you like cosy fantasy stories!
Format: Paperback book
Page count: 309 pages
November 24, 2024
AAMNA AAMNA AAMNA MY BELOVED !!!!!!!!
I'm forever grateful for an author like her who’s constantly making predominantly white concepts for desi girlies. The baby dragon cafe is a 300 something pages of pure bliss with a warm as a coffee setting and nice and fluffy characters like freshly baked cupcakes.
trigger warning : mentions of death of family members ( offpage )
This book is for everyone who loves:
-`♡´- romantasy
-`♡´- shy boy x popular sunshine girl
-`♡´- simp boys
-`♡´- when the couple are parents to the cutest baby dragon
-`♡´- fake marriage
-`♡´- desi vibes
Plot: after the death of her grandmother, saphira finally open the baby dragon cafe she dreamed of as she promised her nani ( grandma ) she will, however running a cafe where her prime customers can blow fire out of their noses is more distressing than what she first anticipated, struggling to repair things after another she is a little lost….so to her rescue comes aiden or comes to ask for her help, to train his little bundle of energy, the dragon he didn't really want, sparky in return for a fees she can’t refuse.
characters : the heart and soul of the book are its characters, from aiden and saphira to lavinia, theo, emmy, ginny and all the other small side characters and of course the baby draggos. I can just read books and books about these characters doing the most mundane of things and never get tired or bored, they are my babies.
saphira, beautiful, charming and wholesome saphira is the most lovable character ever, she is bright and optimistic, her charm is contagious and would make you fall head over heels for her right from the beginning (same as aiden, he's so real)
aiden, the shy and grumpy flower boy whose head over heels for our saphira, he's more shy than grumpy tbh because he too like saphira is charming and lovable just hates the crowd, he is a green forest and is for everyone who loves a true lover boy, he is gonna win you all over i'm so so so sure.
romance : The fluffiest, cutest most wholesome romance ever!!! it was perfectly paced making you swoon over them instantly, the way they co-parented sparky i want them to adopt me !!!!!!!! give me 5000 pages of just fluff and i wont complain ever
!!! GIVE MORE DESI AUTHORS THE CHANCE TO MAKE THEIR DESI FANTASY UNIVERSE !!!
Thank you aamna and avon publication for the arc and for making me a member of the baby dragon club can’t wait for more books in the series <3
initial review <3
5 stars
i need more of them noooo, my heart is so full, this is definitely my new comfort read, everything was just perfect, thank you aamna for trusting me enough to give me a proof copy and i loved loved loved it.
I'm forever grateful for an author like her who’s constantly making predominantly white concepts for desi girlies. The baby dragon cafe is a 300 something pages of pure bliss with a warm as a coffee setting and nice and fluffy characters like freshly baked cupcakes.
trigger warning : mentions of death of family members ( offpage )
This book is for everyone who loves:
-`♡´- romantasy
-`♡´- shy boy x popular sunshine girl
-`♡´- simp boys
-`♡´- when the couple are parents to the cutest baby dragon
-`♡´- fake marriage
-`♡´- desi vibes
Plot: after the death of her grandmother, saphira finally open the baby dragon cafe she dreamed of as she promised her nani ( grandma ) she will, however running a cafe where her prime customers can blow fire out of their noses is more distressing than what she first anticipated, struggling to repair things after another she is a little lost….so to her rescue comes aiden or comes to ask for her help, to train his little bundle of energy, the dragon he didn't really want, sparky in return for a fees she can’t refuse.
characters : the heart and soul of the book are its characters, from aiden and saphira to lavinia, theo, emmy, ginny and all the other small side characters and of course the baby draggos. I can just read books and books about these characters doing the most mundane of things and never get tired or bored, they are my babies.
saphira, beautiful, charming and wholesome saphira is the most lovable character ever, she is bright and optimistic, her charm is contagious and would make you fall head over heels for her right from the beginning (same as aiden, he's so real)
"she is a girl-boss and a yearner-a true multitasker"
aiden, the shy and grumpy flower boy whose head over heels for our saphira, he's more shy than grumpy tbh because he too like saphira is charming and lovable just hates the crowd, he is a green forest and is for everyone who loves a true lover boy, he is gonna win you all over i'm so so so sure.
"his gaze falls on what must have been the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and suddenly, aiden felt hot for altogether different reasons."
romance : The fluffiest, cutest most wholesome romance ever!!! it was perfectly paced making you swoon over them instantly, the way they co-parented sparky i want them to adopt me !!!!!!!! give me 5000 pages of just fluff and i wont complain ever
"you are no accident saphira" he said, voice low. "you are a dream come true."
!!! GIVE MORE DESI AUTHORS THE CHANCE TO MAKE THEIR DESI FANTASY UNIVERSE !!!
Thank you aamna and avon publication for the arc and for making me a member of the baby dragon club can’t wait for more books in the series <3
initial review <3
5 stars
i need more of them noooo, my heart is so full, this is definitely my new comfort read, everything was just perfect, thank you aamna for trusting me enough to give me a proof copy and i loved loved loved it.
July 14, 2025
3,5 ⭐️ Dit was echt cute!! Ik wil ook een babydraakje en een vriend die voor me wilt koken.
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