Qureshi's writing is engaging and immersive, with vivid descriptions of the cafe and its inhabitants. The characters are well-developed and relatable, with each one bringing their own unique story and struggles to the table. The author's use of magical realism adds a delightful touch to the narrative, making the ordinary seem extraordinary.

This is definitely a cute romance with fantasy aspects to it, but unfortunately it wasn't quite for me. While I loved the dragons, I thought the writing itself was a bit juvenile and didn't mesh well with me. However, I definitely think cozy book lovers will really enjoy this novel. I see a lot of potential in it!

This was adorable. A gorgeous introduction to fantasy, for those who are yet to dabble in the genre. A great rom com which also successfully highlights a few important topics on judgement, family loss and self-worth.

This was a fun little romance, though I wasn’t expecting it to be set in the real world. (Not a bad thing, just not what I expected) The world building wasn’t intrusive, just enough to flesh out the fantastical elements.

My only issue was that the characters actions ranged from grown adult to young teen. It was kind of jarring and kept pulling me out of the story. Otherwise, it was a cute fun book.

Saphira opens a new cafe that welcomes baby dragons...BUT baby dragons are notorious for lighting things on fire, including furniture in her cafe. Sadly, this means that selling coffee is not covering the cost to replace her furniture. She can't stay mad at the baby dragons for long though! Aidan is a gardener who is the owner of a disobedient dragon, Sparky. He notices that Saphira is great with baby dragons and strikes a deal with her - he'll ask Saphira to train his dragon and he'll pay her enough to keep her cafe afloat!

Overall, I thought this book was cute and cozy. The writing was catered toward adult audiences, but I would honestly place this in young adult. It had low spice along with a few other fun tropes - grumpy x sunshine, fake marriage, and small town romance. I am looking forward to reading the next books in this series because they are just too adorable!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Extremely cute cozy fantasy book but unfortunately its nothing incredible.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

A cozy magical story with sweet moments throughout the book. The pacing was slower and I couldn't fully engage with the storyline, but it was still charming. I loved the idea of the story, but the way it was executed just did not work.

I will admit, I totally wanted this because of the title and cover. Sometimes it’s okay to judge a book by its cover when it’s this cute!
This was fun, light-hearted and what I expected going in. My expectations weren’t too high; I know some people were expecting more fantasy, but I was happy with a light romance that it really was.

Unfortunately it didn’t stand out from the crowd, which is a shame when it’s marketed with the dragons. It lacked spice, and didn’t have enough humour or even fantasy to back it up. After reading some great romantasies recently, like Assistant To The Villain, I know there is a sweet spot with fantasy and romance!

Nevertheless, if you want a book that you can literally switch off and enjoy, this is worth a read.

(2.5)

I think this just wasn’t the book for me. I love a cozy setting but the world building felt a little limited and repetitive.

DNF

I tried so hard to get into this. Whilst I loved the idea behind the book I really struggled with the writing style, I didn't connect to the characters and it didn't live up to my hopes for it.

Thank you to the publisher to the chance to read this book in advance.

I might come back to it in the future but at the moment it's not doing it for me

This was just a lovely book to read. The whole experience was just great. The cosyness of the setting and the story was just great.

What a cute little read this is! One of my faves of the year so far! I love Saphira and her connection to Aiden. Sparky sounds a cutie too, when he's not up to his little mischievous ways!

I really liked how this book flowed, it has enough cute without being overpowering. I like how everyone likes Saphira - love her name too! I like how Saphira has built up the cafe from scratch, her determination and independence is a breath of fresh air and nice to see.

The dragon café sounds a nice place to visit, albeit a charred table leg here and there! I'm excited to see it's the first in a series and will keep an eye out for updates on the next book!

"I want Sparky to stay this little forever, he’s such a cutie. ” - Saphira

The minute I got an email about an upcoming cosy fantasy book coming in early 2025 I knew I had to read it. And I'm so glad I got the chance to!

This is the perfect book for all cosy fantasy lovers looking for something for a chill night at home. Get a drink, some cake and put some calming music on and a fire on your tv and curl up with this amazing book!

From page one I was hooked, the blurb doesn't do this book justice.

While this is a Fantasy book I liked that it had a lot of Contemporary elements to it. I also really liked that it wasn't a life or death Fantasy book. Lots of times a book has the word Dragon in the title and you think, this book is going to be full of adventure, fighting, and fire breathing animals. So it was really nice when I started reading this and everything was relaxed and the worst thing that happened was a baby dragon setting fire to a chair in Saphira's café. No one is at risk of dying, the world isn't about to end, there isn't a villain coming to enslave everyone. No, people are just living their lives and taking their baby dragons for coffee and cake.

Speaking of which, the idea of a café that served not only humans but baby dragons is so freaking cute! I love that Saphira decided to open one and take that risk when others made their shops dragon free. It made her more lovable and kind hearted, while also showing off how spirited and determined she is. When things went wrong, a coffee machine breaking, a lamp smashing or some form of seating being set on fire, she didn't let it panic her. And when she realised she needed to make more money if she was going to keep her café afloat she immediately started problem solving and working out how to keep her café.

This is still a Fantasy book and with that comes a brand new world to discover. Even though there isn't a world-threatening event occurring, we still get that necessary character backstory and worldbuilding, but we get it little and often. We aren't overwhelmed in the first couple of chapters with a huge info dump which I liked.

I loved the characters we meet in this book, Saphira and Aiden were great main characters, each bringing a little bit of magic and adventure to the book. I loved watching them become friends and figuring out how to work together to best help Sparky.
The connection between them both was really wonderful to explore and I loved watching them grow closer. Seeing them bond with not only Sparky but each other, and when people questioned it I loved that they stood up for each other and didn't take any nonsense.

I loved Aiden's family and wish we could have seen more of them. His sister especially, she seemed interesting and I would love to see more of her in the future.

I fell in love with Sparky from the first second he was on the page. This little dragon causes so much mischief and laughter. I love that Sparky was the main reason we got our romance in this book. He is the reason Saphira and Aiden meet and become friends, and maybe something more.

The writing and pacing were amazing, I got sucked into the story so quickly and hours passed without me realising. Words came to life and I was able to imagine myself right alongside Saphira and Aiden as they trained with Sparky.

I wasn't expecting this book to have any spice in it. There isn't much but I was gutted it had any at all. It wouldn’t have taken anything from the story if it had been a closed door, and that would have meant I could have shared this with my younger siblings who I think would love this book.

Overall I really, really enjoyed this book and I'm thrilled I got to be a part of The Baby Dragon Club, and I can't wait for the next book!

This book was cute! The idea of a baby dragon and a magical café had so much potential, and there were definitely some fun, cozy moments. The writing had charm, but I felt like the story could have used a little more depth—some parts dragged, and I wanted more connection to the characters. Still, it’s a sweet read, especially for younger audiences or anyone who loves whimsical, light fantasy. Not a favorite, but not bad either! Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Deffo not a bad book - but I did find that the pacing was really odd, especially towards the end. It felt a little like the author realized she had to finish off the subplots, so that all felt incredibly rushed. It is supposed to be cozy and low stakes, and it delivered on that! The romance was light, and you were rooting for them to just shut up and kiss each other. Would recommend if you're looking for something light and easy, minimal spice, and enjoyable characters. NOT a book for you if you want high fantasy, adventure, etc. It's like your normal rom-com read, but with dragons :)

The Baby Dragon Café **is a cosy urban fantasy that leans heavily into vibes over plot. While it has the charm of a warm café setting and cute dragon elements, it struggles with underdeveloped worldbuilding, repetitive writing, and a lack of depth in both plot and characters.

The writing itself was a bit rough, with a lot of telling rather than showing and quite a bit of info-dumping. There was also an odd amount of repetition—things that had already been explained just a chapter before would be reiterated, even though they weren’t necessary. It made the pacing feel slow at times, despite the book being quite short.

Plot-wise, this is a very low-stakes story. While that can work well in a cosy fantasy, there wasn’t much driving the narrative forward. There were hints of potentially interesting subplots—like illegal dragon racing and the different dragon breeds—but they were barely explored. Instead, the focus remained on the café setting, which was admittedly quite cute. The interactions with customers and the descriptions of coffee, baked goods, and café life were some of the strongest parts of the book, adding to the cosy atmosphere.

The dragon and fantasy elements were fun, but they really needed more depth. There were little snippets of worldbuilding, like how insurance works with baby dragons, which were interesting, but so many questions were left unanswered. A bit more explanation would have helped create a more immersive world.

With such a minimal plot, you’d expect the book to focus on strong character development, but that wasn’t really the case. The characters remained fairly surface-level, and the romance was pure insta-lust with little development. The third-act conflict felt particularly weak—it had no real build-up and was resolved almost instantly, making it feel unnecessary.

Overall, The Baby Dragon Café had some cute and cosy elements, but it lacked depth in both worldbuilding and character development. If you’re looking for something light and fluffy with a comforting atmosphere, it might be enjoyable but don’t expect a particularly engaging or well-developed fantasy.

A fun, cosy read that was just what I needed! Who knew I needed a rom-com x dragons read in my life! I do wish it was all a little more developed - maybe this is one of the cases where the book is trying to do a little too much? I still enjoyed it and would recommend it though!

The perfect cosy fantasy read. I was sent an ARC fit this book and had a wonderful time reading and being completely jealous that I do not own a baby dragon. Following Saphira who is trying to keep her baby dragon cafe afloat and grumpy Aidan who wants nothing more than to not be around his dragon forms a beautiful blossoming love story between the main characters. I loved reading this and am so looking forward to the next book in the series.

*DNF (for now)
First of all, thanks to the publisher to the chance to read this book in advance.
The general idea behind this story is absolutely amazing, and immediately charmed me to want to read this book just for the curiosity to see how the story would be developed.
A baby dragon cafè is for sure one of those inner dreams every fantasy reader has, despite the impossibility of it, and it's so well described you can imagine to walk into it and see all those "babies" around you.
Unfortunately the writing style didn't appeal me enough to go on reading after the initial chapters. I don't mind cozy fantasy books but maybe it's too much for me...?
That's why I decided, not being invested in the story, to stop.
I'll try again in the future but for the moment it's a no.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an arc copy of this book! It was so cute and cozy! It was a good read to follow up another certain dragon book that just got released… I loved how attentive and patient Aiden was with Saphira. I wish we got to see a bit more of the cafe in the end but I understand it wasn’t the main focus of the book. The author did a great job setting up for an interconnected standalone series