It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that has had me laughing out loud to the story and the MFC’s antics. This is a light funny book. I love the family dynamics and the steps she takes to protect and save them. This book has magic and family and love interest that hold this book together and keep the reader engaged.

The story follows Sasha Clems, who was jogging along the beach when a seadragon appears to be dead in the sand. Sasha is dead tired from working four jobs and trying to help her dad with the mortgage as forclosure signs continue to appear. When she sees the dragon, she thinks what is the harm in taking a few scales as it will cover the cost of her university tuition and help her family out. As she goes to try to get a scale, the dragon releases a semis - a boon for magic weilders. Thinking on her toes, she takes it and stashes it somewhere secret. By taking this, it leads her on a chase across the country as she tries to figure out if she should sell it to the highest bidder or do something more noble.

This book was fun. A palate cleanser I needed after pushing through a more political fantasy series before reading this. I would give this book 3.75 stars as I wanted to throttle Sasha at times - I kept having to remind myself well she is only 18, but damn did she make some crazy choices. The magic system was interesting, and I wish that would have been explored more, but maybe in her next book she will dig deeper into that now that we have established characters. One highlight of this book is the humor - it was goofy/silly that it did make me smile a few times throughout especially all the stuff with Ari (the love interest). The book is pretty fast paced and will keep you interested the whole time.

Sasha and I don't have a lot of common. She wakes up early to jog, lives near the beach and repeats Sinn Fein slogans in English. Most importantly, she found a dead dragon on her morning jog. And now all kinds of magical practitioners are after her.

As a character, Sasha feels like a throwback to the girls that I loved in the 90s and 00s - a little prickly, parents who let her run a little wild, and not too trusting of the world. Plus a little prickly. Following her felt like visiting an old friend. The book is also chock full of great side characters - from Sasha's doggie companions, the Brontes, to her love interest Aristotle, to Australian magic-handler Jedda. I will say that having so many quirky characters means that we don't get as much time with all of them as I would like. I would have loved to follow aboriginal Australian magician Jedda a little more, and hear about her family history using magic to push back against British colonists - and enjoyed the hints of her love story.

The relationship between Sasha and Ari felt a little too painfully realistic (all the insecurities and communication gaps in high school came back to me), but I really enjoyed that the book dealt with issues of communications of trust in relationships. This is a great book for young girls who might be interested in sci-fi, fantasy with a smidge of romance. I hope Taylor Thompson continues the series.

Sasha Clems is tired of being poor, so when a seadragon dies in front of her, she takes its magic (in the form of a Semis) so that she can sell it and make all of her and her family's dreams come true. Unfortunately, all of the magic-users in the world are soon on her tail trying to either steal the Semis or get Sasha to sell it to them. She trusts and is betrayed by several magic-users on her road trip including heartthrob Aristotle Montague-Smith-Montague. Can she make it Canada to give the Semis to the one magic-user who might use it ethically?

This was such a fun adventure!! I loved the humour in this book, because sometimes in fantasy books the humour feels a bit forced. This was not one of those books! I had such a fun time on the adventure, it was such an easy read! The worldbuilding was super intriguing and I hope to see more in this world soon.
I also loved the characters, Sasha was very relatable. The romance was super cute as well, and definitely had it's funny moments. Overall this was just a really fun time! (4.25/5)

3 stars overall.

I felt that this book started out strong and I enjoyed the concept. It was a light read and fairly easy to follow.

It ended well and the characters likeable. I don't feel that I was the target market for this particular book and so it made it difficult for me to feel super invested in the story. However, it was a nice pallet cleanser type book full of adventure, magic, dragons and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure too.

And the diversity landslide continues. I just cannot find a book these days that leaves characters to our imagination. They have to specifically color code all the characters to make sure the diversity rainbow is covered. Give me some brief description on looks (curly hair, stunning eyes, symmetrical beauty, etc.), and I'll build what I want out of that. I'll make my own representation.

I was coming to grips with the Gen Z language and excessively hyphenated adjectives. The urban fantasy was shaping up to be balanced between modern life and magic. But then the lesbian grandmas entered the arena with life lessons. Big, fat DNF.

this is definitely a book my younger self would have gotten into. i adored books even at a younger age and i can see this being one or even part of a series that id enjoy. i think its defintely more the teens age than young adult. but thats not to say it cant be enjoyed for older even adult amongst us. because although it has that more younger innocent edge to it it didnt feel juvenile or young. and it wasnt patronizing either.
sasha was a great main character. she struck me as someone teens would relate to really well and even us adults sometimes too lol. she was a cool chick thats for sure with the edges of someone who lives in a world that taught how to trust no one and be guarded around everything and everyone. shes also sick of being poor so is willing to do what it take good or bad to not be so anymore. which leads her in a world of trouble and a world of an adventure. i thought the imagery this book describes was fab. i really felt i could picture it. the world building in this book was top notch.

The cover and the title of this book give middle-grade vibes and I honestly read this ARC to see if it would be good for my kids. The beginning feels a bit slow and I had to push myself to keep going. However, once the main story picked up more, it was a delightful book. It’s more YA since the main character is 18 but it is definitely more on the young/teen end of YA. I thought it was hilarious and loved the main character’s personality, inner monologue, and all the twists and turns. There’s also lots of little things in the beginning that come full circle throughout the book or near the end which I love in a story. I don’t even know what to compare this book to since it’s so unique I’ve never read anything like it. But the vibes of it are like a fun road trip with almost Howl’s Moving Castle and Lemony Snicket vibes. I adored the ending and can’t wait to buy a copy for my home and recommend to people.

It was a nice read, with predictable plot twists and some pacing issues
It was a nice read for a quick slump reading

This was such a fun and quick read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought that this was going to be quite juvenile, and it really surprised me when it wasn't. It definitely still falls into YA, but it's not for as young an audience as I thought, and adults will love it too.

Sasha is a great FMC. She's jaded by the world, including by growing up in a family of con artists. This has taught her a lot about hustling and street smarts, which is why when she finds a dead seadragon that leaves its magic behind, she's the perfect person to protect it... Even if she does end up needing help.

That said, Sasha isn't completely altruistic and is also out to sell to the highest bidder with ethics, something the magical world isn't known for. What follows is a series of adventures and misadventures that showcases Sasha's character progression and introduces a budding romance.

And let's not forget the dragons!

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in April. It took me a bit to get into this book but when I did, I devoured the remaining bit in one go. This book has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster park. The main character was complex and aggravating but in good ways. Can't wait for part 2. And more dragons. I love dragons.

To be perfectly honest, I started reading this and didn’t think I would enjoy it.
BUT!!! I ended up absolutely loving it! Sasha was so stubborn, so set in her ways and so obnoxiously, untrusting that it took me awhile to like her. However, it did make for some fantastic character development by the end of the book!
I loved the magical realism of this story. The way the magic handlers and the government showed their bad sides was excellent, I liked that there was no clear “good guy”.
I liked Ari. I loved how he pushed Sasha to really look at herself and see how she was holding herself (and in turn Ari) back from being able to be the best versions of themselves.
The character development, the world building, the pacing and the underlying message were all perfection in Sasha Vs. The Whole Wide World (and Dragons).

A new favourite! Sasha is funny, smart, and always does the right thing (even if she tries not to). The story is heartwarming and hilarious - I absolutely devoured it and can't wait for the sequel. There are magical creatures, mischievous dogs, and an enemies-to-lovers romance that wasn't even mildly nauseating. I would love to go on a road trip like this (even with the dive-bombing dragons).

4.5 stars.

This book was a friggin' delight to read! I loved just about everything about it. Sasha made for such a good heroine. She's definitely not perfect - she loves animals, but she still has money on her mind when she stumbles upon a dying sea dragon during an early morning run and realizes she can its magic and sell it for an extremely high price. She's also no dummy. The daughter and granddaughter of con artists (although not the most successful ones, based on the family's dire financial straights), she knows some smart moves to keep ahead of the uber-rich magic handlers and government agents who are immediately on her trail. She quickly sets off on a cross-country journey to try to sell the dragon's magic go to someone who can both pay her a lot of money but will at least try to do something good with it. But as smart as she is, she struggles to figure out who to trust - and how, which isn't easy for someone who comes from a family of liars and has had it ingrained in her to trust no one.

And Ari was also a delight as the love interest. I loved how he didn't want to play games and pushed her in multiple ways. Even the "evil" characters never felt clownish, although they were certainly fun and entertaining.

My only quibbles were pretty small. It sometimes felt like the author was going to develop a plot point, like Sasha's strained relationship with her mother, that never went anywhere. And then there were some things that didn't entirely make sense - how has Sasha's home been in the family since her grandparents but her dad has a mortgage on it? How did they ever manage to afford a home in the very expensive Carmel-by-the-Sea area???? Why not just sell it if they have a mortgage on it?? But ultimately these didn't really matter much. It was a joy to immerse myself in this story.

This was a fun read! The voice was more of a younger YA / older middle-grade voice. Spunky heroine, fun characters, good worldbuilding/magic. I would definitely give this to my younger teens to read!

A fun for all free for all - quite the road trip with a large and hilarious cast of characters, dragons, and Yorkies that steel the show. A bit of romance simmers under the fast moving and genuinely funny adventure leading to a "wait, it's over!!?!?!"

The premise of this book is great. An imaginative almost world, where things like Hyundais and college debt exist, but add dragons and magic. There is the possibility of a really fun YA romance here. However, it is in need of a firm editors hand to achieve that. The repetition of certain themes, and often times just words themselves within a sentence, made what could have been an enjoyable read frustrating.

I really wanted to like this book, and I hope the author continues to write, as there is clearly an intriguing imagination behind the story, but I hope they will do so with a really good editor to give needed structure and flow to their novels.

I am not sharing this review on social media.

I really enjoyed this one! It was very cozy and I liked the dragon lore the author created. It was a teensy bit cheesy at times but I love that in a YA book. Sasha’s sass made me cackle quite a few times and I really liked the way she brought the family to life. I felt like the pacing overall was good and would read whatever comes next in the world she’s created.

This was great fun! It felt like a new style of romantasy - very fresh and modern and funny I will definitely look out for book 2.