Book Review
Rating: 6 STARS
Book: The Baby Dragon Cafe
Method Of Reading: on my ereader
Book Publication Date: January 16 2025
How I Acquired Book: Purchased!
Pre-read Thoughts: I saw this when it came on Net Galley and it was immediately very popular so I knew I had no chance of getting approved for it. I was so excited when I saw it on sale within reach so I could actually own it, even if it’s just via a license. I have been sitting on this book waiting for the right mood for it, and I am 12% in and.
During Read Thoughts: Ok first of all this is funny, adorable, but like also the baby dragons are kind of little sh*ts but you can’t even be angry at them because who lets an actual dragon, let alone an untrained dragon, into a cafe? It’s like having a cat cafe but cats are usually very well behaved. It also looks like this is the first book, so it seems like a planned series. When I get more art to love from a story, I am very happy.
You will likely be sad in the first few chapters as there is some grief within the characters from loss, and I will see how much this plays into the book itself. I kind of like it though, because it gives me something to focus on. I enjoy getting ripped in half when it’s done right, and makes the book amazing. I cried during Finding Nemo so don’t judge me.
Post Read Thoughts: We are no where near there yet. OK BUT APPARENTLY THERE’S ANOTHER BOOK THIS AUTHOR IS RELEASING AND THIS IS NOT EVEN THEIR DEBUT SO I HAVE MORE WORK OF THEIRS TO ENJOY?! Please excuse my ramblings here, I am not professional on my book blogs. You get the unnfiltered throughts here. Although to be honest, the thought filter is gone with the world being on fire right now. I do not care about being polite anymore. I am here to talk about how much I LOVE books.
Ok check out the author’s website for the reading order of books here: link
Cover Of Book:
Full Review:
I am genuinely very confused and was taken back when I saw the negatives ratings and reviews for this book as it’s going to be on the top three books for me of all time. Genuinely.
And I read about 20 books a month and DNF a LOT. For context, I read most genres but I do genuinely get annoyed with a lot of contemporary romance and YA for my reasons so I understand the opinions some have of this book.
This book begins sad to help us understand the backstories a bit, which seems to be standard for the beginning of a three book series, as we need to know the characters. There isn’t spice in the sense of descriptive open-door romance throughout the book, but there was a lot of tension. The intimacy between Saphira and Aiden was absolutely adorable. I did not get any sense of “we are too immature and won’t admit we like each other” because not only was Saphira hired by Aiden, there is also underlying societal concerns and other elements Saphira has to grapple with. No, the stakes are not high enough to be traumatic, but that’s why I loved this book so much, it’s cozy. It had enough sadness and depth in it though to make me cry like 10 times, smile, and laugh.
The review saying this is written by a 12 year old was very weird to me (see goodreads reviews to find it, I don’t want to give the review attention bc it kinda pissed me off). I heavily disagree. One of the top reasons I DNF YA books is due to immature language and just bad writing, and I did not get a YA vibe from this book.
Does it have a lot of open door spice in it? No. Can dogs breath fire and kill you accidentally? I don’t think so, so no you can’t just replace the dragons with dogs and call it a day. I disagree with that review too. The dragons actually had magic world building in them.
Also the ending of this book was actually so heartwarming, scary, and amazing. At 86% in I was convinced the book was slightly overwritten as I was getting bored, and then Saphira did something that I did not expect.
If you are someone who DOES NOT want any details or the author to hold your hand and you want to make a lot of the connections, you might be annoyed with this book. I personally heavily appreciated and enjoyed the connections as I didn’t want my brain to be in computer programming work mode while I was reading an enjoyable fantasy book. I did not however feel like the author was holding my hand too much.
Those that gave this book a one star for not having enough spice and the romance being immature? Not every romance book needs spice. Pick up an erotica book and you will be much happier with the set expectations. I want a good story.
Seeing the comparison to BookShops and Bonedust. just know this book does not have the gore or the same writing style as it’s literally by a different author. I totally got Bookshops and Bonedust genre vibes from this book, but I also did not go into it with the expectation that the book would be the same.
See other cozy books here!
See my favorite fantasy books here
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