Sadly, this highly anticipated read went nowhere for me. I’m devastated but I have to be honest and I really did not enjoy anything about this book aside from the pitch. It was a brilliant concept but very poorly executed. The writing needs a lot of work, it’s bland and the author tells you everything instead of showing it. The characters are 2D, it’s insta-lovey and there’s not really a plot. The most interesting thread of plot fizzled out into nothing.

I did love the idea of a cosy fantasy, a relaxing read set in a cafe full of dragons but I don’t think this is a book for fantasy readers. Its lackluster delivery will leave much to be desired.

Interesting story concept. Writing was easy to follow. YA but some steam at the end. Nothing graphic. Would read more by this author and would recommend it.

A sweet, cozy and lighthearted read! I loved the idea of a baby dragon cafe and the relationship between Saphira and the dragons was just adorable!

The Baby Dragon Cafe was such a cute and cozy warm hug of a book. Saphira is an absolute sweetheart and I was rooting for her the whole way. Seeing her bonding with Sparky as she trained him was adorable, and her love story with Aiden was so sweet and wholesome. I definitely recommend the Baby Dragon Cafe to anyone looking for a cozy, low-stakes romance!

If you loved The Phoenix Keeper or other cozy slice of life stories with fantasy elements, you're gonna love this! The Baby Dragon Cafe is a place for baby dragon owners to come and gather, and we meet a reluctant dragon owner who has Sparky, a mischievous baby dragon. When he asks the shop owner to train Sparky, there may be more than one spark in the room....

Seriously, I loved this and thought it was a great time! I highly recommend it!

A really adorable read! It was not only cute but also funny. Baby dragons, coffee and a little romance! Loved it!

I've not really read anything in this cosy romantasy genre and this was a delightful entry to this world. Its just the sort of book I'd have wanted to read as a teenager - cute animals, happy endings and romance without the raunch.
It is a pure fantasy in that everything goes well for our main characters - there's barely even a blip in their lives as the story progresses but somehow despite this you care for them and want them to be happy.
There are little hints at ways the story could take a darker edge but Qureshi never follows these and we are left with a warm hug of a book full of cute dragons, nice sounding food and happiness.
A perfect remedy for January in the northern hemisphre.

The Baby Dragon Cafe' is a cozy romance about a cafe owner who allows baby dragons in her cafe, which is the only one of it's kind in their town. My rating reflects what feels like what could have been a fantastic middle-grade book if there had not been some 'spicy' scenes in. Don't get me wrong, the spicy scenes aren't really spicy for adults, so if you don't read romance with spice in them, you may be ok; this would maybe get a half pepper rating. Take those scenes out and it is a 5 star middle-grade read.

Overall this debut novel was a good cozy romance with two more in the series coming Summer 2025 and early 2025.

If you like cozy mysteries, heartwarming, light-hearted reads, this will be the book for you!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an Advance Readers Copy of The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi.

Cute and cozy romance with fantasy elements! Grumpy rich boy x sunshine coffee shop owner. Such a lovely novel and easy to breeze through. Perfect book for romantasy readers who would like a novel with lower stakes and cozy elements or for any romance reader who wants to dip their toes into the romantasy genre.

On the whole a cute fantasy novel.
I enjoyed the characters, setting, and concept of Baby Dragon Cafe.
The characters were sweet and lovable, especially Sparky. The setting had kind of a small modern town with fantasy creatures, which seemed like a fun place to live.
I did struggle a bit with the romance, which I felt the slow burn went on a bit too long, then was a little oversweet. The overall vibe of the book was cozy, from the cover, the low-stakes and the romance for 3/4 of the book. So it was a touch jarring when the romantic climax arrived. It wasn't graphic, but usually cozy is more closed door.
I did enjoy this book, and think some adjustments would take it from good to great. It's got the makings to be great.
Thanks so much to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC.

i wasn't a big fan of the overly simplistic character writing and sentence structure. If that was better, i would have liked this cute premise a LOT more

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC. This was an easy quick read in a modern setting with dragons, it was a contemporary romance with dragons instead of dogs rather than a romantasy. The story is quite low stakes and relatively simplistic, it was cute but not super engaging

3.75 stars.

This was a cute, light romance read with baby dragons, a very likeable main character, Saphira, and a sweet romance between Saphira and Aiden. The baby dragon, Sparky, was adorable, I liked that we saw the story from both Saphira’s and Aiden’s points of view. The writing was descriptive and I enjoyed the references to Indian pastries. A heartwarming read about friendship, family, and belonging.

Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This was such a cute read! I recommend this book for anyone in the mood for a cozy contemporary romance with adorable baby dragons thrown in.
In this book, Saphira has always wanted a dragon. Unable to get one, she does the next best thing: she opens up a cafe that welcomes baby dragons (and their owners). However, baby dragons are quite mischievous (likened to toddlers with claws, sharp teeth, and the ability to breathe fire), and it’s hard to stay afloat while paying for damages constantly. Enter Aiden. He owns an especially mischievous baby dragon, Sparky. When Sparky takes a liking to Saphira, Aiden offers to pay her to train the baby dragon. As they spend time together, sparks start flying between Saphira and Aiden.
This was a cute, low stakes read. At times the story did get into discussions of different social classes and money issues, but it’s kept mostly lighthearted. At times the story almost got too cutesy, but it was still fun to read.
I’m looking forward to the next book in this series!

If the baby dragon cafe was a real place, I would absolutely want to be a regular there. Saphira’s space sounds beautiful and cosy and I want to eat all the bakery treats (though she’d be very unhappy to find I don’t drink either tea or coffee!).

Things I loved:
- This is a great example of slow-burn romance: there’s no instalove here, and the payoff is great
- It’s low spice - I know some people might be put off by that but I liked it and I thought it fit perfectly with the story too
- Sparky has a definite personality and I want a baby dragon of my own now please
- The setting feels fully believable - I could picture the cafe with its scents, the gardens, the village itself

Things I wasn’t quite as sold on:
- There wasn’t as much tension as I’d have liked. I realise that’s probably because of the cosy romance genre, but it felt a bit TOO safe and predictable at times
- The writing style didn’t really work for me. It felt clunky and repetitive (for instance the MMC smells of mint and it’s mentioned at least 6 times)
- Not enough fantasy - if the dragons had been swapped for fancy horses, very little would change

Final thoughts:
Ultimately I think the marketing let this one down. If you look at the Amazon page it says things like ‘cosy fantasy’ and ‘fantasy romance’, but most of the fantasy elements are very light, and it’s much more a romance with a dash of a fantasy setting. As a romance, it’s lovely and delivers exactly what you expect from the title: a feel-good, cosy story. If you want a quick, cute read that’ll probably have you smiling while you read, this is perfect, but I wanted more depth and more tension.

I'm 'off' contemporary romance at the mo but I couldn't resist this contemporary fantasy....WITH DRAGONS!

I loved Sparky, he made my life, this angle of plot was fabulous and it was a warm and cozy read!

I must admit I found it a bit too drawn out, no one wanted to admit to any attraction for a while and that was frustrating for me! Maybe because it's a 'it's not you, it's me' situation?

I loved this book! The Baby Dragon Café is all the coziness I needed in my life and more.
Two of my favourite things together in one book: coffee (café) and dragons (baby dragons)! Isn't that a recipe for success?

This is a cozy fantasy, but the author carefully weaves important topics between the dragon training, running a café and perhaps falling in love. Topics such as belonging and acceptance, to name a few, are dealt with in a cozy manner that will have you wanting to hug the book.

I loved both Saphira and Aiden. Lavinia is such a wonderful friend and colleague. This is found family at its best. No other cozy fantasy has had me this obsessed since reading Legends & Lattes! I am not exaggerating when I say I've recommended this book so many times only while reading it, now that I finished it you better know I'm going to be an ambassador.

5 reasons why you should read this:
1. It has baby dragons!!!
2. The slow burn romance is chef's kiss.
3. The coziness of this book has never been found in any other fantasy.
4. The found family is done so week, it's enough to leave you with a fuzzy feeling.
5. Important topics are handled that readers will be able to relate to.

If there's one cozy fantasy you need to read this year, let it be The Baby Dragon Café!

Many thanks to Avon Books UK for gifting me a proof of this copy and introducing me to these wonderful characters.

It's a cute and cozy romance book. I really enjoyed reading it. Aiden and saphira are epitome of grumpy x sunshine. I loved seeing aiden's growth throughout the book and how he warmed up to Sparky. Sparky is my fav cutest baby dragon ever!! All three of them make such a cute little family <33

This was a cute and cozy book. The writing was very simple and easy to follow. I rated this 3 stars due to the simple writing, but this can be a cute read for someone that needs a quick romantasy with low stakes.

Unfortunately I DNF’d this at 44%. I really tried my best to keep going and felt I gave it a good chance but I just wasn’t enjoying it.

I feel this book and storyline had really good premise and it sounded like a perfect cosy fantasy.

However I found the pace extremely slow and repetitive in a lot of areas. Descriptions were often repeated, character profiles were repeated and some dragon moments/ scenarios also repeated.

I felt that the writing style was a little more juvenile than I expected, in the sense that, if the book had the curse words and romance elements removed, it’s would be much more suited as a Middle Grade story and definitely not YA. Because of this, the romance and adult feelings the characters portrayed felt very out of place.

I did not feel very invested in any of the characters. Although I could sympathise with them and their losses, they just didn’t have an impact on me and because due to the slow pace and repetitiveness, it was easy to become frustrated and lose interest. I did however appreciated the Muslim representation in this story and found this very refreshing. I also got the impression that Aiden was perhaps neurodivergent? Suffering with socially anxiety and unable to gage social cues or meanings in human interaction. I appreciated this, though would have preferred the other characters have been more empathetic and supportive of his quirks and struggles, rather than berate him and labelling him ‘weird’ - adding to the stigma and unwarranted shame for being different. Perhaps his family and friends had some growth in this area, but as I did not finish the book I am unsure of this happened.

The world building was sweet and whimsy though and did achieve that cute cosy vibe. I also loved the fusion deserts/coffee described in the cafe -they sounded amazing and made me want to eat them for real life!

Overall it had very good potential, but I just felt it was poorly delivered