This cozy fantasy started off well enough. Gorgeous cover. Great premise. I was laughing my tush off at Jonara’s witty protests to being offered up as a virgin sacrifice to a dragon and getting Enchanted Forest Chronicles vibes. Unfortunately, that took a turn at Chapter 5, and I ultimately DNF at Chapter 6 (17%). While I don’t necessarily mind the dragon turning into a man, I do mind him groping Jonara while she was asleep. Jonara then fixating on how handsome he was and describing him “probably the most wonderful man I’ve ever met” immediately after was the deal-breaker for me.

I feel like the dragon staying a dragon might’ve made for a more compelling story.

Readers who don’t mind dubcon will likely enjoy this more than I did.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

3.7 Stars
One Liner: A fluffy and light read

Jonara has been a good girl all her life, which makes her a perfect choice as the village’s sacrificial offering to the dragon. Luckily for her, the dragon doesn’t eat virgins. Using this chance and the dragon’s help, Jonara rallies an army to fight Asphodel who had been destroying one town after another to claim the throne vacated by the death king.
However, the dragon has its own secrets and Jonara could play a vital role. What does the future have in store for this feisty good girl?
The story comes in Jonara’s first-person POV.

My Thoughts:
I quite enjoyed the first book in the series, though I don’t remember much about the details. However, it’s not necessary. This works well as a standalone. The characters and the setting are different though the universe is the fantasy land of Lucitopia.
While book #1 was YA, this is NA bordering on adult fiction. The lead characters are twenty and above, and there’s a fair bit of… *ahem* Still, it is closed-door romance.
Jonara is quite a personality. She can order anyone around like a military commander. Is it any surprise that she plays a vital role in building an army to fight the villain?
The Dragon is a sweet guy but also a sort of confused alpha. I rather like him. Also, I wouldn’t mind having such a dragon of my own. Scratch him and get gold! I’d be rich in no time. ;)
The world-building is pretty basic but it doesn’t affect the reading experience. We can visualize the scenes as there is enough information.
The writing style is casual which may not work for everyone. Jonara’s instinct to boss around might annoy some readers. I wasn’t bothered since I expected something like that (based on my experience from book one).
A certain scene in the first half might put off some readers, especially if they haven’t guessed it would happen. I knew what to expect (it’s a trope-y thing, and there are enough clues) so I wasn’t the least bit surprised.
The ending provides a short glimpse into the future (as in what’s to come in the next books). I noticed book #4 added to the list and read the blurb. Do NOT do that.
The pacing is a little off in this one but I wasn’t bored at any point. The book was exactly what I wanted to remove the traces of annoyance at my previous read.

To summarize, The Tinker's Daughter is what a GR friend calls brain candy – it is fluffy, lighthearted, cheeky, a bit dangerous, and has a good dose of romance. Ready for book #3!
Thank you, NetGalley, Sungrazer Publishing, and Victory Editing Co-op, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The premise of this book had me immediately sold - a damsel sacrificed to a dragon, teams up with the dragon to take down an evil sorcerer? How could that not draw you in. I hadn’t realised that this was the second in the series, but honestly didn’t suffer from not having read the first. Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable fantasy that read almost like a bedtime story at parts, but very much grew in scope and stepped beyond the ‘cosy’ genre by the end. Personally, I felt this was the weaker aspect of the book - I just don’t think that the story carried this off well, and much preferred the interactions between Dragon and Jonara and their relationship over the wider plot of the land. I enjoyed the build up of their relationship, and really liked them as a couple. The framing device was played off well, although some aspects of Dragon’s humour already felt a bit dated, which is hard to play off in books when you try to be ultra-modern. The Tinker’s backstory was wonderful, and really fit into the world and added to the story. Overall this was a fine read, worth a look if you’re needing to scratch an itch, but I don’t think I would be picking up the sequel.

I am never dissapointed with a book from Josephine. This book had so much going for it with fantasy and storytelling. Don't get me started on the amazing characters who's growth is waeved into the very words. I do hope we get more from these characters as I want to see where this all goes. The magic is electrifying and leaves me feeling powerless without it. Give us more

Firstly, I did not know this was part of a series, so I did my best to read this like I had read the first book and tried to understand some context was from the previous book. Secondly, this was cosy.

I had high expectations of its cosiness, and even though it was cosy, it reminded me more of a fairy tale than a cosy fantasy.

This is a very easy read, with not many stakes and I predicted the twist, which did annoy me a little due to her treatment of the dragon throughout the book. You're telling me that the dragon was a person the entire time, and she treated them like a pet until they transformed into a human?

I'd define this book as a palette cleanser. You don't need to think hard when reading this book, and it doesn't take itself too seriously,

It was fun, but I probably won't read anymore from the series.

DNF @ 20%.

I thought the premise sounded really cool but I have yet to find a cozy fantasy that I loved, so maybe I am the problem. The beginning of this is unnecessarily crude in my opinion and other parts that I think they were supposed to be funny felt...creepy? It also seemed really strange to me that she was treating this dragon like a pet and ordering it around. Overall a miss for me.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I was really expecting this to be more of a gripping fantasy, but it was so cozy! I loved it!!!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC!

This is the second book in a series but it stands well on its own. I really liked to premise of a virgin being sacrificed to the dragon instead getting the dragon to help her take down the evil sorcerer who is taking over the land. This was a nice read but I wouldn't really call it a "cozy fantasy" it's more of fairytale.

I did have some problems with the book though. The main character orders the dragon around like a pet and treats him at times like a pet which is really weird after we learn pretty early on that the dragon is in fact a human and remembers that he is a human. The dragon can even turn back into a human. so yup treating him like a pet was weird and a little uncomfortable.

speaking of uncomfortable my second problem with this book. There are moments in this book that I think are supposed to be funny? but just come off as creepy. As an example the main character at one point falls asleep and them wakes up to a naked man groping her. The man turns out to be the dragon and this is in fact how we find out that the dragon is human. I almost stopped reading at this point but kept going and did find stuff to like about the rest of the story but this is a problem that persists throughout the story.

This fantasy story made me smile from the first few words right to the end. This book was an unexpected treasure of a find. Easy read, fun, lots of humour in a fairytale story. Jonara doesn’t win a pig in a lottery as she had thought, no she wins something much bigger. The chance to befriend a dragon who thankfully doesn’t eat maidens, and an adventure because things are not at all as they seem. Thank you to Sungrazer Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

First, thank you NetGalley and the author for the advance copy of this book!

This was a fun, cozy and super cute read! It also managed to tackle some serious topics like sexism in a great way, showing that we're all equal in life. My only real complaint is that I wish there was more! I do hope we'll see them again given the ending, but either way, if you're looking for something quick, cozy and lighthearted, grab this.

This was a very light read; while there were stakes introduced, the characters generally did not have issues facing the obstacles and the happily-ever-after was easily won. In that sense, it's a "cozy" book. There was a bit of romance, though not explored in depth. There was a little bit of world-building, but it wasn't expansive. I think this is a decent "palate cleanser" book-- a quick read that doesn't have thorns and goes down easy.

This is a second book in a series, and I have not read the first, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Because of that, I did not expect the twist at all. Looking at the first book's synopsis, it probably would have been less surprising if I had read it first. I think the twist was fun, though, and not something very common to find in novels - in anime or manga, sure, but I can't think of many novels that use the premise.

Shapeshifting dragons are a favorite trope of mine, so I liked the dragon in this. The whole 'dragons produce gold and gems' thing was a little weird, though, and edged on body horror a bit. I liked some of the ideas behind it, like diamonds only coming from deep pain, but largely it just made my skin crawl.

By and large, this was a fun book, but for me it lacked teeth. It was a romp while I read it, but it's not going to stay with me.

This was such a cozy fun read! I really love the cover and I also loved the romance in this book! I would highly recommend!

This is not my first book from the author and I doubt it's going to be the last, again she did a wonderful job and I love the cozy fantasy vibe, it was just what I was needing to be honest, she always knows what to write

What a cozy, fun read! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. this book was the second in the series but the first I’ve read and it was overall such a solid read.

My only reason that I couldn’t give it 5 stars is because of the spelling and grammatical errors I saw throughout. Other than that, the story was compelling and the characters were likable!

As I loved the first book, I also enjoyed this!
Its perfect cozy fantasy that gets right into the action with a witty main character and magical story.
It was also great that it could be read as standalone but reading first book definitely gave some extra moments to think about during the story.

Jonara, a tinker's daughter who is used to traveling around with her father, is sacrificed to a dragon. But she doesn't get eaten, and instead gets to help the dragon regain his memories and his identity, while also fighting an evil villain.

Here's the thing: I feel mislead by this blurb and the presentation. To me, a cozy fantasy is low stakes, more everyday matters, like retiring to open a magical coffee shop. Gathering an army to help your dragon boyfriend defeat the evil sorcerer who wants to be king is like... the opposite of cozy.

That doesn't mean this book was bad, but I don't think it is accurate to call it cozy fantasy, and I also didn't feel it was really unique in the fantasy genre. I hadn't read the other books in the series, so I didn't know about the framing story that was revealed towards the end, but it definitely explained some of the happenings and fairytale tropes used. I have mixed feelings about this twist: Dragon's jokes were kind of forced and cringy, but I liked the tinker's backstory.

Overall, this was a funny, charming fairytale story. Not bad, but not particularly great either, just okay. And not what I'd describe as cozy fantasy.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loooved this book. With some minor editing blunders this is one of my book of the years. The steampunk vibes were a breath of fresh air and reminded me a lot of Marissa Meyers books. Some consistency between the beginning and end of the book could have been looked at as well.

I definitely would look into the rest of the books by this author.

I didn't realize this was book 2 in the series but in the end it didn't matter.
This was so cozy and magical. I didn't love how bossy the the FMC was but I chalked it up to the fact that she'd been sacrificed to a dragon so she was taking back power where she could.

I'm a sucker for a villain that isn't what they seemed so I enjoyed this one

I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as book 1, but I did still really like it. I think I could read many, many tales from the land of Lucitopia 💛.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Review also posted on GoodReads under user Kaitlyn Ashley.

** on page one, where it says "Unfortunately for him. Being a..." it seems like it would flow better if it was a coma instead of separate sentences. "Unfortunately for him, being a...".

The Tinker’s Daughter is the second in this series by Josephine Angelini, but the first one I read, and I loved it. It starts with Jonara being sacrificed to the dragon of her current village and gets even better from there. When the dragon takes Janora and first starts shapeshifting into a man, I thought it might have Beauty and the Beast attributes because of the obvious curse, but that’s not it at all! The dragon has always been a dragon shifter; the curse is not his draconian nature but his forgetfulness of his human nature, and he’s not the only one affected. Entire towns of people are forgetting themselves, and that makes Janora’s quest (to escape the dragon) bigger (to save the dragon) and bigger (to win the war and break all the curses).

Janora is a pretty capable character and it’s fun to be in her head. Her story progressed nicely, as did her romance with Dragon. My only complaint is that there were times when she thought of her relationship with Dragon as if it were an older, established thing…when she’d known him less than three days.

Overall, this story was a great read that kept me on my toes.