Such a sweet, sometimes frustrating, slow burn read! I loved being back in the valley with the familiar cast from the first book.

I enjoyed Lavinia'a story. Her university course piqued my interest and it was fun to get some more world building around the valley. I did get frustrated with her 'I must fall in love by this time" mindset. I feel like that made her character seem a lot younger than she actually is. Also her treatment of some people just to fulfil her ideals wasn't great! Coming across a little self centered rather than naive.

Overall a great installment in the series! Would love to see more of the other creatures in the next book.

CUTENESS OVERLOAD. This was just everything I want in a cozy type fantasy. I loved everything about this.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me, even though I really loved the first one. To start off with, the first 20 or so pages were just Lavinia complaining constantly about her 'love life' and how lucky Saphira is. I found this really childish and off-putting. Secondly, the language was very YA and didn't keep me wanting more. I'm so sorry but I had to DNF this book and I really do think it should be published as YA.

This book setting is undeniably cute, the bakery should belong in a fairy tale. The cover art for this book is dreamy, it is what drew me in.

However, I think the writing style is definitely more suited to the younger demographic, I struggled with the pacing and the dialogue. The plot of this book was quite repetitive, there was a lot of miscommunication and I hoped for more emotional depth.

That being said if you’re into whimsical romances this book would definitely be worth you picking up.

The Baby Dragon Bakery by A. T. Qureshi is a charming and cosy friends-to-lovers story set in the magical Starlight Valley. Lavinia is training to be a magical animal vet, working at the delightful Baby Dragon Cafe, and sharing a close friendship with Theo, the local baker. Their easy banter and long history make them seem destined for more, but when Lavinia finally takes a chance, Theo unexpectedly pulls away.

The dual points of view add depth and warmth to this story, making it an engaging and sweet read. I enjoyed the lovable characters and the enchanting setting, and the baby dragons add a fun and whimsical touch. It’s the kind of book that leaves you wishing you could visit Starlight Valley yourself.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

I still cannot believe I was sent a limited edition proof and have read this book four months early!! This was the cosiest book ever, just so lighthearted and warm, the perfect sequel to the baby dragon cafe and I absolutely cannot wait to return back to the world next year!!

Before I started the Baby Dragon Bakery, I went back and read the Baby Dragon Cafe. They both are very cute and cozy romance books with a bit of fantasy in them, but not overwhelming amounts. The Baby Dragon Cafe was good but I felt the second book was even better. I related more to these two characters and liked their development throughout the book. I thought the themes were also more relatable in this book with Theo and his family, as well as Lavinia's failed relationships. Really enjoyed this book!

A pure cosy hug in book form. If I could step into the pages I would!! I mean, dragons, coffee, romance. What more could I want?

I absolutely adored the first book so the second one was very much anticipated for me. And it was great! We briefly got to revisit the main characters from the first book before our new main characters took centre stage as we read their story develop.

A friend’s to lovers romance, it’s the age old tale of almost life-long friends, developing feelings but neither wanting to overstep the mark. It leaves you screaming for them to admit their feelings so you rip through the pages in apprehension. The frustration was real!

I loved Lavinia - this Vet in training who works one day a week in the Baby Dragon Cafe. She’s known Theo since she was 7, but when did they start to see each other as more than friends? Will they do anything about it or continue to ignore their feelings for each other to keep the friendship they both cherish? Ooooh drama. I’m all for it.

I’m so excited for the next one - The Baby Dragon Bookshop?! Omg. Sign me up.

Absolutely brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending it.

3.5 🌟
Thank you so much NetGalley for providing me this arc 🫶🏼
Honestly, this series is one of the cutest I've ever read ☺️ the found family in these books, the romance and the small town community are so worth it!!!
I loved the main characters and their friendship (I'm biased, friends to lovers is my favourite trope), it was such an heart melting feeling to watch the main characters grow their friendship to something else. This book is definitely worth it if you like the friends to lovers trope!!
The reason I gave this book 3.5 stars was because, in comparison with the first book in this series (which I gave 4 stars), I didn't feel the connection with the town dragons as much, which for me would be important since the whole concept of this series revolves around the existence of dragons.
Despite that, I really recommend this book and can't wait to read the next one!

I enjoyed the first book and it’s the same with this. Such a cosy read to snuggle under your blanket with!

I absolutely adored this book! I didn’t read the first but felt like this book could’ve been read alone, I wasn’t confused at any time.
It was a very easy read. Loved the characters and the plot. It was my first friends to lovers which I don’t think I’m a massive fan of as kept getting annoyed at the main characters for not getting together sooner!
Love Beena and Garrett, they are characters I wish were real.
I didn’t really like Lavinia and the book kept mentioning about her having this deadline which came across as very repetitive but I was glad Beena sorted that out.
I don’t think Lavinia gave her relationship with Theo enough of a chance because after like a week of them dating, she didn’t even try to delve more into Theo’s feelings, she was just willing to throw it all away without trying to find out more

look, I don’t like giving bad reviews to books, but this really wasn’t very enjoyable for me. I wanted to DNF this book after the 60% mark, but decided against it because I did receive an early copy for free, so I did want to give the book a real chance.

I do have to be honest up front, I did not read the first installment in the series, so I had no real expectations for this. I ended up disliking it very quickly. The characters are 24 years old but they act like they’re still in high school. I found both the FMC and the MMC to be very whiny and immature. I found the writing very juvenile as well, and quite a lot of the dialogue made me cringe.

The book also has a problem with telling instead of showing. Especially in the beginning, for example: we’re constantly being told that Theo and Lavinia are best friends and that they have all of these inside jokes, but we’re not actually privy to any of the jokes, nor do we see many instances that really solidify their friendship.

The plot is just the characters lacking the ability to communicate with each other. If they’d just talk to eachother this book would have only been half as long as it is now. Not to mention, because they refuse to confront their romantic feelings for each other, the FMC ends up dating a (perfectly nice) guy, who she ends up cheating on emotionally and physically for most of the book.

So, unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. I do think the author has potential and I hope that in the future, the author will build plots surrounding something other than miscommunication and that she starts to trust her audience more to come to their own conclusions.

Thankyou to Avon Books and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Baby Dragon Bakery is the most perfect sequel to The Baby Dragon Cafe! All the characters you fell in love with in the first book return with a focus on a certain barista and bakery boy as they navigate as friends to lovers. This story line also touches on the struggles of leaving behind a job and taking the next big venture and the emotions that come with this.
This is such a fun cosy read with dragon sprinkled in along the way! You will also finish this book craving all the food mentioned - would love a baby dragon recipe book!

3.5/5 stars for me rounding up to 4

This book was such an easy and cute read. It was enjoyable enough for me to finish in just a day.

Lavinia and Theo’s friendship is very sweet and it’s a fruitful journey watching them go back and forth on deciding if they want to be more than friends. I appreciated seeing how their other friendships and family (mostly) came in to support them as individuals.

At times, and like others have mentioned, this book felt a bit juvenile. The characters felt more like high schoolers than graduate/working professionals which took a bit away from the overall story for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and A.T. Qureshi for access to this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I feel extremely honoured to have been allowed to read this as an arc!

Yet another comfy, cosy read and I absolutely loved reading Lavinia and Theo’s story…. There is a hint more spice than the first book. I just wished there were more baby dragons in this story! But I cannot wait to own this book and I cannot wait for the next book already!

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for allowing me to read this book

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of The Baby Dragon Bakery to review!

The Baby Dragon Bakery continues where we left off in The Baby Dragon Cafe, however we are now following Lavinia, Saphira's friend and employee, as she tries to find a partner to settle down with by the winter after her twenty-fourth birthday like her mother did. She's hopelessly in love with her best friend Theo, but doesn't believe that he feels the same way about her. Their friendship starts to blossom into something more, but not before a slew of miscommunication threatens to ruin their friendship.

I really enjoyed The Baby Dragon Cafe, and I was hoping that this one would hook me just as much, however the miscommunication between Lavinia and Theo got too much for me at times. I wanted to scream "just talk to each other!" at many points throughout this; for two people who are best friends they didn't communicate in a good way at all. I get them not wanting to ruin their friendship, but so much of this book could have been avoided if they'd just been honest with each other.

This was a really fast book; I read it in a day, and was a very sweet read, but it did infuriate me at times. Both characters have their own issues to deal with, but for twenty-four year olds I did find that they read rather young, maybe like late teens age rather than 24. The writing style was also quite young, like TBDC did, but that just meant that I flew through it.

The cosy setting and the dragons were the best part of this, but aside from Sparky and Biter there weren't many dragons involved. More dragons in the next book please! The cosy setting of the town they live in is also great; I want to live there so bad! The descriptions of all the baked goods also made me very hungry, I could eat everything that Theo made.

Overall this was a fun sequel to TBDC with lots of cosy vibes and cute dragons, but the friends to lovers relationship in here just didn't grip me as much as I wanted. I'm still very excited for The Baby Dragon Bookshop to come out next year though; this series is just a fun time!

Cute and wholesome but felt quite juvenile, the fmc was acting like a teenager with her first crush 😭 disappointed because the baby dragon bakery cafe was really enjoyable but this didn’t hit the mark for me!

4-Star Review: The Baby Dragon Bakery by A.T. Qureshi

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a Hallmark movie wandered into a Dungeons & Dragons campaign and decided to open a bakery, The Baby Dragon Bakery is your answer.

Lavinia, our vet-in-training and part-time barista, is hopelessly in love with her best friend, Theo, the town’s cinnamon roll—both literally and figuratively. He’s a baker with a heart as soft as his pastries but the emotional intelligence of a rock. Their mutual pining is so intense, even the baby dragons are rolling their eyes. 

Set in the whimsical Starshine Valley, where dragons are as common as coffee shops, this friends-to-lovers tale is sprinkled with just the right amount of magic and sugar. The dual POV lets us peek into both Lavinia’s and Theo’s minds, revealing a delightful mix of longing, misunderstandings, and baked goods. 

While the plot is as predictable as a rom-com montage, it’s the charm and coziness that keep you turning the pages. Sure, you might crave a bit more dragon action, but the warmth of the characters and the comfort of the setting make up for it.

In conclusion, The Baby Dragon Bakery is a sweet, low-stakes fantasy that feels like a warm hug from a friend who brings you cookies. Just be prepared to crave pastries and wish for a baby dragon of your own.

Great to pick up where we left off with Saphira and Aiden celebrating their engagement. Love the way they describe Sparky as though he's their child. They are a good part of the story but the focus has shifted over to Lavinia and Theo.

Theo's family aren't as warm to him as they should be so it's quite sad given his nature and how well regarded he is by everyone else. He gets on amazingly well with Alfie and the rest of Lavinia's family 😊 I'm not sure why Theo's parents are so cold towards him as he's doing really well but they clearly seem to think he's not doing well in life.

Theo's longstanding relationship with Lavinia is his saving grace after the coldness shown to him by his own family. It was inevitable that the hinges would turn out the way they did. The Patrick Swayze moment between Lavinia and Theo did make me chuckle.

I also liked how Saphira continues to support her staff who are also her closest friends. She is very supportive which enables Theo to build his confidence and try out his ideas. The gulab jammun cheesecake sounds good 😋 The business venture between her and Theo sounds great too.

Like the Baby Dragon Cafe, this makes you hungry and kinda broody for a baby dragon. 😂 The drinks at the cafe sound good - Saphira's blackberry mint cocktail sounds delicious 🤤 it's a good escape into a mix of fantasy, romance, community and friendship. Can't wait for the next book in the series 🤩