The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi, the first book in the Baby Dragon series of books, was my 16th read of this year. As I attempt to climb out of my reading slump, I just wanted another fun, short, cute read and this seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
Plot summary attempt
Saphira has made her dream come true: her own little cafe that welcomes baby dragons, despite the havoc they cause, honors her heritage and her Grandma. However, there’s a reason most businesses is town don’t allow baby dragons and the repairs are eating into every spare penny she makes, which means she’s barely keeping the cafe afloat. When a baby dragon accidentally torches her espresso machine, Saphira is completely at a loss for what to do, until Sparky the baby dragon crashes into her cafe after hours, followed by his grumpy owner.
Seeing how good she is with his little terror of a dragon, Aiden offers her a ridiculous amount of money to help train him. Coming from one of the ancient Drakon families, he’s supposed to be a natural at this but the dragon egg left to him by his late brother is starting to feel like one massive prank. Afraid his family will pressure him into illegal dragon racing, Aiden is reluctant to bond with his little dragon, a fact that infuriates Saphira as she starts to train him. When she reaches her boiling point and goes to confront him, he confesses his concerns and from that point on they start to work together to raise this baby dragon.
As Saphira falls for Sparky and maybe even Aiden a little too, she comes up against how elitist the dragon families are, and with the kind of family she’s always longed for in reach, is she willing to risk her heart for it all? Can Aiden come out of his shell and make space for her and Sparky?
My thoughts
I loved this book! It was exactly what I needed, cute, with enough world building to be interesting, good characters, a love story and dragons. I thought the back drop of both of their grief for the people they lost provided an extra bit of depth to the story and their character development. I also liked how there was no pointless third act miscommunication trope; these characters just start to fall for each other and the barriers are their grief and the class system they come from.
I’ve gone straight on to to read the next book as they are on KU, so why not? I’m using the series as a palate cleanser between reading some other longer books!
Antonia Bernardin 