decodethebooks's reviews
1132 reviews

wow a fantasy romance for people who love reading about politics, economics and trade routes. it’s for the girlies who love game of thrones. the meetings and the schemes. a quiet, simmering book, rather than a loud explosive book. 
there is no sweeping papers of a table to bone in this book because the paperwork matters. languages are switched, and thrown around. secrets are laid bare but quickly forgiven in such gentle compassion. what a great book. what an astounding debut. im camping outside Simon & Schuster for the next one.

the world-building was not immediate, but incremental. i think it suffered for not having a map, or a hierarchy structure at the begining. the world is quite intricate and confusing. i think the downside of so much politics, it can be confusing. there is so many people who hold different positions in different cities, who have also held different positions previously, and are obtuse in who they support, why they support people and what they hope to gain in the next political cycle. 
the elected heads of state have short terms (ten years) so past important figures are still relevant in the political climate as they transition into different positions of power, continuing to be influential and deciding fates. 

not to mention the magical aspect of our main character Vaasalisa Koźar coming into a power that she perceives as a curse, and having no knowledge and resources to handle this new facet of her life. this book has to juggle the politics with a magical growth of Vaasalisa, and i think something had to give, which in my opinion was the clarity of the politics and the journey of Vaasalisa mastering her magic. im hesitant to say it should have been longer, as the exposition would have weighed down the book. 

this book really embodies the idea of a serpent. it is cool, patient, and strikes when it's ready. i think romantasy makes you assume everything must be hot and heavy at all times, sparking with tension but this book has a different type of tension. this type of tension feels like an undercurrent. one you can feel during the conversations within conversations. one that you can feel ramping up to the election. 

many laud game of thrones' best parts were not the action but the people talking in rooms. this book really took that to heart, and it isn't for everyone but it is for me. 🫡

Unfortunately, The Baby Dragon Café by Aamna Qureshi was not a book for me.

Saphira is a 25 year old café owner that has run out of her savings from all the baby dragon related incidents. The latest dragon accident destroyed a $3000 espresso machine. It is a well known fact, that you need a coffee machine in a coffee shop, Enter Aiden, a tall, handsome 28 year old from an old, wealthy, dragon family with a 6 month old baby dragon that won't behave. After a meet-cute in the town square fountain, they come to a buisness arraingment. Saphira will train little baby Sparky and Aiden will pay her for her time and labour, an this money will keep her café afloat.

The marketing and promotion of this book came with the popular buzz words 'cosy fantasy'. Regardless of your feelings of the influence of booktok on publishing and marketing and the rise of tropefication within the book world, it is happening, it is staying and it will continue to grow and evolve. The Baby Dragon Café is simply another book trying to rise in this world, with popular book comps of Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree and The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore.

For that being said, the tropes in this book include; grumpy/sunshine, small town romance, fake dating, fake marriage, cute dragons, class and wealth disparity, rich mmc, poor fmc, interracial romance, no spice, clean romance, Pakistani fmc, brown fmc, Pakistani author, Muslim author.

I too succumbed to the lure of 'cosy fantasy.' I had hoped it was similar to the popular 2024 release The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. The similarities are not unfounded, as both books have a male protagonist who helps the female protagonist in a small town with their garden, and the presence of magical animals is conducive to their growing attraction and relationship. Both books are actually vastly different. Unfortunately, the range of books within the concept of 'cozy fantasy' is wide as it is still very new. With any new sub-genre, it brings about people trying new things, and seeing what type of books call to you and that you enjoy, and that is the beauty of reading, and experiencing storytelling. The Baby Dragon Café was something new that didn't work out for me.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the overall aesthetic this book potrayed - cartoony. I can literally imagine Aiden walking around town with a rain cloud above his head, and Saphira is the sunshine that makes his life better. Everything feels overly saturated and reminds me of Lazy Town, but as a romance book. Also, not to be unhinged and nit-picky but it is categorically insane that her café opens at 8 am. I was flabbergasted that a place that sells coffee opens so late. You could argue that this is a fictional town, one that has dragons flying overhead. That is true, but it is ultimately rooted in reality, with smart phones and online banking. I grew up in a small town where to get anywhere is a 10min drive. This town feels like a shiny picture book town.

I believe The Baby Dragon Café is a fantasy romance that skews more heavily into romance, with the baby dragons being the only aspect of fantasy within this world. If the dragons were removed, it would simply be a contemporary romance. As someone who doesn't read contemporary romance, this was a huge struggle to get through as I simply wasn't emotionally invested in anything happening in the story. The fantasy elements are miniscule and as someone who almost exclusively reads fantasy, it was a guarantee that I would struggle to engage in this when the fantasy worldbuilding and magical elements were non-existant. I fully understand that this is not the books fault but a me problem. There was no stakes, no complications and no drama. Any issues were almost immedately resolved within a chapter or two, and the characters communicated (quite healthy I might add) when there was something bothering them. It was peppered with romance movie cliches and suffered from simply the crime of being boring.

With all that being said, there were aspects that I did like. I did like Aiden as a character. I believe there is a world where he could possibly be some what neurospicy. I enjoyed a hot recluse man who overthinks and under-talks. His relationship with his family, in particular with his sisters felt infectious and that bond between siblings was lovely to see potrayed so accurately and lovingly.

Saphira was an interesting character, as she was sweet, kind and enjoyed life to the fullest. Her love and pride for her culture was a shining element that this world needs more of. If I was younger, this representation of a brown girl celebrating her culture in all aspects of her life would have meant the world to me and I think that in reviews, this is undertalked about. The food, the outfits, the decorations from her Pakistani heritage being spotlighted was amazing to see. Saphira is such an important character, and her success and jubilance for life is inspirational.

I did find that she was somewhat optimistic to a fault and fell on the wrong side of naive. As a 25 year old, the attitude felt like someone younger. Not to mention, her knowledge of how to train a dragon was questionable. When you don't believe the book's initial premise, I think there is a big chance it is only downhill from there. They only had slow moments that all blurred together and felt the same.

Another aspect well handled was the grief both characters were experiencing. It was a well executed aspect of both their characterisations.

I loved the classism discussions and that Saphira recognises the generational power, privileges and disparity of wealth that Aiden has been born into. The treatment and feeling of being an 'outsider' was well done and authentic. I, however, found these themes were surface level observations, and that didn't truely complicate the relationship. Aiden was quite oblivious for the most part. This is a classic lower class falls for higher class love story, and with that comes struggles in breaking class barriers and in Saphira's case, race barriers as well. Saphira acknowledges there are class issues, but simply stating that it was an issue was insufficient. There needed to be a deeper exploration of these complications and class struggles. Not to spoil anything, but there is no magical rock that can bring prejudiced people to accept you into their social class. Love does not conquer all.

I wasn't particularly moved by Saphira and Aiden as a couple. They were quite boring and bland. Their relationship should have been affected by their class differences, by societal expectations and their differing personalities, but any issues were minor, and quickly resolved. This was meant to be a cosy read with a romance to swoon over, but by the 50% mark, I was simply dragging myself to finish this. And not to be horn-dog but they don't even kiss until the 76% mark into the book.

What a disappointing first read of the year. I believe that it can only go up from here.

oh yeah and the dragons were cute i guess.

Would I recommend this book?
This would appeal to people who like slow, low stakes books with a lot of romance and great friendships, I would recommend this book. It is a light, cosy book, that would suit people who loved The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean (which I loved and reviewed here), Bridgerton season 2 (Anthony and Kate), Pride & Prejudice (because of the classism and wealth disparity), and basically any Hallmark movie.