2.04k reviews for:

The Baby Dragon Café

A.T. Qureshi

3.27 AVERAGE

lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

fun light-hearted little book about love and baby dragons!! it was very cute even if I was rolling my eyes at times at the sappyness of it all. 
funny lighthearted slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I was really looking forward to this book, and I wanted so badly to love it, but there is just so much wrong.

3 pages in, I was ranting about how Sapharia is too stupid to be a business owner. She's opening a cafe for baby dragons, which have no control over their fire, but she insists on wooden and fabric furniture and has a book case. Then bemoans having to rebuy furniture every week. And that's before we are told, repeatedly, that she hates math.

Which brings me to the next point. Entire paragraphs are repeated, sometimes within pages of each other. I understand that sometimes you need to remind readers of key points, but this is minor stuff, like characters being friends with each other.

The lazy world building kills me. If you can even call it world building. It's almost like the entire story was written with dogs, and then swapped to be dragons last minute. There are a lot of references to South Asian culture, and even to the language Urdu. Cell phones and apps are mentioned. But there are dragons, griffins, and other mythical beasts.

I love cozy stories. But these stakes are so low they're nonexistent. Things that should, hypothetically, be stakes just dead end. Plot points that go nowhere. The entire thing with dragon races, which is set up to be the main conflict, is resolved in approximately two pages. Which means that on top of it seeming like the dragons were meant to be dogs, it also seems like this book was meant to be early young adult and they added in sex to give it wider appeal.

Skip it. Don't get your heart broken like I did.
hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated