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A review by sashas_booknook
The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi
1.0
This book just wasn't the one for unfortunately. I did not enjoy it at all and found it a real struggle to connect with the characters and the storyline.
I don't want to harp on about it for too long, as my review is mostly negative and I honestly just want to move on and forget about it. But, I'll just say a few points about what really got on my nerves. So I found both main characters, and the side characters, very one dimensional and not original at all. There was no complexity or depth there at all which led to me not connecting with them and not being invested in the story or the romance. The author attempted to add depth and growth, but it just didn't work and wasn't enough for more to actually connect emotionally. Their relationship, whilst cute in parts, just gave major insta-lust vibes and I felt that there was nothing there to base a relationship off. We weren't shown them actually connecting and falling in love, we were told which just makes it seem not plausible at all. I need it to be believable and I need some sort of emotion to be involved in the story for me to actually enjoy it.
I think a lot of this comes down to the writing style of the author. I didn't connect with it all and the whole tone of the novel was so off. It was supposed to be magical and whimsical, which I guess to some it could be, but for me it felt incredibly childish and juvenile. There were many moments when I just had to cringe and then second guess what the heck I was reading. Like seriously, the overuse of 'baby draggos' and her calling herself unhinged literally make me want to gag. I'm sorry if that's harsh, but I could not stand the way the author made the characters act like 12 year olds when they were like 25. The sentence structure and word choice is so simple and plain where absolutely nothing stood out for me. There's usually some part in a book where I'm like oh, that parts worded really beautifully, but I had none of those moments here. This is where it again felt very juvenile and just not developed enough to be a story for an adult. Also, the amount of exclamation marks in this book is astronomical. I couldn't count them even if I tried. They were incredibly overused and actually disrupted the flow of reading, because you are sitting there questioning how the hell that sentence needs to be exclaimed. The worldbuilding was also incredibly simple and repetitive. The same facts are repeated throughout the book and just none of it really stuck with me. I didn't care enough to be invested in the world because of the writing style. I think moving forward, this author really needs to work on their writing style. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was more engaging and had me more emotionally invested. I think their needs to be way more telling than showing, even the mundane things, so we know they truly care for each other and are falling in love naturally. Their needs to be much more complexity to not only the story, but the characters to make them believable and for the reader to be able to connect with them and enjoy the story.
Overall, I didn't find any redeeming qualities in this book which was unfortunate, but I think the author needs to further develop their style and ability to appeal to wider audiences.
⭐️
I don't want to harp on about it for too long, as my review is mostly negative and I honestly just want to move on and forget about it. But, I'll just say a few points about what really got on my nerves. So I found both main characters, and the side characters, very one dimensional and not original at all. There was no complexity or depth there at all which led to me not connecting with them and not being invested in the story or the romance. The author attempted to add depth and growth, but it just didn't work and wasn't enough for more to actually connect emotionally. Their relationship, whilst cute in parts, just gave major insta-lust vibes and I felt that there was nothing there to base a relationship off. We weren't shown them actually connecting and falling in love, we were told which just makes it seem not plausible at all. I need it to be believable and I need some sort of emotion to be involved in the story for me to actually enjoy it.
I think a lot of this comes down to the writing style of the author. I didn't connect with it all and the whole tone of the novel was so off. It was supposed to be magical and whimsical, which I guess to some it could be, but for me it felt incredibly childish and juvenile. There were many moments when I just had to cringe and then second guess what the heck I was reading. Like seriously, the overuse of 'baby draggos' and her calling herself unhinged literally make me want to gag. I'm sorry if that's harsh, but I could not stand the way the author made the characters act like 12 year olds when they were like 25. The sentence structure and word choice is so simple and plain where absolutely nothing stood out for me. There's usually some part in a book where I'm like oh, that parts worded really beautifully, but I had none of those moments here. This is where it again felt very juvenile and just not developed enough to be a story for an adult. Also, the amount of exclamation marks in this book is astronomical. I couldn't count them even if I tried. They were incredibly overused and actually disrupted the flow of reading, because you are sitting there questioning how the hell that sentence needs to be exclaimed. The worldbuilding was also incredibly simple and repetitive. The same facts are repeated throughout the book and just none of it really stuck with me. I didn't care enough to be invested in the world because of the writing style. I think moving forward, this author really needs to work on their writing style. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was more engaging and had me more emotionally invested. I think their needs to be way more telling than showing, even the mundane things, so we know they truly care for each other and are falling in love naturally. Their needs to be much more complexity to not only the story, but the characters to make them believable and for the reader to be able to connect with them and enjoy the story.
Overall, I didn't find any redeeming qualities in this book which was unfortunate, but I think the author needs to further develop their style and ability to appeal to wider audiences.
⭐️