This heart-happy book is the perfect antidote for a dark day. It’s very low conflict, a slow burn, gentle and heartwarming story. There’s so many cosy and happy touches throughout - case in point - in this very alternate dragon-inhabited world, Pride and Prejudice is still a much loved classic.

Saphira and Aiden are sweet and endearing, and baby dragon Sparky has just the right blend of sugar and sass. I had such a fun time losing myself in this book and would highly recommend for anyone looking for a low stakes, cosy and positive romantasy.

Thank you HarperCollins Publishers for a copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Australia, and Aamna Qureshi for providing me with a copy of The Baby Dragon Café for review.

What could be better than a cosy café where you and your friends can bring along your pet baby dragons for a sweet treat?! Unfortunately for café owner Saphira, her fiery little patrons keep destroying her furniture, and the repairs are eating up her profits.

When local gardener Aiden offers to pay Saphira to train his mischievous little dragon, it seems like they could be the solution to each other's problems...but the pair are complete opposites, and it isn't long before sparks start to fly!

The Baby Dragon Café is a sweet grumpy-sunshine romance, set in a modern world inhabited by dragons. This fresh twist on an old favourite trope was something that I really enjoyed. The clever world-building is whimsical, succinct and leaves room for many future adventures.

If you are looking for a feel-good cosy fantasy, look no further than The Baby Dragon Cafe!

In a world where dragons are the most coveted pet, baby dragons are seen as a liability by most business owners. The babies are still learning to control their limbs and their fire making them a nightmare to have inside.

When Saphira opens the cafe she has been dreaming of since she was a child, the Baby Dragon Cafe, she quickly gains a regular crowd happy for a place to go to with their young dragons. But Saphira soon finds that the cost of having young dragons around is more than her regular clientele can cover.

One evening while out with his baby dragon, Aiden and Sparky bump into Saphira they form an agreement then she will help train the dragon that Aiden doesn’t want and he will pay her enough to keep the cafe afloat.

This book had such an interesting premise and I loved the descriptions of the baby dragons and the different dragon breeds. The story itself however fell a little short of what I was expecting.

I think it was more along the romance side than fantasy and I kept waiting for a twist that never quite came. The romance between Saphira and Alden also felt a little rushed and forced and I almost wish we got to see more of the friendship relationships blossom than the romance.

Thank you NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers and the author for my copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

" A baby dragon is a great idea in theory, but in execution , too many flames"

Thank you so much, @harpercollinsaustralia, for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, as well as an invite to be part of the #babydragonbookclub. IVe had a blast!

Oh my gosh! After reading this in one sitting. I want to find out how on earth I can, in reality, adopt a dragon, like Sparky. The joy, love, mischief & all the warm fuzzy, fuzzy feelings this dragon brings is exactly what we all need in our life right now. Truly, you will be gushing after you finish it.

It's:
Fantasy fiction,
About a baby dragon cafe,
Grumpy Vs. Sunshine,
Fake Marriage,
He falls first,
Slow burn romance,
Small town,
Lots of giggles,
Grief & loss & converting all that grief into love,
Swoonworthy,
Botanical knowledge,
No holding grudges,
Making dreams come true,
A cozy romantasy read,
Family secrets,
Finding simplicity in all things,
Fondness,
Longing,
Courage,
Traditions,
Bravery,
Heartwarming,
Whimsical,
Dual POV,
Endearing,
Cozy mystery,
Stress cooking,
HEA,
& its going to leave you with your heart all gooey and melting.

"To love life, to love it even if you don't have the heart for it."

I have just had to give this book the biggest hug. It truly is such a sweet & cute read.

I am so excited about this series. Cant wait for Book 2!!

PS the rose in the blurb pic on my Instagram account is from my garden today (16.1.2025) called Grandma Rose - fitting for Nani-ma.

Happy Dragon Appreciation Day & Happy Publication day !

@coffeeandpages2021

This was such a cute and heartwarming story! I haven’t read much cozy fantasy, but I definitely want to read more after this, I had so much fun. I originally picked it up because I thought the cover was absolutely adorable, and I’m so glad the story lived up to it.

Saphira dreamed of running a café for baby dragons and their humans, a vision she shared with her late grandmother. But the reality is tough, baby dragons are messy, and constant damage is draining her funds. Then there's Aiden, a gardener who inherits a dragon he’s unprepared for. He visits Saphira’s café with a deal: she trains his dragon, and he helps fund her struggling business.

The slow-burn romance is perfect, the baby dragons are adorable, and the story beautifully explores the grief both characters experience. It’s such a light and cozy read, perfect for when you just want to relax.


🔥 grumpy x sunshine
🔥cozy fantasy
🔥 small town romance
🔥 fake marriage


"He wasn't an artist by any means, but the image was one he felt the desire to paint, if only to capture her beauty, to immortalize her for the world to appreciate."

4⭐️ Review | The Baby Dragon Café by A.T. Qureshi

This heartwarming tale combines cosy vibes, adorable baby dragons, and a slow-burn romance that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Saphira’s café, where baby dragons and their humans meet, is the perfect backdrop for a story about love, loss, and finding unexpected connections.

The character dynamics are the heart of the book—Saphira’s sunshine personality balances Aiden’s socially awkward, grumpy charm perfectly. Their slow-burn romance is filled with sweet, thoughtful moments (like Aiden learning to cook her favourite meal!) and feels authentic without relying on spicy scenes. The cultural nods to Saphira’s Mughal heritage, her bond with her late grandmother, and her connection with Sparky the mischievous baby dragon add layers of warmth and depth to the story.

Though the plot takes a backseat to the cosy character-driven vibes, this book is a delight for fans of Pumpkin Spice Café and Legends and Lattes. I can’t wait to read the next instalments in this trilogy and spend more time with Saphira, Aiden, and their adorable baby dragons!

Tropes:
☀️ Sunshine x Grumpy
🌸 Small town
🐉 Found family
🥺 Slow burn
🐾 Co-parenting chaos

It feels criminal to rate such a cute, cozy book 2 stars. Dear publishers, for the love of dragons, marketing this as a cozy fantasy romance is an absolute disservice. This is contemporary romance with a fantasy skin on.

I do like a couple things about this book:
🐲 I really like the protagonist; she is almost too much of a sunshine, but I liked her drive and how she dealt with her various little conundrums
🐲 a relationship with equal parts romantic attraction and being silly, comfortable best friends

However:
😔 the writing is incredibly simplistic
😔 the fact that there are dragons, the reason I wanted to read this, almost made me mad instead by the end of the book. The fantasy aspect is highly irrelevant and shallow.
😔 the plot has no, and I really mean zero, stakes, which made for quite frankly a dull read. There were little crumbs of intrigue and points of interest scattered throughout the book that did not amount to anything, only a predictably happy ending.

Thank you to the author, Harper Collins Australia and NetGalley for the eARC. I leave this review voluntarily.

I felt the concept of this book sounds very fun but I did not enjoy the writing and ended up skimming through half of the book, there was too much dialogue. I will not be posting an official review on my page as this book simply wasn't for me.

Sweet story about a struggling cafe owner and the son of a wealthy dragon-racing family finding love through training/co-parenting a baby dragon together. It was an easy, quick read but much too cutesy for me. 

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for allowing me to read and review it.

Thanks to netgalley, HarperCollinsAU and the author A. T. Qureshi for this eARC.

Unfortunately, this is a one star read for me.

I won't say there weren't *any* positives. I am an absolute sucker for good urban cosy fantasy and the world Qureshi built was intriguing.

It just wasn't very cohesive or compelling.

Starshine valley is cosy, small town with an interesting social strata that is based on who has access to dragons --- and who doesn't. The central romance is between Saphira, the owner of the eponymous 'Baby Dragon Cafe' and a reluctant dragon rider. This all could've made for an excellent, low stakes adventure...were it not for several glaring problems.

1. The plot.
Dragons seem to be a staple of this infrastructure, and yet there's no contingencies for the chaos they cause? This kind of plot hole wouldn't usually be so obvious...only it's the catalyst for the events of the novel. If your dragon insurance won't pay a nominal sum toward damages, then I sure as hell wouldn't want them in my place of business. Saphira, however, decides to overlook this tiny issue because the "draggos" (😑) are just too cute. Gurl, wyd.

2. Characterisation
Overall, I just couldn't connect with the motivations of the characters. Saphira seems covetous of the baby dragons to the point of weirdness and Aiden is surely meant to be the grumpy to her sunshine, but just comes off as the worst kind of joyless asshole who is completely oblivious to his own privilege.

3. Structure
The connection with the characters is not helped by clunky, heavy dialogue and heavy handed plot exposition that really is telling and not showing. The whole thing could very much have benefitted from a strong editorial hand so we wouldn't end up with lines like;
"Hardly ever spotted or seen"
or
"He was so mysterious in an incredibly sexy way"
The hilarous mention of a "golden shower tree" was utterly the last straw for me and I read through the remainder of the book with a resigned sort of disappointment.

The Baby Dragon Cafe is a cozy contemporary fantasy romance from Aamna Qureshi.

Thanks to an inheritance from her late beloved grandmother, Saphira has finally realised her dream of opening a cafe in her home town, one catering to both patrons and their baby dragons. It’s proving to be an expensive endeavour however given baby ‘draggo’s’ tend to be overactive, clumsy and prone to tantrums that inadvertently ruin plumbing and coffee machines. So when Aiden stumbles into her cafe with his unruly baby dragon, the timing couldn’t be better. Despite being a member of one of the most eminent Drakkon (dragon owning) families in town, Aiden is struggling to bond with Sparky, who was a gift from his late brother. As Sparky seems willing to listen to Saphira, Aiden offers to pay her to train him.

I expected to fall in love with The Baby Dragon Cafe, and Sparky certainly won my heart. The idea of baby dragons cavorting around like dogs is delightful, but the story is otherwise very light on fantasy elements. Sure there are dragons, and elsewhere there are chimera’s, griffin’s and phoenix’s, but the setting is essentially modern small town America, with a tiny bit of Desi flavour.

The characters could also populate any contemporary small town romance. Saphira and Aiden are a sunshine/grumpy pairing. Saphira is sweet with an optimistic nature, if not always the most practical of people, with no family to speak with. Aiden is a bit of recluse, more so since the death of his brother in a dragon race two years ago, and while he loves his family he feels pressure to live up to his family’s reputation. Aiden is immediately attracted to Saphira and vice versa, but they are both reluctant to admit their feelings for various reasons, allowing Qureshi to build the relationship.

Unfortunately though I wasn’t impressed with the writing, I found it simplistic, and too often clunky and repetitive. The same lack of sophistication also extended to the plot which has strands that lead nowhere, and is without real tension. These issues really impacted my ability to enjoy the story.

Though I was left wanting more from The Baby Dragon Cafe it was an okay read. Plenty of readers are happier with it and the publication of The Baby Dragon Bookshop, and The Baby Dragon Bakery have been announced.

This book was such a cute and cozy read! All you need is a comfy blanket, warm drink and relaxing chair and you are set! This story has all the warm fuzzies you want in a romance and throw in cute baby dragons?! Argh, amazing! Total perfection! The Spark between Aiden and Saphira (see what I did there?) is wonderful and most of their interactions are giggle worthy. 10/10 recommend this book if you want a cozy romantasy this winter.

Thank you so much to @harpercollinsaustralia for an eARC of The Baby Dragon Cafe in exchange for an honest review.

The Baby Dragon Cafe is a warm and cozy read that leaves you with all the cute fuzzies of a contemporary romance but with dragons!

I honestly loved this book. I'm a huge fantasy read, love dragons and tropes like grumpy v sunshine, and this book delivered tenfold.

We meet Saphria, a brand new owner of a cafe that allows baby dragons (the cute little menaces) into a cafe that she dreamed about with her grandmother. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't cover the little fireballs, and she starts to struggle. Insert Aiden, the quiet and shy newest owner of a dragon he was never meant to inherit and who needs a trainer for little Sparky.

I can not get over the slow build of this romance. The way these characters were written is truly heartwarming.
"You are no accident, Saphira," he said, voice low. "You are a dream come true."
*insert blushing and screaming here*

So, if you love;
♡ fake marriage
♡ no spice
♡ small town
♡ grumpy v sunshine
Read this book!

I can't wait to read more Baby Dragon Cafe books 😍

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓪𝓫𝔂 𝓓𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓸𝓷 𝓒𝓪𝓯𝓮
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Out now! 16/01/2025

Thank you HarperCollins Australia and NetGalley for this earc!

The Baby Dragon Cafe is a super cosy fantasy romance that any cosy fantasy reader will absolutely love.

Saphira has achieved her dream of opening a cafe that allows baby dragons to come in with their riders. When she has the opportunity to make some extra money to replace the constant burnt furniture in her cafe she cannot turn it down. Especially since the job is to train the towns homebody heartthrob baby dragon.

Saphira is a sunshine character who just wants to be happy and surround herself with dragons, while Aiden is a soft-grumpy guy who is constantly worried about the future. The two grow close together over a very long time and some excellent communication (!!!!). Between Sparky’s training and the grief they both explore, Saphira and Aiden are drawn closer every day until sparks fly (see what I did there? Iykyk 😏🔥)

It did have an underlying threat of poachers that had me STRESSED multiple times throughout the book. I’m just glad I was reading a cosy fantasy and not another type omg 😭

I also saw that there are two more books in this baby dragon world and I am EXCITED!

The Baby Dragon Café is a cute, light-hearted cosy fantasy.

This book was a relatively quick read with a very sweet concept of a cafe for baby dragons. I absolutely loved how fun this story was. The author has crafted a magical world and it has a lot of potential for future stories.

There is a little romance between Saphira and Aiden, which I found to be so heartwarming. Apart from some kissing, it is a closed door romance. Sparky was an absolute treasure in this book. I love how he was the catalyst for bring Saphira and Aiden together.

Be warned, you will be craving a visit to the cafe for a coffee and a sweet after reading this book.

Thank you to Harper Collins Australia and Harper Voyager Australia for gifting me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review of The Baby Dragon Cafe
* * * * *
A mellow contemporary romance with a dragon twist! Who doesn't love dragons.

Saphira loves dragons, and has opened a cafe to have both two things that people love in the same place. Only, things aren't going so well. Until Aiden drops in with his own dragon in need of a little assistance. He's grumpy and uninterested in being a dragon daddy, and Saphira's positive demenour is offputting...until it starts to grow on him.
This romantasy just started to sizzle.

This felt to be a mood book for me. It was mellow for the day I was having, and the dragons were a boost. The relationship between Spahira and Aiden was not that gripping, specifically due towards Aiden's disinterest in his darling dragon. Saphira brightens the who thing, being a major character with how bright and driven she is towards her dream and her business and her love of dragons.

This book was a DNF at 50% I really wanted to like it but it was just so boring. The plot meanders along I was hoping for more magic/dragons but it all fell really flat. The baby dragons were uninteresting and could easily be replaced with dogs as the main animal feature. My biggest gripe was the writing it lacked decent vocabulary and sentences felt repetitive. I’m so sad because this has the makings to be a great cosy romance but it fell really flat.

*The Baby Dragon Café* is a heartwarming and whimsical cozy fantasy that combines the magic of baby dragons with the charm of small-town life. Saphira runs a café for dragon lovers, but keeping her feisty dragon patrons happy—without setting the place on fire—proves more challenging than she anticipated. Enter Aiden, a local gardener with a mischievous dragon and a big problem: he needs Saphira’s help to train his fiery companion, and in return, he’ll offer her the financial support her café desperately needs.

The grumpy-sunshine dynamic between Saphira and Aiden is pure delight, with Saphira’s sunny disposition and Aiden’s more brooding nature creating plenty of entertaining tension. Their blossoming relationship is sweet, slow-burn, and full of heart, all set against a backdrop of dragon-filled chaos and cosy moments. With a perfect balance of lighthearted humour and magical charm, *The Baby Dragon Café* is an enchanting read for fans of feel-good romance and fantastical escapes. A definite pick for those who love a wholesome, no-spice romance with a dash of whimsy.

3.5⭐️

This book was so cute and cozy and was the best time reading it. I finished it in one setting, it was so digestible i could not put it down. If you are a fan of cozy fantasy’s or like quick cute reads, this one is for you.
I can’t wait to read the rest of the series because throughout this book you are introduced to characters who will be starring in the sequels and it was so fun to see and guess who they were.

This book has no redeeming qualities and I only dragged myself through it for my NetGalley ratio. 🥲

Following the death of her grandmother, Saphira uses her inheritance to an open the baby dragon cafe she had always dreamed of. In reality, this is an expensive endeavour and things are looking unsustainable when her espresso machine is destroyed by dragon fire, with no funds to replace it. A chance encounter with super rich super hot (🙄) Aiden from one of the most affluent dragon riding families couldn’t be timed better because he gives her a couple thousand dollars upfront plus $500 a week to train his baby dragon. Aiden’s neglect and overall disdain for his dragon is Saphira’s gain because the income supplements the cafe and she can live out her fantasy of owning a baby dragon which she isn’t allowed to do as she’s not from a dragon family. Not much else happens and they live happily ever after.

The most important thing to know is you shouldn’t read this is you’re wanting a ‘cosy romantasy’ as promised. This is a contemporary romance with dragons in place of dogs. Literally nothing about this plot would need to change if the dragons were substituted (including the FMC constantly referring to them as draggos 🤮). I hate contemporary romance so I would never have picked this up if I’d had more accurate expectations. The whole thing just made me cringe, from the insta-love to the spoiled rich MMC who is actually an asshole and this is all justified and excused by the FMC.

I like cosy fantasy because of the low stakes but there is not a single stake to be seen in this book. There is a potentially intriguing connection between the main characters in relation to the outlawed and dangerous sport of dragon racing, and it goes absolutely nowhere. This is the only plot point with an opportunity to create tension and drama that actually means something, and whenever it was brought up the result is basically ‘don’t worry it’s fine’. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

There is nothing original about any of the characters, and they all read significantly younger than they are. This books feels like a millennial trying to write a gen z cast and it’s disastrous. I normally don’t criticise the talent of authors because there will always be readers who love an author’s style, BUT I think this book was secretly written by a 12 year old or someone who should focus on writing for 12 year olds. The language is so plain and there’s a painful overuse of certain adjectives.

If you want an easy to read contemporary romance, I would say give it a go. This isn’t a book for fantasy readers.