Dana Swift: When Dealing with Dragons

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216815886-when-dealing-with-dragons

Book Blurb:

Bonding with dragons gave humans magic to craft metal―now, two school rivals have to work together to protect a priceless secret, all while fighting their growing attraction to each other, from Dana Swift, author of Cast in Firelight.

Copper-crafter Farren Walsh is set on following in her father's footsteps to become a dragon veterinarian. The only thing more powerful than her love for these magnificent creatures is her hate for those who exploit them for their precious metal. That includes her classmate, an arrogant dragon racer named James Murphy, whose silver-crafting family represents the worst of human greed and dragon abuse―plus, he's the biggest competition for the college scholarship she desperately needs.

When James strongarms his way into interning at her family's dragon sanctuary for the summer, it puts everything at risk. Farren isn't just the plain copper-crafter she seems. She's hiding a secret that could not only change her life, but their society as a whole. And James, trying to find refuge from his controlling father, harbors his own secret, years-long crush on Farren. Hating James might be harder than she thought, but Farren can't risk getting too close: the fate of an endangered species is at stake.

Tropes:

*Netgalley ALC  *Young Adult *magical world *Dragons *teenage romance *dual POV *Fantasy

*drama  *Family drama  *Enemies to more *pining *Forced proxmity *school rivals *first love

Trigger warnings: *DV, Animal cruelty, Death, classist society

Thoughts:

In a world with dragons humans have learned how to bond with these beautiful creatures and through this process bonded humans have gained the magical ability to craft different metals.  Unfortuantely in this process it has become a situation where more sought after metals (like Silver) and those who can craft the metals from these dragons don't feel that they should mix with other classes of metals leading to a culture where higher class metals are wealthy and many of them look down on the lower classes.  

Farren Walsh (FMC) lives with her family on a dragon preserve and has helped her father (a dragon veterinarian) for several years while she is still in school she is looking forward to going to veterinarian college like her father but in order to get in she needs the scholarship... while she thinks she's got a good chance she has competition in the way of her school nemesis Dragon Rider James he's handsome, popular and wealthy... he has everything he needs why does he want this scholarship too?

James (MMC) has some secrets first being he has been secretly crushing on Farren for years, to be honest it's been since the day he met her when they were 12... years later he still can't get her out of his head he just wishes he wasn't so awkward when it came to her he always seems to fumble what he says around her and his fellow dragon riders notice this is definately a weak spot for him leaving him to say some less than pleasant things in the past about the FMC.  His home life isn't what it appears to be, and he actually wants to be a dragon Veterinarian... so when he finds out that Farren's family needs help for the summer he talks his mom into helping get this spot.

Farren can't believe this is happening its bad enough that she has to see James at school and at the dragon races... now he's going to be at her sanctuary too.  She has to keep him at arms length if he finds out what she and her family have been hiding there could be a lot of damage... and not just for her it could put her precious dragons at risk and she must protect them at all costs.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for this ALC.  This was a cute quick listen, there wasn't too much world building but it had an interesting magic system and I loved that the dragons once trained if they were happy in their environment were just like loveable puppies/dogs.  

There is some dragon riding and danger in this book especially once (as we all figured would happen) the secret gets uncovered and it becomes a matter of life and death.  

There is a lot of internal monologue of  does he/she like me or not?  Lets pretend to still not like each other so people don't know we actually like each other now... wish there was less of this and more world building but I do recognize it is for a younger audience.

Farren's family is so sweet and welcoming to James, complete opposite of his own home life (which is a heart breaking situation).  

The ending of the book... had my anxiety up! 

Over all this was an enjoyable young adult fantasy with drama, action, a sweet teenage love story and a strong sense of right and wrong with how others should be treated (including our dragon friends).  

Have you read this one?  What did you think?

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Zara Marielle: The Cafe of Infinite Doors

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239680494-the-caf-of-infinite-doors

book blurb:

In a mythical Scotland of long ago, a goddess’s mortal surrogate dies in childbirth and leaves behind a vindictive firstborn daughter who seethes in the shadow of her new divine sister, leading to a violent clash that leaves both sisters imprisoned in separate worlds. 

Millennia later in San Francisco, sheltered, isolated twenty-three-year-old Marceline is desperate for a job, longing for a temporary escape from her controlling, toxic husband, Baxter. One evening, a magical café appears after Baxter strands Marceline on a desolate street after a nasty fight. Run by a quirky, mysteriously feathered woman named Lucretia, her partner, Kilda, and a gentle Tahitian man named Sylvan, the café holds the safety, comfort, and companionship Marceline has craved. Upon learning that the café’s door is a protected portal that opens to those in need, she joins the cafe’s staff behind Baxter's back.   

Several months after Marceline has found her safe haven, the portals to the café begin closing one by one and the cafe’s sourceless light goes from warm and honeyed to dim and shadowy. Evil is looming that will endanger not only the café but the world at large; if Marceline is to protect herself and her newfound family, she must choose herself for good and escape her marriage once and for all ... or say goodbye to her hard-fought freedom forever. 

*Good Vs. Evil  *magical realm *portals *Goddess *Toxic relationship  *Marriage in trouble  *gaslighting 

*true villains  *netgalley ALC 4/12  *State Challenge California (Repeat) *found family  *multiple POV

*multiple Time lines  *sapphic relationship  *trigger warnings (abortion, abusive relationship, violence)

Thoughts:

I requested this ALC from Netgalley based on the blurb it sounded really interesting and I wanted to see what would happen in this magical cafe.  The story itself while it grew on me after awhile it took me till almost the end to warm up to the book and I almost DNF a few times.  

To start with we have two seperate story lines going on:  an unknown amount of years ago (long time in Scotland) a mortal woman passes away in childbirth while carrying the goddesses child.  Left behind is an older child who is now forced into the villages orphanage to live a life of hard labor and general hardship while her younger sister is segregated and treated like the goddess she will grow to be all the while the older sister becomes more bitter and enraged with each passing year until making a decision that will change both of their lives and shatter everything they currently know... now living in their own seperate prisons for an unknown period of time.

Story 2 is about Marceline she is living in modern day San Francisco trapped in an abusive relationship with Baxter who is truly toxic on their anniversary he leaves her in an unknown to her part of the city where she stumbles into a unique cafe.  The Cafe takes in those in need of comfort and support and welcomes anyone who needs help and Marceline is happy to get out of the rain while she worries about if her husband will come back for her.  

Marceline eventually returns to the street and Baxter does eventually return for her but Marceline has had a sense of freedom and she wants to feel it again but with no money how will she get back to the cafe?  She finds enough money for a bus ride and is able to return to the cafe where she starts a friendship with Lucretia (an obvious magical woman) her partner Kilda (a map maker) and Sylvan a Tahitian man who is truly kind and she hasn't had a lot of kindness in her life... especially lately.  

While at the Cafe she finds that the cafe doesn't operate on regular time she could be there for hours in the real world but only a few hours will have passed while in the cafe, everyone who comes in to find shelter has the ability to speak with each other without language barriers and Lucretia even though she never leaves the cafe she learns about the outside world from the cafe's guests and the birds that come in and out of the cafe.  Marceline then has to sneak out of the house to get to the cafe and hope that Baxter won't catch her in the process leading to some more tense moments.  

I had a really hard time listening to this book due to how cowed Marceline is her relationship with Baxter it is really tough to watch as he continues to belittle her make her feel like she would never make it without him, he's kept her isolated to the point where she no longer has any friends and is not even able to have access to anything outside their home since he believes that she shouldn't have access to the internet and since her father and grandmother have both passed away she has no family left because "I should be all the family you need."  The author did a good job making these situations truly uncomfortable and tense I physically felt afraid for Marceline while listening. I was really upset with Baxter the whole book and struggled with Marceline who was by this point in the relationship gaslighting herself into making up excuses for this jerk, I know that her situation was really tough but I wish it didn't take up so much of the book.

I kind of liked the back and forth between modern day and "Long Long ago" but wish that the stories blended together sooner so it wouldn't feel like so many different things happening every other chapter.  I think that the story would have benefited from more modern day relationships with Marceline and the cafe's characters and building her self confidence and learning real life skills to prepare her for being able to leave her relationship.  I did enjoy the relationships that Marceline made with those that came into the cafe and you could see over time how she realized that she was being treated badly and deserved better at home.  

I could see what the book was heading towards fairly early on in the book but the ending all seemed to spiral a bit out of control and wrap things up fairly quickly for the tense build up that we were waiting for and I definately don't feel that Baxter had the type of ending that he deserved (maybe I'm still harboring my own anger and resentment towards this man).  

I did start to enjoy this book more towards the end but it just took too long for me to get there. 

I thank Netgalley and the author for this early listen copy!