This was a cute, cozy fantasy/mystery. Deandra Hendricks decides to take a break from her long work hours, and what seems to be a lacking social life, to visit family in Axia. The book is set on earth as we know it, except that there are a number of magical communities called hubs in this world where magical people and mythical creatures can live, and Axia is the small hub that Deandra’s magical grandparents have retired to. Deandra has no magical abilities herself and has never visited a hub, and her reaction when she arrives is really entertaining as she kind of emotionally, and to some extent physically, flails about in reaction to seeing shape shifters, centaurs, etc.
Deandra comes across a baby dragon that is seized from her because it is suspected of arson, so Deandra and her cousin Wendy become amateur detectives to try to find the real culprit so they can get the dragon back. I enjoyed the dynamic between Deandra and Wendy. They are close friends in addition to being cousins, which comes through clearly in their dialogue and behavior as they put their amateur sleuthing skills to work. There were some interesting side characters, as well, and cool magical incidents, like a pair of cafe owners, one an empath and one a witch, whose abilities allow them to especially cater to their customers’ wants and needs.
The novel is pretty lighthearted, though there are some tense moments as one might expect in a mystery involving arson and a seized dragon that Deandra has become attached to. The dragon is so cute. How can anyone resist a description like this? “The dragon wiggled his butt, then pounced, missing the butterfly by a mile, partly because he’d gotten distracted by the bright pink spade at the end of his own tail and was now chasing it.” I also loved that a lot of the chapters start with a little picture of the dragon.
I enjoyed this book. It’s a fun, quick read. It looks like it’s the first in a series, and I expect I’ll read the other books when they are released, as well.
I received this e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review, but my opinions are my own.
