I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jonara, a tinker's daughter who is used to traveling around with her father, is sacrificed to a dragon. But she doesn't get eaten, and instead gets to help the dragon regain his memories and his identity, while also fighting an evil villain.

Here's the thing: I feel mislead by this blurb and the presentation. To me, a cozy fantasy is low stakes, more everyday matters, like retiring to open a magical coffee shop. Gathering an army to help your dragon boyfriend defeat the evil sorcerer who wants to be king is like... the opposite of cozy.

That doesn't mean this book was bad, but I don't think it is accurate to call it cozy fantasy, and I also didn't feel it was really unique in the fantasy genre. I hadn't read the other books in the series, so I didn't know about the framing story that was revealed towards the end, but it definitely explained some of the happenings and fairytale tropes used. I have mixed feelings about this twist: Dragon's jokes were kind of forced and cringy, but I liked the tinker's backstory.

Overall, this was a funny, charming fairytale story. Not bad, but not particularly great either, just okay. And not what I'd describe as cozy fantasy.