When Dealing With Dragons has a world where people have bonded with dragons, allowing them to craft the metal that the dragons are associated with, such as copper, bronze, tin or silver. This story follows two school rivals, Farren Walsh, a young woman hoping to become a dragon veterinarian like her father, and James Murphy, a dragon racer from a prominent silver-crafting family. James is Farren's biggest competition for a college scholarship so when James Murphy manages to gain an internship with her father at their dragon sanctuary for the summer, Farren is forced to work with her school nemesis on a daily basis. But Farren has a secret she is trying to protect, something that could change everything about the rules of the world around them. James has a secret of his own to keep, using the internship to gain the knowledge he needs to become a veterinarian himself in the future and to get away from his father, but he is also trying to hide how Farren has been his crush for years. As time passes, Farren starts to learn more about James and begins to understand his dreams and his fears, realizing that she was wrong about him and his actions for years. But Farren knows her secret needs to stay safe and she does not know if she can trust James to keep it because of the reputation his family has with dragons and the racing world. If she gets too close, her secret could be exposed, bringing down everything she and her family have been trying so hard to protect and Farren can't allow that to happen.
The world-building here was excellent. The idea behind the bonding of dragons to humans and how this relationship has been fostered was so intriguing. I loved seeing both sides of the equation with how Farren and her world was about the protection of dragons, cultivating trust and love with their training of the dragons, while the other side was James's family who kept dragons in cages and forced them to shield themselves in their metal by using fear tactics and sometimes even resorting to abuse. This entire world felt carefully considered and developed, enough to make me feel rage for the dragons that suffered on the page and off and to feel awe at the idea of taking care of dragons in such a way that they would still be able to trust you after some horrible histories for some of them. I thought the system of keeping the people affiliated with certain metals to their own class an intriguing one because of the struggle it gave to Farren and James. Farren's family is copper and because James is from a silver family, any relationship between them would be frowned upon as it's only been so long before mixing "metals" was considered illegal. All of these details helped to fill in so many corners of this world, to rachet the tension about the secret the Walsh family is hiding and about how much James is trying to distance himself from his own silver family. Knowing these details about the world was something I kept in the back of my mind while reading the book, keeping the tension moving as Farren and James started to work together and highlighting the struggle they would face at every new trial they faced.
As for the characters, Swift filled this book with some very interesting people. Oh Farren, you sweet, silly child. I loved this girl, I really did, from the moment she appeared on the page and her determination to believe the worst about her school nemesis, James. Farren was intelligent and fearless and admirable at every turn in this book. Swift made an interesting choice to write this book as a dual-person narrative and really, I loved the switching between these two kids because their banter and their gradual growth together was so sweet to witness. Because while I thought Farren's opinions of James were harsh at times, it helped to jump over to James to see things as he did, to see his struggle to overcome his shyness to be able to talk to the girl of his dreams. James was a cinnamon roll lead, a young man conscious of the privileges he had and yet yearning for something else, a place to feel safe and at home. He was quick to help and protect Farren, willing to risk himself to keep her safe from dragons, willing to lie to keep her secret once he learned it. They were so wonderful together and it was beautiful to see their coming together by the end of the book. I thought the contrast between the two sets of parents to be an interesting dynamic, one that highlighted the found family that James quickly became a part of by joining the Walsh sanctuary for dragons with his internship.
The Walsh parents were a partnership that worked together and kept their business moving while also taking pride in the strides their daughter was making. On the other hand, the Murphy parents were the ones quick to judge and disregard others, even their own son, in the pursuit for whatever it was they wanted. Even secondary characters, like Colm, a young man trying to become better than James and who treats Farren horribly and Cara, a former friend of Farren's that has been pushed away because of the secret but who still tries over and over to be Farren's friend, are so well-developed in the few scenes they are in that they feel as well-known as the rest of the cast. Even the dragons deserve their own call-out because each one felt so individual and unique, impressive when you consider that they don't speak. I loved Hort, James's dragon, a playful racer that James had trained since he was a baby and I even loved Bex, Hort's mother, a dragon that had been a racer but was now being used for other purposes by the Murphys. Everything felt important about these characters, serving to show how the audience needed to care for the dragons just as much as the people trying to save them.
As for the plot, I knew what the secret was within the first few chapters but the rest of it caught me by surprise. Swift set things up in such a brilliant way that when the reveals hit, I'll be honest, I did not see that coming. I had my beliefs and Swift managed to turn them on their head and then twist them again because WHAT JUST HAPPENED!? Still, to talk any more about what happens would veer into spoiler territory so I'll move on. I loved the journey that Farren took to learn that what she thought was wrong and that learning to trust and open herself up to others was a good thing. I loved that James was able to find somewhere to be himself and to gain the confidence he needed to become Farren's friend with the hopes of something more because a love story based on a friendship is so heart-warming when done right, just as Swift managed to do here. And I loved the strides these people made to keep dragons safe, to make a difference in the way their world treated them and to gain a safer means of existence for them with the Walsh sanctuary and the services they provided as veterinarians. Changes have to start small and this book shows that even one person can make a difference.
Read this book for the dragons and stay for the sweet love story and the acceptance that every person deserves to find for themselves to be happy, whatever their future might hold.
Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars. I know I give a lot of 10 Stars but I've honestly lucked out with a lot of my reads in recent memory. If a book leaves me feeling happy enough to kick my feet, smile and sigh a little, it deserves all the stars. Simple as that.
My thanks to NetGalley, Wednesday Books and Dana Swift for the eARC of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
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