Closet Geeks and Slow Mo

It took me a while to read A Dragon Speaks Her Name. At first I couldn't put my finger on the reason for it. I just kept reading other stuff instead of the novella. I found I lost complete interest at some point and only read on because, well I felt obliged.
I am glad I finished it. It does have some great ideas. I love the idea of keepers and dragons. Buthe world building feels incomplete and a not completely thought-out. I am not sure if this is because of the pace of the story, I will talk about it a bit later. I just found myself a bit unsatisfied with the bits we are given, I kinda wanted more.
The character building is my favorite part of the novella. Though I was not a huge fan of Kaylae in the beginning, I did feel for her and I got where she was coming from.
I like Zar, a lot, he is the perfect swoony shifter love interest.
The support cast however felt a bit incomplete - a bit too cliche? - I found myself not connecting to any of them
The reason I rated this only as ok, however is the fact that I felt the pacing of this story was all over the place. It like Nyte had a bunch of things she wanted to go through and she ticked them off as she went along. It isn't a straight a to b to c thing however, she started on strand of the story, put it aside to indulge in the romance, then when that was sorted we went back to the "main"story.
It felt disruptive and makes the story feel choppy. But also left me thinking that it was all too convenient and so planned out.
Though I like the idea of the story line, I found the execution of it left me wanting. I do think that's connected to the pace. But there were things, we were not explained at all. I was left with questions, a couple plot twists felt to convenient and planned and the end felt rushed.

Though I like the idea, the novella didn't really work for me.