Lala
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ Crybaby by Sierra Frank ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
➝ • 5/5 ☆ •
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
This one gutted me in that personal way where you don't realize how deep it's cutting until you're already bleeding. It's raw without being performative, emotional without being melodramatic, and written with this soft honesty that feels like someone opening their ribcage and letting you look inside. This book feels like getting dragged through someone else’s coming of age in the worst, most intoxicating way. It’s not a diary. But it reads like someone trying to make sense of their own thoughts, feelings, and wreckage in real time.
Apple is the kind of girl who wants to belong so badly she would follow anyone into the dark. Dahlia and Starr are both beautiful disasters, and she folds herself into their world like it's the only place she's ever been wanted. The book captures that specific girlhood ache; wanting to be chosen, wanting to be seen, wanting to be loved even if it ruins you.
The writing is dreamy and bruised, drifting between motel rooms, strip clubs, late night drives, and the dangerous men who treat girls like currency. It's messy, impulsive, and painfully believable. You can feel the heat, the exhaustion, the bad decisions stacking up until there is no way out that doesn't hurt.
It's not trying to be inspirational. It's not sanitized. It's just honest, and that's what makes it such a hard read.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
If you like:
✔️ feral girlhood narratives
✔️ unhealthy attachment
✔️ the movie Thirteen (Evan Rachel Wood is literally my crush)
✔️ messy teens making worse choices
✔️ toxic friendships
✔️ coming of age gone wrong
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
📅 Pub Day: June 1, 2026 📚
💌 ARC gifted via NetGalley from Xpresso Book Tours. All opinions are my own.
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ Crybaby by Sierra Frank ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
➝ • 5/5 ☆ •
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
This one gutted me in that personal way where you don't realize how deep it's cutting until you're already bleeding. It's raw without being performative, emotional without being melodramatic, and written with this soft honesty that feels like someone opening their ribcage and letting you look inside. This book feels like getting dragged through someone else’s coming of age in the worst, most intoxicating way. It’s not a diary. But it reads like someone trying to make sense of their own thoughts, feelings, and wreckage in real time.
Apple is the kind of girl who wants to belong so badly she would follow anyone into the dark. Dahlia and Starr are both beautiful disasters, and she folds herself into their world like it's the only place she's ever been wanted. The book captures that specific girlhood ache; wanting to be chosen, wanting to be seen, wanting to be loved even if it ruins you.
The writing is dreamy and bruised, drifting between motel rooms, strip clubs, late night drives, and the dangerous men who treat girls like currency. It's messy, impulsive, and painfully believable. You can feel the heat, the exhaustion, the bad decisions stacking up until there is no way out that doesn't hurt.
It's not trying to be inspirational. It's not sanitized. It's just honest, and that's what makes it such a hard read.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
If you like:
✔️ feral girlhood narratives
✔️ unhealthy attachment
✔️ the movie Thirteen (Evan Rachel Wood is literally my crush)
✔️ messy teens making worse choices
✔️ toxic friendships
✔️ coming of age gone wrong
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
📅 Pub Day: June 1, 2026 📚
💌 ARC gifted via NetGalley from Xpresso Book Tours. All opinions are my own.