Book: Crybaby by Marina Vivancos
Reviewed by Anonymous
Rating: 2/5
🌧️ Gorgeous Cover, Missed Connection
This cover is absolutely gorgeous. It immediately caught my attention, and going into the book almost completely blind after a friend's recommendation made me even more excited to start.
Unfortunately, the story never lived up to that first impression for me.
My biggest struggle was the amount of exposition. Even well into the book, scenes would stop for long stretches of backstory or explanation before returning to the present. For such a short novel, I found myself wishing the story trusted the characters and the reader more. I wanted to discover who these people were through their conversations and actions instead of having so much explained to me.
The Russian characterization also didn't work for me. The dialogue leaned too heavily into a stereotypical Russian voice, and it repeatedly pulled me out of the story instead of helping me connect with the character.
There were definitely things I enjoyed. Once the exposition stepped aside, the banter between the two leads became much stronger, and there were several genuinely sweet moments that reminded me why I'd kept reading.
In the end, though, I never felt completely invested. The couple was cute, but I finished the book feeling underwhelmed rather than eager for more.
I'm glad I gave it a chance, but with a TBR that's already overflowing, I don't see myself reaching for another Marina Vivancos book anytime soon.