Cry Baby

Stand with Tristan at all costs.

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1. CRY BABY by Ginger Scott

SYNOPSIS

Tristan Lopez is loyal to his brothers. He doesn’t really have a choice, born into a gang that has a chokehold on every kid that roams its streets. He gave his life to them willingly, knowing if he did then one day this kingdom, led by boys drunk with power and ruled by fear, would all be his. He was loyal through it all. Loyal when prison took his dad away. Loyal when his face was touched by the cold metal of the rival gang’s gun. Loyal even though his mom begged him to run the moment she returned home from rehab.

He thought about becoming someone else. It was hard not to crave the life of a regular 17-year-old. It’s the only reason he stayed in school—to pretend. But he always fell back in line. Loyal.

Riley Rojas didn’t belong in Tristan’s real world. She should have only been part of the fantasy, one of the many faces he got to pretend with amidst rows of metal chairs and desks and whiteboards with assignments. But there she was, moving boxes from the back of an old pick-up into a house Tristan had shot up on a dare with his friends only a few months before. Tall enough to look him in the eyes and strong enough to fill his shadow, Riley took up space on his streets, her loud mouth fearless in the face of the gang leaders who terrified everyone else. She pushed Tristan around on the hardcourt, and she balled better than his friends—better than him sometimes. She challenged him. She needed him.

He liked it. And when her pale blue eyes stared into his, he quit wanting to pretend. He couldn’t ask her to leave because she’d only dig her heels in deeper. He couldn’t ask because he didn’t want her to go. She was blurring his lines. She was testing his loyalty. He was falling in love. And it was going to tear him apart.

BOOK REVIEW

Cry Baby was the very first book by Ginger Scott I’ve read. And OMG was it amazing! It was not your typical love story between two young souls hoping for a brighter future. It was like a life manifesto, a ‘life is a bitch but never give up’ statement. There were some pretty heavy topics addressed, brilliantly approached with heart and tact. I myself studied the problem of gangs in modern society back in college. And let me tell you, they are real and pose an immediate threat to young people. More often than not, their members are born into them, and those few who want to get out never really have a chance to escape, forced to do things they are unwilling to do. This is precisely how Tristan’s journey began.

I’m walking two paths beginning right this minute, and I can’t let them cross. The collision would be deadly.

Tristan Lopez was a perfect boy-man, so hardened and edgy yet pure despite the nature of activities he was forced to be involved in. His desperate wish to leave the vicious circle of the gang was believed to stay unfulfilled since destined to result in a punishing death. Until a fearless beautiful girl who for some reason Tristan wanted to protect at all costs (sometimes, the form of his protectiveness was a huge source of exasperation and frustration though) moved to his neighborhood.

I’m obsessed. I constantly think of ways I can get out, how I can survive it and still be close to her. I imagine the pain of the beating I’d have to take, and the more I think about it, the less painful it becomes in my mind. I think it’s more than just a girl—Riley has opened this window to what I could be.

Riley Rojas was a very interesting (but sometimes annoying sigh) female lead, independent, stubborn, strong-willed, and extremely reliable. She was his rock. She was the one who saw and showed Tristan what he was, a great potential trapped in an unfair cruel world of not his choosing. She was someone he never anticipated but seemed like was waiting for his entire life, someone who turned to be a source of courage to finally break free.

You get what you see, and my world is dark right now. When the dark came for Riley she fought for the light. She’s a reason to fight now. I want to be like her. I want to live like her— do good things, work hard. I want to be with her. I want to love her… to get to love her.

The story was somewhat a tease of a budding romance with the main characters staying away from fully exploring the usual high school romance, which under the given circumstances, made the book believable. The relationship between Tristan and Riley was sweet and just felt real. There were no mind-blowing sex scenes, only some mild sexual build-up. And the denouement of the book wasn’t a perfect for a romance HEA, but I personally was not mad about it (SPOILER! I honestly thought it was understandable that both of them needed some time apart in order to find their own paths that naturally crossed time and again).

I told her she didn’t belong in my world once, but she did. She just didn’t belong in the darkness. She belonged in the light. I just never knew that she’d take me there with her. I never thought I belonged. I’m beginning to believe I do, though.

Cry Baby was something really special to me, hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking, with a good dose of angst and suspense. Go grab the book right now!