Love and Other Sins: Book 1

Written by Emilia Ares

Narrated by Karissa Vacker and Will Collyer

Mina’s life is going according to plan; she’s acing AP Calc and is perfectly content with her nonexistent social life. Though only a high school junior, Mina knows time is an investment, and she’s putting all her capital into academics. Oliver, a child abuse survivor who grew up in the foster care system, is ready to burn down his old life and start from scratch—complete with a new name and emancipation papers—in L.A. When the two are thrown together through circumstance and develop an unexpected connection, they discover how hard it is to keep the past in the past.

Content warning: sexual assault, recollections of child abuse, discussions of suicidal thoughts, and mention of miscarriage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SERA Press
• Release date: Oct 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736814031

Reviews for Love and Other Sins

[Sarah M · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t put it down. I have to know what happens next. When Mina meets Oliver, she loses her mind a bit but that’s exactly what happens sometimes. Mina isn’t a perfect main character at all but that’s what makes her real. And Oliver’s story is absolutely heartbreaking. You’re routing for him from the beginning. That’s partly because he is charming and smart but mostly because you have a clue as to what he has overcome in his life from the start. The author doesn’t use Oliver’s background as some sick secret that she divulges slowly, she warns us right away that his past will not be easy to swallow. But only in the end is the full horror of it fully divulged and fleshed out. Love and Other Sins is not for everyone. But it has this special way of making you feel exactly the way you did when something special was happening in your life: that fluttering in your stomach sensation. It’s an own voice novel about youth and immigration. It’s a fresh and unique perspective full of interesting dialogue, complex dynamics between mother and daughter, and the romance has you pining.