Name: Paige Green's review of Love and Other Sins by Emilia Ares
Item: Love and Other Sins
Rating: 2
Author: Paige Green

Emilia Ares

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. Love and Other Sins is an emotional coming-of-age YA drama about family, love, violence, and the residue of abuse set against the backdrop of contemporary Los Angeles. When Mina meets Oliver, you'll remember your own first love and just how fast it swept you under. What were the bonds that bound us? Was it purely physical attraction? Circumstance? Or perhaps it was a mutual gravitation toward inevitable pain. "There was something about her-her eyes. Well, not so much her eyes, physically, but more like what they said about her: she had this look-a kind of restless intensity." "It was intimate . . . a strange and beautiful feeling. We were breathing life into each other." Love and Other Sins is a moving story about what it means to be young and vulnerable in today's society. This young adult romance will make you laugh and cry and give you hope for tomorrow because there are people like Mina and Oliver who refuse to let themselves be defined by their pasts or circumstances. If you love reading books like Looking for Alaska or Thirteen Reasons Why, then this is definitely for you. Content warning: sexual assault, recollections of child abuse, discussions of suicidal thoughts, and mention of miscarriage.

Love and Other Sins

Amber Martinez

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from Smith Publicity. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Love and Other Sins

Author: Emilia Ares

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Diversity: MC that was in foster care

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary

Publication Date: October 19, 2021

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 17+ (sexual assault, recollections of child abuse, foster care system, discussions of suicidal thoughts, and mention of miscarriage)

Explanation of CWs: Sexual assault and Miscarriage is mentioned. Child abuse is shown in recollections. The foster care system is present in the book. There are discussions of Suicide.

Publisher: SERA Press

Pages: 326

Synopsis: 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.

Review: This was a so-so book for me. I felt like the characters were well developed and I liked the story for the most part. The book also did well with the world building and after I was able to get into the book it was a sweet romance. The book also did well with complex themes.

However, I really didn’t like this book. The book was not well written in my opinion. I say this because there was a time, when Oliver is being introduced, that the author just info dumped all of this trauma about the character. The amount of trauma dumping that happened was really off-putting and it triggered me a little bit too. The author also just told all of this information instead of letting it come out naturally. The book was also weirdly paced as it alternated between fast and slow and I really couldn’t connect with Mina at all and ended up skimming a lot of her chapters.

Verdict: It wasn’t for me but might be for you.


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Love and Other Sins by Emilia Ares

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