Author: Emilia Ares

Narrators: Karissa Vacker, Will Collyer

Length: 10 hours and 7 minutes

Publisher: SERA Press

Released: Nov. 11, 2021

Genre: Contemporary Romance; Young Adult

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 LA. 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.

Emilia Ares is an American film and television actress known for American Horror Story (2011), NCIS (2003), Bosch (2014), and Follow Me (2020). Love and Other Sins is her debut novel. She graduated UCLA with a BA in Economics, and a minor in Russian. Literature and storytelling have always been her true passion.

Karissa is an Audie Award Finalist and AudioFile Earphones award winning narrator based in Los Angeles by way of Texas. She is a classically trained actor with credits from major regional theaters and also enjoys a career in film and TV.

Karissa has narrated over 100 books in-studio for Penguin Random House, Hachette, Brilliance, Tantor, Dreamscape, Harper Collins and Scholastic, among others. She excels at narrating YA fiction, women’s fiction, and suspense/thrillers.

Will Collyer, an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a film, television, and stage actor. He has starred in television shows such as Melrose Place, Charmed, CSI: Miami, and Boston Public, as well as numerous films and plays. He holds a BA in theater arts from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

Mina:

16-year-old Mina Nikolaevna Arkova is a first-generation Russian emigree navigating the perpetually aggressive world of an exclusive private high school in Los Angeles. She is resilient and can handle the discriminatory alienation, so long as she has her loyal best friend Nyah, her tough-as-nails mother, and her weekly dance classes to depend on. But as Mina prepares to start her senior year, her mother loses one of her jobs and can no longer afford the expensive tuition. Mina transfers to a public high school for the duration of 12th grade.

(Straight long ash brown hair in a smooth, tightly bound ponytail. Later she has a Thin vertical Scar down the side of her cheek from around the cheekbone to around the corner of her mouth from the alley attack. Hazel, large upturned eyes. Russian roots.

The body of a dancer, strong legs, toned arms, strong core. Dresses in black jeans, grey t-shirt, dark jacket, dark boots, and a dark backpack. )

Oliver:

Oliver Mondell, like Mina, is the new kid, and he is no stranger to life’s darkness. Years of abuse at the hands of a violent predator have taught him how to fend—and advocate—for himself. Sharp, cunning, charismatic, and practical, he wins legal emancipation from his foster parents and plans to reinvent himself in LA. Oliver’s not looking to make any friends at his new school. But then he meets Mina.

(Dark unruly short hair. Gray eyes. mixed heritage, brown skin. Slim, athletic build. Slight shadow of facial hair. )

Nyah:

Nyah dons a million-watt smile that can light up any room, gorgeous, funny, but grounded and carries unexpected wisdom. She grounds Mina when Mina starts to lose her way.

A hopeless romantic who’s always falling for the wrong guy

Wise beyond her years

Mina’s closest friend

(Dark curly hair, heart-shaped face with big kind eyes, youthful and vibrant)

Lily:

Lily is tough as nails, hardworking, juggles two jobs to keep a roof over their heads, and puts her daughter through private school. She loses one of her jobs and Mina must now attend public school for her senior year. Old-school Russian mentality and idioms with a modern twist. The cool mom

 

Click here to view the full tour schedule!

Plugging you into the audio community since 2016.

Sign up as a tour host here.