There are some books I know I will never truly do justice in reviewing and Never Saw You Coming is one of those for me. Religion is a tricky subject to cover. No two people have the exact same opinion or feel the same way about it. Some readers are bound to feel alienated by or dislike this book and what Erin Hahn is saying in it. I'm not one of those people. I thought it was beautifully written. To me, it did not come across as Hahn trying to attack religion, but more of asking us to question our own thoughts and actions relating to it. None of the religion related topics were new to me or ones that I hadn't already thought about. I appreciated the way the story was told and how it related to the characters, especially Meg. 

Meg was a young woman who has recently graduated from high school. There have been some revelations in her life that have her questioning the way she was brought up and the role religion and the church has played in her life. Meg uses the gap year she plans on taking to journey north and meet some of her family. While she's there, she meets Micah. Micah has his own issues with his family and the church. All the soul searching Meg and Micah are doing connects them in a way that just being attracted to each other wouldn't have. They're a support system for each other that neither were expecting. I loved how their friendship and then relationship evolved. I loved the honesty they cultivated and the maturity they had in relation to their relationship. Meg and Micah stayed true to themselves throughout the entire book and I was impressed by that. 

Along Meg and Micah's journeys, they have a great cast of supporting character. I loved Vada being along for some of the ride as well as Meg's family. Micah's family and friends were my favorites in this book, though. I loved Duke and his friendship. James, Dani, and Meg's great-grandmother were also great characters. All these characters were so thoughtfully placed in Meg and Micah's lives. 

I don't know what else to say about this book. I don't necessarily feel like it was a book I would have needed as a teenager, but I would have benefitted in some ways had I read it back then. I think it will be helpful to a lot of teenagers trying to find themselves and questioning their beliefs. I enjoyed reading it and being part of Meg and Micah's journeys.

Never Saw You Coming by Erin Hahn

Official rating: 3 stars
Page turner rating: 1 star

After graduating high school, Meg decides to take a gap year and visit the family of her dad that she has never met before. She meets not only the family but a boy that quickly becomes her boyfriend and together they tackle their own personal/family/church/trust issues.

Let me start out by saying that this is a tough one to review because this YA book has a message with it and its something that will apply and really resonate with some people - likely teenage girls in an unhealthy church setting, but I am not the intended audience. That being said, this story didn't connect with me and I was ready to move on... early. Its full of cringe-y teenage drama and talk about the church trauma that each main character was dealing with, and it didn't stray from this theme much at all. I did feel some compassion at the end, and the authors note following the book is what made me go up in my star ranking to 3.

This is my first read by this author, and I look forward to reading her other books. I loved Meg and Micah, and the rest of the characters.

I was happily surprised to find this book set in Michigan, as I read it will I was on vacation there! The characters were well-formed and realistic.

Having grown up in a strict church (before switching in junior high), the main topic hit a little too close to home for me. Some might find it refreshing to be able to relate to a character. Others might find it overwhelming. Just something to consider.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free book.
I wish I had had this book when I was a teen, and I know that it will be exactly what some teens need. If you've read Hahn's previous book, More Than Maybe, you may recognize Meg, the main character in this one. She is a young woman raised in an extremely conservative, when it comes to religion, household. I loved how the novel started with a big secret being exposed, and the book being the aftermath. Meg has to figure out for herself who she is and what she believes. I liked how Hahn explored religion vs. loving Jesus. She also dug into toxic purity culture and the religion that supports it.
I also loved Micah's story of being hurt by the church. This is so common, and with young adults, it can be such a monumental moment in their decision to have faith or not. I also enjoyed how Hahn explored dad problems from a young man's POV.
I just wanted to hug all of these characters and sit down and talk with them. This story is rich, complex, and has a range of emotions and characters throughout. If you've ever questioned religion, especially as a young adult, I recommend this one wholeheartedly.

Real talk here. This year has brought on a huge shift in a faith/religion transition for me and I have BIG feelings about that.

I didnt actually know that this book would be so heavy handed with the church talk/Jesus love. I am not at all knocking that but it definitely wasn't my favorite aspect of the story.

However, with my own issues in the forefront of my mind I feel like Hahn really took some very prevalent issues in the "church" and made them very real. She pointed out many flaws that need to be shifted a bit in order for ALL to feel more accepted while they worship.

I was prepared to mention how little I liked this book...until I read Erin Hahns author notes in the back. I can't tell you how frequently I think about disliking a book until I recognize the authors why. She shares beautiful reasons in the rear of this novel and this validated some of my issues.

So overall this was not for me but it definitely will be for many. I did however really love knowing the why and recognizing that Hahn is trying to make a space for all and I can definitely get behind that 100%.

I recieved an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Overview: Meg and Micah, the two main characters, have just finished high school, and they're both dealing with church & family trauma. Meg having been raised in a conservative Christian household has fled to Michigan's UP to meet family she never knew existed. Micah's spending time working as an outdoor guide while his dad (a former pastor) is in prison. This coming-of-age story was rich with characters questioning things they've been taught growing up in the Church (purity culture, homophobia, leadership practices, etc.), and finding their identity. Ultimately, the main characters are able to reconstruct their faith in much healthier ways.

Thoughts: This was my first Erin Hahn book, and I went into this knowing very little about the story/author. The first half of the book was rather repetitive (homeschool! purity! sheltered teen!). I also found this portion of the book to be rather preachy and overly religious. Yet, the second half of the book was well-executed, and the author's intentions to breaking-down problematic Church culture became much clearer! In some ways, it felt like something RHE would have written for teens. Thus, this would be a good book for high schoolers questioning their faith and problematic aspects of the Church.

Overview: Meg is done with living by her parents' rules. Or parent? Nothing makes sense after she finds out that the dad she's known all of her life actually isn't her biological dad, and her biological dad is actually dead. But his grandmother and his brother are living in the UP, and Meg intends to meet them before it's too late. With high school behind her, Meg makes the leap of faith towards a tiny town she's never been to. She quickly folds herself into the community, finding her blood family and her found family, while also facing the stigmas and internalized sexism she's learned through her mom and her church over the years. This is the ultimate coming of age story. Overall: 5+++

Characters: 5 Meg and Micah, the two POV characters are now also my two favorite people. In the companion novel of sorts, More Than Maybe, we meet Meg as Vada's homeschooled best friend. While I sometimes wonder if Vada and I are the same person and I love her too, I think I got even more out of Meg's story. At the start of the book, you can feel how weighed down Meg is by all the rules she's grown up with in the church around the way she dresses, behaves, and interacts with the world. Though Meg's love of God is ever present, she does start to gain back some of the confidence the church has stripped from her when she questions where their rules actually stemmed from. You get to watch Meg come to life as the story progresses, and it's really beautiful. I want to give Meg such a big hug.

Micah is also reconciling with his relationship with the church and God. After his pastor father got taken to prison when he was 13, Micah's world turned upside down. Ostracized from everything he knew, Micah was forced to start over. Now, with his dad's parole hearing coming up, he's forced to start over with his feelings from scratch. This time, though, he has a support system in his friend/mentor James and best friend Duke. When Meg comes to town, Micah adds her to the friend group, and they quickly develop romantic feelings for one another. Their relationship becomes one entirely built on trust- something they've lost in most of their other relationships. They are a truly solid, healthy, amazing couple, and while every kind of relationship should be shown on the page, I'm really glad Meg and Micah's understanding, thoroughly caring one is out there too.

The side characters are also all incredibly developed. There's Micah's family and his step dad who he has a tense relationship with stemming from how they believe Micah should handle his dad. James also happens to be Meg's biological uncle, so he takes Meg under his wing like he did for Micah, and Meg also gets to know her great grandma, Miss Betty. The cafe and outdoor shop owner, Dani, also plays a mentor roll and has a romance of her own with Uncle James.

Meg goes on detailed journeys with her mom and her dad she had growing up that truly paint them as fully realized people. I think it presented an important narrative of how your relationship with your parents changes as you get older and become your own person. Finally, there's Duke who is the most amazing best friend to both Micah and Meg and is on his own journey of figuring himself out in a place where he doesn't really fit the box. The support Duke, Micah, and Meg share with one another is truly amazing and heartwarming.

Plot: 5 I could not put down this book. It's not particularly plot driven, but the story moves fast. Meg has so much to discover, and she and Micah are at the point of life where everything is just always happening. There's always a personal breakthrough or an important piece of the puzzle on the other side of the next chapter. You fall so deeply for the characters that you don't want to quit following their journeys, even when the book comes to a close. I read the entire second half of the book in a single day.

Writing: 5 Erin Hahn is one of the best authors writing YA right now and has been since her first book, You'd Be Mine. There's something about the way that she crafts her characters that make them achingly real, and her stories are always deeply relatable on a purely human level, even if you can't connect with the specific details of the plot. Her books always pulse with music and major emotional waves. This one is no exception, and these strong suits are more pronounced than ever. As fun as this is a book to read, it's also going to help people- teens and adults alike. Erin tells you both what you need to hear and the truth of the situations.

It was a real joy to get to read this book because I find characters my age, going through the more truly young adult end of the crossroads, less and less often in YA the older I get. I love that so many of Erin's books explore that time after high school, and they never push immediately going to college as the only option either. This is a book about learning to strike out on your own and redefining your rule book based on what's right in your heart. It's a book about how starting over in a place you've never been can lead you to the best moments of your life so far. It's a book about how you don't have to have everything figured out right now. There's always time to learn as you go. And I think those themes are some of the most important in YA. Please just read this book when it comes out in September. You won't regret it.

Never Saw You Coming was my first read from Erin Hahn, and though this is technically a spinoff with some characters from another book that Hahn has written, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything important reading this as a standalone book.

This book is labeled as a Young Adult Romance, and that’s at the heart of the story. This is a sweet young adult romance very unlike others that I’ve read before, and a lot of that has to do with the heavily faith-filled story, and the heart of the story makes this a Christian young adult book for teens that deals with some serious and thought-provoking topics like church trauma and purity culture in the church.

Meg Hennessey was raised in a conservative household and, after graduating high school, she finds out that she has family she never knew existed, thanks to information that had been kept from her as she’d been growing up. As she embarks on a gap year before college, she travels to meet the family she didn’t know that she had. Once she gets there, she quickly meets Micah Allen, a former pastor’s son with trauma of his own. As they grow closer, they confront complicated questions.

I was curious from the start to see how the faith topics were handled in this story, and there’s a lot of questions and thoughts that the characters have throughout the book that I recognized as things that I’d thought or wondered as a teenager myself. The characters are great, and I connected with Meg almost immediately when I started the story. The church world setting is accurately portrayed in so many ways, at least from my experience, and I think the messages in the book are just as valid for adult readers as they are for the teenage readers that might be going through something similar. There were moments where this story felt extremely personal for me in way that I never felt from any Christian fiction I’d read before.

I don’t think this story is for everyone. It’s very faith/religious-forward story, and I think every reader will have a different opinion on that. Some moments that others might call preachy didn’t feel that way for me, but I figured it was worth pointing out. The heart of this story is a message of self-acceptance and finding yourself.

The main reason this is dropping down to 4 stars for me is the pacing of the story. I felt like some of the pacing was inconsistent, and there were moments where I thought some of the side characters could have been utilized better. But I did love Meg, Micah, and many of the supporting characters.

Warning: This book discusses some sensitive topics that may be triggering for some readers including church trauma, purity culture, and adultury.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Never Saw You Coming is another great book! This book stars Meg, a minor character from More Than Maybe. Meg is lost. Lost in her life. Lost in her faith. Just plain lost and she needs to find herself again so she "runs away" to a new town in Michigan to connect with new family members she didn't know she had and maybe even fall in love. Hahn does a great job explaining some of the issues between the church and sin. DO NOT miss the author's note at the end of the book. It is a beautiful letter.

the story is cute enough in general and i did enjoy the bond between the two MCs (micah is absolutely precious).

however, this is too religious for my liking. its actually really quite heavy-handed at times. i have no doubt there are readers who will see themselves in meg and micahs’ shoes, however, im not one of them and, to me, its a bit much. i do appreciate that there are some attempts at being inclusive. there are LGBTQ characters and other topics mentioned that go beyond the traditional christian beliefs (in the authors words, this is an alternative christian story), but they are often overshadowed by all of the heavy theological content.

so while i do think this has its moments, and the authors note at the ends helps a lot, i just dont think i am the right audience for this particular story unfortunately.

Just as I was about to start this book, I learned that More Than Maybe featured some of the same characters. I am so glad I waited and read it first. Although Never Saw You Coming can stand alone, it serves as a spoiler for More Than Maybe. So I recommend reading them in order. But know that they are very different books.

I am so grateful for the chance to read Never Saw You Coming. Meg has just found out that her father isn't her biological father. Micah's father has been in prison for five years after preying on the women in his congregation. Both Meg and Micah were raised in the church, and when they meet, they can relate to each other over church trauma. This story is about their romance, but equally, it is about their faith journeys.

As someone who believes in Jesus but has had a really rocky relationship with the Christian church for a long time, I loved this book so much. It raises questions of hypocrisy, and personal faith, and where we find God. The Author's Note at the end is amazing, as Erin Hahn describes her own faith and feelings about publishing a book like this. As she has said on Goodreads, "it is *very* critical of the evangelical church, particularly in regards to the purity movement, shady leadership practices and treatment of LGTBQA identities."

I don't cry frequently when reading. When I do cry, it's usually because something really tragic happened in the story. This book was unique in that it made me cry through the depiction of faith. it made me cry in a similar way to the best praise music, by helping me feel seen and understood. I recommend this book so highly, especially for young people who are struggling to reconcile what the church espouses with the truth of Jesus' love. Erin Hahn describes it as an alternative Christian fiction, and I think that description is perfect.

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books for the advanced reader copy and for publishing this. Thank you even more to Erin Hahn for sharing your faith and making sure that a book like this exists.

Micah and Meg both carry a church-shaped hole of hurt. Homeschooled Meg’s gap year plans change when she learns that she was conceived when her Christian conservative mom had a one night stand on a church youth group weekend and her biological dad died while drunk driving the next day. Now she’s rethinking all she has been taught about purity culture and what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Learning that she has a great-grandmother and an uncle on her her bio dad’s side, Meg leaves Ann Arbor for the Upper Peninsula where she connects with them and meets Micah, whose former-pastor dad is serving time for seducing women in his congregation and for financial fraud. Micah idolized his dad and has been the target of bullying and anger from the community and the church his father pastored. He’s left the church and is marking time until he can move somewhere that his past won’t cling to him so publicly.

Micah and Meg’s romance forces them to confront and evaluate their church pasts and together they wrestle with plenty of big ideas - what is required for forgiveness? How can good things come out of tragedy and deceit? What do they believe about sexuality and sexual preferences? Can they believe in God in a way that is not the same as their families of origin?

A YA contemporary Christian romance that reminded me of a lighter version of The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner.
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18-year-old Meg Hennessy just found out the father she had her whole life isn’t her birth father. That man died before her mother could even tell him of Meg’s existence. Now Meg has decided to forgo her gap year plans to meet a great-grandmother she didn’t know she had and ends up living with her newly-found uncle. In this town she meets Micah Allen, a boy struggling with his own demons as his pastor father is up for parole after being sentenced to years in jail for embezzlement. Both are struggling with their faith and find solace in one another.
🏊‍♂️
I went into this book blind, as it was just one of the romance ARCs I had to read. I didn’t know it was a follow up to the author’s previous book More Than Maybe. I also didn’t know it was hailed as light Christian fiction. Despite both characters having a crisis of faith, the novel continued to come back to their love of God. It felt preachy at times and schmalzy at others. There wasn’t much diversity. Both main characters felt way too adult for their ages and how well they handled the situations they were in. It felt a bit unrealistic. Overall this book was not for me, but I know many students who would enjoy it. This title releases 9.7.

CW: discussions of self-harm and suicide, drunk driving

2.5 ⭐️

Erin Hahn writes another cute story with music playing a roll in it. But unfortunately for me, I always compare her books to her first one, You'd Be Mine, and they just can't compare. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, as always Hahn covers teens who are struggling and find help in their friends and loved ones. It just wasn't the right fit for me.

One thing I do want to point out is that this book, while not what I would call "religious" has a lot of church issues involved in it. If you aren't a believer I don't think that you'd enjoy it.

Meg and Micah, two young adults, meet when Meg journeys to Marquette to meet the great-grandmother she never knew she had. It's a story of first live, discovering yourself, and your religious beliefs.

It definitely has a very strong religious under current to it. If you are not a very religious person, this book will be too over the top religious purity for you. It was a bit much for me at the beginning but as Meg discovers herself, the religious undertones are still there but not quite so prevalent.

Other than the religious purity theme, it was a cute story and I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. There are a few twists that keep you interested. Definitely a feel good story.

Never Saw You Coming

This one is hard for me to rate. The story was cute in general and I loved Micah and the connection between the 2 MC’s was great.

However, this book was way to religious for my liking. For the right audience I think this book would be great, but it just didn’t appeal to me.

Thank you for the Arc, St. Martins Press/ Wednesday books.

2 stars

This book is EVERYTHING I needed as a teen!!! It smashes religious purity culture with finesse and so much grace. And the dedication made me weepy - thank you Erin for this book!!

The Quick Cut: A girl finds out the truth behind her parentage and takes off for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to learn more. She meets a boy there struggling with his own father.

A Real Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC for an honest review.

We are all flawed human beings, but there's something about our parents or faith letting us down that hurts deeply. Growing up, parents can feel more like powerful controls than just regular individuals. It's not until we're older that we realize they are just as capable of pain as the rest of us. When Meg and Micah find their parents and faith letting them down, they find comfort in each other in this story.

Meg graduated early from high school and has chosen to take a gap year when she finds out the truth: the father she has known her entire life is not her biological father. She goes to upper Michigan to get to know her biological father's family and meets Micah: a boy who struggles with his own father, currently in jail. Can these two help one another recover from their own discoveries?

Due to the fact that I grew up in a very Christian household, this book resonated with me a lot. Unless you grew up in a house where church was more than just a Sunday affair though, this book is not going to connect with you. It was written with a very specific audience in mind and for that reason, it won't likely have wide appeal.

My biggest issue with this story is that it spends so much time talking about faith and less time on the reason Meg went to the UP in the first place. I kept expecting the story to focus on her getting to know that side of the family and instead focused on her connection with Micah.

While I found Meg likeable, I didn't find her entirely relatable. She is homeschooled and fairly isolated life wise before her trip to the UP. It causes her to act out in many ways on her journey. I've never felt the need to do that and it feels a little to stereotypical here for her to react that way.

I did find Micah's story interesting though. He's a pastor's kid who lives under intense scrutiny because of what his father did. It's put a black spot on him that he didn't earn and causes him to struggle with the church. Seeing how his family issues played out was very satisfying to me and easily was the best part of the story.

An interesting setup with an unsatisfying ending.

My rating: 3 out of 5

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I read More Than Maybe as well and really enjoyed it so I've been anticipating Meg's story. It was well worth the wait.

Meg Hennessey has just been dealt a huge blow. She found out that the father who has been raising her with her mom is not her biological father but her stepdad and her parents' marriage is a sham. This revelation sorely tests her faith as a believer and active participant and singer at her church. She leaves her home and goes to find the family she never knew existed. Unfortunately her birth dad died in a car accident and never knew she existed but her paternal great grandmother knows about Meg and opens her with loving arms. She also gets to know her uncle James and has a meet cute with Micah Allen. Meg gets a job at a bakery on her gap year and becomes more than friends with Micah and friends with Duke, Micah's best friend.

Micah Allen's dad went to prison after embezzling money from the church and coercing female church members into sexual relationships. A timely MeToo issue in the churches and it affected Micah since he was 13 when his dad was caught and convicted. As a result his family were pariahs and his mother declared bankruptcy and lost their home. In the 6 years since, Micah took up running as a coping mechanism and her mom remarried and had more kids. Micah's dad's parole hearing is coming up and he wants no part of it.

Micah and Meg have a sweet PG 13? Ish relationship that progresses naturally, it didn't feel like insta love. Meg has to deal with the double standards with purity in young women at church and there is also the matter of how they see and accept LGBTQ loved ones, being closeted and homophobia in the church.

Even for myself being Jewish I found the characters very approachable and not preachy or judgy. 4.5/5 ☆ out 9/7/21.
Content warnings for sexual coercion, church teachings against premarital sex, homophobia.