Yes! A millions times yes! I don't know what else to say. Every kind who attended church growing up, and was force-fed a black and white Christian world, needs this book. Thank you, Erin Hahn!

This story follows Meg on her quest to find herself and figure out where she fits in the world after her whole existence is shaken by a revelation about her past. And on that quest she finds Micah.

This is probably the sweetest love story I have ever read. Meg and Micah just click and fit together perfectly from the first moment. Ok, not the first moment, but definitely the second. Even as things blow up and fall apart around them, together they are steady.

As for the supporting characters, friends don’t get any better than Duke, who is so supportive and amazing to Micah, and just absorbs Meg right into their world as well.

Meg’s best friend Vada isn’t as present, but only because she is states away. She is still incredibly there in her support of Meg.

Betty is also amazing. I think everyone should have a Betty in their lives. And she and Dani are the only two of the older generation(s) to get my 100% endorsement. The rest have some hypocrisy happening.

Micah’s mom and step-dad are good for the most part, but James had some moments that made me question him. As did Meg’s parents.

I’m not even going to talk about Micah’s dad.

I was a little concerned about the amount of religion that would be included in this book, but it was handled in a way that was pivotal to the plot line, but not throwing it in our faces, if that makes sense.

My favorite part, though, was at the height of the tension in the story, where most love stories create conflict between the main characters, Meg and Micah never faltered, not once. And that just left me feeling good.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Net Galley on behalf of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Erin Hahn just gets it! I loved this story of two young people who have a complicated relationship with church.

I grew up going to a fairly modern, progressive church so I wasn’t able to personally relate to a lot that Meg and Micah went through but it wasn’t hard to empathize and put myself in their shoes. I really liked Erin’s message at the end of the book.

Never Saw You Coming by @erinhahn_author was an incredible read. If you were a church kid growing up this book will resonate with you more than I can possibly say. I lost count the amount of times I thought to myself “oh my lanta, yes that’s exactly what it was like.” The takeaway: The church can be judgmental and cruel; but God never is. This is a story about Meg who finds out her whole life is a lie. Suddenly she doesn’t know what to believe and turns to a family she didn’t know she had. While she has lost interest in the people of the church, she very much still believes in the goodness and mercy of God. She meets Micah who is also battling his own demons from his past and together they discover exactly what they have been looking for. I truly don’t have enough time to gush about how great this book was. Please check it out when it hits bookshelves September 7th! Thank you @netgalley, @wednesdaybooks and @erinhahn_author giving me a chance to read this book in advance! - C #bookstagrammer #Bibliophile #bookish #bookworm #booknerd #bookaddict #books #bookreview #bookrecommendations #booksofinstagram #reading #reader #bestslovebooks #readersofinstagram
#ARC #netgalley #neversawyoucoming

⭐️⭐️💫

I am having a hard time with my review for this book, because I wanted to really enjoy it. It is a Christian fiction, which I didn’t realize going in to this book. While I understand the role it plays into this book, I couldn’t help but feel like there was an underlying implication that you couldn’t find yourself if you didn’t feel the same way.

I think for some, this book can and will be very enjoyable, even relatable. It just was not that for me. I did still push this finish this novel, because you do want to see how Meg and Micah grows as the book develop.

Ultimately, it is still a story about discovering yourself and your strength despite issues at home.

Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with this arc.

This heartfelt coming-of-age story tackles purity culture in the church. It’s thought-provoking and healing as both Meg and Micah explore their complicated relationship with the church and their own faith. I loved their sweet romance and grumpy/sunshine dynamic. A must-read for teens who grew up in the church! Plus, there are fun cameos of the characters from the author’s previous novel, MORE THAN MAYBE!

4.5 stars

Never Saw You Coming is a kind of book that either works for you or doesn't. I couldn't relate to the religion aspects. But overall, it was a decent read.

I started to read this and it didn't grab my attention within the first 50 pages. I stopped reading at that point. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I had read the author’s prior work, ‘More Than Maybe’ and decided to give this one a look through. Thanks, NetGalley!

Raised by conservative parents, Meg just found her childhood was a lie. Before college, she ends up traveling north to meet what is left of the family she never knew existed. She meets Micah, a former pastor’s kid whose dad ended up in prison, while there. And like Meg, has his own complicated relationship with the church. Now he feels the pressure to forgive—even when he cannot forget. As the two grow closer, they confront the feelings of first love.

I tried to get into it, but I couldn’t even get through the first chapter. I’m not a religious person, but spiritual, and it was too focused on God. I wanted more focus on the characters. I feel like removing the church stuff would have made it a better story.

If you like religious romance stories, then this could be one for you. If not, pass it by.

I thought this was a cute book, just a little too religious for me. It was a sweet summer romance book, like I imagined. It was good, just wasn’t my favorite.

Absolutely loved this book. Meg goes through so much, trying to juggle her faith with her humanity, and I love seeing her figure out how to balance the too. Micah is such an amazing guy for her to fall for and I adore their love story.

If you read More than Maybe by Erin Hahn then you will recognize some of the same characters. You don't have to have read that book though as this is a completely different storyline from that one.

"Because of course, I couldn’t leave without telling them first. Always the good girl. Always courteous."

Never Saw You Coming is told from two points of view. The first one is Meg whose mom had been keeping a secret from her entire life until her 18th birthday. This secret is one about her birth father and has led her to take a gap year and go and be near his family to learn about him.
The second one is Micah who is a former pastor's kid whose dad is in Jail for several crimes. He's trying to figure out what he wants to do in life, while also still dealing with the repercussions of his dad's actions that the whole family has suffered from.

Meg and Micah are both very sweet characters. The relationship they have is nice, and it's one that takes time to develop and isn't rushed. I loved seeing how they both helped each other grow and change over the span of a couple of months. We see Micah go from being this person who carries so much pressure on him, to being someone who lets it all out finally, and whose mom sees that he can't always be the strong one. Then with Meg, we saw her go from being this quiet and shy young woman who was afraid of a lot of things and was very strict in the church because of how purity culture. She becomes this strong woman who is still dealing with that pressure from the church to a certain extent, but she also spreads her wings a little and is able to finally be truly happy it seems.

Overall I enjoyed this story. It talks about the tough topic of toxic purity culture that can be found in churches and the inner turmoil it causes for both men and women as they grow older, but especially for women. We see this through several different situations in Meg's portion of the book, and how it not only affected her but her mom as well in the past. Then with Micah, you see how being a pastor's kid was hard, but being a pastor's kid who had been arrested and gone to jail was even harder because of how their community turned against the family even though they hadn't done the crime and didn't even know about it. The anger and frustration and sadness that both Meg and Micah felt throughout the book because of things that were happening and had happened in the past came across so well in this book. Hahn has done an amazing job of showing both the good and bad parts of Christian churches, its a hard balance to make happen. Now as for the other friendships that we saw in this book, I loved them as well. Getting so tee Meg's best friend Vada again was fun and reminded me of how much I did enjoy More than Maybe. With Micah and his best friend, you saw that unconditional friendship that is so needed for everyone, especially with what they had both been dealing with since being pre-teens.

I highly recommend this book, as it is a wonderful balance of a sweet relationship, while also dealing with a tough topic that needs to be talked about more.

Posting on Blog on August 24th, 2022

Meg has just discovered that her real father was her mother's one night stand. A fact that her mother kept from her forever because one night stands/ children out of wedlock are forbidden from God's people. Furious as ever, Morgan travels to Marquette to learn about her family and get away from her mother. What she never sees coming is Micah.

Micah's father has been in jail for the past six years for crimes he committed as a pastor. The kicker? M defended him as a thirteen year old and now wishes to take back every word he said. With dad's parole looming, he just wants to stay out of the church's light and be free to be who he wants. What he doesn't see coming is Meg.

Never Saw You Coming is a purposeful read for the right audience, those who are interested in the church through a YA standpoint. I loved Erin Hahn's author note and wished that came at the beginning of the novel instead of at the end.

3.5 🌟

Pretty sure I requested this one based on the fact that it was an Erin Hahn novel without reading the synopsis. Never Saw you Coming was the coming of age YA novel I expected, but I didn't realize it was so heavy on religion. Here's the thing though, even there was quite a bit of religion it wasn't preachy. Actually I could appreciate the authors challenge of old expectations applying to today's youth. Overall I enjoyed this one and have already requested Hahn's next novel.

Great book, love this author and how they can keep my attention to the end! The plot is well developed, characters are believable and they obviously paid attention to detail to make the story worth your time to read.

Meg and Micah's story is unlike any I have read before in this genre, and it was extremely enjoyable. Erin Hahn did a fantastic job at crafting these characters. All of their decisions and problems felt real and I always found myself rooting for the best for the two of them. They also have a very sweet romance. I loved being able to read Meg grow out of her shell and become who she really is all while Micah is on his own journey. Hahn did a great job crafting characters to care about and I really enjoyed the setting of the story as well. The imagery really made me feel like I was there.

This book really meant a lot to me. I grew up in a church a lot like the one Meg went to (and am also named Meg, oddly enough!), and felt a lot of similar hang-ups surrounding my faith and acceptance as a teenager. I'm now 25 and have grown a lot in my relationship with God, and I've ended up where I think these characters are headed one day. This book would have been monumental for where I was in my life during my first year or two of college. I think it's not for everyone -- some moments can feel a little heavy-handed, and I had no idea when I started that Christianity was so central to the story. But I think what it deals with, especially regarding its exploration of the church's hypocrisy and judgement, as well as the constant communication between the main couple, is so important. And I just love Micah and Meg and Duke and Vara (and Cash, of course!!). A delightful cast of characters and a wonderful read for me.

*Arc provided by Netgalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.*

Never Saw You Coming is about protagonists Meg and Micah and their individual struggles with faith and family. Meg has recently discovered a major secret about her life and Micah is struggling with the fallout of crimes his father, a former pastor, committed.

I am not one to pick up a book if it's very clearly about religion and if this book had been billed that way I don't think I would have given it a chance. That would have been an absolute shame because I really enjoyed this book. Yes, religion is a major side character, but it's not forced down your throat and given an "everyone is going to hell" vibe. Instead, it's about two young adults growing up and coming to terms with how their faith and that of those around them shapes them into the people they are. How you can still believe in God while acknowledging that people are inherently flawed, but that doesn't always make them bad. While the struggle with religion isn't always something every young adult will deal with the theme of self discovery is something everyone can relate to.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

There was a lot I loved about this book, but there was also a lot I didn’t like or agree with. There were a lot of things that were extremely well done (the relationships between the characters, the nuances of the church and how people get hurt), but there was also a lot of stereotyping involved, which is surprising considering some of the writing in the same book (for example not all homeschoolers are the same and not every church or Christian is the same).

Brilliant writing, fantastic characters, a great way to look at some hard situations and the emotions that come from them- just too much stereotyping and grouping people together as all one thing.

I will definitely read more from this author and would read this book again!

I have belatedly given this author a second chance after rating a previous book 2 stars and while this one had potential, it fell flat for me and ended up at around 2 or 2.5. My only takeaway from this is that the church is fucked up.