Corinne
By Rebecca Morrow

I do enjoy reading about forbidden romance and I thought this was exceptional read I enjoyed. The story is about Corinne and her relationship with Enoch, which caused her being outcasted from their fundamentalist church and shunned to leave the town she grew up in. Her mother’s illness brings her back to the town she thought she would never come back to, and there Enoch is once again. The writing was so gripping, and immersive through the course of this incredible story between Corinne and Enoch.

I am a complete a total SUCKER for Disney themed books. Princess or Villians you name it and I am there for it. I thought the cover, title and synopsis were very intriguing. This was also a new author for myself which I love exploring and one of my favorite parts of being a reviewer on netgalley!

I did find this book to be not what I was expecting. This book reads like a teenager summer romance but then moves into SMUTTY adult fiction. The writing itself is average- third person- which was not really fitting for the storyline IMO.
I did love the main character. She was definitely 3 dimensional and likable. However, storyline fell flatter for me so I will give it 3 stars. Would pick up another by this author though!!

I've been looking forward to this title and was really excited to read this one. i enjoyed it alot! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this one. Can't wait for the next one!

This was a great Romeo and Juliet retelling! I enjoyed the changes to the story to give it its own unique twist. It's perfect for people who enjoy a destined romance!

What I loved about the novel was Morrow’s exploration of the effect of religious trauma on a young woman and how she captured Corinne and Enoch’s struggles between their forbidden love and their faith. I also loved Corinne’s voice; it immediately captivated me and I was hooked by her desire for love and belonging. What I didn’t love were the graphic sex scenes that went on and on. They really affected the pacing of the novel, effectively bringing time to a standstill. And I wished that Corinne’s relationship with her mother had been fleshed out more. This had potential to be a great read for me but didn’t quite achieve it.

What have I just read?
Corinne by Rebecca Morrow was totally out of the ordinary. I must admit, I was caught off guard with it all. It was a love story that was innocent, sweet, pure, virtuous, confusing, maddening and decadent! It was a love story forbidden by time and by culture but definitely real and feels right!

Enoch Miller is the guy that fits the description acceptable by the congregation. He volunteers at church, he step up to be man of the family when his father passed, He reads the scriptures and give good sermon, He will be a good man in the future and, he will be a church elder someday. The congregation will look up to him and his word will be respected.

Corinne Callahan was not the type of girl you want your daughters in church to be friends with. She does not dress up nice and with respect for church, She takes a lot of long bathroom breaks during the sermon. Her father abandoned their family and now they were in the mercy of the church congregation for everything they need, She took the ACT! For crying out loud- why? That alone tells how worldly Corinne was .She is not pious enough.

The church dictates what is right, what is wrong, who you need to see and who you can marry. For Enoch and Corinne, playing their customized game rules and complicated monopoly every Saturday night while holding hands under the coffee table was definitely wrong in the eyes of the church. Jesus does not like it! And because of that, Corinne was casted a sinner and Enoch was forgiven.

I believe the author has nailed it to perfection when it comes to religious trauma and stress from the judgement by the faith one’s family behold. It feels dangerous and sinful to read this but I can’t put it down. So many societal, religious and secural triggers that it was giving me goosebumps. My heart ached for Corinne and Enoch. The author has a way of reaching down to the core and putting it right in the middle of the character’s pain, confusion, doubts, beliefs, strength, weakness and emotions. The reviews of this book was mixed. It was either you love it or hate it. I was among the ones who love it. If you enjoy forbidden romance, second chances, forgiveness and acceptance- pick this book up and start flipping pages. Bonus points for reading romance- this one is quite spicy in the most naive, depraved and raw kind of way!

Not sure how I feel about this one. A lot could have been left out and was repetitive, but at the same time it kept me reading to find out more. I'm curious about who the author really is.

Okay, listen - did I finally pick up this ARC because there's a rumor that the pseudonymous author was Stephanie Meyer? Yes. Do I think it actually was Stephanie Meyer? No.

Is it incredible? Absolutely.

Like, whatever expectations I had for this book were totally incorrect - gorgeous, gorgeous sparse prose, simultaneously achy breaky and dryly witty. It is heartbreaking to watch Corinne get shunned and it is heart breaking to watch her fight her way back into her family and it is heart breaking to watch Enoch try and balance what he knows to be the goodness of faith with the incredible harm it has done to people he loves and it is heart repairing to watch these people work through it together. If you like Sally Rooney, I think you might like this.

A family saga and all that it entails. Family and their expectations, realistic or not, religious beliefs being more important than your child and said family cutting her off when the Church excommunicates her because she doesn’t fall in line with their limited doctrine. So infuriating and yet it is what has made Corinne who she is. Having been forced out she had no choice, but to create a new safe life for herself. She, though emotionally devastated, created a new wonderful life for herself. Its been a long time and she doing well trying to get beyond her love for Enoch, abandonment by her family and the Church and live her best life. When her awful mother who betrayed her becomes ill she goes back to help out. She is a better person than most I know. Help the family that unceremoniously kicked her out? Nope. And yet she goes back. She doesn’t connect with the Church, but is happy to be reunited with her family, but the question is can you really go home again? Its an emotional read about forbidden love, going for what you want, becoming the person you are because of and in spite of circumstances, religion, the good and bad and fighting for yourself. Be who you are, love yourself. The rest is noise. I liked Corinne. The rest of the people, Enoch, the Church, infuriated me. It was well written and interesting, but prepare yourself for a highly charged emotional read.

Corinne is a special book. Wow. It was personal to me —as someone who dealt with cults and fundamentalism. The author did a great job portraying the realities of life when one has been “shunned” from their community. The bond between the characters was simply profound. One of a kind. It was also interesting to read about their many firsts. Things that the average person finds normal but is strange to them. I recommend it.

Well, where to start? This story is not about a cult per se, it’s about a church that has their own tenets and adhere to it in an extreme way. They are not a cult. The teenage crush between Corinne and Enoch was tedious to read. Too wordy and it dragged. The ‘deed’ itself was unremarkable. Quick points:

1) The way Corinne described the physicality of Enoch was offensive to me, vis a vis ‘fat lips, small head, meaty hands, built like a tree, unremarkable looks, wide, small genitalia’ etc etc. It's also a constant theme throughout the book. I feel so embarrassed for the hero. It is embarrassing . Why the author think this is okay beats me.

2) The story is so wordy, it becomes tedious. It reads like a NA themed book except there are some sex scenes that is X-rated for teenagers. The way the h described their intimacy was also cringe worthy.

Overall I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to see the end is why I finish it. Sorry.

I had zero expectations picking up this book and now that I’ve finished, it’s one of my favorite books so far this year. A chilling yet seemingly accurate description of life in a fundamentalist Christian church, this story both broke my heart at times and at others, had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t put it down.

Corinne is always the outsider in her mother’s church. Her family is poor and dependent upon the charity of others. Enoch is a shining star in the congregation, certain to be a church leader one day. And Corinne is desperately in love with him. She knows she is not the right kind of Christian for him, and besides, he is already betrothed to the popular girl Shannon.

”Don’t ruin this, Corinne wanted to say. It won’t last forever, and it’s all that I’ve got. And I know. I know, I know. Who I am. Who he is. The score.”

The author seems to know a lot about the hierarchy and politics of a fundamentalist church. Once a member is cast out, no one can speak to them or acknowledge them. This strict judgment seems so unfair and cold. Women especially have a very limited role in church life.

I was completely enthralled by this book. It’s a stunning love story with a Romeo and Juliet aspect. Corinne and Enoch are two very real and humane characters, and I could not look away from their story. I didn’t have much sympathy for their families, though, and the impossible situation that they put Corinne and Enoch in.

”She wouldn’t make this awkward. She’d let him off the hook. Because she liked him. Because he’d spent his whole life on the hook, and he didn’t need Corinne making it worse for him. (A kiss wasn’t strictly good, from Jesus’s perspective, but it wasn’t explicitly bad. Kissing wasn’t the sin; it was just the on-ramp.)”

The second part of the book takes place 15 years after the events of the first part. Corinne and Enoch are adults and the story does become more explicit. I personally loved it and found it very beautiful. They both try to compromise but the ever-present church and its rigid rules looms over them both.

”’I know you think of what we did as a sin and a mistake,’ she said. ‘And maybe we’ll do other things that’ll feel like sin to you. But I’m not a sin. I’m not a temptation. I’m a person. And if you love me, you’ll treat me that way. You’ll treat me like a blessing.'”

Corinne is a fascinating book. Some readers may disagree with its portrayal of fundamentalism but I can’t stop thinking about it. Bravo to Patricia Morrow, whoever you are!

(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.)

The first section of this book (up until Corinne turns 18 and has to leave) was very interesting and felt like it was going to be a good set up for the second part of this book. But once we see the adult years, everything gets very slow and very boring. I don't want to hear the phrase "fat lips" ever again, but it was in this book approximately 82 times. Not worth the 400+ pages of reading.

Highly readable and difficult to put down.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Corrine is a love story, but with such emotional intensity. It screams with despair of love lost and the ecstasy of it found again. The love Corrine and Ethan have is obsessive. Born out of a religious upbringing that stunted real emotional growth. It also shows that love isn’t perfect, and relationship are complicated.

I felt that the premise of this book was definitely something intriguing, however the book itself was lacking. Corinne was cast from the church because of indiscretion. This apparently lasted for quite some time and she has just now been able to actually communicate with her family again. One of the main issues I had was I thought it was a bit ridiculous that the boy she was obsessed with did not face any type of punishment from the indiscretion. The back story had a bit of creeper vibes for me and seemed like she was actually abused as opposed to having a say over what happened. I found there was definitely a gratuitous amount of "fat" encounters throughout the book because of course the author had to mention how big, fat, and body confident that Corinne is constantly as if the reader just forgot immediately. I know the intent was probably to be more open to all types of women, however it was repellant because it was just completely focused on this like a laser.. Also, if the church was so strict why was all of the gratuitous naked time even part of this book. Enoch was still part of the church after all. This book really fell completely flat for me. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

A solid 3 stars for this book about love, family, religion and life in general. If it had been about 1/3 shorter I would have given it 3.5 stars.

Pro: Love can conquer all? As teens belonging to a very strict religion, Enoch and Corrine are not supposed to be alone together, but when her dad leaves Enoch's mom invites Corrine's family to live with them until they can find a place of their own. His mom gives her mom a bible tract and that is the start of it all.

Enoch and Corrine do manage to get around the rules, as you can imagine, or there would be no story. To say their lives are pulled apart and their families, too is an understatement. Corrine is cast out and along with her, the family has to find a new church. At least they have each other, but Corrine is on her own for about a dozen years before her family will speak to her again and include her in family events.

Of course they run into each other and anything more would be a spoiler alert..

Con: How many times does she exclaim Enoch Miller! That part was way overdone! Some parts were more explicit than needed. as we all get the picture without needing it spelled out.

The story was really much too long and maybe realistic, but it didn't need to be. I found myself skimming once I realized I had been reading for days and was not at 50% yet.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I’m not a religious person, so I was a bit hesitant when I started this book. But then I really started to enjoy the story and the characters.

This read was just what I needed to get out of a slump I have been in! It was engaging, easy to fall into and kept me thoroughly entertained. I love it when a story becomes like an afternoon spent with a good friend and "restores your soul" with its goodness and delight. This is a book of that nature but its intrigue will captivate you and keep you going!

"Corinne" by Rebecca Morrow, was a sexy love story within a religious setting. Endearing and compelling, with some graphic parts, inner conflicts, and family complexities. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.