Corinne is a second chance romance that takes place in two halves. In the first half, Corinne and her family are part of a fundamentalist church and Corinne never feels accepted or like she fits in. The closest she has to a friend is Enoch, whose mother is best friends with her mother. After Corinne's family is evicted from their home, they move in with Enoch's family to live in their basement. On Saturdays (bible study day), Corinne's family is invited upstairs to be a part of Enoch's family and play games and eat pizza. What begins as innocent hand holding turns into more, and Corinne is kicked out of the church for engaging in sin after Enoch confesses to the elders. Enoch, of course, is forgiven and remains a member in good standing with said fundamentalist church.

In the second half, Corinne has attended college, dated a couple guys, and found a job that she enjoys. When her mom gets sick, she returns home to be near her and hopefully continue to repair their relationship. She attends a family gathering and is surprised to see Enoch there - now divorced but still a member of the fundamentalist church. They reconnect and rekindle their relationship, but, like Romeo and Juliet, they find many obstacles in the way to happiness.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. The writing style is engaging and I read most of the book in one sitting. I had difficulty believing that Corinne would agree to meet Enoch in the second half with no hesitation, since he was the catalyst for her life going down a very different but arguably better path. He is still a member of the church so doesn't see anything wrong with what he did or the hypocrisy of why he was unpunished while Corinne was cast out. This is very normal in the fundamentalist church but in my opinion Corinne should have been more upset about it as someone who now resided in a secular environment.

The romance is very open door. The first half is holding hands under tables and a few stolen kisses, but the second half is very explicit in its romantic encounters. In fact the second half is almost entirely romantic encounters. It made the book feel tonally dissonant. Since the first half was very drawn out, the second half feels a bit rushed and shallow. My biggest complaint, though, is that the relationship felt unbelievable. It's a secret love affair - all codependence and no substance.

As someone who is a Protestant (very non-fundamentalist) Christian, it made me cringe to see the word "Christian" ascribed to the church depicted in this story. I wish that the fundamentalist denomination had been named rather than just referred to as "the church". The majority of this story was intertwined with religion, and it was not painted in a positive light (for good reason).

I did enjoy aspects of this book, but I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.

Can you go home again? Should you go home again? Those are the questions facing Corinne, who left her church and Kansas community in 1992 and built a life in Boston. Now 13 years later her mother is ill and she's back, back to face Enoch, her teenage love and the reason she was cast out. Enoch has his own problems- his wife Shannon has come out and he's struggling in more ways than one. Is this a second chance romance? The first part of this book, which focuses on their teen age years, was interesting to me for the ways the church rules their world. Regrettably, they both seem quite immature when we join them again in their 30s and very much focused on their sex life. I liked parts of this a great deal and other parts were meh. Corinne, however, is a compelling character. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC A good read.

Spanning fifteen years, our main character Corinne is growing up in a Mormon-like religion. After her father left, Corinne, her mom, and her siblings move in with a family from their church after being evicted from their home. Corinne is having to deal with her father leaving, the religious trauma she is put through, and the crush she's been harboring for Enoch who she is now living with. After being restricted for much of her life, Corinne going out in the real world is a culture shock. However, she is able to go on and have sexual and platonic relationships with others outside of the church and start a promising career. After Corrine has her roots set down in the big city, an unexpected event sends her right back into the small religious bubble she grew up in. Corinne is forced to go back to what she wants to leave behind, including her first love Enoch.

This was such an interesting portrayal of the religious trauma young people face every day. It is also a different look at love, showing the good, the bad, and the ugly of these situations perfectly in my opinion. While the beginning tended to feel very slow-paced, the messaging and writing style still made a great and engaging story to read. Corinne is a complex character who is able to overcome her struggles from childhood and adolescence but also has trouble looking back at that time of her life. I found it an interesting read especially when Corinne is in her adult years.

Corinne.
Enoch.
Corinne & Enoch.
A literary couple I’ll be comparing every other literary couple I come across in my reading journey until the end of time.

It was board games & fellowship that brought Corinne and Enoch together. Corinne began to notice the spark that ignited between herself and Enoch on those late Saturday nights playing board games after family meetings, but when things go too far Corinne is cast out of the church and cut off from her family. Cut to fifteen years later, Corinne has had to cultivate a new life for herself, but unfortunately in her heart nothing has changed. It’s always been Enoch.

If you were to tell me that this book includes religious fundamentalism and is categorized as erotic fiction, you’d have lost me. It was the cover and blurb by Jodi Picoult (esp after reading Wish You Were Here earlier this year) that initially piqued my interest. It wasn’t until after it arrived that I noticed the genre categorization and the fact that the author, Rebecca Morrow is a pseudonym for a NYT best-selling author. I feel like it is actually a rather difficult book to recommend short of grasping your hand and pleading with you to go read it because I just know you need to.

It is an incredibly smart and intimate portrayal of two people who feel so intrinsically destined to be together, are ripped apart, and then thrust back together. It explores religious fundamentalism in conservative congregations, and what that might look like for families whose members might choose different paths. It also explores eroticism in adult relationships—yes, there are some very sexy scenes. For me though, the most stellar aspect of this 5⭐️ read is the communication. Healthy, open communication will always be the key to successful relationships—AND THIS WAS DONE SO WELL. Cue the standing ovation.

If you read and enjoyed All the Ugly and Wonderful Things—this book will resonate with you. It’s a binge-worthy read you’ll be sad you read too fast.

Thank you so much to @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read and review. It’s going to be one of my top ten reads this year for sure.

2 stars is a rating I rarely give, but Corinne just didn't do it for me and after reading the snyopsis, I felt duped.

The synopsis, a girl raised in a very strict Fundamentalist religion and family who is cut off from family by the church longs to return and longs most for Enoch, the reason she was shunned by her community, caught my eye and led me to believe this would be a book about Corinne maturing, learning to live on her own, and other such struggles.

The synopsis is misleading, the characters were very immature as adults - they were essentially frozen in their maturity level at the age (teens) we met them at the start of the book. I DNF'd at just over 50% because I was tired of the thin plot that was mostly all about the various sex acts Corinne and Enoch enjoyed. I was bored and grew weary of waiting for something that occur that would actually interest me.

Thank you to Netgalley. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley! This felt like a loose Romeo and Juliet modern retelling. A couple who are by all means destined to be together yet must sacrifice everything else to have each other. I liked how the author brought the reader in to the moments leading up to the reason why these two wouldn’t be able to be together in the past and made me feel like I knew Corinne and the pressure she was under to be put into a box by her family and her community. It kept me engaged, made me question and created a well developed story!

I am always grateful to receive an advance copy of a book. For the book Corinne, it was one that I could not enjoy, although I'm sure that it will appeal to other people. I have seen some very good reviews for it. I'm not, however, the appropriate target audience for this book. The detailed sexual descriptions and and language were not what I am comfortable with, and I could not get past that content.
Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader's copy and opportunity to provide my unbiased review.

Sweeping love story that will appeal to most readers. I absolutely was absorbed in the plot for this book. It touched my heart and I can’t wait to read it again!

This novel tells the story of the forbidden love between Enoch and Corinne who are members of a fundamentalist religious community. From they are teenagers, Corinne and Enoch are drawn to each other but their differences preclude any future - he is destined to one day become the elder of the church, she is the daughter of a poor, separated - from a non-believer - and recently converted mother. But something happens one night that causes Corinne to be cast out from the community while Enoch remains behind. However, over the course of 15 years, Enoch’s and Corinne’s lives intersect - the novel traces the ups and downs of their relationship, with each having to ask themselves what cost they are willing to accept to be together.

I found this to be an interesting read and liked the various issues touched upon (self-acceptance, religious intolerance, institutional sexism). I liked Corinne but, at times, I was frustrated with just how much she did/accepted to stay in Enoch’s life. I think that telling the story from both POVs would perhaps have helped to shed light on Enoch’s character as I found it hard to warm to him. I also thought the novel could have had a bit more to the plot as not much happens for a large part of the middle. The story was a bit repetitive in parts. I didn’t love this but I liked it.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I struggle to find a way to describe this book. It was weird. The prose was very clunky and perfunctory. It had no vivacity or liveliness. Halfway through the book There would be an intimate scene, a little dialogue, and then another intimate scene.
I didn’t like any of the characters.’
Hard pass on this one

3.5 stars A coming of age story told over 15 years about a girl who was raised in a fundamentalist church and her love for a man who is an Elder in the church. Eventually they get away from all that and form a bond. Very beautifully written.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

I had a had time getting into this one - the relationship just felt too toxic for me to invest in and I found it dragging on for me. It was also steamier than I tend to like my books - but I know that may be a plus for others. Overall just an OK read for me!

This book absolutely wrecked me. Its exploration of religious trauma is authentic, and the conflict of a man and woman who are not allowed to love one another but simply do was breathtaking for this reader.
 
Rebecca Morrow is a pseudonym for a bestselling author, and I hope I’m someday able to find out who he or she is because their interpretations of the extreme fundamentalist church are genuine and clearly something they have either experienced firsthand or researched extensively.  They clearly impart to the reader the traumatic impact that these rigid cultures can have on a person’s life. 
 
The ugly truth is undeniably profound in these pages, and I recommend it especially for anyone recovering from spiritual abuse. 
 
I will say that I was not expecting the level of steam.  It’s definitely rated R in that department.
 
My thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book before its publication date.

Corinne felt like reading something deeply personal. As someone raised in conservative white evangelicalism/fundamentalism it felt very familiar and sad to me, but I couldn't put it down. It was awkward, broken, full of shame and inexperience, and yet it was redeeming, healing, and sometimes....hot? I'll be thinking about this weird little book for a long time.

If you’re a reader who has no experience with the Christian faith, you may pick up this book and think you’ve stumbled into a fantasy book, an exaggerated tale of a cult-like church determined to enforce their strict moral code. While I wasn’t personally raised in a fundamentalist Christian environment, there are aspects of the novel that I did endure as someone raised in the church. The imbalance of “rules” enforced on males versus females, such as the clothes women were expected not to wear. The exclusion of anyone who didn’t fit the “mold”. For an institution that preaches about light, the church can be a very dark and lonely place.

From the first page, I was engrossed in this mesmerizing love story. I couldn’t look away. I connected with Corinne immediately and she became such a living, breathing person. I was proud of her, cheering her on, heartbroken in the moments when she was hurt and happy in the moments when she found peace and understanding.

There is a definite Romeo and Juliet vibe to this book. Enoch is immersed in the church that Corinne was cast out of, but despite belonging to different worlds, they cannot deny or ignore their feelings. The love they feel for one another is stronger than anything else. And while it’s a torturous experience, it’s also very hopeful.

The second half of this novel focuses on Corinne and Enoch as adults and it becomes sexually explicit and graphic. I think it’s done tastefully, that it beautifully conveys the struggle Corinne and Enoch endure to find common ground. But I know some readers will not agree. Personally, I appreciated that Corinne has a healthier understanding of her sexuality. It’s refreshing and inspiring.

Corinne is an eye-opening and fascinating look at how deep the roots of faith can grow, corrupting how a young person sees the world, their families, and themselves. I know it’s a book I will be thinking about for a long time, and may even be among my favorites for the year.

The story about Corinne and her life that spans fifteen years. Corinne and Enoch’ story gives the reader a glimpse into their young and explorative love story. Also, their discovery of their sex lives, the sex scenes are pretty mild. Corinne and Enoch are a part of a strict religious community. Corinne leaves this community after she is ex-communicated from her church. She builds a life outside of her community, gets a job, and makes friends. She gets word that her mother has fallen ill and she returns to the community that once shunned her. To her surprise she is welcomed back. This is an interesting story about womanhood, love and faith. Will Corinne return to her new life that doesn’t judge her harshly? Or will she return to her old life that once deemed her not worthy?

This was slow the first 15%, and I would have liked more at the end that dealt with now life in exchange for some of the kissing or sex scenes - not in a prudish way but there were a lot of both, and I would have taken less of either and more dealing with life outside of their home? As a non-religious person all of that was difficult for me concept-wise.

Overall passed the time fine. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

Unfortunately I had a hard time getting into it. The prose was interesting, but I simply wouldn't get into the characters and care about them and the story. Thank you for the arc.

DNF @15%

Nope. Just reading the first 15% gave me serious flashbacks to my time in a strict evangelical church and I found myself having a panic attack while trying to read this and I found I could not continue. I had no idea that I would have this reaction and it has made me realize that I need a little more therapy in this department [which is a good thing]. I am disappointed that I cannot read this, but my mental health is more important than a book. When one has suffered trauma at the hands of the "the church", I think books like this will always be triggering and I need to remember this so I can avoid them in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin's Press for inviting me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Corinne by Rebecca Morrow is a refreshingly unconventional love story. This well-written modern-day Romeo & Juliet romance will pull you in from the beginning. Many of the things both Enoch and Corinne struggled with mentally and physically are a part of our daily lives. Corinne is a grown-up romance about what happens when you are honest about what your heart wants.