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.

sadly, before i could download this title, netgalley took it off their catalog. that means i can’t review this one. HOWEVER, i will be checking in with my library to see if i can get a copy and review it that way

This was just adorable and sweet . I do not think I was the mark for this. I did not grow up with religion so that coming of age doesn't move me.

This is my first Erin Hahn book. I loved the topics that were explored in this. I am not super religious myself, so the religion aspect was so interesting. The romance was very cute. I love how they both had their own issues, so they were able to bond over this. Recommend this book to anyone!

This one was so good!!!! I would recommend this to everyone. I think this is definitely a book that I will be having my daughter read when she is a couple years older. The religion and the understanding of the shaming that goes on inside many churches. Erin Hahn is amazing at writing these things, and her authors note says exactly why!

I first discovered Erin Hahn via her debut novel, You'd Be Mine. I saw her second book, More Than Maybe, but was not able to get a copy from Netgalley like I had hoped. Then I saw Never Saw You Coming on Netgalley and remembered how much I enjoyed Hahn's debut, and I got approved for a copy. I admit I did not read the synopsis. I just knew it was a YA romance.

But I must be honest. I do NOT like Christian fiction. I did go to church as a teenager, but now as an adult, I'm agnostic at best. The conservative values of the church didn't align with who I felt I have grown up to be.

I admit I did almost DNF this title, but I am glad I kept at it. I loved Micah and Meg, and enjoyed their romance. It was sweet, and I saw my younger self in Meg.

Though this is a piece of Christian fiction, as the author points out in the Author's Note, it's more "alternative Christian fiction". What does that mean? While there are plenty of Christian themes presented in the book, there is a ton of character growth and it puts forth the idea that God is Love, and not every "sinful" thing is damning.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for opportunity to read and give my honest feedback on this ARC.

I didn't expect the story to have a lot of depth but was pleasantly surprised. The characters of the book were very well done as well and I felt connected to them and went through their emotions with them. Overall I enjoyed this story and am interested to see what else this author comes out with.

I love Erin Hahn's books! I was really excited to read Never Saw You Coming but I wasn't sure if I would connect with the religious aspect of it. I oddly picked up the audio after binging The Righteous Gemstones (it felt similar okay??) and I was completely sucked into the story. I'm not even an audiobooks person but it totally worked for me. Erin Hahn is easily one of my go-to's for YA romances and I can't wait to read her adult romance this fall. 4.5 stars