What a sweet read! Never Saw You Coming is a heartwarming story of Meg Hennessey and Micah Allen as they navigate coming to terms with their lives and their faith. Meg discovers that the man she has always called "Dad" isn't really her father, and that her biological father is dead. She moves to northern Michigan for a gap year and an opportunity to get to know her father's family. While in Marquette, Meg meets Micah who is struggling with his own issues with his father. Never Saw You Coming is a quick read about love and acceptance, which are both much needed in this world.

This was a cute Christian romance YA book. It was a quick read and very enjoyable. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Never Saw You Coming is all at once sweet YA romance, suspense, intrigue, and therapy for religious trauma. Erin Hahn pulls you into this story from the first page with characters who are real and relatable. Her voice is so important for young women who are trying to navigate modesty and sexuality, and even older women trying to untangle the web of purity culture.

Meg is a young woman reeling from a revelation about her parents. She runs to the small town of Marquette, MI, where she meets Micah, who is still recovering from his own family’s struggles. This was an excellent follow-up to More Than Maybe, and it was fun to check in with Vada and Luke’s love story.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The romance felt quick and I'm not the biggest fan of the instant love trope but the relationship was well built and you could see their connection.

I loved this! Ya contemporary is something i dont pick up anymore but the blurb and cover for this was just too cute! I love the dual perspectives and this and their banter. Super memorable and cute read

Meg Hennessey was homeschooled and raised by very strict, very conservative parents, and when she finds out a huge secret her parents have been keeping, her entire world comes crashing down. She runs away to the UP of Michigan and meets family members she never knew existed. She also meets Micah Allen, similarly running from a destroyed childhood, and in each other, the two find comfort and understanding, and maybe even the thunder of first love.

Wow I loved this book. Meg and Micah (as well as their friends) are real, complicated, and beautiful characters. Even though this is a spin off of More Than Maybe, I enjoyed it fully without having read it. But now I will definitely be going back for more Vada and Luke!

I am not sure this book would resonate with someone who wasn't raised in the evangelical purity culture that Meg and Micah were raised in. But since I was, and have struggled with so much of what Meg wrestled with, I felt so SEEN. Erin Hahn handles the turmoil of living under such pressure and judgment in such a real way. I love how some of the adults finally saw the hypocrisy of their ways and came to Meg's rescue. I wish someone had been that hero for me as a young adult.

I also love how Meg and Micah openly struggle to reconcile what they know to be true about God with the disaster the church has made in representing him. I think this book can save teens and young people wrestling with the same questions. Many of us raised in this world have had to struggle on our own or have abandoned faith entirely, and I think this book will be a friend to those who need an understanding ear. Meg especially shows what is like to cling to her faith in God's love and the mercy of Jesus, while being let down by the people who claim to represent him.

If you want to understand evangelical purity culture or if you have been hurt by it, definitely read this book. It will be a healing balm to your soul.

Thank you to St. Martins/Wednesday Books, Netgalley, and Erin Hahn for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Never Saw You Coming is a story about holding on to your faith and finding your place even if it's not in the typical church setting. Our two main characters, Meg & Micah, have both been hurt by the church and religious parental figures. Meg just found out her parents have been lying to her for the entirety of her 18 years of life. Micah's dad, a former pastor, is having his probation hearing soon. When they meet each other, they find someone who understands their complicated relationship with the church and they might have found their person, too.

First off, this book is critical of the church: it's hypocrisy, double standards, and the hurt it causes people. But it's not critical of God or Christianity - just those who weaponize it and use it to demean others. This book especially calls out the abstinence double standard and how it's focused on young women. I think this is the first book I've read that criticizes the church but does not criticize faith or God.

This story is poignant. I like the message that your faith is between you and God. Also Meg and Micah were a surprise - honestly I think they're one of my favorite couples in a contemporary romance now.

I would like to add that this book is upper YA - Meg is 18 and starting a gap year and Micah is 19. It's that in between of high school and college. Never Saw You Coming is almost NA. That's not a bad thing, it's just worth noting.

As a 20 year old Christian, who has not been extremely harmed by the traditional church, this book felt like a hug. This book was great from the story to the Christian music references (Francesca Battistelli, Red, Lauren Daigle - I'm slightly sad that Casting Crowns did not get a mention but I was so pleasantly surprised when the other 3 were referenced that I've overlooked that). I'm really happy that Erin Hahn wrote this! Also, this book made me realize that I still haven't read More Than Maybe, so I probably should read MTM soon.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press / Wednesday Books for an eARC of this novel! I really appreciate the opportunity to read this!

This is the first book that I'm hesitant to give a star rating on because after reading it is clear that I'm not the target audience for this book. So some grains of salt here!

First off, I love the author's writing and previous books. You definitely don't have to read More Than Maybe prior to reading this one. In fact, I had forgotten that it was a spinoff until Meg starts talking about her friends back home and I had a "wait a minute..." moment! The characters in this story are beautifully written and are what kept me reading despite the overall themes and religious conversations driving me to put it down.

So that being said, this is a very religion-heavy story. We're talking quoting the bible, bible study groups, loads of Jesus, tough conversations about religion and relationships with God, the whole kit and caboodle. Don't get me wrong though, in my opinion, it is not preachy. There's a difference between being preachy and having themes and plots driven by religion. I didn't grow up anywhere near this sort of religious or church experience, and so at times, it was really hard for me to read. Again though, it's beautifully written, and the characters felt so real, I'm just not the target audience. Or maybe I am, and this uncomfortable feeling is supposed to make me think? Who knows!

The author's note is a must-read, and I almost wish it were at the start of the story rather than the end. I think this story may be hard for those who had this sort of church experience in their lives and left, or for people like me who have no connections at all. But I think for a lot of people it's going to be an incredibly meaningful and thought-provoking book!

This was an adorable Christian Romance. It was something that I would have loved when I was a teen. It has the though process in growing up and how you choose what you are feeling.

**Review will be published on my sites September 2nd**

I LOVED THIS.

Hahn’s books are only getting better and better. Oh wow did I love this. My favorite of her books so far.

I am a religious person so I wasn’t sure how I would feel reading this. But the way that many important topics were discussed and approached made me tear up and want to hug this book. It hit home in many ways and honestly strengthened how I feel in my spirituality. It’s okay to question. It’s okay to love. It’s okay to find what works best for YOU. I may not 100% agree with every little thing in this book, but faith is handled differently by each of us and no two experience life the same way.

The absolutely precious first love romance between Micah and Meg had me grinning from ear to ear. IT WAS SO CUTE. I loved it. They truly hit it off and I couldn’t get enough of their open conversations and meaningful dialogue about their struggles and triumphs. Even better, there wasn’t some wildly dramatic conflict between them. The conflict lied elsewhere and I could shout for joy about how that was handled.

NSYC had me hooked from the first chapter. I read it in a day because I needed more more more. The characters were flawed and beautiful. I ended up loving the themes of faith and the essence of human nature versus God himself. It wasn’t a book of belittling, it was a book of hope and growing up. Being resilient in the torrent of trials and leaning on what matters to you most.

Overall audience notes:

YA Contemporary Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: kisses to heated make-outs; some implied closed door scenes
Trigger/Content Warnings: brief mentions of suicide and self harm, an incarcerated father, loss of a parent by drunk driving

Not my usual genre, but I enjoyed the characters and the overall message of positivity this book provided.

never saw you coming is a sweet surprise of a book to read. it's heartfelt and genuine with delightful characters. and tackles relevant issues. really liked Meg and Micah and all of their emotions explored.

I enjoyed this story of Meg discovering herself and wrestling with her faith, family, and future. I think my students will see themselves in Meg and Micah and will really like this, especially due to its Michigan (and UP!) setting.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review!!

i think it’s important to state before i get into this review that i know this book was not written for someone like me. as a british kid from a not-particularly religious family, i did find the subject matter a little hard to connect with, but i did still appreciate the way the issues facing “church kids” were written about. the only thing i’ll say about that is that the writing felt slightly too YA for a slightly more mature topic. i did really like this book, it was genuinely thought-provoking and helps you to understand the perspective of those negatively impacted by religion.

I've read all of Hahn's books because I really enjoy her sharp writing and realistic characters. Never Saw You Coming is different from her previous books in that evangelical Christianity is a main focus in the storyline. Growing up and still living in the Bible belt of the U.S., I am no stranger to the belief system of the main characters (mainly Meg) though I've never been a member of a particularly evangelical church. I found the story thought provoking and I know it will be important for so many youth (especially girls) who have grown up with the belief system that Meg is accustomed to though. Kudos to Hahn on another great novel.

Thanks always to NetGalley for the advance read. I honestly wondered if I'm either the perfect reader of this beautifully rendered, faith-based coming of age tale or the maybe the last person in the world who'd end up reviewing a book like this.
Mainly because I'd categorize myself as an independent Christian - a church-less believer with a strong distrust, disillusionment and suspicion of organized religion; Needless to say, everything I've seen of our supposedly Christian and/or Evangelical culture of the last few years has only reinforced these attitudes.
That's why I couldn't help but gravitate to Erin Hahn's two innocent raised=with-faith teens, Meg and Micah. They're kind, caring, good hearted souls who've had their lives and faith shaken, their families terribly upended by lies, hypocrisy and false double-standards ......much of it related to and ripping away the comfort zone of their Christian teachings.
Alienated from truths and beliefs they'd come to rely on, this separately damaged duo find each other.......and here is where the book took hold of me as its fan. What follows is one of the most sweetly put together renditions of a first love romance I've read in some time. You can't help but fall in love with Meg and Micah's blossoming relationship and you ache for them as they try to heal their own (and each other's) emotional wounds........Meg's from shattering family secrets revealed and Micah's from the criminality of his pastor father, the man he once idolized. .
And here's where I realized that maybe I WAS the right audience for "Never Saw You Coming" .....following these wonderful kids as they walk a tightrope while their love grows.......as they struggle to adhere to what's actually written in the Bible while bristling and rebelling against the holier-than-thou attitudes of adults around them who tend to bend and warp Christianity to legitimize their own prejudices and narrow-mindedness.
With all these big issues in play, I want to reiterate that even with all the pitfalls, heartbreak and melodrama that Meg and Micah face, the development of their love story keeps a reader sighing and smiling all the way through to the end. I'm not at all a regular reader of faith-based YA fiction, so I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised and startled at the teens talking like.....well, like real teens, language included.
The love story's adorable and the backstory couldn't be more timely - facing the great divide between Christian gospel and whether we're really putting it into practice in our own lives.....or perverting to fit an agenda that Jesus would have nothing to do with.
Thus endeth this 4 star reveiw.

This book was not written for me. And I still loved it. As someone who was raised in a secular Jewish family that was nominally progressive, I am certainly not a “church kid.” But. Enough of the people I care about were harmed by the church (thanks Lancaster!) and enough purity culture leaks out of the church into mainstream America that I think this is an important read for anyone who is a teen, was a teen, or knows teens. AND, the sweet romance is so well done. Also, I am fairly certain Erin Hahn and I could not have ideas about God that are more diametrically opposed, and this may be the first (and last?) alternative Christian fiction I’ve read, but I’m so, so glad I did. Definitely a window book for me, but probably a mirror book for many of my friends. Good on you, Hahn.

This book is pitched as a romance, so I want to preface my review by saying that if you're going to read this, don't go into it expecting the romance to be the driver of the central plot. Though it is focused around Meg and Micah and their new relationship, the conflicts in the story come from their own personal issues. The romance is something that is healing for both of them.

Meg has just discovered that the man she thought was her dad is not her dad. As a firmly believing evangelical Christian, Meg is very bothered by the news that she was actually conceived from a one night stand. Though her real father died in a car accident before she was born, Meg decides to spend her gap year bonding with her new extended family. There, she meets Micah, whose dad, a former pastor, is in jail with an upcoming hearing. Together, they are able to work through their individual doubts, struggles, and questions.

It's also important to note that this book is extremely religiously based. Though I would disagree with other reviewers who have said that it is preachy, I would say that it is more of just a strong focus. Both of the main characters are very critical of the church, especially relating to purity culture, but they are still believers. Here are a couple quotes relating to this that I enjoyed:
"If it was a blessing planned by God, how could it be a sin? Are sins just blessings being played in God's long game?" (Meg)
"This right here is why I don't go to church. It's a spiritual mind fuck every time." (Micah)
The author calls this "alternative Christian fiction," which is an interesting way to put it. I really liked what she had to say about the inspiration for the book--a story relating to her perception of purity culture--in the author's note. Having grown up Mormon, I can relate to a lot of the things they were taught and the mindbending guilt and questions that come with it. Also, along those lines, it was interesting for me to read a story from an evangelical perspective. With my religious background, I was always taught to demonize evangelicals, so I found it eye opening to read the characters' thought processes and get a bit more insight into evangelical culture.

I did feel like there were some pacing/continuity issues that hurt the story. Betty, Meg's new grandma, is introduced early on in the story, but she hardly makes an appearance again. I thought this was really strange because one of her main story goals was to bond with her new extended family, but this becomes only limited to her uncle James. Most of the effort is overshadowed by the relationship with Micah. There were some other side plots/side characters like Meg's mom, her supposed dad, and Micah's friend Duke who had storylines that felt like they were just kind of thrown in and never resolved in a satisfying way. Additionally, the pacing was a bit all over the place. It was really slow in general, and it often felt like there were big gaps missing at various places in order to move the story forward. But it didn't work very well. These issues are mainly why my rating is so low. It was a bit of a struggle to get through, and I didn't find myself very invested.

I struggled to get into this book. The writing felt a little bit YA for a topic that I didn’t expect to feel very YA, and I struggled to get into the book. Did not finish

I had the chance to read "Never Saw You Coming" by Erin Hahn before it comes out in September, and let me tell you. It was an absolutely thought-provoking. genuine story about finding yourself after having all you've ever known flipped upside down. It deals with hard-hitting issues such as religion and parental incarceration while portraying a wholesome journey to self-discovery and romance.