
The Book:
Never Saw You Coming by Erin Hahn
Published September 7th 2021 by Wednesday Books
Date read: October 11, 2021
The Characters:
Meg
Micah
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Raised by conservative parents, 18-year-old Meg Hennessey just found out her entire childhood was a lie. Instead of taking a gap year before college to find herself, she ends up traveling north to meet what’s left of the family she never knew existed.
While there, she meets Micah Allen, a former pastor’s kid whose dad ended up in prison, leaving Micah with his own complicated relationship with the church. The clock is ticking on Pastor Allen’s probation hearing and Micah, now 19, feels the pressure to forgive – even when he can’t possibly forget.
As Meg and Micah grow closer, they are confronted with the heavy flutterings of first love and all the complications it brings. Together, they must navigate the sometimes-painful process of cutting ties with childhood beliefs as they build toward something truer and straight from the heart.
In Erin Hahn’s Never Saw You Coming, sometimes it takes a leap of faith to find yourself.
The Review:
I requested this book on NetGalley because it was selected by the LoveARCtually book club as one of their titles. I’ll be honest, when I realized it was about religion I almost marked it as will-not-review. Nothing against religion or those who practice it, but certain themes can be triggering after religion was ruined for me by certain hypocritical family members. (What’s funny is even if they happen to read this, they won’t even realize I’m talking about them.)
After some rave reviews from some of my friends, though, I decided to give this book a chance despite my own complicated feelings towards the topic. I’m so glad I did.
I loved Meg and her growth throughout the book. I loved how she was able to reconcile her own “ungodly” wants and needs with what she had been taught growing up.
The exact themes I was nervous to read about were addressed in such a way that I really enjoyed their presentation. Meg’s uncle basically calls her a slut for her relationship with Micah and for refusing to teach abstinence to her youth group. Hello, relatable! When my aunt and uncle said similar things to me, I left religion in the rearview mirror (especially knowing that they employed certain loopholes when they were dating, and still sat on their high horses and said I’d be going to hell for kissing a guy? No thanks. They’re also the type of Christians that “don’t believe in” gay and trans people, openly mock them, and still think they’re going to heaven). I have some regrets–Pat is Catholic, and I do sometimes wish I was able to share those beliefs with him. It says a lot about Meg’s character that she was able to still address her faith and keep it in line with what she knew was right for her.
I really enjoyed reading Erin’s take on exact issues that I’ve had to deal with in my own life. Her point is that it isn’t religion that hurts you, it’s the people that take religion and twist it to fit their own evil agendas. All of the things I hate about “Christians” like my aunt and uncle are the exact opposite of what Christianity is actually about.
This book might not be for everyone, but it certainly will resonate with an important group of people that might really need to hear these words.
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