Never Saw You Coming- Book Review

Never Saw You Coming by Erin Hahn

Publication Date: 7th Sep 2021
Genre: YA, romance, family drama, religion

3.8 Stars 

Meg Hennessey, an 18yo, finds out a secret that changes her in every way. She takes a gap year to come to terms with the truth and to come out of the conservative, orthodox upbringing she’s used to all her life.

The trip leads her to Micah, a 19 yo, battling demons of his own. Being a former pastor’s kid with the father in jail leaves him with only a couple of friends. Meg and Micah gravitate towards each other, struggling with things around them, things between them, and the conflicting thoughts and emotions from the past and present.

How can the two find faith and find themselves in the process?

The book is based on (and dedicated to) church kids. Though I have no in-depth idea about the intricacies, I know enough to understand their upbringing and the conflicting emotions they go through.

The story has two POVs- Meg and Micah in alternating chapters. I almost missed this the first time and wondered by there was a sudden change in tone. Then I realized I was supposed to read the chapter names (yeah, that’s me).

The author was successful in keeping both the voices distinct to a great extent. That’s a definite plus in books with dual POV. The characters are well-etched, and despite all the rambling (it’s YA after all), Meg and Micah are more mature than the adults in the book (maybe except Betty).

Rating this one was quite hard. I liked how it was going until it got too heavy with preaching God. Yeah, I’m a believer (though my God is different). Still, if the reader starts to skim through the paragraphs each time Meg or Micah gets into one of those phases, it’s not a good sign. That did push the rating down. But the author’s note at the end shed more light on why she was so insistent about separating God from church and the rigid rules. I don’t like the way she overemphasized, but I understand her intentions.

The overall love story is cute with real angst. And that worked quite well since there was enough of it already. The two don’t fight or have a misunderstanding for the sake of fitting a trope. That’s another plus.

The book also includes LGBT+ characters. While some of it was natural, one seemed forced. It sort of makes sense but shouldn’t have been presented better. Since the reader is restricted to the POV of Meg or Micah, we need enough foreshadowing to make something believable.

There was one character that started out great but slipped towards the end. Guess the author wanted to show how tough it is to be objective when rules are drilled into us. Of course, the character redeems it, but I felt Meg was a little too forgiving.

Overall, I rather liked the character development of Meg and Micah and enjoyed the book for not being a typical YA romance. Just wish it was crisper and toned down a little on the faith part.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books and am voluntarily leaving a review.

#NetGalley #NeverSawComing