Never Saw You Coming
In Never Saw You Coming, 18-year-old Meg Hennessey just found out her entire childhood was a lie. She travels 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 about the church. 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.
As someone raised in the Roman Catholic faith, who went to church every Sunday for years and served in many capacities, I loved Never Saw You Coming. This is not a bash-the-church/hate-on-God story. Hahn wasn’t afraid to address the issues surrounding Christianity and church practices, while still showing her main characters having a deep love for God. Their issues with the institution didn’t lessen their faith. I think that’s something people who practice any faith need to realize – we can discuss the flaws in religion without negating our faith in a higher power. There needs to be some sort of accountability and honesty.
One of the most powerful moments for me was when Meg was shamed for appearing to have had sex with her boyfriend Micah. Even though that never happened, she was judged based on how things “looked,” and only her. Micah wasn’t shamed. This scene addressed a major problem I have with the church as an institution: girls/women are meant to be pure, so they don’t lead men astray. But men aren’t expected to take vows of abstinence or make sure they’re pure. It’s hypocritical and it creates so many problems for women and girls.
I like how Hahn handled this situation in her story, and I hope those who read this book realize that there’s a better way to handle the discussion of sex/abstinence/purity in the church than how it’s currently being done.
Micah’s storyline about his father’s abuse of power in the church was also well done, as it’s another hidden secret not a lot of people want to talk about, even though it happens quite often. I like how it addressed forgiveness. Micah’s father certainly didn’t deserve his forgiveness, not after everything he had done, but Micah didn’t want to carry that burden around with him any longer. It wouldn’t have been fair to him.
Never Saw You Coming is a powerful story that shows sometimes it takes a leap of faith to find yourself.
Never Saw You Coming Rating:★★★★
As someone raised in the Roman Catholic faith, who went to church every Sunday for years and served in many capacities, I loved Never Saw You Coming. This is not a bash-the-church/hate-on-God story. Hahn wasn’t afraid to address the issues surrounding Christianity and church practices, while still showing her main characters having a deep love for God. Their issues with the institution didn’t lessen their faith. I think that’s something people who practice any faith need to realize – we can discuss the flaws in religion without negating our faith in a higher power. There needs to be some sort of accountability and honesty.
One of the most powerful moments for me was when Meg was shamed for appearing to have had sex with her boyfriend Micah. Even though that never happened, she was judged based on how things “looked,” and only her. Micah wasn’t shamed. This scene addressed a major problem I have with the church as an institution: girls/women are meant to be pure, so they don’t lead men astray. But men aren’t expected to take vows of abstinence or make sure they’re pure. It’s hypocritical and it creates so many problems for women and girls.
I like how Hahn handled this situation in her story, and I hope those who read this book realize that there’s a better way to handle the discussion of sex/abstinence/purity in the church than how it’s currently being done.
Micah’s storyline about his father’s abuse of power in the church was also well done, as it’s another hidden secret not a lot of people want to talk about, even though it happens quite often. I like how it addressed forgiveness. Micah’s father certainly didn’t deserve his forgiveness, not after everything he had done, but Micah didn’t want to carry that burden around with him any longer. It wouldn’t have been fair to him.
Never Saw You Coming is a powerful story that shows sometimes it takes a leap of faith to find yourself.
Never Saw You Coming Rating:★★★★