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WORK TITLE: Never Saw You Coming
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WEBSITE: https://www.erinphahn.com/
CITY: Ann Arbor
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
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Kirkus Reviews Aug. 15, 2021, review of Hahn, Erin: NEVER SAW YOU COMING. p. NA.
Kirkus Reviews Mar. 1, 2020, , “Hahn, Erin: MORE THAN MAYBE.”.
Voice of Youth Advocates vol. 42 no. 1 Apr., 2019. Weaver, Matthew. , “Hahn, Erin. You’d Be Mine.”. p. 62.
Kirkus Reviews Feb. 1, 2019, , “Hahn, Erin: YOU’D BE MINE.”.
School Library Journal vol. 67 no. 8 Aug., 2021. Kazan, Melissa. , “HAHN, Erin. Never Saw You Coming.”. p. 89.
School Library Journal vol. 65 no. 1 Feb., 2019. Kahn, Elizabeth. , “HAHN, Erin. You’d Be Mine.”. p. 73.
Erin started writing her own books when her little sister gave her shade about a country music-themed Twilight fanfic. By day, she gets to share her favorite stories with her elementary students. By night, she writes swoons. Erin married her own YA love interest whom she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat, Gus, who plays fetch.
ERIN HAHN is the author of You'd Be Mine, More Than Maybe, and Never Saw You Coming. She married her very own YA love interest, who she met on her first day of college, and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a.k.a. the greenest place on earth, and has a cat named Gus who plays fetch and a dog named June who doesn’t.
Interview with Erin Hahn, Author of More Than Maybe
JULY 22, 2020 / BOOKWORMSANDFANGIRLS
I keep track of every book I read in a year, so in 2020, I look at this ongoing list and see a clear divide between the books I read while commuting and the ones I read during the stark emptiness of early quarantine. Erin Hahn’s More Than Maybe was a slight crossover between the two stages, distracting me from the rising panic of the New York metro area and introducing me to the delightful world of Luke, Vada, and their dreams to fill the world with music.
While Hahn’s first YA romance, You’d Be Mine, followed the summer tour of teen country music stars Clay and Annie, More Than Maybe picks up in a typical suburb, introducing Luke, the son of a rocker, and Vada, an aspiring music journalist. As Luke hides his songwriting from the rest of the world, he can’t help but like the ambitious Vada, who strives toward getting into a prestigious music journalism program and scoring an internship with Rolling Stone. With the help of Phil, local musical legend and Vada’s mom’s boyfriend, the two teens must learn how their growing feelings for each other fit into the visions that they have for their futures.
On shelves July 21, More Than Maybe was such a delight to read in uncertain times. Luke and Vada’s love of music and their growing trust in each other is reminiscent of Sarah Dessen’s This Lullaby, one of my all-time YA faves. On top of an earnest portrayal of first love, More Than Maybe also hooks older readers with insight into the second-chance romance between Phil and Vada’s mom Mary that is rarely seen in YA. If you sorely miss summer concerts and local hangouts, the story is the perfect antidote for corona blues.
I was lucky enough to ask Erin Hahn some questions about her book ahead of its release. Thank you for being so great, Erin!
After focusing on budding country music stars in You’d Be Mine, what was the inspiration for More Than Maybe and exploring teens with a similar love for music but who are living a more typical life?
More than Maybe_coverA few years back, a random agent and I were chatting on Twitter about the nineties teen cult classic, EMPIRE RECORDS, and how, as teens, we’d always wanted to work in a record store. From there, we talked about the lack of working teens portrayed in YA and this got my mind whirling. I, like so many others, started working at 14 and had multiple part time jobs throughout high school and college. First jobs are where you often first stretch your wings and are exposed to a more eclectic population of people. For some kids, they don’t find their people in high school, but rather at their first jobs. For Vada, and later, Luke, the dive bar known as the Loud Lizard becomes a sort of surrogate home for them—filled with interesting characters who challenge and support them. And where you find an eclectic array of strangers of different ages and backgrounds working at a dive bar, you’re bound to find music. It’s science.
Both More Than Maybe and You’d Be Mine tackle different perspectives and genres within the music industry. What is it about the music world that encourages storytelling for you?
Music has been a creative catalyst for me since I was a little girl. I would escape to my room for hours and hours, sitting cross-legged in front of my boom box with notebooks of lyrics in my lap. To this day, I outline my stories with playlists first and foremost. I’ll hear a song while driving and a scene will form completely in my brain and I just know I have to write a story around it. Sometimes it’s an especially powerful lyric, sometimes it’s the tone of the artist and sometimes it’s whatever emotion the song invokes in me, personally.
It’s super weird to admit this, but sometimes I’ll hear a song and am so moved by it I can hardly concentrate on what is happening around me and I will realize that it’s not because of ME but rather because of one of the characters I have circling inside my brain. In a lot of ways, MORE THAN MAYBE was my easiest book to write because the dialogue between Luke and Vada came to me without prompting. I didn’t have to research all those songs. They’ve been in my brain waiting for these two dive bar kids for YEARS.
As I said. Super weird, but alas.
Real songs play a major role in the way Vada and Luke grow closer. In your writing process, do you actively seek out songs to feature or does that discovery happen naturally? Is your writing ever influenced by other types of art?
Ah, see? I sort of answered this, but yeah. It’s all there in my brain. Naturally. Playlists are my superpower. These songs have been waiting years for this moment to shine. I did work super hard on balance in this story. I wanted to make sure I featured an equal number of older, more classic songs and brand new, up and coming artists. Since Vada is a music critique blogger with big ambitions of Rolling Stone, it was important that she knew about all kind of music, not just what is on the radio today. She needed to have educated opinions about music of all genres. Luke, being the son of a former British punk rocker from the ’80s and ’90s, was a good match for that. He’s also well-versed in the classics.
I tested it out on several beta readers and my goal was to have EVERYONE hitting up
Erin Hahn_credit_Hilary Nichols Photography
Credit: Hilary Nichols Photography
their Google app while reading. I knew it would be impossible to expect everyone (particularly non-music lovers) to know all of the songs and artists, but I hoped to tease the songs enough that people would want to check them out for themselves after reading a conversation between Luke and Vada. I hope I’ve achieved that. I think I have! Nothing makes me happier than when an early reader has reached out to say they’ve been following along with the music in the story and or creating their own playlists. I’ve got my official playlist set up on Spotify, but when readers create their own? Amazing. I love it.
As for other art? Vada is also a dancer in this story. I danced for eleven years, though it’s been… a while. In order to write her scenes, I’ve studied a of clips of modern and contemporary dance styles to get the right feel for her movement. It’s remarkably challenging to write those scenes in a way that I hope translates into the reader’s brain!
The love story of Phil and Mary weaves throughout the ongoing story of Vada and Luke. While writing, did you ever draft a version of Phil and Mary’s history in more detail? Why was fleshing out this adult relationship in a YA book important to you?
Not outside of my head, but I adore their story so much. So often in YA, the parents are terrible or selfish or not in the picture at all. In my first book, this was certainly the case, and while it’s not unrealistic to say some parents aren’t great, just as many parents are, in fact, pretty wonderful. When it came to Phil and Mary, it was very important to me to show that while Phil isn’t Vada’s father, he is a solid, loving and providing figure in her life. In a way, he’s all the more special because he chose Vada and her mom Mary. In the same way, Charlie and Iris Greenly are pretty spectacular parents. Sure, Charlie fumbles, but that’s real life.
As I get older and my kids grow, I see myself more in the parents than the teens I write for and it’s clear to me that WOW! The parents are just doing their best! They aren’t the clueless, boring jerks they are so often portrayed to be. They have feelings and hobbies and romances too! They often care about their children, even their nearly-grown children, more than anything else in their worlds, and are just juggling the balance of letting their kids make their own choices and allowing missteps to happen. The important part, to me, is that because of these solid and loving adults, Luke and Vada are able to move forward with a healthy relationship themselves.
Part of the appeal of reading YA as an older person is the nostalgia and reflection about that formative stage of life. Through writing Vada and Luke, what’s something that you learned about your teenage self or yourself now?
I think for some teens, including Vada and myself, it feels like there aren’t second chances. Like, you have to have everything figured out and lined up just perfectly and if it fails, it’s over. That’s it. There is no possible “other way” that something can go down and still work out. I love how Vada’s mom, Mary, tells her at one point that “the best things to happen in my life were unplanned”. That’s SUCH a thing that I didn’t understand as a teen.
If you had to pick three songs that sum up More Than Maybe, what would they be?
Great question! I have a whole playlist you can listen to on Spotify, but the top three would have to be “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin, which is the first song Vada sends to Luke (sending him into a very cute existential tailspin), “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure, which is a song they dance to, together and “I’m With You” by Vance Joy. Luke sends it to Vada at one point and it was one of the first songs to inspire their story. I think it fits just so super well with the way these two kids feel about each other—through thick and thin, they stick together against it all. I tried for ages to make it the title of the book, but… I’m terrible at titles. ☺
What advice do you have for people who want to incorporate their passion for another art form into their writing?
Just let it happen. I remember how desperately I wanted to write music books and I fought it for years because I allowed other people to talk me out of it. I thought I needed to be a hardcore music journalist to qualify and that no one would read my books if I put too much music into them because music can date a book or ostracize some non-music lovers. So often as authors are getting started, we dull down our creativity to one-size-fits-all. We worry that no one will want our (*insert specific hobby* here) story and focus all our efforts on something broad and encompassing. And that’s perfectly okay! But, for me, my one-size-fits-all stories weren’t working. I couldn’t find the fire to fuel my characters. I needed music. I’ve always needed it, personally, and once I allowed it free reign in my stories, I found my flow. The characters came out more rich and opinionated. The tension and romance all bloomed. I think I needed to find my passion for my characters to find theirs.
What are you working on now?
I have a third YA romance out next year, featuring Vada’s best friend, Meg Hennessey. Meg finds out that her entire ultra-conservative childhood has been based on an epic lie. Rather than taking a gap year to find herself, she decides to travel north to meet the family she never knew existed. While there, she meets Micah Allen, a former Pastor’s kid who has his own conflicted feelings about the Church, as his dad is in prison for swindling his congregation. The two battle their fuzzy and complicated pasts while trying to forge a solid future together. With kissing. Lots of kissing.
Home Writers Corner Author Interviews
Elise Dumpleton·Writers Corner·September 7, 2021·4 min read
Q&A: Erin Hahn, Author of ‘Never Saw You Coming’
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We had the pleasure of chatting with author Erin Hahn about her latest release, Never Saw You Coming, along with book recommendations, the challenges she faced, and so much more!
Hi, Erin! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! I’m a former grunge girl who read a lot of Jane Austen growing up and fell in love with love. I married my college sweetheart and have two brilliant and hilarious kids. I’m obsessed with documentaries about Victorian serial killers, studying song lyrics, reading with my cat, walking my dog and baking with my kids.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I’ve always loved telling stories and making people feel things, but I’m not at all comfortable in front of a crowd. In fourth grade, I was given a prompt to write a short story based off of a Norman Rockwell sticker and the teacher loved it so much, she read it out loud to the class. Everyone laughed (with me, not at, thankfully!) and it felt amazing to know something I wrote made people happy. I’ve chased that feeling ever since!
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Junk Day on Juniper Street by Lillian Moore, Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella and Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor lives rent free in my brain FOREVER AND EVER.
Your latest novel Never Saw You Coming is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Critical, challenging, gooey, swoony and flirty
What can readers expect?
They can expect the same swoony and sweet first love feels that my books are known for, but as always, I’ve layered in quite a few real life aches and growing pains, this time in the form of confronting toxic church and purity culture. It gets heavy, but I’m actually very proud of how polarizing this story is!
Where did the inspiration for Never Saw You Coming come from?
It’s an 100% fictional story, but it’s pulled directly from my own experiences growing up in the Catholic and Evangelical church, being told week after week that I was responsible for the purity of not only myself but of the boys and men around me. It was beyond time to confront that reality for my sake, my daughter’s sake and the sake of young men and women everywhere.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
Gah. Where to start? Seriously, every bit of this book was a challenge to write. At conception, I didn’t want to write it. I was afraid of challenging an institution I’d been raised in! Evangelical doctrine is intimidating af, and I worried about alienating myself and my family from our lifelong friends. However, I’ve been coming to terms with my own trauma based off of years of being told I should feel shame about my body and how it may affect another’s actions, and realized I couldn’t NOT write this story. While writing “More Than Maybe”, I met Meg and the more I got to know her, the more I knew in my gut she was the character meant to tell this story of found faith and found families and challenging beliefs. Then came the #MeToo movement and it started a whole other resurgence of acknowledging Pastoral abuse and the disgusting double standard of victim blaming. Out of this, Micah was born. He’s like the antithesis to this kind of trauma, but writing his character and spending time in his brain was emotionally exhausting. Every piece of this book cost me, but I’ve always felt like this story was worth it. I have the platform and the chance to do something about toxic purity culture and I wanted very much to honor that opportunity to the best of my abilities.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Meg is a frigging DELIGHT to write on every level. She’s so cute and naïve and chock-filled with insistent anger at the many injustices of the world. I especially loved writing her and (sometimes) grumpy Micah’s early attempts at flirting and eventually falling in love! Their chemistry is out of this world and the way Micah adored her just oozed. I always wanted someone for Meg who would love her just as she was, fairy wings and all and Micah DOES THAT in spades.
What do you hope readers take away from reading Never Saw You Coming?
I hope they take away a stronger sense of self. That they can see how loved they are and how that love isn’t tied to their identities as assigned by any one church or organization. They can trust their hearts and their guts and know no matter what, they are worth it.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
Best: Don’t be so precious about your stories. They’re just words. You aren’t the only one writing them. Just do you best and keep writing your truth as you see it. No one can replica your experience and style exactly, so stop worrying about running out of time/opportunities.
See also
Writers Corner
Q&A: Sara Fujimura, Author of ‘Faking Reality’
Worst: Write every day. Nope! Everyone is different. This works for a lot of people, but it can cause burnout and bitterness. If the words aren’t coming, take a breather. Consume other media. Spend time outside. I’ve found when I force words, I end up deleting them because they aren’t meant to be.
What’s next for you?
My adult rom com debut, Built to Last will be releasing next fall, 2022 from Griffin Books. It’s a second chance romance where sparks and sawdust fly when two former childhood costars with a tangled romantic history reunite to produce a home renovation show!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Yes! Three YA’s: Sway with Me, coming this fall from Syed Masood, How Moon Fuentes Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, and You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow are some of my favorite recent/upcoming releases!
Find Erin on Twitter and Instagram, along with at her website.
A TALK WITH: ERIN HAHN, ON YOU’D BE MINE
march 28, 2019
Hi everyone! I’m happy to be back today to chat with another fantastic author!!
In case you missed it, “A Talk With” is a brand new feature here on Drizzle & Hurricane Books, where I will invite young adult book authors to chat with me about their upcoming books, share their writing tips and tricks and more!
I’m very happy today to welcome Erin Hahn, an author debuting this year with You’d Be Mine, a fantastic, adorable, heartbreaking and beautiful contemporary that I personally loved. We’re chatting today about debuting, musical inspirations, writing routine and, of course, adorable contemporaries!
1. Can you share with us a little bit of your writing journey to publication? Did you dream of being a writer from very early on, and did you expect You’d Be Mine to be the book that would ‘make it’?
Oh. That’s loaded. Well, firstly publishing a book was never on my radar early on. I enjoyed writing, particularly songwriting and poetry, but I never saw it as something I could actually “get to do”. When I was a teen, YA was almost exclusively horror books or Judy Bloom. There wasn’t much in way of YA contemporary! Certainly not like there is today. When I got to college, “chick lit” was just coming on the scene and I fell head-over-heels for those voicy romances. I thought, “Hey, I could write like THAT!” So I would write stories about my roomates and I during my lectures. After graduating, I got a fulltime job in sales and I would write with the door closed in my office during work hours. I ended up marrying my college sweetheart soon after that and writing took a back seat to kids and awful career choices. I didn’t start novel-writing seriously until we relocated to Michigan about 4 years ago. I finished the first of an ill-fated and problematic YA science fiction trilogy and googled “I finished writing a book, now what?”.
It didn’t go great, as you can imagine, but out of that time, I met my dearest writing friend and critique partner, Karen McManus. We swapped terrible books until the books we swapped were no longer terrible. About two years ago, after the book of my heart was rejected something like 185 times by agents, I decided “What the hell, Erin, write what you want this time.”
So I did. I never, EVER thought my first book would be a country music romance, but I AM SO GLAD IT IS. I have such affection for country music and the rural areas of the country. Country music isn’t just about the south. Country music is about country living. That’s northwoods, that’s mountain tops, that’s farm fields, that’s itty bitty single stoplight towns where kids still meet in Dollar General parking lots after dark. It speaks to everyone on a deep down level and I’m thrilled with this opportunity to share it with the YA world.
My agent offered representation in May of 2017, we sold it to Wednesday Books in July of 2017 and in April, I finally, finally get to share it with all of you! I’m ecstatic.
2. In your debut novel, You’d Be Mine, music and especially country music is a very important part: what is your relationship to this kind of music? When did you get into it and why did you decide to make it part of your book?
Click on the image to listen to the You’d Be Mine Playlist!
Well, as I said, I have an enormous affection for country music. My parents split when I was young and my mom used to draw strength from female country artists! It’s all she listened to! Ever since then, strength, to me, is synonymous with the Judds, Reba and Martina McBride. In high school, I was a full-on grunge girl, but I still made space in my life for Trisha Yearwood (who got me through my first heartbreak) and the Dixie Chicks (my first rebound kiss). There’s a lot of snubbing that happens towards Country Music these days (even in my own house) but you can’t deny the genre has been doing the Lord’s Work for a century. I gave myself the mission to revive the classics (a la Annie Mathers) and I think it’s working! I may not start a line dancing trend anytime soon, but if one person starts listening to Cash or Miranda Lambert after reading this book, it will have been worth it. 🙂
3. Writing while working full-time is complicated: how do you manage to fit writing into your schedule? Do you have a particular routine, a ‘don’t come in, I’m writing’ sign on your door one day of the week?
Ha. My kids would plead ignorance of any signs! It depends if I am on deadline. When a deadline is looming, or if I’m drafting, every minute I’m not working (I’m a TA in a kindergarten classroom), I’m writing. Nights, weekends, vacation, whatever. I have headphones in and laptop on my knees. My husband is incredibly supportive and we have an agreement to treat my author-ing work as my Other Job. In our family, Mom has two jobs. Thankfully, I’m a fast drafter. I binge write until it’s all out so that means periods of craziness while I am drafting and then longer periods of refilling my creative well with family, books, music, movies… that sort of thing. I also try to tell myself (and my family) that this is temporary. One day, I hope to consistently write full time from home, but I’m not quite there yet!
4. Are there any other of your adorable contemporaries (or maybe books in other genres?) that we can look forward to reading soon?
YES! My second standalone YA contemporary romance is called MORE THAN MAYBE and comes out in 2020. It’s about the son of a former british punk rocker who falls for a music blogger. A song he writes about her accidentally goes viral and they have to navigate their fledgling feelings amidst a national audience. Also, save a dive bar. It’s very much inspired by EMPIRE RECORDS and maybe SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE? This is the book where you’ll see my grunge heart on display. 🙂
? Friends, you can already add More Than Maybe on Goodreads! Also hello Marie again I NEED THIS BOOK.
1. Can you share with us one of your latest favorite books?
I just finished TELL ME THREE THINGS by Julie Buxbaum and it was delightfully swoony. I’m a sucker for text-convo flirting in stories (as you’ll see in MTM).
2. Since we are talking about music…are there particular lyrics that you adore with all of your heart?
SO MANY. But my all-time favorite lyrics of any song ever is from the Counting Crows song “Anna Begins” and it goes “Every time she sneezes, I believe it’s love and oh lord, I’m not ready for this sort of thing.”
? If you’re curious, listen to the song right here!
3. Can you share one line of your work (You’d Be Mine, or another upcoming book!) you’re particularly proud of?
Well okay, this is from YOU’D BE MINE and makes me giggle every time. It’s spoken by Annie Mathers’ best friend and drummer (and ex) Jason Diaz upon watching Annie take in Clay’s first soundcheck in person. 🙂
“And that, boys and girls, is the story of how stone-cold Annie Mathers found her lady parts.”
Thank you so, so much Erin, for taking the time to chat with me about your amazing debut, You’d Be Mine! Friends, keep on reading to find out more about this book!
? More about You’d Be Mine
Annie Mathers is America’s sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her Gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things.
But unfortunately for Clay, if he can’t convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That’s what happens when your bad boy image turns into bad boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents’ tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay’s label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen.
Swayed by Clay’s undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can’t help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there’s one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it’s a high-profile relationship. She had a front row seat to her parents’ volatile marriage and isn’t interested in repeating history. If only she could convince her heart that Clay, with his painful past and head over heels inducing tenor, isn’t worth the risk.
? More about the author, Erin Hahn
Hilary Nichols photography
Erin Hahn spent the first half of her life daydreaming in a small town in northern Illinois. She fell in love with words in college when she wrote for the campus paper, covering everything from drag shows to ice fishing and took way too much liberty with a history essay on the bubonic plague.
She started writing her own books when her little sister gave her shade about a country music-themed Twilight fanfic. By day, Erin gets to share her favorite stories with her elementary students. By night, she writes swoons. She married her own YA love interest whom she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat, Gus, who plays fetch.
Find Erin Hahn on :
? Website ? Twitter ? Instagram
Q&A with Erin Hahn, Author of “You’d Be Mine” and “More Than Maybe”
Posted on October 10, 2019
I’m so excited to welcome author Erin Hahn to the blog today. I talked to Erin about her heartbreakingly beautiful debut You’d Be Mine and her highly anticipated sophomore novel More Than Maybe. You can buy You’d Be Mine on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository and IndieBound. You can pre-order More Than Maybe, out May 12, 2020, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository and IndieBound. You can find Erin on her website, Twitter and Instagram. And if you love music and You’d Be Mine, check out Erin’s playlist here. Heck, listen to it while you read this interview…
Taylor Tracy: One of the goals of Shattering Stigmas is to dismantle the stigma against mental illness by creating a safe space for people to discuss and raise awareness about mental health via their favorite mental health reads and personal experiences. What does mental health awareness mean to you and how does it intersect with your creative process?
Erin Hahn: I love the term “safe space”, because I was a teen when the internet first went World Wide and changed the dynamic of sharing personal experiences. The anonymity of the internet (particularly before social media) felt like a safe space to be real. It seemed at the time that you could blog your journey and strangers could read it and there was no judgment. Except there absolutely was! And that same anonymity that the bloggers felt, protected the often cruel readers too. It was a painful realization that hurt so many young people and adults alike and scared many people back into their shame-filled shells.
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Books are different. You can’t talk back to a book. You can certainly vet your feelings about something an author has written, but there is no onsite-comments section. At least for the duration of the readers time spent in the pages, they are safe to understand and read and feel whatever the author evokes in their writing. I love this. It impressed upon me that I have this small window of opportunity to reach a reader where they are at with a taste of where I’ve been and maybe show them they aren’t alone. That what they are feeling or experiencing isn’t specific to them. Or if it is, perhaps it takes the loneliness away. It can validate. Let me say that again… VALIDATE. To me, validation is everything. Social media is full of people telling others HOW TO FEEL or telling them WHAT THEY ARE FEELING IS WRONG or telling them TO STOP FEELING THAT WAY RIGHT NOW and thats bullshit (pardon). I wanted to write books, particularly for teens, that showed people saying THIS IS HOW I FEEL and THAT’S OKAY because I AM SURVIVING THE BEST WAY I KNOW HOW.
Sometimes survival is therapy, or treatment or screaming your feelings in a cemetery. Sometimes its medication or journaling or activism. Sometimes its distancing yourself from hurtful people. Its imperative that we are offering up solutions for young people and allowing them the space to see what works for them.
Taylor: Part of what I love about You’d Be Mine is that it’s a steamy romance about fame and music, but it’s also an incredibly poignant story about loss and emotionally struggling in unhealthy ways. How do you balance these two sides of the story when you’re writing?
Erin: Goodness this was a tough one for me. I’m glad you think it worked. 🙂 I was extremely mindful of the all-too common trope of “love fixing all”. More than anything, it was important to me that Clay (and to a lesser extent, Annie) healed first. Love doesn’t fix all and it’s dangerous to let young people believe it can. Everyone has their own battles to face, even in a contemporary romance. Maybe it’s not as heavy as addiction and grief and celebrity, since not everyone is as famous as Clay Coolidge, but that doesn’t mean its not real. When I set out to write a story, I’m actually writing two. I always write a dual point of view, complete with dual character arcs. Every person has a journey and just because falling in love is a apart of that, doesn’t mean its the end of it. It’s taken me a while to reconcile this process… I realize when people are picking up a YA romance, they are looking for butterflies and sweetness and sometimes my version is too messy and raw for that readership.
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But that’s okay. My version of events helps me to sleep at night, knowing I’m telling it like it is. My characters will always find their happily ever after, they’ll just have to work a little harder for it.
Taylor: Some of the mental health issues you explore in You’d Be Mine include substance abuse, suicide, the pressures of fame and panic attacks. How did you choose to write about these issues in this book and what was the process of writing them like?
Erin: Wow, when you list it all out like that… *whew*. To be frank, I didn’t set out to write any of those things when I started. I don’t choose issues for my characters to face, just as real people don’t necessarily choose their struggles. I chose to write Clay and Annie’s stories and those were natural motivations and ramifications of their journey. Annie was a traumatized mess when she came to me and thats BECAUSE her parents died the way they did. Clay was a borderline alcoholic at 18, that doesn’t just happen because he liked the taste of beer. He was burying some real grief. I think it’s vital that we as authors are mindful of digging into the whys. It’s irresponsible to give a character mental health issues without exploring what brought those issues about in the first place. One of my favorite parts of that book is when Annie finished performing the song “You’d Be Mine” for the first time in the recording studio and she’s talking to her cousin, Kacey. Kacey kind of scoffs at Annie for saying she and Clay together were a volatile combination. She says, “You’re barely 18, Annie, what on earth do you know about being volatile?” Annie looks at her and says, “I was raised on volatile!” I love how Annie had the sense of self and maturity to realize her and Clay’s emotional baggage was too much even when their friends and family and managers and label execs didn’t.
Taylor: Your upcoming 2020 release More Than Maybe, also explores music, fame and teen love. Can you talk a little about what emotional and/or mental health issues you address in that book?
Erin: Sure! Luke and Vada aren’t famous in the same way Clay and Annie are. That said, Luke is the soft-spoken son of a famous former British Punk Rock icon. He has natural song-writing and singing abilities that drive his father bonkers because he’d love nothing more for Luke to follow in his footsteps and Luke would love nothing less. More Than Maybe discusses a lot of Parent-Child angst. Parents who fail to see who their kids really are and love them as is. Parents who aren’t really parents at all and break their kids hearts. Adults who aren’t biological parents, but end up filling in those parent-shaped holes in a teen’s life. These were all things that I personally related to and while they aren’t super high on the Epic Mental Health Issue roster, I think they are real. Growing up, your first interactions and experiences with mental health involve those closest to you… your families. For better or worse, they form who you become and how you deal moving forward as an adult. Luke and Vada have their work cut out for them and I think they do a wonderful job advocating for themselves as they dive into young adulthood.
Taylor: What are some of your recommendations for great mental health representation, whether it’s in books, movies, TV, etc.?
Erin: Hm. This is a hard one for me, BECAUSE mental health is so personal and I feel like me, listing out specific titles and encouraging people to go there, could lead to someone being disappointed or hurt? If that makes sense. Ironic, I know, as someone who writes the books I do. To be perfectly honest, for me, the most universal mental health representation happens in music. A well-written song can reach a person exactly where they are at and both validate and sooth at once. This past summer, something kind of horrifying and extremely painful was revealed to me, sending me spiraling, even at nearly 37 years of age. I immediately went to music and listened to the same four songs on repeat, every day, until my eyes dried up and my throat hurt from screaming. Were those songs written about me? Or the specific things that were breaking my heart? Nope. But they did a bang up job of piecing me back together regardless. Those lyrics and emotions healed me where I stood. That’s the power of music. I don’t know a book or movie or TV show that can do that so perfectly.
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PS The songs were “Waiting at the End” Linkin Park, “I’ll Find You” Lecrae and Tori Kelly, “Praying” Kesha and “Life on Earth” by Snow Patrol.
Taylor: Are there any mental health issues you wish were more widely represented in middle grade and YA, or issues you hope to write about but haven’t had the chance yet?
Erin: In my third book, I’m tackling religious trauma. There isn’t a day that goes by that there isn’t some story in the news about some scandal in the church, or about how many young people are distancing themselves from religion because of abuse, neglect, persecution or gaslighting. As someone who grew up in the church and has experienced some or all of these things, I want to write about them and shed light in a pretty lonely place.
Taylor: Do you have any self-care tips, tricks or secrets you’d like to share, especially for writers?
Erin: When I am writing heavy, I have to read light. Or watch TV, light, as the case may be. People assume that because my books are on the darker side, that’s where my interest lies. It might have been at one point, but in the process of writing deep, authentic, hurting characters, I have to also put myself in that place time and again and it’s a lot! I balance that with comedy and kissing books and cross stitch and watching musicals with my little girl. I take my dog for long walks and paint my nails. I have a playlist that is entitled “Just Erin, Not a Character” where its only music that belongs only to me. After finished a particularly rough draft or scene, I bury myself in that playlist and let it heal up the sharp aches. I enjoy coloring and Great British Bake Off. I’ll make confetti cake for my family.
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I’ve learned that forcing myself to be social and generous with my time is self care, as contradictory as that may sounds. I’m such an introvert and I love spending time in my head with my characters, but for my sanity, I have to close the door on them and talk to real, live people, too. It’s always a battle, but once I’m there, I’m glad I’ve done it.
Thank you so much, Erin!
It’s been a pleasure to talk to you for Shattering Stigmas!
Erin Hahn spent the first half of her life daydreaming in a small town in northern Illinois. She fell in love with words in college when she wrote for the campus paper, covering everything from drag shows to ice fishing and took way too much liberty with a history essay on the bubonic plague.
She started writing her own books when her little sister gave her shade about a country music-themed Twilight fanfic. By day, Erin gets to share her favorite stories with her elementary students. By night, she writes swoons. She married her own YA love interest whom she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat, Gus, who plays fetch and a dog, June, who doesn’t.She started writing her own books when her little sister gave her shade about a country music-themed Twilight fanfic. By day, Erin gets to share her favorite stories with her elementary students. By night, she writes swoons. She married her own YA love interest whom she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat, Gus, who plays fetch and a dog, June, who doesn’t.
More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn (author interview and blog tour sneak peek)
July 17, 2020 / No Comments
Last spring, I received a bunch of upcoming releases from Wednesday Books. The cover of You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn caught my eye even before I picked it up and read the blurb. It had this “feel” of summer and, as I read the description of this YA contemporary about two country musicians, a vibe that just matched. When I did read it, a few months on, it was exactly what I needed – a layered, complicated but ultimately feel-good story with music as a bonus. You can read my review of it here.
I was thrilled when I received an ARC for the author’s second, More Than Maybe, in March, and even more excited when Erin agreed to do a little interview with me for my newsletter. The pandemic pushed ahead the book’s original May release date.
The full interview (including an exclusive More Than Maybe excerpt approved by Wednesday Books) will go out to my newsletter subscribers on the new publication date of July 21, so please sign up here if you want to read it! In the meantime, I’m sharing a sneak peek of our chat and some info about the new book and Erin.
And here’s my mini-review for More Than Maybe.
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AN: A bit of a cliche first question maybe, but I’d love to hear about your (ongoing) writing journey. Where and how it began, how you got to where you are now, where you think/want to go next.
EH: I’ve always been a storyteller, but I didn’t start seriously writing novels until about 5 or 6 years ago. It took me 3 years, five books and something like 300 rejections before I found my agent with my debut You’d Be Mine in 2017 (pub’d in 2019). The following year, I wrote and sold More Than Maybe and last summer I sold two more YA romances to my publisher Wednesday Books to be released in 2021 and 2022.
I love writing YA romances, since that’s basically what I lived. I met my husband my first day of college when I was 17 and he was 19. But I love reading adult romance, too, so this summer, I’m trying my hand at writing my first adult romance. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be able to do both. Love stories for everyone! 🙂
AN: What draws you to writing for and about teens? Are there particular themes you gravitate to in your work? Where do you find the stories you want to tell?
EH: Like I said, I love YA romance since that’s what I experienced, myself. Aside from that, however, I just super love and admire teens today. They’re so bold and adventurous and smart. They’re making real changes and standing up for themselves and I feel so fortunate to have the chance to write and reflect their stories. I write for the teen I was, too: an uber-responsible music nerd who grew up too fast. It’s best to write what you know, if you want to be authentic.
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Blurb
Growing up under his punk rocker dad’s spotlight, eighteen-year-old Luke Greenly knows fame and wants nothing to do with it. His real love isn’t in front of a crowd, it’s on the page. Hiding his gift and secretly hoarding songs in his bedroom at night, he prefers the anonymous comfort of the locally popular podcast he co-hosts with his outgoing and meddling, far-too-jealousy-inspiringly-happy-with-his-long-term-boyfriend twin brother, Cullen. But that’s not Luke’s only secret. He also has a major un-requited crush on music blogger, Vada Carsewell.
Vada’s got a five year plan: secure a job at the Loud Lizard to learn from local legend (and her mom’s boyfriend) Phil Josephs (check), take over Phil’s music blog (double check), get accepted into Berkeley’s prestigious music journalism program (check, check, check), manage Ann Arbor’s summer concert series and secure a Rolling Stone internship. Luke Greenly is most definitely NOT on the list. So what if his self-deprecating charm and out of this world music knowledge makes her dizzy? Or his brother just released a bootleg recording of Luke singing about some mystery girl on their podcast and she really, really wishes it was her?
In More Than Maybe, Erin Hahn’s swooniest book yet, Luke and Vada must decide how deep their feelings run and what it would mean to give love a try.
Author bio
Erin Hahn is the author of You’d Be Mine and More Than Maybe. She teaches elementary, would rather be outside and makes a lot of playlists. So many playlists in fact, that she decided to write books to match them! She married her very own YA love interest who she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat named Gus who plays fetch and a dog named June who doesn’t.
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Again, here’s the link to sign up for the newsletter to read the interview in its entirety when issue #5 goes out on July 21!
https://www.anushreenande.com/newsletter
Follow me on Instagram for more book-related chat and reviews @bookinboston.
Author Spotlight: Erin Hahn talks You'd Be Mine
I'm so excited to feature Erin Hahn on today's blog! Erin fell in love with words in college when she wrote for the campus paper, covering everything from drag shows to ice fishing and took way too much liberty with a history essay on the bubonic plague (lol!). Her debut YA novel, the witty country music-infused contemporary romance, YOU'D BE MINE (Wednesday Books/Macmillan) is out now and you can check out the synopsis below!
Erin Hahn's thrilling debut, You'd Be Mine, asks: Can the right song and the perfect summer on the road make two broken hearts whole?
Annie Mathers is America's sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things.
But unfortunately for Clay, if he can't convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That's what happens when your bad-boy image turns into bad-boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents' tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay's label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen.
Swayed by Clay's undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start, fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can't help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there's one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it's a high-profile relationship. She had a front-row seat to her parents' volatile marriage and isn't interested in repeating history. If only she could convince her heart that Clay, with his painful past and head-over-heels-inducing tenor, isn't worth the risk.
And now, here's my chat with Erin!
Hi, Erin! Welcome and congrats on You'd Be Mine. Can you tell us a little about the story and what inspired it?
Thank you so much! You’d Be Mine is a YA contemporary romance that centers around two main characters, Clay Coolidge, reigning bad boy of country music and Annie Mathers, the daughter of country music’s biggest tragedy. After too many bouts of bad press for underage shenanigans, Clay faces an ultimatum from his label: get Annie and her band to sign on to his summer tour or lose his contract. Of course, being a romance, there’s a whole lot of back stage flirting and kissing and drama, but with these two, there’s also a healthy dash of grief, dark histories and angst.
I’ve been a fan of country music my whole life, so it was an easy jump for me. I love the complexity of country songs. On the surface, they are melodic and twangy and full of good feelings, but the lyrics will often smack you upside the head in their intensity. I adore that. I wanted to emulate that, even. The romance is very loosely inspired by the late Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. I definitely spent a lot of hours studying their performances and the way they interacted and fed off each other on stage. They were true professionals who earned A++’s in charm.
Clay and Annie are both so beautifully flawed! Were flaws in the forefront of your mind when you first started writing them, or was it the kind of thing that had to grow in drafts?
Thank you! Honestly, I didn’t see Annie and Clay that flawed when I first wrote them. In fact, it wasn’t until a CP said, “Hey, Clay’s borderline alcoholic” that I even recognized that part of him. Initially, I was like, “No he’s not!” but as I read back, I realized the truth. The same goes for Annie’s journey through her grief. I had to step outside the character to truly see how much she was hurting. Annie’s great in that she generally speaks her heart in her lyrics, but even then, it wasn’t until I read the lyrics back that I got the full impact of her emotions. It’s weird, I know. It’s like being a method actor, but a method writer? If that’s a thing. Someone recently called themselves that on twitter, so it must be. 😊 Regardless, I think it means that their flaws are always there, but I figure them out in drafts.
Do you have any tips for writers attempting to write dual-POV for the first time?
PLAYLISTS. Or if music isn’t your thing, then perhaps an extra detailed character sketch… include everything: backstory and favorites foods and catchphrases. Anything you can think of, even if it never makes it into the story. The better you know your characters, the better you will write them and the easier it will be for your reader to relate to them and also tell them apart!
But if music is your thing, I like playlists. I create individual playlists for each of my POVs so as I progress in drafting, I can go back to my playlists and jump right back into that specific character’s head space. It’s been a lifesaver!
What stage of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you tackle it?
I’m terrible at writing the first draft. I’m not much for outlines, which means my early drafts are messy and often circular, rather than linear. It’s marvelous for creativity, but awful for logical thought organization. 😊 I tend to tackle this shortcoming by replacing outlines with character playlists and spending as much time as possible in the head of my characters prior to putting the pen to the page. The more I know the characters, the better my draft will flow, and the less time I spend patching plot holes down the line.
I'm a firm believer in the idea that every story teaches the writer something new, so what did writing You’d Be Mine teach you?
It taught me I could finish a book! I have written and completed five books previous to You’d Be Mine, but I haven’t published anything yet, obviously. So this is the first time I’ve had to revise with an agent, editor and copy editors. It’s been a level of polish that I’ve never achieved and I’m so proud of the result! This experience has taught me that writing a book isn’t only about the author. It’s a team effort. My name is on the cover, but the book I wrote alone isn’t the same as the book I wrote with Wednesday Books and that’s both humbling and invigorating.
What are you reading, watching, or otherwise currently infatuated with?
I just read Don’t Date Rosa Santos by debut Nina Moreno and adored it to pieces. It’s the perfect blend of Practical Magic and Mama Mia and everyone needs it in their life! I’ve also been comfort-binging Criminal Minds for my Reid fix and listening to a whole lot of Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan on my commute to and from work. Springtime in kindergarten is busy and when you throw a debut release into the mix, you have a very frazzled Erin. 😊 Brain soothing is the name of the game these days.
And finally, what’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned so far in your publishing career?
To curb my expectations. It’s far more fun to have your lifelong publishing dreams come true if you aren’t always upping the achievement line and chasing something new and shiny. It’s not that I think you should settle or anything like that, but if you are always comparing your journey to someone else’s you’re setting yourself up to be miserable. I try to keep the comparisons in check and enjoy the here and now as much as I can. I’ve worked real hard for this moment and I want to savor it.
Many thanks go out to Erin for taking the time to tell us more about author life and You'd Be Mine! If you liked A Star Is Born, be sure to add this swoony Southern story to your Goodreads list, or (better yet!) order your copy (WRITE) NOW from retail sites like Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, or request it at your library, or local independent bookstore!
For more information, follow Erin on Twitter, and visit her author website at erinphahn.com.
And, as always,
THE CHARACTERS IN ERIN HAHN’S COMING-OF-AGE NOVEL "NEVER SAW YOU COMING" GRAPPLE WITH BELIEFS AND TRAUMA IN MICHIGAN’S UPPER PENINSULA
by Martha Stuit
Thu, 10/21/2021 - 2:00pm
WRITTEN WORD INTERVIEW
Erin Hahn and her novel Never Saw You Coming
Author photo by Hilary Nichols.
The line between right and wrong is not always clear. Erin Hahn’s new young adult novel, Never Saw You Coming, illustrates the dilemmas that people face when they are told one thing and experience another, leaving them to sort out what they believe.
In the book, 18-year-old Meg Hennessey learns several family secrets at once and goes on a journey to make sense of it all. She grew up in Ann Arbor and travels to Marquette, Michigan, to meet with relatives she previously did not know she had. There, she meets Micah Allen, who likewise has a complicated past. The two of them find an immediate connection complete with witty banter, physical attraction, and outdoor adventures. Chapters alternate between each of their perspectives.
As young adults going through new situations and developing strong feelings for each other, Meg and Micah face uncertainties about whether to listen to religious advice or to follow their intuitions. Purity and abstinence are highly valued in the church, and the pair meets scrutiny even when trying to support church members and follow their values.
Meg reflects, “Before Marquette, I was only a sinner in my heart. Now I’m … out there. Like toothpaste all squeezed out of the tube. I can’t be put back in. And I don’t think I want to be.” She reconsiders the good that can come from bad situations. Her parents’ circumstances are among those situations, and she wonders about the concept of sin:
If God brought my parents together that one time, just to make me, and 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?
Both Meg and Micah grow and form their own perspectives as they face numerous challenges.
Hahn lives in Ann Arbor, and Never Saw You Coming is her third book. I interviewed her about writing this novel, the choices she made in it, and what’s coming up next for her.
Q: What led to you becoming a writer and living in Ann Arbor?
A: I moved to Ann Arbor in 2014 because my husband was hired by the City of Ann Arbor to work as a stewardship specialist with Natural Area Preservation. That was kind of unrelated to me becoming an author, but moving to Michigan from Illinois did force me to take a year off working full time to stay home with my youngest who wasn’t yet old enough for school. That year, the two of us explored Ann Arbor and every city park and library branch we could before she’d rest in the afternoon and I’d write the novel I’d talked about forever. I’d always been a writer, but it wasn’t until I’d finished my first novel that I felt like an author.
Q: Your latest book, Never Saw You Coming, is a young adult book. You write in your “Author’s Note” about why you made this choice. Could you share with Pulp readers why you chose young adult fiction?
A: YA is such a revealing and challenging age to write for. I specifically write “coming of age” novels that typically bridge the cusp of finishing high school and entering into adulthood … whatever that might look like. I graduated high school at 17, met my husband my first day of college that same year. So, for me, I relate most to finding love at that stage of my life. It’s what I personally experienced and what I can most easily bring to the page. It’s also when I learned the most about myself; the age I learned the kind of adult I wanted to be. It’s when I found my faith, my interests, and when I slipped into the comfortable sense of “this is what Erin Hahn looks like.” That period of your life is full of conflict, messy emotions, and wonder. It’s when you often challenge the beliefs and standards you were raised with and I wanted my words to support and reflect that for my young readers. It’s my chance to encourage them by saying, “This is a totally normal experience, and you can absolutely embrace it with both hands!”
Q: How do you channel the voices of young adult characters? Any writing practices that you find helpful?
A: I don’t know that I do anything special to channel the age so much as the character. I don’t set out to write “19-year-old boy"; rather, I work to channel “Micah Allen.” I do a lot of prep work beforehand, to get to know my characters. I create specific playlists for each of my main characters ahead of time that I can refer back to as I draft. I’ll use Pinterest to create an aesthetic for my characters and character sketches with things like their favorite colors to favorite books and typical clothing choices. As far as keeping the voice appropriate to the age range, maybe that’s a bit of luck? My brain is very YA-oriented. I read a lot and listen to a ton of contemporary music. I pay attention to social media and soak up material like a sponge whenever I can.
Q: In the “Author’s Note,” you also mention your journey to finding a publisher for your books. Tell us about the process.
A: As I mentioned earlier, I started writing novels in 2014 or somewhere about there. I wrote maybe five before I found my agent with my sixth. You read that right. It took me a LOT of books and close to 300 rejections before I found my literary agent, Kate McKean, in 2016. I was actually walking out the door to attend my dear friend Karen McManus' (One of Us Is Lying) debut launch in Boston when I got the call. From there, we put You’d Be Mine on submission to editors, and a month later it was picked up by a brand new imprint of MacMillan, Wednesday Books. My original editor ended up leaving three weeks later, but it was then that I started my partnership with Senior Editor Vicki Lame. Together, we’ve published You’d Be Mine in 2019, More Than Maybe in 2020, and Never Saw You Coming this past September. I am working on my fourth YA to be released sometime in spring 2023 and have also sold three adult romances that will start releasing in fall 2022. It’s been a busy few years after a pretty slow and painful start!
Q: Meg Hennessey is a side character from a previous book. What characteristics made you want to tell her story?
A: Meg has always been an utter delight to write. She’s so determinedly joyful. She will make lemonade out of lemons if it kills her, and I adore that. But to be honest, I actually didn’t want to tell her story! I knew all along that she had this kind of “spiritual gap year” to face and I didn’t want it on the page because then I would have to put myself through it as well. I wasn’t ready to face my own story! When we left Meg in More Than Maybe, she was doing so well! I knew to write her story, I would have to break her and then fix her and in doing so, I would face a lot of grief—from my characters, yes, but also my readers. In the end, I couldn’t resist. I didn’t want to leave Meg to stagnate. She deserved to grow and piece herself back together to be the wonderful adult she was meant to be, and I knew I was the one to put this very special, very challenging kind of story on the page. It’s impossible not to root for Meg to find her peace.
Q: Never Saw You Coming covers topics that include prison, suicide, and sexuality, all of which are part of our lives. Writing about them with characters who are encountering them for the first time and for a young adult audience means taking a different perspective. How did that shape how you told the story?
A: In a lot of ways, Meg and Micah are very mature for their age. Particularly, Micah. He was forced to grow up quickly because his father went to prison when he was 13, so his perspective is special. He is a bit of a leader, almost pastoral, in the way he encounters not only his issues but Meg’s as well. He’s got a lot of hard-earned wisdom for 19. That said, his emotional responses are still those of a young adult or teen. He’s not able to completely control his reactions. Meg is almost the opposite from him, so she complements him very well. Where he is wise, she is pretty naïve. Where he is emotionally stunted, she is very comfortable feeling what she is feeling and feeling it all the way down. Because I write dual perspective POVs in my romances, I work to find the balance between them. When one falls, the other lifts them up and vice versa.
Q: In particular, Meg faces conflict with the purity culture in church. What do you hope readers take away from the narrative?
A: That they are loved just as they are. Humans are meant to be messy and fallible. We’re meant to feel things, intensely and we’re called to be curious and make mistakes. God created us exactly that way. I think purity culture, as a whole, is really asking young women especially, but men as well, to stop acting like humans. To hold themselves apart and above everyone else. It paints women as pillars of virtue and goodness while negating emotion altogether. It cancels out feeling, not only physically, but emotionally. And it’s asking them to be that way until their wedding night, until which point, they are to immediately and enthusiastically cast all of that away within the confines of their bedroom. Which is a joke, frankly. It’s damaging and I hope that by shining this light on it, through the eyes of Meg, in particular, readers will be able to see clearly how impossible that is.
Q: Relatedly, the characters get judged on their actions by others. Things deemed bad or sinful by some people are, in contrast, right for others. The novel calls into question the judgments among people, including those in positions of power and religious leadership. Should any of them be judging each other in the first place?
A: The short answer is no. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t judge each other. But as a contemporary author, I’m not tasked with writing a utopia, I’m tasked with reflecting the realities of the world in a way that readers can see themselves within the pages. I think, as readers, we learn so much through empathy and when a beloved character is judged wrongly or misunderstood, it packs a whole lot of punch. We may feel more fury on behalf of a Meg or Micah than we allow for ourselves and maybe that will help create change?
Q: What other books are you reading these days?
A: Oh, gosh. So many. But some of my favorite YA romances coming your way this fall were/are:
How Moon Fuentes Fell in Love With the Universe by Raquel Gilliland Vasquez
Our Way Back to Always by Nina Moreno
Sway With Me by Syed M. Masood
Q: This was your third book. Can you tell us more about your other books in the works?
A: So as I previously stated, I’m writing my fourth YA as we speak, which I have nicknamed my “sad rodeo book” if that tells you anything! My first adult romcom, Built to Last, is a second-chance romance that features two former child stars who are brought together as adults to star on a house-flipping reality show that takes place in Northern Michigan. I’ll have two more romcom spin-offs in that series coming your way from Macmillan/Griffin in the coming years!
Martha Stuit is a former reporter and current librarian.
Hahn, Erin NEVER SAW YOU COMING Wednesday Books (Teen None) $18.99 9, 7 ISBN: 978-1-250-76124-8
Two teens questioning their faith find love together.
Meg was supposed to go to a summer church camp to start off her gap year but decides instead to spend time with her newfound biological family in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Her life was turned upside down after accidentally discovering that her strict, controlling Christian mom actually got pregnant with her following a one-night stand at a church youth group event and then hid the identity of her biological father, who died before learning she was pregnant, for 18 years. While visiting her paternal great-grandmother and uncle, she meets a boy called Micah who has his own issues with faith after his pastor father engaged in sexual misconduct and then went to prison for embezzling church funds. While Meg and Micah fall for each other, a sweet dog, a high-stakes rescue, and exploration of complicated family relationships complement their emotional journey. Alternating chapters showing Meg’s and Micah’s perspectives provide a close look at their views on faith and relationships with God. The characters affirm a belief in God and love of Jesus as the nuanced narrative includes their frank questioning of their religious communities’ treatment of the vulnerable and stances on modesty and purity culture, abstinence education, and homosexuality. Readers of Hahn’s More Than Maybe (2020) will remember Meg as a secondary character, but this work stands alone. Main characters are White.
A powerful coming-of-age story about growing in faith and self-awareness. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Hahn, Erin: NEVER SAW YOU COMING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A671782920/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c9a4893c. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Hahn, Erin MORE THAN MAYBE Wednesday Books (Teen Fiction) $17.99 5, 12 ISBN: 978-1-250-23164-2
Love blooms between two independent, musically involved teens.
Vada and Luke have long admired one another from afar but finally begin talking during their senior year in high school in Ann Arbor. Each has family ties to the music world that both inspire and tether them, manifesting in their lives in different ways. Vada is determined to grow her music review writing into a career while British-born Luke has made a fierce decision to keep his talent and love for songwriting as something he only does for himself, which his former punk-rock-star dad can’t understand. Told in alternating first-person narration, the slow unfolding of this love story will be relished by teens who favor swooning romances. The palpable understanding of how music speaks to some people’s souls will ring true for serious music lovers—though references to various real-life artists both contemporary and older, from Demi Lovato to the duo’s reverence for Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, may not always resonate. Realistic and messy details about the complicated relationships imperfect adults have with their kids will likely ring true for a broader audience. All main characters are white. Luke’s twin brother, Cullen, is gay and happily coupled up with Luke’s best friend, Zack.
A character-driven story of first love and family drama replete with its own soundtrack. (Romance. 14-18)
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"Hahn, Erin: MORE THAN MAYBE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A616094059/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c67447a7. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Hahn, Erin. You'd Be Mine. Wednesday Books, April 2019. 304p. $18.99. 9781250192882.
3Q * 4P * S * NA
After his post-show scuffle with some fans, singer Clay Coolidge's record label threatens to fire him--unless he can convince promising musician Annie Mathers and her band to be the opening act for his upcoming tour. Clay (real name Jefferson--this is an important detail) and Annie are instantly drawn to one another, but both are carrying mountains of baggage. Clay is mourning the death of his soldier older brother Danny and ignoring Danny's widow and daughter. Annie's parents were famous singers; her mother overdosed, and her father killed himself when he found the body. Can Clay and Annie see beyond their own pasts to help each other heal their aching hearts?
Hahn gamely reaches out for the audience that loves the movie A Star Is Born, Hallmark channel romances, and the country music TV show Nashville. She deserves a lot of credit for not making her hero and heroine picture-perfect figures: Annie's tragic backstory understandably gives her anxiety, and Clay willfully engages in self-destructive behavior. Some readers will not like that the story depicts underage drinking and premarital sex behind the scenes; others might appreciate the dose of grittiness these elements lend to the love story. Hahn creates engaging characters within a formulaic story; it would be worth seeing what happens when she is free to play, without a rigid plot structure to follow. Ultimately, there is very little about Clay and Annie's romance to set it apart from all the other stories of starry-eyed young country singers in love.--Matthew Weaver.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
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Weaver, Matthew. "Hahn, Erin. You'd Be Mine." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 42, no. 1, Apr. 2019, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A587973892/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a4cd1454. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
Hahn, Erin YOU'D BE MINE Wednesday Books (Young Adult Fiction) $17.99 4, 2 ISBN: 978-1-250-19288-2
Teen music stars get romantically involved.
Clay Coolidge is the flashy heartthrob of the Nashville country music scene, content to make songs people drink and hook up to but never saying anything meaningful with his music. Annie Mathers is country music royalty about to embark on her own career five years after her legendary parents tragically died. The teens tour together in an effort to boost Clay's sales and launch Annie's career. Managers and record producers push them together as a fake couple, but it doesn't take long for the artists to spark and spread fire. Annie and Clay bring out the best in each other, building each other up as musicians and people. Their romance is well-plotted and sweetly drawn: Readers (particularly those listening to the recent A Star Is Born soundtrack on repeat) will delight in the story's rhythm and musical backdrop. The author makes sly observations here and there about the recording industry, but there's affection here for the uniquely American style of music and the stories that come out of country music culture. The palpable endearment for its setting and characters makes for a warm read. While not thuddingly original, this is still a good ol' fashioned love story, and there's something to be said for a song we all know being sung with tenderness and care. All main characters are white and there is some diversity in background characters.
A solid romance buoyed by engaging protagonists and a charming backdrop. (Romance. 14-17)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Hahn, Erin: YOU'D BE MINE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571548886/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e66ade78. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
HAHN, Erin. Never Saw You Coming. 320p. Wednesday Bks. Sept. 2021. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781250761248.
Gr 9 Up--Eighteen-year-old Meg and 19-yearold Micah share much in common: they are both dealing with complicated family situations that have made them each question their previously untested faith in the church. So it is no surprise that when their paths cross in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, they soon become friends and then a couple. Their relationship allows them a safe space to navigate their emotions regarding the adults who have failed them. It also allows them to explore their growing physical attraction to each other, which is complicated by the church's teachings about premarital sex. Told in alternating first-person narratives, the voices of these new-to-adulthood characters are authentic. This is not your standard coming-of-age novel, though, as the church plays a significant role in aiding and hindering Meg's and Micah's maturation from adolescents to adults. In an author's note at the end of the novel, Hahn describes her novel as "alternative Christian fiction" and explains in moving detail her decision to call out the church's hypocrisy about sex, body image, and sin--especially as they relate to females--much like her characters do in the book. All characters are cued as white; some secondary characters are gay or bisexual. VERDICT A well-done, engaging read that can serve young people grappling with their faith. Highly recommended.--Melissa Kazan, Horace Mann Sch., NY
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Kazan, Melissa. "HAHN, Erin. Never Saw You Coming." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 8, Aug. 2021, p. 89. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A670397988/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=878a9ccf. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.
HAHN, Erin. You'd Be Mine. 304p. Wednesday Bks. Apr. 2019. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781250192882. POP
Gr 9 Up--Teenage heartthrob Clay Coolidge recently won best new artist at the Country Music Awards, but his bad boy image (fueled by the death of his brother who was fighting overseas) needs to be cleaned up as he is about to begin a U.S. summer tour. His record label has him invite Annie Mathers and her group to be his opening act. Annie is the child of country music royalty, but she has her demons too. Her mother died of an overdose, and her father committed suicide. As a tween, Annie was the one who found them dead. Annie's music eclipses Clay's as they make their way across the country, and both of them try very hard not to fall for the other. Romance may or may not be in store for Clay and Annie, but two of their band mates make a connection. Annie and Clay offer their views on the tour in alternating chapters, chronicling the ups and downs of the music and the band members' platonic and romantic interactions. The characters are very likable and seem true to life. The difficulty of having a normal life in the face of celebrity is addressed many times in this layered and fun romance. VERDICT Readers do not have to be fans of country music in order to root for Annie and Clay to find their way to love. A strong choice.--Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Avondale, LA
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kahn, Elizabeth. "HAHN, Erin. You'd Be Mine." School Library Journal, vol. 65, no. 1, Feb. 2019, p. 73. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571039889/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8203d260. Accessed 13 Dec. 2021.