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A review by bethpeninger
Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You by Jen Hatmaker
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.
Some people don't care for Jen Hatmaker's wit. I am not one of those people. She makes me laugh on a consistent basis. She is also the real deal. What you see, and hear, is what you get. Hatmaker has gone through quite a transformation in the past few years. I think one reason I relate to her musings is that our transformations started roughly around the same time and continue to the present day. We were also born approximately 20 days apart in the same year and her oldest two are the same age as my children. We also had harrowing experiences in the 6th grades with our teachers, not our peers as most do. Despite all these similarities, we have some really big differences too. The biggest one is we live in vastly different worlds - she is exposed, I have hidden away like some hermit. See, she wants to be out there, I don't.
In Hatmaker's newest offering to readers, she offers her personal insights on becoming the best, most glorious versions of ourselves. It's a book geared toward women. #sorrynotsorry men. She takes five main themes: Who I Am, What I Need, What I Want, What I Believe, and How I Connect and dissects them. I'll be honest, a lot of it was a variation of stuff I have read and heard the past 46 years of my life. There truly is nothing new under the sun. But just because I have read or heard some of it doesn't mean I have embraced it and leaned into it. I think that is probably true for all of us which is why there are so many self-help and guide books. Eventually, we will read or listen to one that carries themes we have heard before but this time we hear in just the way we need to. Another moment of honesty, nothing I read in this title was just the way I needed to read it. I'm not saying I've arrived at total self-awareness and all that, I just wasn't shook up enough by anything Hatmaker shared. This is not a criticism of Hatmaker, just a personal observation.
There were some validating and affirming parts of the book for me, specifically in relation to my aforementioned transformation I've been undergoing the past decade+. I definitely don't regret the time spent reading the title but, as of right now, it's also not one I feel I would ever return to for a re-read.
Some people don't care for Jen Hatmaker's wit. I am not one of those people. She makes me laugh on a consistent basis. She is also the real deal. What you see, and hear, is what you get. Hatmaker has gone through quite a transformation in the past few years. I think one reason I relate to her musings is that our transformations started roughly around the same time and continue to the present day. We were also born approximately 20 days apart in the same year and her oldest two are the same age as my children. We also had harrowing experiences in the 6th grades with our teachers, not our peers as most do. Despite all these similarities, we have some really big differences too. The biggest one is we live in vastly different worlds - she is exposed, I have hidden away like some hermit. See, she wants to be out there, I don't.
In Hatmaker's newest offering to readers, she offers her personal insights on becoming the best, most glorious versions of ourselves. It's a book geared toward women. #sorrynotsorry men. She takes five main themes: Who I Am, What I Need, What I Want, What I Believe, and How I Connect and dissects them. I'll be honest, a lot of it was a variation of stuff I have read and heard the past 46 years of my life. There truly is nothing new under the sun. But just because I have read or heard some of it doesn't mean I have embraced it and leaned into it. I think that is probably true for all of us which is why there are so many self-help and guide books. Eventually, we will read or listen to one that carries themes we have heard before but this time we hear in just the way we need to. Another moment of honesty, nothing I read in this title was just the way I needed to read it. I'm not saying I've arrived at total self-awareness and all that, I just wasn't shook up enough by anything Hatmaker shared. This is not a criticism of Hatmaker, just a personal observation.
There were some validating and affirming parts of the book for me, specifically in relation to my aforementioned transformation I've been undergoing the past decade+. I definitely don't regret the time spent reading the title but, as of right now, it's also not one I feel I would ever return to for a re-read.