Rachel HollisRezensionen

This book was great and I really liked the author - I think she must be a charming person. I admit that at first I felt a bit strange being called 'girl' all the time - especially, that the author is much younger than me - but I got used to it after a while. A very positive, uplifting book and I enjoyed it very much.

There were a few good pieces of wisdom in here, but unfortunately I don't think this is a book that is very relatable to a wide range of people. Most of what she shared I just didn't relate to and from what I've seen of other reviews there seems to be a lot of people who say the same.

Rachel Hollis is my new best friend. I must have been living under a rock, because I'd never heard of her before her previous book, "Girl, Wash Your Face" (which I haven't yet read) exploded to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list.

I absolutely loved her take on female ambition and guilt-free parenting. I, too, work hard to run a successful business while being an exceptional wife and mother. And while I believe "balance" is a myth, I do think we can have it all. We just need to be aware that our priorities will shift from day to day.

I adore how unapologetic Rachel is about her lifestyle -- and the way her decisions and dreams feed her soul. That's a level of freedom I aspire to as well. I'm so delighted to have found this book. I highlighted the heck out of it!

Very sound advice. We women tell ourselves so many things to make everything okay. That is not okay.

This is more like 3.5 stars. Not my favorite of the genre, but not bad. Definitely a little on the religious side, but not so much that it’s off-putting, in my opinion. Some of the advice is generic, but I did have a few “aha!” moments while reading.

Just not for me. But I can see the appeal.

Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis is like the big sister pep talk book of the 2010s.

I'll be honest, I found this book as a charity book shop and I only read it because one of my friends RAVES about this woman. She swears that Rachel is her spirit animal and her books changed her life. Do I totally believe that? No. Was I still curious what magic this book had thrown onto my friend? Yep!

This book isn't bad by any means, but it's not the crazy magic my friend makes it out to be. This entire book is a woman pep talk on all of the dumb things us ladies believe. We're not bad people, we're not bad parents, we're not bad girlfriends or wives or partners... we're just us. Nobody is perfect.

Rachel shares lots of personal stories and gives lots of useful tips (love yourself, do your best, live your best life sort of tips) on how to manage yourself. There are some personal stories she shares that are cringey, but don't we all have them? I definitely worried about her husband in the beginning, but their relationship lasted so I can't be one to judge. There are times when Rachel Hollis does seem like she's from the upper class poo-pooing the lower class, but that's just the tone I got (and tone is very hard to figure out in books). And then I realized, I was judging her like I didn't want to be judged. This book is so full circle for me, it's crazy. She even says in the book not to judge people... Man, this book is wild.

I can understand why this book works for some people. I can't lie, some of her advice I was nodding along and wondering why my big sisters never told me these things. A lot of her advice didn't apply to me, but it doesn't have to. At least I got something out of this book. It was a nice change of pace for me - I normally frequent romance and horror and thrillers instead of self-help books.

To top of this review, I want to talk about some of the BAD reviews I've seen of this book:
1. Someone didn't like that this book mentions you can create happiness. While you can't create overall happiness, sometimes you just have to make your bad day good. I've done that before - I told myself I was in a good mood and found joys to make it better. So, it's possible... maybe not to the level Rachel suggests. It's still good advice.

2. Rachel is a white, wealthy, Christian woman. So, yes, this book is going to be written in her point of view. Shocker, right?

3. Rachel brags a lot about her great she is and how great her job is. Well, I sure hope so! She worked hard to get where she is. If I'm ever that successful, I hope I humble brag a bit too.

4. Her expensive purse story is definitely not the normal for the typical woman who will be reading this book. But hey, a girl can dream right?

I do agree with some of the other reviewers who have picked this book up. Rachel has a very specific perspective and she may not have the healthiest and best life that she's portraying but this book will help at least one person.

Overall, this book is okay. It's not my favourite and I didn't great a crazy amount of help out of it. But, it was a nice change of pace for me. I also enjoyed some of the cringey stories - it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has some really awful yet funny stories to share.

Three out of five stars.

I've never been keen on self-help books. Tbh, the title intrigued me and I went in as I wanted to just give it a try. I consider myself to be a motivated and a strong person. Not only has this book made me realise that the above things are absolutely true but also that I'm wasting those gifts I have. I now positively want to become more organised and use my time wisely because one take back for me from the book along with several other wonderful things is that, I have it in me and I just have to be willing to put in hardwork towards achieving my goals. One other thing I want to mention is how she talks about the phrase - ' Girl Boss' and urges us to think about why should we add the prefix girl to boss even when boss is a unisexual word. That emphasis is something that crossed my mind but I still went with. Now, I will stop to correct people who use prefixes to gender neutral terms in order to make them specific for women. It's absolutely wrong! And we all need to avoid it.

There were a lot of good things about this book. Today's woman has so many lies that she believes--we have to look a certain way, act a certain way, etc etc. I was encouraged while reading this book that indeed, there are others like me. I believe so many lies and untruths about how Christ wants me to be. When they are NOT true. I can have BIG dreams. It's okay if sex is rough. I don't have to be a size 0.

That being said, the spiritual undertones were VERY new age like. Throughout my entire read, I felt as if I were reading a Joel Osteen, name it and claim it, type of book. There wasn't as much pointing it back to Scripture as I would have liked.

Love this section!

“The truth is that you are strong and courageous and a fighter……but if I'm telling you that, it's because I want you to see those characteristics in yourself. I want to grab you by the shoulders and shake you until your teeth rattle. I want to get in your face until you have the courage to look me in the eyes and see the answer for yourself. I want to shout at the top of my lungs until you know this one great truth: you are in control of your own life. You get one and only one chance to live, and life is passing you by. Stop beating yourself up, and dang it, stop letting others do it too. Stop accepting less than you deserve. Stop buying things you can't afford to impress people you don't even really like. Stop eating your feelings instead of working through them. Stop buying your kids' love with food, or toys, or friendship because it's easier than parenting. Stop abusing your body and your mind. Stop! Just get off the never-ending track. Your life is supposed to be a journey from one unique place to another; it's not supposed to be a merry, go round the same spot again.”

I enjoyed the book. I also read her others and liked them as well.

honestly a lot of this seems like things I've read before (via Jen Sincero/Glennon Melton/etc), altered just enough not to be a direct copy. shrug

Recommended for younger readers. I found in my conversation with millennials that much of the wisdom I agree with that the author iterates is welcome to the younger set. I personally have seen strong young women set new goals and reach new heights using elements of inspiration from this book. In my reflection after my personal disappointment with this book, I fault myself. I like to hear from young authors and I like to learn from what I read. With the integration of these two choices in the genre of self-improvement I set myself up. I found an empty intersection in the Venn diagram of these two personal likes, which actually indicated that this young author is pretty spot on with her advice for goal setting, self love, and motivation as her strategies matched up with what a person of a certain age had learned and taken to heart. For this reason I erased my prior negative review, but did not change my personal rating. You may like this book better than I did if you are a millennial.

I felt like I was coming into the middle of a story here, which isn't terribly surprising as this is the third book in a three-book cycle. The first few chapters were especially confusing as I tried to keep the ever-expanding cast of supporting characters straight and map out how they were all related to each other. I eventually gave it up as a lost cause. I'm still not sure who is related to whom.

I gathered that the first two books in this contemporary romance series were about how Miko's best friends got together with their boyfriends, who were background characters here. I'm torn if I want to go back and read those stories. On one hand, Hollis's writing style is really engaging and easy to read. She has a way of bringing characters to life and using just the right amount of humor to make me smile.

On the other hand, I really disliked how Miko behaved for most of the book. Which, I get - that actually is a huge point of the plot: that Miko was behaving horribly and stupidly and immaturely. But that doesn't make it any easier to read. I actually stalled on this book for a bit because I had such a hard time reading her continued trainwreck.

But then, the book redeemed itself. I found, quite possibly, the most true statement about life and love I've ever come across:

"I used to read those bits about finding your other half, and I totally bought into it. But that's not the way it works. Two half people don't make a whole. You've got to be completely whole on your own before you can be one half of anything."

I appreciated that Miko realized she had to be true to herself and walked away from the guy.

I also hated that the guy came crawling back and she took him back so easily. Because it was too easy and that ending just didn't sit right with me. But it is a romance novel and the main character must have her HEA, after all, even if I think Liam didn't deserve her.

I'm still not sure if I'll go back and read the first two. This one didn't have me jumping immediately to buy them but didn't completely turn me off either. I suspect if I run across them, I'd read them but I won't go out of my way to do so.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley.

There is a lot of good advice in this book. I flipped between really appreciating her style and the feeling of someone rubbing fur the wrong way. I like her unapologetic style and her message. I don't agree with all of it, but I do appreciate her vibrancy and stance behind how she sees things. It's also wonderful to see a woman putting herself first and her views out there for others to follow. She's definitely paving a path and I will take some of what I read to heart.

I would recommend this book. Take what you need, but don't get hung up if not everything rings true for you.

I just looked at all the Goodreads reviews of this book and I have to say I am surprised by all the negative ones. I really liked this book! I thought it was uplifting and encouraging and interesting and helpful and inspirational!! I am not a stay at home mom (anymore) but I wish this book was around when I was! It would have saved me from a lot of the guilt that was heaped upon me by my ex-mother in law. I am a 48 year old grandma now and this book still spoke to me! There are honestly not a lot of parallels in my life to hers but her story was none the less inspiring! I think if people got past the fact that she is what everyone is calling "privileged" you'd see that she is just a person who struggles with the same stuff that we all struggle with and her story and life are not perfect. She may be living a "privileged" life right now, but she worked her ass off for it! And the ways that she has coped with things in her life are tools that we can all use. At least I can. I'd highly recommend this book to any woman at any age because I think if you can look at it objectively, you can glean a lot of great encouragement from it.

2.5 stars. I went back and forth with this book. It seems so popular! I wanted to love it! I didn't like the title, so I did not purchase it when the opportunity arose. I got it for the car...free! I still wouldn't pay for it.

There are things she says that are really, really true. Then, she backs up a truth by yelling at me. At. Me. Ok, I don't want to be yelled at. Or called Girl. Or Y'all.

I do think women need to be nicer to other women and judge way less. I still felt judged here.

So, there you go.

Over hoe je je leven weer opbouwt als de wereld uit elkaar valt. Ervaringen van de auteur hoe ze om leert gaan met tegenslag en pijn½

Inspirational blueprint for success. I already practice a lot of what she preaches. I only needed a reminder of my inherent "enoughness" to recharge my confidence and enthusiasm on this 10-10-1 journey.

This started strong, wandered in the middle and finished better for me. I felt she has some great "lies" (or chapter headings) and I enjoyed the summaries at the end but the examples and personalisation sometimes was a bit off for me personally. I am not a mother and so much of this book was based around marriage/kids/family relationship and for me that was not a great match. She talks of her privilege without realising sometimes and is self aware at other points. If she was in my sphere I think I would be seriously annoyed by her (remember those kids at school who just needed you to know how good they were!). Her general points were well explained and long examples gave lots of time to think on the concepts mentioned, she has some good stuff to say but sometimes I wondered if she wanted us all to be just like her... I enjoyed some of her points which have probably been made better by other writers in the same field and I wondered if I was just basically too old and jaded for this book and it was more written for an early 20s person with little individual direction (well it felt that way to me). It was a book for those who want to follow a fairly standard path and would like a bit of encouragement but if you are off the beaten track already this book is quite jarring (I have no interest in high income levels at the compromise of time for my other interests and she seemed a bit "I can't pick what I want to do so I get all the help in the world to do it all" which is not really something I feel necessary. She is a positive person but it did feel a bit "look at me" at points. This was a book I would gift to a directionless young person but not anyone approaching 50 or beyond who has made choices outside the earn as much as you can job, traditional marriage, 2.5 kids and a dog type family.

This is not the book for everyone but its not bad. Go into it though knowing that she is an attractive, wealthy, white woman in America and that you can follow what she says but maybe just scale things so they fit your own circumstances.

Rachel is fun and easy to relate to.

Twintig persoonlijke stellingen waarin de auteur is gaan geloven, worden op humoristische wijze ontkracht½

I'm not a mother and for some reason this time around I couldn't make myself switch the views to being single. I really enjoyed the book and found some good nuggets. I highly recommend. Only 4 because I just couldn't get ahold of all the being a mom talk. Even though I know that is exactly who Rachel is and just at the moment I am not.

Ugh. I almost hate how much I loved this book. I almost gave it a pass based on the title and cover, because it just looked so on trend and “of the moment,” that it couldn’t possibly have much lasting value. It’s not that I agreed with Hollis 1000% or that I related to absolutely everything she said. I related to enough and I what I agreed with I really loved; plus I wish I was as brave and honest as this woman. Wow.

Hollis’ voice and writing style sound like any number of bloggers and lifestyle people that are so popular and trendy, y’all. It’s like she’s talking directly to you, her good friend, and just tellin’ it like it is. Except she actually *is* telling the truth. Not some varnished “do this and follow my lead and life will be peachy” or “I’m just like you, I get frustrated at my kids and like wine,” but gut-wrenching, knock you flat on your back, smash in your face, only tell your best friend or therapist kind of truth. And she’s got the bona fides to be giving the advice she does; this girl has been thru it, learned from it, and lived to tell the tale. This is a woman who’s opinion on how to get through a tough time I would trust.

The book is laid out well; each chapter includes a lie Hollis has believed, the truth in each situation, and what has helped her live in that truth. It’s not all earth shattering stuff - make goals, write them down, don’t give up your goal just because someone says no. But she focuses on how we as individuals have a lot more power over what happens to us than we usually wield in our lives. This hit me right between the eyes, personally, and her gentle (sometimes) persistence that we can and ought to do more than we think we can will be something I chew on for quite awhile, and hopefully something that changes some stuff in my life.

I also really appreciated how unapologetically Hollis aims to cheer on and support all women. Stop judging, be kind and put yourself in someone else’s shoes, love yourself. All these things need to be said often and loudly. She is fighting hard for this perspective change, and I love it. I’m not about to follow her on social media and share all her memes (comparison is the thief of joy, y’all, and also I prefer not to subject myself to insane amounts of mainstream influence) but I’m glad she’s out there, being honest and truthful and encouraging.