I tried, I really did. People who I admire, who possess diecsernment and good judgement, recommended this book via social media platforms, so I bought it. I’ve tread to read it. I don’t think I can finish it (and I am saying this while bored and bed-ridden, recovering from surgery). There is nothing new or authentic in this book. It feels phony and disingenuous and like an opportunity for the author to self congratulate herself for being fabulous. There is so much more I could say, but so many others have already said it in pages of one star reviews. I’m seriously bummed I spent my money on it.

I don't understand all the hype about this book. Rachel Hollis's life experience is so near perfect and so far removed from that of the average woman, that there is almost nothing in this book that is actually relatable. She uses the following examples in her book:1. She dropped out of school at 19 to pursue her successful event planning business that catered to Hollywood celebrities.2. She had one intimate relationship outside of marriage. They broke up for two days. On the third day he professed his love and they ended up getting married.3. Although they have four children, she and her husband struggled with infertility for eight months.4. Hollis admits she has a mean streak and uses the example of making fun of a girl in high school for shaving her toes.5. Hollis also shares in the book that she peed her pants on a trampoline and had a cavity at one point.6. Almost every chapter talks about how she made the Forbes "Top 40 Under 40 list", runs her own multi-million dollar company, and is a "good Christian girl".Perhaps this book could be appreciated by women who have lived a very blessed and sheltered life. But for anyone who has ever had to deal with real life issues such as poverty, illness, abuse, depression, co-dependency, dysfunctional families, loneliness, etc. I recommend you look elsewhere because this book will come across as one long never-ending humblebrag. All eight women in my book club agreed that the book had a tone that was "inauthentic", "judgmental", and "preachy". If you want to read truly authentic, genuine work that sheds light on overcoming human imperfections and failings, I recommend reading Jeanette Walls, Cheryl Strayed, and Elizabeth Gilbert. These female authors have lived very imperfect lives - like most of us - and you will find their work far more relatable than this book which comes across as self-aggrandizing propaganda. I ended up returning the book for a full refund, which I never do.Note: My original one-star review of the book (which 93 people found helpful in the first 3 days) was reported to Amazon and removed for not meeting "community standards" even though the tone was very respectful. I'm sharing this because it might help explain all the five-star reviews.

I found this book to be a lot different than I expected. A lot of the material did not apply to me because I am not yet a mother and it wasn't really the type of reading I had hoped it would be. I am willing to give it a reread after my first child. There was nothing in this book that motivated me.

This book is definitely not what I expected. It is a self help book, but not a particularly helpful one. It's basically a whole lot of common sense "rules" or things she has learned. I don't find Rachel Hollis particularly relatable because while she shares some personal moments, she does not really ever put herself in a poor light. Even when she attempts to do so, it is always followed with a sickeningly perfect revelation or moment of perfection that completely negates her attempt at sharing her own fails and humanity. I was really disappointed and I don't recommend this book.

I’m not a big review writer, but this book bothered me. Admittedly, this is not the kind of book I’d have picked up on my own (it was for book club), and I had no idea who the author was going into it. I had two major problems with the book. The first was that the advice was incredibly trite (work hard! Don’t take no for an answer!). I could have gotten past that, however, if not for the author’s complete and utter lack of self-awareness and general tone-deafness. She spends a whole chapter talking about how she accomplished this all on her own and how great she is- but never acknowledges the fact that she’s starting from a place of incredible privilege. Her husband was a big Disney executive- she had access to industry contacts most people could only dream about. Plus she was playing with a HUGE monetary safety net. There’s nothing wrong with either of those things- use what’s at your disposal- but don’t then turn around and claim it was all on you. To me, her insistence that she was totally self-made killed her credibility. Either she’s totally clueless as to her own privilege or she’s disingenuously tailoring her story for mass appeal.It’s especially sad because she didn’t need to. This book could be much better if she delved into deeper stuff- she’s had some tough experiences! But she just doesn’t.