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. ( )

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. ( )