Book Review | Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis | This Journey Through Life

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My book club is reading Girl, Wash Your Face this month by Rachel Hollis.

Of COURSE, they announced this month’s selection after I finished listening to it on Audible, so I decided to listen to it again.

I got more nuggets out of the book the second time around.

What’s that?

You’ve never heard of this book?

Where have you been?? Quick – Grab your copy here.

Oh, you don’t have much time to read and prefer to be read to? No problem – It’s on Audible – just click the picture below:

A Little About the Book, and What’s Good:

Rachel Hollis takes us along on some of her own journeys in life.

She is engaging, infuses emotion, and draws the reader/listener in.

Made me feel like a friend, and I don’t even know her.

She’s organized, basing each chapter on a lie she’s believed about herself, and ending each one with bullet points of what has helped her to stop believing the lie.

Rachel has a lot of confidence and business success for her young age.

She takes us through some of her flops, disappointments, and some heart-wrenching pain.

She shows us how she got through these things as she seeks to encourage the rest of us to stop giving up, find our strength, and get up and keep going.

She doesn’t mince words, and I loved that.

She ALSO shows us how she stands firm in her convictions – despite overwhelming odds, fierce obstacles, and much rejection from others leading to negative self-talk (which most of us can relate to).

And she ends up winning despite these odds.

She’s full of grit, determination, transparency, and honesty.

She shows us her realness and vulnerability throughout the book.

She lets people know that she’s a Jesus-girl.

She reveals the secret of her success in the book. I won’t spoil it. 😉

I must mention, there was negative discussion from some people on one of my friends’ social media pages about this book. I had already bought the audible book, but I almost caved in to this friend’s assessment.

I ALMOST didn’t listen to it.

I would have missed out on the INSANE amount of encouraging nuggets that Rachel offers her readers.

I found myself throughout the book thinking, “I’m not the only one?” “Wait, she’s talking about that in public?”

It was great learning that someone else had similar not-normally-mentioned-out-loud problems and told the world how she solved them, in order to help someone else. Not even knowing if there would be anyone out there reading her words that could relate at all.

At one point, she encourages the reader to write down her dreams. Get ready to write down your dreams!

What’s Not-So-Good:

No way to put this gently.

She uses the Lord’s name in vain a few times. One time for sure, and other times it was borderline.

She may have been trying to show her frustration at the situations she was telling the readers about. (Benefit of the doubt, right? I Cor 13 – love believes all things?)

But, still.

Being a Jesus-girl, I would have hoped more glory went to Him for her successes and creative ways she found to not give up. And to not use the Lord’s name in vain. We are called to be example believers – speech is the first one (see 1 Timothy 4:12).

The other thing is, it’s published by Thomas Nelson. I had always thought of them as a conservative publishing house.

For them to not have editors who would speak up to have this edited out, and for them to publish a book that is encouraging but written for a more secular audience, it gives me great pause.

Certainly disappointing seeing this publisher take on a book and release it like this.

This was the discussion on my friend’s social media page – that the book was not written to show the author’s faith and how God was faithful, but that it was a, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” kind of book, as though all the credit for rising out of the gunk of life goes to her own grit and determination.

Another thing, and I almost missed it in all the energy and encouragement – not all types of situations require just raw grit and determination to turn things around. Sometimes, you go on American Idol, and you really just can’t sing and shouldn’t keep trying, and there’s no Simon Cowell to shake you out of it.

Other times, you have NO IDEA why God actually may have even stopped you from getting a yes answer, and you shouldn’t keep trying.

This is where prayer and discernment come in.

That company you keep applying to and getting rejected? You could be dodging a bullet, and that’s God saying no and protecting you from a really horrible situation. Prayer will help you discern if you should dust yourself off and try again, or if you should move on to another, better-for-you opportunity from God.

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As a secular book with a little bit o’Jesus thrown in, I found this book (as well as the author) entertaining, educational, insightful, relatable, sometimes sad, and sometimes funny; but most of all helpful in boosting confidence and encouraging.

Have you read this book? Get any nuggets out of it? What did you think?

Let me know in the comments!

I did not receive any compensation or free products in exchange for this review.