Okay, I must level with you. I intended to write this review in four parts, because I felt the popularity of the book demanded a certain kind of careful attention.

Now that I have read the book I can see that I was incorrect.

And perhaps this might come across as hyperbolic, but there’s a much more likely chance that what I’m about to write is actually euphemistic.

Satan loves this book. I mean, for sure, if he reads it, he’d recommend it to you. And he would hope that you would follow it’s advice. Stick with me, please, because I care for your soul.

A lot of women will be picking up this book (and books like it) with the recognition that they have a lot of face-washing to do. And why do you wash your face? Well, it’s dirty, of course! Maybe it’s dirty from a long day with kids and many tears. You lost a relative, a job, a spouse, your keys (for the millionth time) and you didn’t buy waterproof mascara. There are any number of reasons why your face might need a good wash, and I’m not convinced that Hollis didn’t mean to write a book on her skincare routine and accidently started telling us about her UTI’s and “howler monkey” sex-life, misguidedly thinking that in sharing her foibles, she might be helping someone.

The thing is, Hollis gives us a book full of confessions about her uninhibited anxiety, depression, disorders, poor choices, and sins. The woman details her penchant for having passions that are completely unbridled and damaging. She talks about trauma and abuse. A suicide in the family. She details heartaches and horrific scenarios with whimsy. What is her advice if you are also in any similar situation, if you find yourself dying of thirst in the middle of the sahara? Well Hollis over here, she wouldn’t hand you a cup of water. No. She would hand you a cup of sand.

So sisters, we have to talk. There’s only one reason why self-professing Christian women are flocking to this book, and it’s because there are people out there who believe a Christ-less Christianity is possible. Rachel has not turned from her sins to find life in Christ. She has turned to therapy, to “self-love”, to self-deception, to never letting the patriarchy get her down. To getting a tattoo so her pastor-dad couldn’t make her feel “small” anymore. Her “solutions” are not solutions—they are coping mechanisms for hopeless people. The Christianity she claims to believe is an add-on, a prop. It has nothing to do with how she views herself, her marriage, her children, or her “god”.

I intended to go chapter by chapter, but there’s nothing in this book’s pages that you can’t get from any lifestyle blog written by any pagan masking their paganism in the occasional Christianese with a wink. Her advice includes such brilliant, eye-opening, new sage advice like: wait as long as you can to have babies. Travel. Borrow someone else’s kids in case you’re feeling like maybe having one yourself. You can’t binge watch shows or spend 6 hours in Target anymore once you have them, so enjoy the good ole days! The enneagram is the best and will really help you understand your spouse. No matter how angry, downtrodden, lazy, or self-obsessed you are, it’s totally fine and normal. Just remember, you’re a beautiful jellyfish. Or something. God wants you to live your best life now! Go to church, or go to a yoga class, same difference. Befriend Muslims and Jedi’s (no, seriously, she said that) because all paths lead to God.

Ladies, you are being enticed. You are being tempted. Hollis’s life looks sparkly because sparkling things are meant to be attractive, but when glitter begins to peel, it’s just a nuisance. It stains. It ruins. It never, ever gets free from whatever it is stuck to. And here’s the thing, the thing that Rachel either doesn’t yet know or knew doesn’t sell well: slaves to sin cannot be free people. You are either a slave to sin, or you are a slave of Christ. If you spend your life chasing your own personal high, your next therapy appointment, your personal wish list of goals, you are not chasing Christ.

As my friend Cody Libolt said, “If your goal is to reach the world with a message of truth, then hedging on essentials will only slow you down and dilute your efforts.” But Hollis isn’t on the bestseller list because her book shares any great insight, wisdom, or truth. It’s because Hollis’s advice is wisdom to the world. It’s the best the world can offer. Here’s some therapy. Here’s a pill. Here’s some pretendy-God-talk. Feel better about yourself.

God has something to say about what kind of woman you are. What kind of mom you are. What kind of goal-achiever you should be. He says that you must lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow Him. God requires our obedience, and that is a truth that Hollis has not bowed down to.

In this path of life, there is fullness of joy. Joy for the brokenhearted, the wounded. The struggling wives and moms and single women. Joy for the sexually broken. Healing for the abused. Don’t turn to the wisdom of the world for fleeting joys that require a marathon-runner-like endurance to maintain day after day. That is what this book is. Rachel offers a sparkly works-righteousness that does not save. Don’t listen to Rachel. Your best self, your best life now is found on the wide road to hell. The message of the cross is foolishness to the world. Come, repent, and believe. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Okay, I must level with you. I intended to write this review in four parts, because I felt the popularity of the book demanded a certain kind of careful attention.

Now that I have read the book I can see that I was incorrect.

And perhaps this might come across as hyperbolic, but there’s a much more likely chance that what I’m about to write is actually euphemistic.

Satan loves this book. I mean, for sure, if he reads it, he’d recommend it to you. And he would hope that you would follow it’s advice. Stick with me, please, because I care for your soul.

A lot of women will be picking up this book (and books like it) with the recognition that they have a lot of face-washing to do. And why do you wash your face? Well, it’s dirty, of course! Maybe it’s dirty from a long day with kids and many tears. You lost a relative, a job, a spouse, your keys (for the millionth time) and you didn’t buy waterproof mascara. There are any number of reasons why your face might need a good wash, and I’m not convinced that Hollis didn’t mean to write a book on her skincare routine and accidently started telling us about her UTI’s and “howler monkey” sex-life, misguidedly thinking that in sharing her foibles, she might be helping someone.

The thing is, Hollis gives us a book full of confessions about her uninhibited anxiety, depression, disorders, poor choices, and sins. The woman details her penchant for having passions that are completely unbridled and damaging. She talks about trauma and abuse. A suicide in the family. She details heartaches and horrific scenarios with whimsy. What is her advice if you are also in any similar situation, if you find yourself dying of thirst in the middle of the sahara? Well Hollis over here, she wouldn’t hand you a cup of water. No. She would hand you a cup of sand.

So sisters, we have to talk. There’s only one reason why self-professing Christian women are flocking to this book, and it’s because there are people out there who believe a Christ-less Christianity is possible. Rachel has not turned from her sins to find life in Christ. She has turned to therapy, to “self-love”, to self-deception, to never letting the patriarchy get her down. To getting a tattoo so her pastor-dad couldn’t make her feel “small” anymore. Her “solutions” are not solutions—they are coping mechanisms for hopeless people. The Christianity she claims to believe is an add-on, a prop. It has nothing to do with how she views herself, her marriage, her children, or her “god”.

I intended to go chapter by chapter, but there’s nothing in this book’s pages that you can’t get from any lifestyle blog written by any pagan masking their paganism in the occasional Christianese with a wink. Her advice includes such brilliant, eye-opening, new sage advice like: wait as long as you can to have babies. Travel. Borrow someone else’s kids in case you’re feeling like maybe having one yourself. You can’t binge watch shows or spend 6 hours in Target anymore once you have them, so enjoy the good ole days! The enneagram is the best and will really help you understand your spouse. No matter how angry, downtrodden, lazy, or self-obsessed you are, it’s totally fine and normal. Just remember, you’re a beautiful jellyfish. Or something. God wants you to live your best life now! Go to church, or go to a yoga class, same difference. Befriend Muslims and Jedi’s (no, seriously, she said that) because all paths lead to God.

Ladies, you are being enticed. You are being tempted. Hollis’s life looks sparkly because sparkling things are meant to be attractive, but when glitter begins to peel, it’s just a nuisance. It stains. It ruins. It never, ever gets free from whatever it is stuck to. And here’s the thing, the thing that Rachel either doesn’t yet know or knew doesn’t sell well: slaves to sin cannot be free people. You are either a slave to sin, or you are a slave of Christ. If you spend your life chasing your own personal high, your next therapy appointment, your personal wish list of goals, you are not chasing Christ.

As my friend Cody Libolt said, “If your goal is to reach the world with a message of truth, then hedging on essentials will only slow you down and dilute your efforts.” But Hollis isn’t on the bestseller list because her book shares any great insight, wisdom, or truth. It’s because Hollis’s advice is wisdom to the world. It’s the best the world can offer. Here’s some therapy. Here’s a pill. Here’s some pretendy-God-talk. Feel better about yourself.

God has something to say about what kind of woman you are. What kind of mom you are. What kind of goal-achiever you should be. He says that you must lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow Him. God requires our obedience, and that is a truth that Hollis has not bowed down to.

In this path of life, there is fullness of joy. Joy for the brokenhearted, the wounded. The struggling wives and moms and single women. Joy for the sexually broken. Healing for the abused. Don’t turn to the wisdom of the world for fleeting joys that require a marathon-runner-like endurance to maintain day after day. That is what this book is. Rachel offers a sparkly works-righteousness that does not save. Don’t listen to Rachel. Your best self, your best life now is found on the wide road to hell. The message of the cross is foolishness to the world. Come, repent, and believe. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

SUMMER JAEGER

Summer Jaeger is the wife to one excellent man and a homeschooling mother of four. When she is not blogging or podcasting, she is perfecting the art of the slow-cooked meal and wishing she was taking long-ish walks on the beach.

@SummrWrites Facebook sheologiansblog@gmail.com