I wish I had this book years ago to help me with my emotions. Jennie explains better than a therapist what stuffing feelings can do and how doing so leads to depression and anxiety. God feels deeply and is there right along with us on the journey. Thank you, Jennie!

This book invites the reader in a conversational, casual tone to name and feel emotions. I appreciated the emphasis on emotions being natural and good to have, and then what to do with the emotions upon feeling them. While the content was a bit more introductory and anecdotal for my writing style preference, there are several takeaways I expect will stay with me and I know this book will be helpful to so many people.

Thank you NetGalley and WaterBrook Multnomah for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺, 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵 -𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭- 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.”

“𝘌𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

“𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

I love Jennie Allen and how she approaches mental health, discipleship, Scripture, and now our emotions. Her book Get Out of Your Head was among my top reads in 2020 and her latest is a continuation of what she started in that book.

Our mental health and emotions are so deeply tied to one another and to our life experiences. Allen approaches these things with compassion, honesty, and accountability. As a believer who works in the behavioral/mental health field, I appreciate the depth to her books. She offers research, science, and Scripture to support her words of insight and encouragement. A lot of what she says sounds so simple but with further reflection I dare say we all struggle with it; the tendency to want to fix or hide our emotions rather than feel them because they make us uncomfortable. Allen reminds us that emotions are a good thing! They are valid and the Bible even validates them. It’s okay for us to have them, to feel them, and there shouldn’t be shame about them or a need to suppress them as they provide insight into ourselves. I mean, Jesus Himself felt anger and grief and He is our example. What is important is 1) understanding why certain things cause us to feel the way we do and 2) learning how to manage them in healthy ways.

Regardless if you’re a Christian or not, her words of wisdom are worth reading. Thanks NetGalley and Waterbrook Multnomah for the gifted advanced reader e-copy.

This book has been an incredible read for me. I have been a 'feeler' all my life but was always so ashamed of my feelings. Then becoming a Christian meant I needed to learn to put faith over my feelings. I love how Jennie says that "the point of life is connection - with God, with our own hearts and with the people God puts in our distinctive corners of the world." We are supposed to be feeling our feelings and encouraging others to do the same, not immediately kicking them to the curb like they were something sinful. Connection is truly one of the greatest gifts God has given us and it is forged and maintained through emotional connection with ourselves, God and other people. Something I never thought of before is our emotions are proof that we were made in the image of God. I love that truth so much! I highly recommend this powerful book, we all need this! I will be letting all my friends know about this awesome book! They will love it as much as I did!

Untangle Your Emotions is a Christian book where popular leader Jennie Allen recounts her personal expert in learning to respect and express her emotions.

Jennie is a gifted Bible teacher but this book has less Biblical content than her previous books. Maybe this book just didn't hit me at the right time, but I felt like this book was less deep than some of her other books. I know she really researched and studied for this book, but it felt like it based more on her therapy sessions than on the Bible. I am not saying that I disagree with her content. It just felt different than other books that she has written.

Personally I do not have trouble feeling or understanding my emotions so I didn't get much benefit from this book. I feel like it would be a helpful tool for someone who struggles with this.

I can recommend this book.

Y’all, this book!!! I already knew Jennie Allen, as I had completed her “Get Out of Your Head” study, and I did enjoy it. But, after reading her newest book, I want to be her best friend!!! “Untangle Your Emotions” really hit me at my core. I am an emotional human for sure, and the permissions this book gave me to feel my feelings, to share with others, to give it to God, to seek help were life-giving!

This book read like a conversation with a friend, and I truly appreciate that in non-fiction. And, this conversation couldn’t have come at a more fitting time for me! Thank you, Jennie, for sharing your wisdom and your heart and your life with us in these pages!

Y’all, go buy this book!!! You won’t be disappointed!

(Thank you Net Galley for sending me an Advanced Reader’s Copy.)

Whether you are a stuffer (like me) or you feel all your emotions, this book is for you! You'll learn or be reminded how emotions are gifts from God to help us to notice if we're OK or not OK. We learn to name, feel, share and choose. By doing those things, we invite the opportunity to draw closer to God and others!

Allen’s book was really timely for me.

I have never read the Bible specifically looking for examples of emotions, so I was fascinated by the examples Allen provided in well-known stories. The steps of identifying your emotions were helpful, if not repetitive to help set the habit of regularly being aware of your feelings. Sometimes I felt that the narration that states that Allen is writing the book or specifically speaking to the reader made the matter feel less timeless. But in this case, it feels right, knowing that Allen is a public speaker and is accustomed to directly addressing her audience.

My biggest takeaway from Allen is that rather than just practicing verbalizing and recognizing my emotions, I also need to tell my safe people, so we can journey to growth together. I look forward to spending more time reflecting on the questions on various topics to go deeper on my own emotional journey. If you’re interested in learning how to identify emotions, to share feelings and to act on them without sin on this is a book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

Jennie Allen's exploration of emotions was super relatable to me, as I often let my emotions lead my actions. I have enjoyed Allen's commentary for years and this book was no exception. Her writing is insightful, biblical, and gives the reader call to action. Looking forward to Allen's other books!

I felt like this book was a great start to exploring your feelings and faith. It touches on a lot of things on the initial process of learning about yourself and your own story.

Jennie nailed it again!! In “Untangle Your Emotions” Jennie writes from her heart and lays it out how to truly feel our feelings as God created us to. Will definitely be reading it again!!!

2.5⭐️

I did not enjoy this book much.

It was way to religious for me, and centered around god and what he was calling for.

I love Jennie Allen but this book fell a little short for me. It seemed to have a lot of themes overlapping from her previous books and didn't hold my interest as much. It could be that I wasn't ready for this type of book when I read it but was hoping it'd have more personal stories & insight. I might come back to it later and reread but didn't love even though I was expecting too! Thank you, NetGalley, for the book.

Awesome book. You can't heal what you don't feel. It's not about allowing emotions to dictate your life, but using them to heal and grow and be who God meant you to be. To use the tools in dealing with the emotions that surface to regain hope, grow in grace toward ourselves and others, "get God," stop flunking the Serenity Prayer and to stop letting the emotions undealt with sabotage your present and your future.

Book Review: Untangle Your Emotions by Jennie Allen

Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary:
"Untangle Your Emotions" by Jennie Allen is a candid exploration of the role emotions play in our lives and how we can navigate them effectively. Drawing from her own experiences, Allen provides relatable examples to illustrate how our avoidance or mishandling of emotions can hinder personal growth and relationships.

Review:
In Untangle Your Emotions, Christian author Jennie Allen offers readers a refreshingly honest perspective on the complexities of emotions. Through her personal anecdotes, she demonstrates the importance of acknowledging and processing emotions rather than suppressing them. One of the book's strengths is Allen's ability to connect with readers through her authenticity, making the concepts she discusses highly accessible.

I appreciated Allen's emphasis on granting ourselves permission to feel emotions fully. By empowering readers to embrace their emotions, she highlights the importance of taking control of one's narrative. This empowering message resonates throughout the book and offers practical insights for navigating life's emotional landscape.

Untangle Your Emotions offers valuable insights for anyone seeking to understand and manage their emotions more effectively. Allen's candid approach and practical advice make this book a worthwhile read for anyone on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

As an ARC copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for my review.
Publication Date: February 13, 2024
#netgalley #untangleyouremotions

A excellent look at the heart-body connection through a Christian lens. As a mental health counselor myself, these are concepts and principles I teach my clients daily; Jennie is spot-on with her assessment of the function, mechanisms, and operative principles of our emotions. What gives her a unique place in this field with this book, however, is the interpretation of God's role in our emotions. This is valuable insight for the Christian who is simply struggling their way through trauma, stress, or just regular life.

I'm fascinated by the psychology of emotions. It was my absolute favorite topic during my psychology studies and I love to read everything out there. And especially self-help books, since they tend to give a lot of examples from daily life. Therefore, I was very excited to see the book started with plenty of recognizable situations. However, there influence of God on our lives and emotions is also mentioned a lot in this part. As someone who does not believe, I do not mind if the author makes a few references related to religion, but for me personally, this book did it a bit too much for me. I therefore unfortunately made the decision to stop reading. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the future, since I can feel the book is full of great advice.

However, I do think the book is very valuable for people who do believe in God and want to understand their emotions better!

I really enjoyed reading this for the most part. It was nice to “hear” that any emotion we have is valid but let’s figure out where that emotion comes from.
Wish there was a little more scripture to help tie back each emotion and where people overcame it in the Bible but still liked this book.

this was such an incredible book! i am so thankful to netgalley for letting me read it early. it was just a pure delight and i think everyone should read this one!!!

I have read nearly all of Jennie Allen’s books and this one wasn’t my favorite. I appreciate the focus on mental health and the importance of acknowledging up your emotions. I wish there was more Scripture in this, as well as more from a research/therapy perspective. It felt repetitive. I also thought the small sections on exercising, drinking more water, and eating healthier felt rushed and unnecessary. This took me the longest time to read which is not typical when I have read her previous books. I’m disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this book as I was really excited about it.