This book really blew me away! In typical Jen fashion, she uses her magic of words and humor to spin a delightful book that will definitely make you think. The chapter about how women treat their bodies made me tear up and made me think about how I treat my own body in actions and thoughts. The chapter about the power of yes and how telling the truth to people is actually truly loving them. These really resonated with me and my current situation in life. Highly recommend reading this book!

Absolutely, unquestionably, balm for my weary heart. Jen has given us not only the message that we need to hear, but the bold encouragement that we do not need to wait for permission to carry our own dreams loudly, passionately and FIERCELY into fruition! Every single woman should have a copy of this book in hand the second she possibly can!

You may not be ready for fierce. You may not feel fiery. But who doesn't want to be free?

Free from feeling like you aren't enough, even as others expect you to meet their needs. Free from feeling like you don't belong. Free to speak up or speak out. Free to push back on expectations and free to ask for help. Free to be exactly who God created you to be.

In her new book, Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You, Jen Hatmaker, explains how it is possible to belong and be you without apology. I read an advance copy supplied by the publisher, and there was hardly a page that didn't open my eyes to the ways I have shrunk back, over-apologized, or sat on my hands for fear of rejection or disapproval.

Jen speaks to the loneliness that can accompany child-rearing and the ways women buy into other people's judgment or kick ourselves when we are down. I particularly appreciated her insight into being an effective advocate and the way to stay in the moment and connect to others without all the drama.

Jen is not only a counselor and friend in Fierce, Free and Full of Fire, she also provides a rallying cry for women who feel defeated: We Absolutely Can!!

This was a great read for right now. What better time to work on ourselves than in the middle of a pandemic when we are stuck home?!? I really appreciated the portions on self-compassion and setting boundaries in relationships. This was the first book I have read by this author and I enjoyed her humorous anecdotes and insight into her own personal struggles. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for granting access to this book. I will post this review today to my Bookstagram and companion Facebook page, @thatreadingrealtor.

I was very excited to get my hands on the newest book from Jen Hatmaker, but I am sad to say that my excitement fizzled rather quickly. This book was not what I was expecting at all. I have never read any of Jen Hatmaker's other books, nor have I listened to her podcast, so I came into it with no expectations.

The book as a whole felt flat to me, with not many personal stories to draw me in, and nothing that really grabbed me. If anything I felt like a lot of the writing was forced, like I was wrong if I didn't agree with her or something. I do like that the author is trying to empower women, and helping them find their own voice, but felt it could've been handled in a different way. I could not read this book cover to cover as it felt off after a few chapters, so I chose to cherry-pick what I felt was relevant, and even in doing that I still did not feel like I got much out of this book.

If you've followed my reviews for any length of time you know that I hate giving such a low review, but this is me being true to myself, and giving my honest opinion. Jen Hatmaker has a lot of fans, and I'm sure if you're one of them you're going to love this book, but for me Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire was little more than a spark.

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire by Jen Hatmaker is another in a long line of books by Jen that could be classified as a new genre called life-changing. Every time I read one of her books, I am left feeling like I've had a wonderful conversation with a best friend or a favorite sister. This book is no different. "I laughed, I cried, it's. better than Cats!" Throughout my life, I have struggled with certain feelings about who I am, some days I know I am too much. Other days, especially as a wife and mother, I feel like I am not enough. No matter where you may fall on this spectrum, #fiercefreefire has enough grace for all points in between. This book has helped me realize, "I am exactly enough," I am taking up the exact right amount of space. Jen touches on faith, friendships, family and gives you all the feels along the way. It will help you unleash your "fierce," embrace your freedom, and light your fire!

This is Jen’s best work yet. It’s so honest, vulnerable and important, but it is trademarked by her humor and wit. As a mom of girls, this is a book I want to put into their hands. It’s a book I wish I had many years ago and it’s a book I want every woman to read. You will be inspired and encouraged to find your true, authentic self and to own her! Go bravely into the world, just as you were created to do - go out fierce, free and full of fire! 🔥🙌🏻

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire
The Guide to Being Glorious You
by Jen Hatmaker
Listen to an Audio Excerpt
Nelson Books
You Like Them
Thomas Nelson
Christian
Pub Date 21 Apr 2020 | Archive Date Not set

Not my favorite Jen Hatmaker book. It felt disjointed and it was not fun to read. Thanks to Net Galley and Thomas Nelson for my ARC.

I’ve probably said this elsewhere in these pages, but I am not part of Jen Hatmaker’s target audience of readers. She exclusively writes for Christian women, and her latest book — Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire — is no exception to this rule. The book is a little different from past Hatmaker tomes, though. For one, there are no food recipes in this volume (waahhh!). Secondly, while she tells stories about her life here, this is not a memoir in the way that previous books might have been. No, Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire is a book all about you — your wants, your needs, your dreams, your core being, your truths. Perhaps this is a sign of Hatmaker maturing as a writer, but Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire is not your typical Jen Hatmaker book, for better or for worse.

No matter what she writes, I’ll be on the sidelines acting as a cheerleader — even if I’m not really the type of person that she might want to attract to her writing. There are a few reasons for this, even thought I own a penis and am thus not a part of the Hatmaker cohort. First, Jen Hatmaker is an extremely funny writer. The comedy is a bit more muted in this book, and she has an annoying tendency to slip into sarcasm when talking about her five kids (three biological, two adopted). Still, if you’re looking for an honest-to-goodness belly laugh, you need to pick up a Hatmaker book. Secondly, despite having ties to the conservative Evangelical world, Hatmaker came out in support of the LGBTQ community four years ago and was severely burned for it (as recounted briefly in this book). Anyone who has the conviction to fight for what’s right is cool in my book, and if you feel that gay people don’t deserve God’s love, you can go fuck off right now. (Oh, by the way, in what might be a Hatmaker first, there is light swearing in Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire.)

However, I’m probably meandering around how I feel about this book. My feelings are complicated. For one, I think there’s useful information in this book that can help meek women stand up and be strong for themselves. On the other hand, I felt that Hatmaker sometimes slipped into generalizations and stereotypes about women from time to time that might make this book not resonate with its intended audience. If I could offer a further critique — and this is something she directly acknowledges in her own work here — she sometimes comes off as unfocused, and starts writing about whatever tickles her fancy at any given point in time, although it might not have much of a point to it. To wit, I found the final two chapters, which had something to do with honesty, to drone on and on without much in the way of a reason for existing other than to pad this book out to more than 200 pages.

I also have a question that perhaps may seem to be a critique of Hatmaker’s work, but I do want to pose it as a question and nothing more — I’m just trying to understand Hatmaker’s impetus for writing to and for women. The thing is, she notes her frustration at being viewed as a lesser preacher and public speaker in evangelical churches, where women can be taken less seriously for their views than men. However, she writes books for a categorically female audience. Isn’t this just lowering the bar and playing into the very thing that she rails against? Wouldn’t men have something to gain from reading this book and other works by Hatmaker as well? If she was serious about her intent in fostering women to dream big and have a voice, wouldn’t she try to take the lead on this by writing for everyone in the room? These are just questions and observations I have. I don’t know the answers to them — I would probably pose them to the author, instead — but I think they’re valid because they seem to have something to say about the venues that Hatmaker chooses and how they might rub against the very thing that she’s trying to say.

In the end, I had a lot of questions after reading Fierce, Free and Full of Fire. I’m mostly wondering about the change in tone in Hatmaker’s writing. In her past books, her funny and candid tone worked in spades, so shifting the spotlight from her to the reader deflects a lot of Hatmakers key strengths and it’s awkward when she talks about herself here because she goes to great lengths to put less emphasis on herself as a character. I do appreciate that Hatmaker is candid — at times, she notes in the book that she’s still working on whatever topic she’s writing about at hand. On the other hand, this just draws attention to the fact that the book is not being written by an expert. Certainly, it draws upon other works, which leads me to conclude that Hatmaker might have been better served by posting the titles of these books on her website and asking readers to go there.

As much as Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire didn’t work as well with me as other books by Jen Hatmaker, I do appreciate her voice and her sordid wit. She’s an easy read and reading one of her books is like pulling up a chair beside a long-awaited friend. Hatmaker is chatty and personable. As much as I wish she would write with a male audience in mind, I appreciate that her choice in audience might allow her to be more of herself — a trait that’s appreciated, even if I have mixed thoughts about it. Basically, no matter what Hatmaker writes, you can’t go wrong reading one of her books, and while Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire might be more Hatmaker-Lite, it is still worth reading for the love, guys, for the love. That’s all I need to say.

While Jen Hatmaker firmly re-establishes her prowess as a compelling writer and entertaining story teller, the book feels slightly disjointed. While a reader may appreciate the ability to pluck out the useful chapters without needing the context of previous chapters, it also leaves the traditional sequential reader a bit dizzy. Alas, I am not sure the book is meant for the traditional reader.

Each individual chapter has funny tales and personal experiences written in an easy-to-read format. Each chapter had good tid-bits of life lessons to learn from; however, the deeper lesson or central theme falls short due to this compilation format. While it could never be contested that Hatmaker has a deep love for Jesus, the overarching theme does not lean towards a need for Jesus thus making its' classification genre as 'Christian' a bit confusing.

Would I recommend this book to a friend? Sure--as an entertaining read to enjoy in small segments.

I have been a fan of author, podcaster, humorist, truth teller, speaker Jen Hatmaker for almost a decade. I started following her on Facebook, then discovered her books, listened to every single “For the Love” podcast, and somehow as a fan, was selected as part of the advanced launch team to read an e-copy of her newest book, “Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire”.
In her newest book, Jen shares from her heart all the life lessons she has learned. She challenges us, no matter our ages, to take a look at our own lives in the same ways. She has five bigger categories, “Who I Am, What I Need, What I Want, What I Believe, and How I Connect” and through the 12 subjects within those, helps us discover our own truest, freest selves. In the introduction she says, “I discovered the world is hungry for women who show up and tell the truth, unafraid and free, expanding to the very edges of who they were always meant to be.”
Jen writes with transparency, honesty, and touches of her natural humor, using stories from her life and childhood and backed up with solid research and references. She teaches us to fully recognize that we are “literally created by love, with love, and for love by a God who loves us and is Love itself…..it’s for all of us.” In her chapters we learn we are enough, fully interwoven in all our parts, that we deserve goodness, we can ask for help, that we all need more connection, we can pursue our dreams and choose our yeses. That we can be spiritually curious and believe in justice and our causes with a passion. That we can connect with honesty and without drama. In all of this, we can teach our daughters and the next generations some of these lessons so they can be that much further ahead in their personal growth.
I would recommend this book to all ages of women who are Jen Hatmaker fans, and to all of you who are just learning about her. If you are looking to fully know who you are (even if you thought you knew!), as personal as some chapters may feel, she is walking right through this with you with some laughs along the way. I always buy Jen Hatmaker books for my daughter and daughter-in-law, and have already preordered Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide to Being Glorious You for them. Have a highlighter and pencil handy because there is so.much.good.stuff! Purchase this book at any of your usual book sellers.
#FierceFreeFire
#FierceFreeFullofFire
#JenHatmaker

Full disclosure: I have loved Jen Hatmaker and her books for years and Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire is no exception. This may be her best book yet. Jen's style is feisty, funny, and real. This is everything I wanted the Rachel Hollis book to be (it wasn't). Jen takes you through who you are, what you need, what you want, what you believe, and how you connect with a firm but loving guiding hand. Some parts of the book will not apply and others will resonate deeply.

I have highlighted so many passages in this book that I am going to go back and read again. She touches on many truths and in doing so, truly empowers the women she is writing for.

Jen Hatmaker is a Christian and she freely talks about her faith. That said, if you aren't familiar with her, she has been ostracized and effectively kicked out of the church club for being inclusive to the LGBTQ community and for her advocacy work. She doesn't write from a preachy place, she writes from a welcoming one. Even if you are not a christian, I think you will find a great deal of value here.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If I could re-write this book it would be called "Permission Granted." That's how reading Jen Hatmaker makes me feel. We dont always land on the same conclusions, and I can't achieve funny like she does, but she's liberating. I'd say this is her most targeted-message book yet. Necessary research was included but it's still Jen. What a sister!'

The best thing I can say about this book is that I immediately bought a copy and sent it to my sister! Jen Hatmaker did it again! I loved how raw, real, and honest she was about her lived experiences. Thank you, Thomas Nelson, for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Jen Hatmaker shares openly about her life and encourages readers to be who they were created to be. Although she and I have different convictions, I respect the way she loves people.

Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire is the book we needed. It details Jen's experience in finding her voice and using it, loudly and proudly. Jen has lived her life publicly so I believe the truths she tells. I find her humor refreshing. Her reflections encouraging. This is an excellent book.,. ready to shake some things up.

I will start by saying I love Jen Hatmaker and I read everything from her I can get my hands on. Now, with having to stay home, she continues to inspire and motivate me with her new book. It is a good reminder that I am not only who people think that I am, that I am much more. This is the pep talk you didn't think you needed. She gives you the hard truths that really cause you to look inside, and use your "weaknesses" as your strengths. I'll definitely be reading it again.

I really love Jen Hatmaker and the truths that she speaks and this book is another representation of that. My only disappointment is that it ended too early and I felt like it could have gone on forever.

Jen speaks about her life and how she grew into being fierce, free, and full of fire, even when the world was working against her. I really loved the look into both the good and hard parts of her life, but also how she worked to reframe the things that had been placed in front of her her whole life.

I was very inspired through this book to work on taking up the space I need to, and filling up the spaces where I want to be. I am really inspired by the way that Jen examines scripture and how she looks at everything with an inquisitive eye.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and found that it definitely inspired me as well.

Whether she is sitting in her empty bathtub with her wine glass sitting on the trash can, or writing a book like Fierce, Jen Hatmaker always has the perfect words. She was right, there were some sections where I wanted to yell “Get out of my head,Jen!”. Then there were others that I didn’t relate to as much....but I still highlighted these sections because I know of a friend or two who should read these words. In typical Jen Hatmaker fashion there is humor, sarcasm, truth, and heart. You don’t want to miss it.

I liked this book so much I pre-ordered it for a few friends. I like Jen Hatmaker and agree with some of the reviewers, this may be her best book yet.
It's encouraging, uplifting and thought provoking.
Thank you NetGalley for my advanced reader copy. This book is a keeper!