'Rewilding Motherhood' is a lovely book that takes apart each part of a 'traditional' mother's role and asks you to look closer at whether you're sacrificing yourself when you don't have to. Moving through your inner life and your outer life Evans guides the reader to reconsider and reconnect with your sense of self. With practical exercises and concrete steps the idea is to take a holistic view of your life and your many different roles within it. It's both a practical and spiritual guide.

On the other hand, I don't think there's any ground here that hasn't been covered already. There are many books, blogs, podcasts and articles asking mothers to consider their own happiness and self-care needs. If you're somebody who is already in-touch with your needs and contemplates life I don't think there is much here that you wouldn't have heard already.

Personally I didn't enjoy a lot of Re-Wilding Motherhood. I'm a more traditional Catholic so Evan's lovely spiritual (Jesuit?) Catholicism made me uncomfortable! But I've given this review 4 stars because that's my fault for not reading the whole title correctly. If I'd paid more attention to the 'Feminine Spirituality' part then I wouldn't have picked it up! So - if anybody else found this book under a list of 'Catholic books' or 'Catholic authors' please be warned!

Rewilding Motherhood is a spiritual gem, polished by beautiful prose and the caring heart of its author, Shannon K. Evans. Subtitled, "Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality," this incredible book is raw and real and ultimately quite satisfying.

Evans mines important territory with passages on maintaining boundaries, reclaiming solitude, cultivating patience, and heeding intuition. She explores the spiritual side of motherhood with passion and purpose, guiding the reader along the path to a closer relationship with the Creator.

The author speaks to the despondency many mothers feel about the spiritual aspects of their all-too-busy lives. She encourages women to discover mystery and blessing even in the midst of diaper-changing and dish-washing.

Evans has a fascinating perspective on the spiritual life which is likely to resonate with a number of mothers, especially those of the Millennial generation. That said, this is a book that can be treasured by mothers of all ages and stages of life.

I really didn't enjoy this book. I had high hopes for it but I just didn't agree with many of the author's assertions and felt like she was quite condescending to those who thinks differently than her or are "self actualized" in ways that differ from her. She very narrowly follows a scope of what she feels helps her reach that but it is so different from woman to woman that she cannot possibly rightly know what each person needs to feel that, and it can very well be the things that she puts down. I expected this book to be more positive and uplifting, but found it to me more depressing and judgmental than anything.

Rewilding Motherhood is a much needed reposturing of what motherhood is and should look like. The same tired tropes about motherhood need to be reworked, and Shannon does a beautiful job of exploring these. Touching on ways, as mothers, we can transform inwardly to reimagine motherhood and how we can reshape society, this book shows us how to look at motherhood in a new light.

As a first time mother, I had felt in my soul but didn’t have the words to describe so much of what Shannon touches on. The ideas and stereotypes of motherhood we are given do no match the gut level feelings I have about what it truly is. Rewilding Motherhood is a beautiful and society-changing reimagining of what motherhood should be.

Thank you to Brazos Press, Shannon Evans, and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The titular premise of Rewilding Motherhood centers on the idea of rewinding mothers as one would rewild a place. That is, to return her to her natural state, one that is spiritually rooted, firm in self-awareness and identity, socially connected, and powerful. Though written from her own perspective as a Catholic woman and mother, Rewilding Motherhood is thoroughly ecumenical and, I believe, accessible to women of all faith backgrounds and traditions. Evans writes expansively and inclusively, organically ushering her readers through a journey of prioritizing their efforts to grow inward that they may be whole humans. Her chapters flow in that way, structured in two parts, one focusing on growing inward, one on flowing outward, and within each part, chapters ranging from integration and maintaining boundaries to staying curious, becoming gentle (especially in regards to one's own self-talk), and finding the divine in everyday life.

I will be honest and say that I find most books on "Christian motherhood" overly saccharine, glazing over the real, lived experience I have walked through myself and seen in other mothers-- the angry moments, the moments of struggling to prioritize one's own passions in the context of family life, balancing work and restful solitude, the whole gamut.

This book is not that. Evans cites everyone from Lady Gaga to St. Teresa of Avila to zen mother and priest Karen Maezen Miller. She does justice to the depth and breadth of motherhood, being ecumenical and inclusive while offering her own experience as a Catholic, never in an overly preachy tone.

My personal faith background is complicated and I'll profess to being more than a little skeptical about the premise of the book. Too hokey? Too woo? Too spiritual in ways that press against tender bits of my past? I was really pleasantly surprised to see how wide the table was in this book for someone like me.

If you're remotely spiritual and a mother-- Buddhist, Jewish, agnostic, Quaker, Catholic, mainstream Christian, or any combination, I think you'll get a lot out of Rewilding Motherhood.