From the first lines of IF WE'RE BEING HONEST by Jennifer Thompson, I felt I was sitting across from a kitchen table with a dear friend, spilling out the messes and dilemmas of our lives. In clear, straightforward chapters, Thompson shares the story of her reckoning with an impossible mission of perfection in every aspect of her life. Awakening to the futility and pain of perfection, she dismantled it, discarded it, and started living for herself, on her own terms, and with her own generous and thoughtful heart. I deeply enjoyed this book, feeling understood and supported and wishing I'd had her beside me with the heart, the wit, the candor of this transformational, liberating guide. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

"If We're Being Honest" is everything the title claims, and more. It challenges our belief systems by dissecting our thought patterns and conditioning. Her book is broken up into three sections (Shaping Our Expectations, How We See Our Bodies, and Who We Are), with each chapter focusing on a belief.

Jennifer Thompson has offered words of hope, inspiration, and support for women all over the world through her social media accounts. Her words continues to inspire and offer comfort with every page of this book.

Although she writes from her own perspective as a woman and mother, her words resonate with all genders, ages, and stages of life. She gently guides us by weaving her own life experiences and encouragement throughout the book.

Each topic is meant to make us question our reality , and that is not an easy topic to tackle. Jennifer does it seamlessly, and through her vulnerability, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and challenge our faulty perspectives. She also offers thought provoking questions at the end of each chapter to help us along our healing journey.

Reading this book is like having a heart-to-heart with a good friend. You feel seen, understood, and valued. If you are looking for a book that will both support and motivate you, look no further.

It’s honest, as promised, and warmly engaging. Jennifer paints a relatable picture of our most common struggles as women, like setting boundaries and body image. But she also offers a realistic path forward. I love that the questions posed at the end of each chapter felt like they were coming from a friend who knows me well. It was easy to get lost in this book and get equally honest with myself.

Jennifer Thompson's "If We're Being Honest" is a heartfelt exploration into the struggles many women face, navigating the expectations and pressures of societal roles. With candor and vulnerability, Thompson shares her own journey, exposing the myths of perfection that plague women and offering a guiding light towards self-love and authenticity.

The book resonates with those who have ever felt alone in their battles, portraying a universal experience of feeling like one is not measuring up to societal standards. Thompson skillfully captures the internal conflicts, the constant juggling of roles, and the self-imposed expectations that can lead to overwhelming feelings of failure.

At a pivotal crossroad, Thompson chose self-love over the pursuit of an unattainable perfection. With humor, relatability, and a touch of wisdom, she invites women to embrace their flaws, celebrate their journey, and find joy in their authenticity. The narrative weaves together personal stories, relatable anecdotes, and empowering insights, creating a safe space for readers to confront and challenge the lies they tell themselves.

Jennifer's debut novel, "If We're Being Honest," is a must-read. If you are familiar with her Facebook and Instagram page, They Whine, So I Whine, you won't be surprised to hear that. Through her signature voice, she dispels failure beliefs like "we need to say yes to everything" or "I don't know how to set good boundaries." We can see ourselves in her struggle. As Jennifer makes these changes in her life, we also want to. Her advice "moving forward" is so helpful to get our lives started on the correct path. She is truly inspiring, and I can't wait for many more books from her for years to come.

This book will be a godsend for so many women. We reach a certain point in life where we recognize we’ve lost ourselves for the sake of other people. We tell ourselves stories… we tell ourselves lies. Thompson’s voice is clear, raw, and honest. She understands the weight of what we carry, and she aims to help us change the narrative. The result is something powerful and transformative. Love this!

Jennifer created a safe place for the average person to feel understood. She shared funny, sad and enlightening stories that were relatable and real. She offered self reflection questions to bring the content full circle. This book is like sitting down with your best friend for coffee and venting.

What an amazing book to start my year with. It feels like this was written FOR me, as if I wrote this in the future for my past self.
Though I wasn't able to relate to any of the motherhood portions, it still made me feel seen. As if I were talking with my mother or a friend.
This helped me dig down and understand some of my deepest insecurities. A quote that definitely stuck out to me is
-pg. 191 "I learned that I couldn't expect change if I'm unwilling to change myself." Ouch. This hit me hard. It sounds so simple and quite frankly like common sense. However, I've been complaining about my life well...forever, but I never do ANYTHING.
I've been wanting to write a book since I was a kid. This gave me the push I needed to finally start. I can't expect success to happen overnight. I need to WORK for it and DO something!
Thank you for writing this book. It's helped me not just understand myself but also my partner. Some things were mentioned that I know my partner goes through but doesn't talk with me about. This helped me understand him in a deeper way.
A beautiful book that I will highly recommend!


*also posted to goodreads but I cant attach link for unknown technology errors, or maybe even human error*

I picked up If We’re Being Honest at the perfect time! Thompson laid out some hard truths I needed to hear to reframe my thinking and self-perception. Throughout If We’re Being Honest, Thompson’s aim is to empower women, providing readers with an opportunity for self-discovery and to rise unapologetically into the women we are meant to be.

I really enjoyed the content, with Thompson exploring topics such as Shaping Our Expectations, How We See Our Bodies, Who We Are, and Healing and Holding Our Truths. The chapters were concise and were supported by academic literature and Thompson’s own self-reflections. Each chapter is followed up with a section for ‘Moving Forward’, which comprises of questions that challenge the reader's current thoughts and perceptions and a call for action. Readers who pause to reflect during this time will find they gain more insight from the book.

Some chapters heavily focus on the impact motherhood has on women’s perception of themselves and their bodies. While I am not a parent myself, I still found these chapters relatable as they focus on the multiple demands of conflicting priorities and how that impacts women’s self-worth.

I’d recommend If We’re Being Honest to anyone who has experienced life perceived as a woman or to those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of life perceived as a woman. This book will facilitate a reflection on how this experience has impacted a woman's internal monologue and subsequent actions before empowering women to take a step in the right direction and start living life unapologetically!

Thank you, NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. This book was very good. I did feel like this book was aimed more at mothers. A lot of the information wasn’t relevant to me but, I could relate to some of the information. One of the key points of this book was about not feeling bad about setting boundaries and saying no without feeling guilty. This is something I’m continuing to work on especially as I’m trying to do less people pleasing tendencies.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to any woman even if you’re not a mother like me, you’ll still gain some knowledge along the way.

This book feels like a warm hug in the best way — it’s a pat on the back, and a kick in the pants delivered in a way that feels like having a conversation with your best friend. The author, effortlessly weaves in hard-hitting truth, data-backed research, and her own life experience in a way that leaves you feeling seen and supported. Thompson‘s vulnerability is a master class in breaking down barriers and creating community. This is a must read for women of any age. If you are struggling to find purpose, feel like you’ve got it together, or simply need some big sister advice with a measured dose of humor, this is the book for you. You’ll laugh, cry, feel ignited, and leave feeling more part of the sisterhood of women than you did before.

This book has four key parts that start from the root cause in terms of our expectations, what shapes them- to how we see our bodies, then to who we are and finally healing and holding our truths. Each of these parts explores the lies we tell ourselves and what struck me most was that it's more like the stories we convinced ourselves-what we learned by observing the people and women around us-and how much of who we are that we let be judged by others.
It's an interesting read because the author does delve in the narratives that I believe most women would relate to.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

Well, I’m torn.
This book is for tired women (working moms, professionals, daughters, full-in-the-role). It’s simple and non-revolutionary. You won’t find any new, world-changing stuff here.
Yet it’s like a regular coffee date with a dear friend where you take turns in ‘darling, have a told you a story when…’ and discussing things that bother, scare, embarrass you.

Overall, if you feel tired, in need of a advice, someone nodding their head in understanding all the juggling it takes to be a woman — that’s a good book

Women have impossible standards to live up to and this book made me feel seen! The author says what we all have thought at times. Highly enjoyable read and would make a great gift for every women in your life! I give IF WE'RE BEING HONEST all the stars and even more if I could. Can't wait to get this book in my hands. It's definitely one I want for my coveted bookshelf.