An incredible memoir, of the church, a marriage, and the responsibility of everyone involved. I appreciate that Jen is clear and upfront about the fact that, although her husband was absolutely in the wrong for his actions, because of their deep involvement in the evangelical church movement: (a) they never should have married, least of all so young, and (b) her exile from it for her LGBTQIA+ stance was a catalyst. I feel like it was akin to being in her head as she mourned, grieved, and took responsibility for her part in it all. And then watching her regain a beautiful life was ::chef's kiss::.

I loved how this book was set up in the different sections. Showing how Jen's timeline is not like everyone else's. And that this was an introspective take on a very outward facing event. My main take away was the bible is a giant gaslighter used to control everyone who believes in it and even some who don't. I don't like giving a point system to a memoir, but I downloaded this book so fast when it was a read now because I've read everything else Jen has published. I love seeing her grow in many different areas and in unexpected ways. I bet this felt cathartic for her to write and was probably also very anxious to start her life fresh. I really liked how Jen wove the beginning of their marriage in through the end of the marriage and the comparisons it created. The story telling was phenomenal, the content was heart breaking and healing both, and I can't wait to see what else she writes in the future.

Welp. Jen Hatmaker has done it again—Awake absolutely wrecked me... in the best possible way. Like, I sat down to read a few chapters and next thing I know I’m emotionally disassembled on the floor, rethinking my life, and also somehow feeling weirdly hopeful? HOW DOES SHE DO THIS?

This book is gritty. It's honest. It's like Jen reached through the pages, grabbed me by the soul, and said, “Hey, let’s get real about the hard stuff—but also? You’re not alone.” And then she handed me a metaphorical snack and a warm hug wrapped in truth bombs.

She doesn’t sugarcoat a single thing, but instead of walking away feeling heavy, I felt... awake. (I know, I know—title drop. But seriously.) There's this rawness to her writing that made me laugh, cry, and text my friends “YOU NEED TO READ THIS IMMEDIATELY.”

*I was given an advanced copy of the book as a member of the launch team.*

Awake is part therapy session, part coffee date with your brutally honest best friend, and part rally cry for anyone trying to rebuild something real out of the rubble.

10/10. Would get emotionally destroyed by Jen again.

Loved this change of pace and form from Jen's past work. This memoir is poetic, reflective, moving, and honest.

I came for the tea, and stayed for the story of a woman rediscovering who she is in mid-life.

I figure this book will get labeled as a divorce memoir, so a lot of people might say, “I’m not interested in reading about divorce and I’m not divorced, so why would I read this?” I can tell you that this book is so much more than that.

If you:

* grew up in the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 80s-90s and all you see is dissonance between what you were taught about Jesus and how many of its members act and vote today;

*look back on the True Love Waits/purity culture you were forced into and realize that you may have some long term issues from that pressure cooker;

*feel like maybe what you heard in church about women, racism, and the LGBTQIA+ community doesn’t quite seem to fit with what you know to be true about Jesus;

*just like a compelling storyteller;

then this book is for you, regardless of your gender. Yes, Jen writes her perspective which is that of a white woman in her late 40s. But her story crosses boundaries and there’s something for everyone here. If you haven’t experienced loss of some sort, you will. And the way Jen learns how to deal with her loss and even how to reckon with her own complicity in the breakdown of her marriage is admirable. She challenges us to take a good look at ourselves and do the work but to also be good and kind to ourselves because the other side of the work is so worth it.

Many thanks to the publisher for the advance copy. I will certainly be reading this one again.

Such a phenomenal, raw memoir. Such honesty and humility and importance. There is not a single soul that would not benefit from reading this book. Thank you Jen Hatmaker, and thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I’ve followed Jen Hatmaker for many years, including through my own evangelical deconstruction. I always found her a gifted communicator and admired her courage to speak out about her own changing beliefs, even when they cost her dearly. I was also shocked by her divorce, which is where this book immediately begins. In short, quick moving chapters, interspersed with excerpts from other authors and poems, Hatmaker takes us through both the immediate aftermath of her husband’s betrayal and the religious systems that dictated so much of her life. She was both candid while also holding back to protect her children primarily, I appreciated the call out to that factor in the foreword. She has always been good at making her points without belaboring them, which she does here effectively. We see how the house of cards conservative evangelicalism built crumbled, and how learning to trust herself, her body, her relationships, and a more expansive beliefs and wisdom helped to put her back together again.

It was a hopeful read, full of honesty, tenderness, and grace, and I am sad that women who would most benefit from it likely will avoid it because their male leaders have labeled Hatmaker a heretic.

I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this book and Jen shares all the things….in a real, vulnerable and relatable way. She has you laughing and crying…feeling all of our feelings and hers too…beautifully written! Pre-order your copy now! ❤️❤️

There are not enough adjectives to describe Jen Hatmaker's latest release, Awake. It is an amazing read that is very personal, yet universal to the female experience for so many, many women. Her message is one of trauma and triumph, grief and hope, humor and sadness. Readers will laugh, cry, reflect and celebrate along with her all the while nodding, "yes, I understand". I recommend this title to friends, acquaintances and anyone with ears. This is a must read guaranteed not to disappoint, but to encourage the reader to reflect on their own life journeys and realize, they are not alone.

Wow. What a book! This is so well written and insightful and challenges me to explore my own codependency and attachment style. Whether you've followed Jen and her work for years or this will be your introduction, I highly recommend Awake.

This memoir is authentic and brave and inspiring. Yet not in a pop inspiration “I-went-through-hardship-and-learned-things-so-all-is-well” kind of way. There are descriptions of heartache and insight, sure. More valuable for me, though, was finding more depth of vulnerability than any author owes her readers. This book provided reminders I didn’t realize I needed. Pain often comes from others AND ourselves in ways that sometimes catch us off guard. And life can still be surprisingly good, even after grief rocks us to our core.

I just finished reading an advance copy of this book yesterday and it was amazing. She jumps right into the aftermath of betrayal trauma and normalizes the breaking and rebuilding that must follow. This is one book that I will read multiple times.

Awake by Jen Hatmaker gets 5 enthusiastic stars from me! Her story of heartbreak is told with such warmth, wisdom, and wit and is a guideline for all women who want to find their authentic self. I highly recommend this memoir!

Synopsis:
At 2:30 a.m. on July 11th, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of twenty-six years whispering in his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader, to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds parenting five kids alone with no clue about her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade—urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationships—this seemed nothing less than total failure.

In Awake, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea—and how she made it to shore. In candid, surprisingly funny vignettes spanning forty years of girlhood, marriage, and parenting, Jen lays bare the disorienting upheaval of midlife—the implosion of a marriage, the unraveling of religious and cultural systems, and the grief that accompanies change you didn’t ask for. And, drawing on all her resources—from without and from within—Jen dares to question the systems beneath the whole house of cards, and to reckon with the myths, half-truths, and lies that brought her to this point.

More than one woman’s story, Awake is a critical analysis of the story given to all of us: the story of gender limitations, religious subservience, body shame, self-erasure. With refreshing candor, Jen explores a Midlife Renaissance—grieving what’s lost, cherishing possibility, and entering the second half of life wide awake.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the advanced digital copy of the book which will be published on September 23, 2025.

I’ve been following Jen for many years because I appreciate her authenticity and irreverence. She doesn’t hold back with her thoughts and I like that because a lot of Christians like to sugar coat things and in this day and age, we don’t need that. We need the hard truth. So when she went through a personal trauma where everything in her life was upended, I wanted to hear from her own perspective what happened behind the scenes rather than what the social media posts contained and what the media reports were. Sadly she is still working out her feelings with the church and Jesus, which is understandable since her husband was The pastor of the church she attended her whole adult life and the cause of all her troubles, and I appreciated her raw amd open insights into her hurt with him, the church and with God. But I also loved seeing how she rallied and how her family and friends rallied around her. It’s a lot of reflection and maybe not really a lot of new information but it’s plain and not fancy talk and her real story.
I think this is one that is can be read by anyone that has been through pain but also anyone that feels mad at God for unanswered prayers, which if we are honest, are all of us at some point.
Thanks to Avid Reader Press and Netgalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

"What if there is a different path, a different pace, a different peace?" I have been a Jen Hatmaker fan for a long time. When her life exploded, I felt deeply for the space she was in so publicly. This book is not a tell all. It is her experience, in her own words, in her Jen way that details beauty from ashes. I loved the pacing, the vignettes, the glimpses, and then the deep dive into who she was, is, and is becoming. I can not wait for the audiobook to be released. I will be listening this time and I know I will find even more nuggets of wisdom and my admiration for her brutally honest rise from the ashes will be a source of encouragement and inspiration in the days to come.

Enjoyed her memoir so much. It’s about heartbreak and major life changes….but I also thought it was just as much a love letter to family/found family. Her sense of humor still shines through!!

This book was really good at times, where I felt I couldn’t put it down and it seemed like the author was writing directly to me. Other times it seemed to drag on a little bit. I think it’s likely just a matter of where I’m at in my personal narrative. I think all women in their 40’s can likely gain something from reading Jen’s story!

This was swallowed whole within a day. I have a knack for memoirs and love seeing glimpses of other people's lives. Awake was no exception. I didn't know anything about Jen Hatmaker before but feel pretty comfortable with her now. She describes with ease her grief, trauma, and reawakening after her divorce. She learns more about who she is as a person and I can feel that through her writing. I love the back and forth between her childhood and the present and learning about her family growing up and her chosen family as an adult with children and friends. I heavily enjoyed this memoir and would recommend it to others.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the eArc copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a long term fan of Jen, I wasn't sure what to expect with this memoir. Obviously everyone wants the nitty gritty details of what ended her marriage, but the way she wrote about it felt so classy and respectful. I loved seeing her grow through this incredibly challenging time of her life and reading what is essentially a love letter to her support system. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who've experienced hard times.

Jen Hatmaker's AWAKE is a raw, powerful memoir told in bite-sized snippets, making it perfect for those days when you need a quick reminder that life is hard for all of us, and hope is always there. I loved how honest yet kind her writing is, and I'm grateful to have been able to read her story.