⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ **5/5 Stars**

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

As a self-proclaimed slow reader who gravitates toward happy endings and stories that leave me feeling hopeful, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Jen Hatmaker’s memoir. I’m more of a rom-com-with-beautiful-backdrops kind of reader, someone who finds comfort in middle grade books with characters that warm your heart, and nonfiction that teaches me something I didn’t know before. But something told me to give *Awake* a chance, and I’m so grateful I listened to that instinct.

This memoir stands alongside Michelle Obama’s *Becoming* as one of the most important stories I’ve ever read. Never before has a story been told with such raw vulnerability paired with the kind of big sister wisdom that women navigating their “next act” desperately need. Whether you’re in your second act, your 2.0 reboot, or just trying to figure out what comes after the life you thought you’d live forever, Hatmaker speaks directly to your soul.

What struck me most was how Hatmaker structured her story. Her anecdotes are both painfully raw and purposeful – nothing feels gratuitous or included for shock value. This memoir reads like the most honest heart-to-heart conversation you’ve ever had, mixed with the kind of wisdom you wish your older sister had shared with you years ago. Hatmaker takes a holistic approach, weaving together the threads of childhood, marriage, faith, career, parenting, social justice, and the aftermath of a traumatic divorce into one cohesive, powerful narrative.

Here’s what I loved most: Hatmaker doesn’t pat you on the knee and tell you everything will be okay. Instead, she opens her front door wide, invites you in, and puts the most painful part of her story right there on page one. No sugar-coating, no building up to the hard stuff. She gets it out in the open so we can focus on what really matters – what it means to heal, grow, and rebuild yourself when everything you thought you knew gets turned upside down.

As a 46-year-old woman myself, I found myself nodding along, highlighting passages, and feeling seen in ways I didn’t expect. This isn’t just a memoir – it’s a mentor wrapped in the pages of a book. Hatmaker becomes the sister-friend who’s walked through the fire and come out the other side with hard-earned wisdom to share.

This is a must-read for any woman over 40 who’s navigating life’s inevitable transitions and wants to do so with grace, dignity, and the reassurance that she’s not alone in the struggle. Even for someone like me who typically reaches for lighter fare, *Awake* reminded me why sometimes the most important books are the ones that challenge us to sit with difficult truths while showing us the path forward.

Highly, highly recommended. Five stars without hesitation.

4.5 Star.
Jen has always had a way with making me laugh in one sentence, then choking back a sob in the next. I appreciate her wit and her empathy. Her book "7" has stuck with me through the years...
I do pray that she is able to lead the inside and the outside of the church once more, that she can continue to heal. I am also a type A, first born daughter and grand, born deep into southern baptist culture. It's just that we grew out of the rules much earlier than Jen did. (My husband did worship for "PitCrew; Church for the disenfranchised" for YEARS. We didn't play Coldplay but instead played Underoath). So I GET IT. Melody Beattie, Brene Brown are constant rereads. Along with "Boundaries for the Soul" by Alison Cook!

Thank you so much for the advanced copy of Awake. This is my first book by Jen Hatmaker, but I am an avid social media follower. While this book was really sad, I loved how it was written with stories from the past weaved in while she is taking us on her journey about healing after her divorce. I believe that people that enjoy Jen will really like this book.

This book is perfect for anyone who has ever wondered if there's anything more after something unthinkable happens. I read this book in two sittings- it would have been one but I had to take a break to pull myself together. Awake is a sharply written collection of stories that tell the reshaping of a woman who's life was irrevocably changed. It shows you that you can be strong and resilient, and lean on your own damn self

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This page-turning memoir begins with the scene that led to the Hatmaker’s divorce in 2020, but also jumps back in time to describe the evangelical backdrop Jen was raised in and some of the church’s teachings handed down that led to some unhealthy codependent habits. I appreciate the honesty and short chapters that kept this story moving quickly. Important takeaways from her story are that you’re never too old to change or start over. Healing is available for everyone. I recommend this book to anyone who has followed her for any length of time.

Quintessential Jen. I loved her honesty and transparency in this one. It felt like real life, peppered with grace both for herself and her ex-husband. I always read her books super fast because they grab you.

Honest and real and powerful!! I’ve always loved Jen Hatmaker’s writing and have followed her career from her very early days as a Christian author.. As a woman in my early 50s I loved Jen’s story of rediscovering and embracing who she really is, after shedding some of the labels in her life. I appreciated her raw honesty about the end of her marriage and greatly admire her for doing the hard work to own her own role in the relationship, despite the hard trauma inflicted on her. As a fellow Enneagram 3 who is very much still learning to hear and trust her body and instrinsic worth, Jens words are so incredibly helpful and she writes with such heart and humor, even about such a hard time. Loved this book so much. Thank you for writing it Jen.
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. Highly recommend, which I will be doing to everyone in my sphere of influence!

From the beginning to the end… or, rather, from the end (of her marriage) to the beginning (of the rest of her life), “Awake” is a beautiful memoir crafted by a skilled writer.

I am familiar with the concept of purity culture and the “rededicate your life to God subculture” but would not have had the context for Jen’s story without her perfectly placed explanations. Since these explanations often took place as flashbacks, as I got to know more about the culture in which Jen was raised I had a deeper understanding, and compassion, for how she AND her husband ended up where they did.

The was so much about this book that resonated deeply- from her experiences with her youngest daughter to her quoting of Annie Dillard- with me and I finished this book with a deep sense of peace. Thank you, Jen Hatmaker, for sharing your journey. We have all come a long way from those “Worst End of the Schoolyear Mom” days!

Thanks, Net Galley, for the early access!

This book honestly came at the perfect time for me. I felt so inspired by Jen Hatmaker’s resilience and honesty. It was comforting to be reminded that we’re all dealing with hard things, and that it’s possible to find our way through our difficulties and back to ourselves.

One part that really hit home was her journey of faith. Her faith remained strong even as it evolved. I loved her thoughts on being spiritual but not currently church-going. That’s exactly where I’m at right now, and it felt good to hear someone name it without shame or apology.

I’d definitely recommend this book, especially if you’re in a season of grief, whether that’s from a breakup, a loss, or feeling disconnected from your faith. Jen’s writing is brilliantly honest, funny, and real.

Memoirs aren’t always inspiring. Having your marriage fall apart right when the world is shut down with a pandemic is unimaginable. Jen Hatmaker gives you an inspiring, sometimes funny, look at how she overcame the sadness and hurt—how she became “awake” again.

I couldn’t put this book down. I’ve followed Jen Hatmaker for a while and was curious about the end of her marriage so that drew me in but this book is about so much more than the end of her marriage. Her heart is evident through out and it’s solid gold. The pain is not glossed over but the healing dominates and that was so much better to read about than just the end of her marriage.

I have been anxiously awaiting for this book to come out and devoured it in a day! Jen is one of my favorite storytellers and she pulled me right in with chapters that felt like letters from a friend. While we have all been curious about her divorce, that subject seemed like background info to a heroine's saga as Jen recapped the realizations and growth that were brought on during this life event. This isn't a romantic love story, but still one of the best love stories I've read in a while. It's about the love of family, friends, and most importantly oneself.

I've followed Jen for years and have had the pleasure to see her speak during her cookbook tour. I've always enjoyed her candid humor about parenting, religion, friendship, and travel and loved that she persevered through the hate she got from the evangelical world after supporting LGBTQ+ folks and the BLM movement. Like others, I've wondered about her divorce, and this memoir navigates that from the starting point of waking up and hearing her husband of 26 years telling another woman he can't quit her. Life as she knows it unravels, and she unpacks it all in a real, but respectful way (to her ex and especially her children). How her friends and family carry her through. How she must learn the depths of her finances and buy her first car and her embarrassment over not even knowing her own bank passwords. How her being raised in evangelical, patriarchal-driven religion and purity culture likely contributed to her trauma and marrying before she was truly ready.

There are times when the chapter length and content felt a tad jarring to me, as it alternates from her life post-divorce to flashbacks from childhood, marriage, adoption, etc and is super in-depth, detailed, and deep, and then light and breezy--classic, conversationalist Jen. Also, if you follow Jen, much of the details/stories are ones we've heard before. But I flew through it, and loved her honesty about still not being a part of organized religion...that she is "still finding God, just not where I think he used to live." Jen's writing always feels like a conversation with a good friend, and I think anyone who enjoys a good memoir about surviving what feels like the unsurvivable would greatly enjoy this.

Thank you to Netgalley & Avid Reader Plus/Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC. This one is out Sept. 23, 2025!

This book had me laughing and in tears. Both out of pure happiness for how Jen approached the real life experience of divorce and came out the other side changed and because so much of what she said resonated with my own story. The quick stories and signature wit kept me coming back to this book but her honesty and humbleness pulled me in to stay. I love a good self-help book but not one part of this book was laid out to be a roadmap to your own recovery, just a series of reflections on how she took hard life circumstances and found herself in the process of living her actual real life and somehow that is enough to break in and teach you too.

This book was absolutely beautiful. It made me want to be just as honest in my own life, to fight for me, to question narratives that are not liberating. This book made me reimagine what is really important and what life could look life if I walked back home to myself. Amid all the chaos happening in the world and the imperfections within our everyday living experience, hope still remains. Love is to be found in all kinds of places and nooks and crannies. And we are still here.

I have really complicated feelings about this book, and I’ll try to parse them out for this review. If you are an evangelical (or exvangelical) then Jen Hatmaker needs no introduction. She rose to fame as a speaker and writer for women in the church, complete with an HGTV home makeover for her large and photogenic family, which included her husband/co-pastor. Then her career went up in flames when she publicly affirmed support for gay marriage and the BLM movement. She’s since reinvented herself as someone speaking to progressive Christians, highlighting the dissatisfaction many have felt with the evangelical church in the US. However, many fans were surprised when Hatmaker’s marriage ended abruptly in 2020. She has not spoken publicly about what happened, and this memoir is her story of her marriage’s end and her life afterwards.

I have a real soft spot for Hatmaker, especially given her support of the queer community. In Awake, she details her own upbringing in the church and her early experiences of purity culture and the damage it did to her and her family. I thought she was respectful and even-handed when it came to discussing her marriage, and the parts about her early faith really resonated with me. I think anyone who grew up in the culture she describes will experience a jolt of horror and recognition when she talks about getting reprimanded for wearing shorts that were too short, for example. And Fall’s Creek! (IYKYK)

That said, I couldn’t help but feel like there were two books warring inside Awake. The memoir is told in short chapters that interweave past and present, and the braided effect contributed to my feeling that there were different stories being told. One is the (IMO more interesting) visceral and real story of how Hatmaker grappled with the problematic faith of her upbringing and the emotional fallout of her husband’s infidelity. The other is a kind of predictable Eat Pray Love-esque. yay I got my groove back story told in a kind of cutesy tone recognizable to anyone who has followed Hatmaker’s socials. I found those chapters grating, especially juxtaposed with the others. I would love to see what Hatmaker could write if she let go of the need to use the “aw shucks lil ol me” persona, and I can’t help but link that persona to the idea that she was raised in a faith tradition where women were routinely made to minimize themselves. These sections culminate in Hatmaker talking about her bestselling cookbook and “Me Camp,” where she sends herself on a solo trip for a month every summer. She casually shares an anecdote that her friend dreamed Jen had a giant, lavish stone table in her yard, so Hatmaker commissioned a crew to build it and landscape around it, then last minute had her cookbook reheat to feature the table. This story is meant to illustrate her blessed life but honestly felt breathtakingly out of touch to me, especially given that she once authored a book about living with less.

I also found it interesting that she seems to have left organized religion altogether. This is not a criticism, but it is a striking change from her early work. I am glad I read this book, even though it wasn’t the book I wish it was. However, I would love to see what Hatmaker could produce if she ever stepped fully away from her persona. We caught mere glimpses of it here, but I think the result would be fascinating.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

This is a breath-taking heart-breaking story of one woman's life. Her life as she knows it falls apart and she is left to figure out how it happened and what to do about it. A story of courage.

Thank you to NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review. I am familiar with Jen Hatmaker, I have listened to her on several podcasts but this was the first book that I had read by her. I really enjoyed it. It was very personal and raw and vulnerable. She and I are about the same age and I think that had something to do with the shared perspective. I appreciated her wisdom and her insight and her humor in a time of real personal darkness. I would highly recommend this book.

I loved reading this memoir. The short almost vignette like chapters hooked me almost immediately and I found myself drawn to keep reading. I really enjoyed the way the book was set up by The End, The Middle, and The Beginning. I also loved the author’s reflection on both her childhood and also her now. It was so interesting to read about certain experiences that impacted her and where she was now. I will definitely be recommending this book to people once it’s published.

Jen Hatmaker is a treasure. The way she wrote so eloquently about the most gutting time of her life, and how she rose from the ashes is so raw and real and funny and poignant. Her writing style is very much par for the way she speaks, so know that going into it. A little choppy, back and forth in timing, but it all fits.