On Our Knees is an empowering read that explores women's sexuality through a lens of self-discovery and confidence. While not every aspect of the book resonated with me, I appreciated its central message of embracing female sexuality without shame.

One of my favourite elements was the inclusion of goddesses from different cultures and religions. As a history major, I found myself intrigued by some of the figures and stories I wasn't familiar with. I ended up Googling several of them to learn more about their historical and cultural significance, which added an unexpected educational element to the reading experience.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and its perspective. It offers an interesting blend of empowerment, mythology, and spirituality that many readers may find inspiring. While it wasn't a perfect five-star read for me, it's definitely worth picking up if you're interested in exploring these themes.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

This was such an empowering read. I really enjoyed it from page one. I love how it centers on a subject that society tells us not to ever talk about. I love how the author introduces us to the different goddesses and how powerful sexuality truly is. I loved how the book was very direct and didn’t hold back. This book will not be for everyone but it was truly an amazing read.

On Our Knees by Regena Thomashauer brings us a bold, body-centered framework for reclaiming personal power through the transformative capacity of grief, loss, and rage. Its core philosophy centers on awareness and ten mythic goddess traditions; the work challenges conventional self-help by asserting that life-altering heartbreak is not a failure to be patched up but a necessary passage toward authentic liberation. Rather than advocating mental coping strategies, Thomashauer emphasizes sensation and expression to guide readers in processing deep pain. The result is an intense, unyielding manifesto on turning profound vulnerability and complete surrender into an enduring foundation for self-sovereignty.

I could not get enough of this audiobook! The author narrates it herself, and she does an amazing job emphasizing the main points and bringing her message to life.

I actually preordered a physical copy because I know I’ll want to refer back to it whenever I need a little reminder of empowerment and self-love. The author does a wonderful job explaining divine femininity, incorporating historical references and personal anecdotes that make the book both insightful and relatable.

Overall, this is a great addition to anyone’s bookshelf who could use a little boost of confidence, empowerment, and self-love!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of On Our Knees in exchange for an honest review.

On Our Knees is an unusual book to review because my strongest response to it was not simply whether I agreed or disagreed with Regena Thomashauer. Instead, I repeatedly found myself examining the places where I resisted what she was asking me to consider.

Using the stories of different goddesses alongside memoir, psychology, data and embodied practice, Thomashauer explores what it might mean for women to reclaim parts of themselves that have been suppressed, shamed or abandoned. Pleasure, sexuality, grief, trauma, surrender, gentleness and power are all brought into a framework that asks us to reconsider what being powerful actually looks like.

One of my favourite aspects of the book was the mythology itself. I have read a great deal of mythology, yet many of the stories Thomashauer introduced were completely new to me. I was genuinely grateful to encounter myths centred on women, female experience and feminine power that had never previously crossed my path. The goddesses come from different traditions and embody very different aspects of womanhood, and I found discovering their stories fascinating in its own right.

I was also impressed by the way Thomashauer writes about trauma. She clearly understands how childhood fear, vigilance, love and chaos can become intertwined, but she doesn't over-explain the psychology or use therapeutic language to prove her understanding. She gives the reader enough to recognise the pattern and trusts us with the rest.

Her treatment of pleasure was particularly challenging for me. Rather than presenting pleasure as an escape from pain, Thomashauer argues that reconnecting with our capacity for pleasure may first require us to encounter the pain we have learned to suppress. Pleasure therefore becomes about considerably more than sexuality: it is connected to embodiment, emotional honesty and the ability to experience ourselves more fully.

I appreciated, too, that the book doesn't allow its spiritual language to drift entirely into magical thinking. Thomashauer is direct about the material realities of women's lives and uses data alongside personal experience. The goddess is not presented as something that can simply overcome inequality, trauma or circumstances beyond our control. Reclaiming power here is less about gaining control over everything that happens to us and more about reclaiming our relationship with ourselves within realities we may not be able to change.

The book also made me question some of my own judgements. At times I found Thomashauer's presentation of herself almost self-aggrandising, only to catch myself wondering why her unapologetic confidence bothered me. Was she overstating her own importance, or was I uncomfortable watching a woman proclaim her authority without qualification? I never entirely resolved that question, and perhaps the fact that the book made me ask it is more interesting than either answer.

Where On Our Knees worked less well for me was in its increasing emphasis on autobiography. Thomashauer divulges a considerable amount of her personal life and, while I enjoyed many of these stories, some of the connections drawn between her experiences and the goddess myths felt comparatively loose. By the later sections, I found myself wanting a little more of the mythology and synthesis and a little less autobiography. The book also felt somewhat longer than it needed to be.

Listening to Thomashauer narrate the audiobook herself adds another dimension. Her directness and willingness to speak unapologetically about subjects women are often encouraged to discuss euphemistically makes the experience unusually intimate. It will undoubtedly be confronting for some listeners; at times, being confronted was precisely what made the book valuable to me.

I am leaving On Our Knees with a changed perspective and a clearer awareness of some of my own shadows that I still want to explore. I didn't agree with everything Thomashauer said, and I don't think every element of the book works equally well, but perhaps that isn't the most interesting measure of its success. It made me curious about the parts of myself that resisted it.

For a book about finding your way back to yourself, that feels significant.

I appreciated the author's honesty and vulnerability throughout this audiobook. I specifically chose the audio format because there is something uniquely powerful about hearing an author narrate their own story. It creates a deeper connection to the material, allowing listeners to experience the book in the author's own voice and emotional cadence.

Many of the reflections resonated with me, particularly those surrounding a childhood marked by emotional distance, silence, self-blame, and the lingering effects of living in a constant state of fight-or-flight. The book thoughtfully explores how easily years can pass while we remain disconnected from ourselves and the world around us, hiding behind avoidance, silence, and carefully maintained emotional barriers. It also examines how intimacy can come to feel conditional or transactional when we carry unresolved wounds.

The discussions around sexuality and selfconnection were especially compelling. Regardless of gender, these subjects are often burdened by shame, discomfort, and self-avoidance. The author makes it clear that empowerment is not a destination that simply arrivesit is a process that requires intention, reflection, and work.

One of the book's central themes is the exploration of various goddesses and the lessons they embody, including Aphrodite, Freya, Amaterasu, Kali, Demeter, Lilith, Inanna, Psyche, and Pachamama. Readers are encouraged to discover which goddess speaks most deeply to them and use that connection as a starting point for their own journey of self-discovery.

As I listened, I found myself wondering whether there would be a stronger sense of intersectionality woven into the discussion. For me, that element never fully emerged. By the end, I was left feeling somewhat outside the conversation, as though I had not quite found my place among these goddesses. Perhaps the ones featured simply were not the voices meant for me, or perhaps there is another goddess still waiting to be discovered.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance listening copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

While I am a staunch feminist and firmly believe woman should empower themselves in anyway they choose, I don't think I am the exact right audience for Mama Gena. I love that she and many other woman find power in goddesses, sexuality, and the divine feminine, but it leans a bit too spiritual for me personally. That being said, I think Thomashauer has a great message here for self acceptance and self love and abandoning the beliefs that make women feel shame for their bodies and sexuality. I also love that she makes a point to mention that these messages and spaces she's created are for ALL women, including lesbians, trans women, and women of color. The guided initiations were cool to listen to, but I do have to add that I laughed out loud during the Amaterasu initiation when this woman says, very seriously, with the meditation music in the background, that the best song to dance to naked to for freedom and truth is Khia's My Neck My Back. I love that for her.

My two critiques of the book are that it is quite lengthy and repetitive, and that it feels a bit more like a memoir/sales pitch than a self help book. The author mentions her classes pretty frequently and looking on her website it seems she offers a class to become a "certified pleasure coach" so that you can lead your own classes in a "highly profitable way," which veers a little too close to MLM territory for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hay House Audiobooks for the ALC.

This book was an amazing introduction to the divine feminine! It was easily approachable and provided great examples of how the divine feminine can show up in daily life. I loved how the author’s stories, and the stories of her students, made the myths and archetypes covered so much more accessible and easy to understand. The focus on deepening your relationship with different goddesses as you go through life was fascinating and meaningful. The applied practices offered at the end are great ways to root down and deepen your understanding of the archetypes. This book also made a great audiobook. I enjoyed hearing the teachings from the author’s own voice and felt she did a great job narrating. The audiobook was easy to listen to and easy to follow along with, and once I started it I couldn’t stop listening.

Thomashauer touches on so many subjects that are "forbidden" to talk about--trauma, shame, pleasure. There's so much I resonated with and wished I could have read at an earlier age. This is a great read for women of all ages, especially women who are ashamed to talk about womanhood in all its forms.

The spirituality and mythology in this book adds such a cool perspective on women's vulnerability and sexuality. I went down a rabbit hole to learn more about some of the goddesses Thomashauer mentioned. It was such an interesting addition, and I found myself wanting more near the end.