On permission, possibility, and what happens when women start thinking for themselves
Book Details
Title: This Is What Happens When Women Read
Release Date: October 13, 2026
Format: Advanced Reader Copy (ARC via NetGalley)
Themes: Reading, faith deconstruction, self-actualization, women’s empowerment, identity, intellectual freedom
The Premise
Julianna Glasse begins with a question about what happens when women are given permission to read, think, question, and imagine lives beyond the boundaries they’ve inherited.
What unfolds is far more than a story about books or religion. It’s a deeply personal account of changing your mind, challenging the rules you’ve been handed, and discovering what becomes possible when you stop waiting for permission to think for yourself.
My Review
I’ll be honest: I wanted to read This Is What Happens When Women Read almost entirely because of the title. It’s a total gut-punch in the best possible way.
I went into it expecting something closer to a memoir about how reading led Julianna Glasse to leave religion. Instead, she gave us something much deeper. This is an incredibly raw and honest look at what happens when you stop asking for permission to think for yourself and actually start doing it.
One of the things I loved most is that the story feels like it is shifting while she is writing it. There’s something so relatable about watching someone’s understanding of herself change in real time. It doesn’t feel like she reached the other side of some perfectly packaged transformation and then looked backward to explain it. You feel like you’re right there with her in the messiness of becoming.
And while faith deconstruction is part of the story, I don’t think you need to share that background for this book to resonate. At its core, this is about empowerment, self-actualization, intellectual freedom, and what becomes possible when you begin questioning the boundaries you were taught not to cross.
It made me want to learn more. Read more. Do more. Challenge some of my own assumptions and pay closer attention to the places where I might still be waiting for permission I don’t actually need.
Glasse includes a quote from Maria Popova about how changing what people believe is possible can profoundly change the world, and that idea feels like the heartbeat of this book. This Is What Happens When Women Read is ultimately about expanding that landscape of possibility—first for yourself, and then for the people who come after you.
Honestly, my only complaint is that I can’t force all my friends to read it right this second.
I would recommend this to women regardless of religious background because the larger questions here are so much bigger than faith: Who taught you what you were allowed to want? What happens when you start questioning it? And who might you become once you realize you’re allowed to decide for yourself?
Fair warning: your TBR is also probably going to suffer. The suggested reading list at the end is pure gold.
I’ll absolutely be buying a finished copy when it comes out. This is one I already know I’ll want to reread, underline, talk about, and hand to other women with some version of: Please read this so we can discuss it.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
