Maybe you’ve seen the "Cheetah" quote on a coffee mug. Or maybe you’ve watched a TikTok of a woman crying in her pantry while clutching a thick hardcover. If so, you’ve met the impact of books by Glennon Doyle. It’s a specific kind of magic, or maybe a specific kind of mayhem, depending on who you ask.
She didn't just write memoirs. She built a bridge between the "perfect" life people pretend to have and the messy, chaotic reality of being a human who actually feels things.
Doyle’s trajectory is weird. It’s unconventional. She started as a mommy blogger on Momastery, writing about the "brutiful"—brutal and beautiful—nature of raising kids and staying sober. Then she became a New York Times bestseller. Then she blew up her entire life, fell in love with a soccer icon, and did it all again. If you’re looking for a roadmap of her work, you have to understand that these books aren't just reading material. They are a chronological documentation of a woman unlearning everything society told her to be.
The Evolution of Books by Glennon Doyle: From Sobriety to "Untamed"
It started with Carry On, Warrior. Honestly, this one feels like a different era. Published in 2013, it’s a collection of essays that grew out of her blog. It’s funny. It’s self-deprecating. It focuses heavily on her recovery from bulimia and alcoholism, and her early years of marriage to Craig Melton.
At the time, it was revolutionary for the "Christian mommy" circuit because she was so incredibly blunt about her flaws. She wasn't trying to be a saint. She was just trying to show up for her kids without a drink in her hand.
Then came Love Warrior. This is where things got heavy.
Oprah picked it for her Book Club, which is basically the literary equivalent of being knighted. The book centers on a crisis: Doyle discovered her husband had been unfaithful for their entire marriage. Instead of a standard "how to fix your marriage" guide, it’s a grueling, 200-plus page look at intimacy, body image, and the ways we hide from ourselves.
But here’s the kicker about books by Glennon Doyle: they don't always have a "happily ever after" in the traditional sense. Just as Love Warrior was hitting the shelves and she was being hailed as a champion of marital reconciliation, she met Abby Wambach.
The Untamed Phenomenon
If Love Warrior was a scream for help, Untamed was a war cry.
Released in early 2020—right as the world was locking down—it became the unofficial anthem of the pandemic for millions of women. It’s less of a linear memoir and more of a manifesto. It’s about the cages we build for ourselves.
The central metaphor of the cheetah at the zoo is everywhere now. You know the story: a cheetah is raised in a zoo, watching a Labrador retriever to learn how to behave. It forgets it’s a wild animal until it catches a scent of the savanna. Doyle’s point is simple: we are the cheetahs. We’ve been "tamed" by expectations, religion, and gender roles until we don't recognize our own wildness.
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People often get her work wrong. They think it's just about "doing whatever you want." It isn't. If you actually read the text, it’s about "the Knowing." That’s her term for that quiet, internal voice that tells you the truth when the world is screaming lies.
It’s about the massive, terrifying courage it takes to break a "good" life to build a "true" one.
Why the Critics Get Loud
Not everyone loves these books. Some critics argue that Doyle’s brand of radical individual truth can be a bit... much. There’s a valid conversation to be had about the privilege inherent in being able to "quit" a life that doesn't fit.
There is also the "Christianity" of it all. Doyle’s early work was deeply rooted in a specific kind of faith. As she transitioned into her current life—married to a woman, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, and deconstructing traditional dogma—she lost some of her original audience. But she gained a much larger, more diverse one.
She’s often grouped with authors like Brené Brown or Elizabeth Gilbert. But while Brown is the researcher and Gilbert is the seeker, Doyle is the truth-teller. She doesn't give you data. She gives you her guts.
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The Specific Books You Should Actually Read
If you’re staring at a shelf of books by Glennon Doyle, here is the breakdown of what each one offers.
- Carry On, Warrior (2013): Best for people who feel like they are failing at "adulting." It’s the most relatable in a domestic sense. If you have toddlers and feel like a disaster, start here.
- Love Warrior (2016): Best for those navigating betrayal or deep self-loathing. It’s a hard read. It’s visceral. It deals with the "messy middle" of a life falling apart.
- Untamed (2020): This is the one. If you only read one, make it this. It’s the most polished, the most radical, and arguably the most important work she’s done.
- Get Untamed: The Journal (2020): It’s a workbook. Kinda self-explanatory. It’s for people who want to apply the "Untamed" philosophy to their own lives through prompts.
Real-World Impact: More Than Just Paper
The influence of these books extends into Together Rising, the non-profit Doyle founded. This is where the "community" part of her writing becomes tangible. They’ve raised tens of millions of dollars for families at the border, clean water initiatives, and individual people in crisis.
It’s rare to see an author bridge the gap between "self-help" and "global-help" so effectively.
She also hosts the podcast We Can Do Hard Things with her sister, Amanda, and her wife, Abby. In many ways, the podcast is the living, breathing sequel to her books. They tackle things like anxiety, boundaries, and parenting in real-time. It’s like an ongoing, audio version of her bibliography.
What Most People Miss About Her Message
There's a misconception that Doyle encourages people to just leave their spouses or quit their jobs on a whim.
Actually, she talks a lot about "staying in the fire." She argues that most of us run away from pain by using "easy buttons"—booze, shopping, scrolling, whatever. Her books are an invitation to sit in the discomfort. To actually feel the "brutiful" life instead of numbing it.
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She’s also incredibly specific about the "mental load" women carry. She was talking about this long before it became a mainstream buzzword. She dissects the way society expects women to be the "peacekeepers" at the expense of their own peace.
Actionable Steps for New Readers
If you're ready to dive into the world of books by Glennon Doyle, don't just binge-read them and move on. That’s just another "easy button."
- Read Untamed slowly. It’s written in short chapters for a reason. Read one, then sit with it. Ask yourself: "Where am I performing instead of living?"
- Listen to the podcast. If the books feel a bit too "written," the podcast shows the raw, unedited version of these ideas. Start with the episodes on "Boundaries" or "Anxiety."
- Identify your "Knowing." Doyle suggests sitting in silence for ten minutes a day to find that quiet voice inside. It sounds cheesy. It’s actually incredibly difficult.
- Check out Together Rising. If you’re moved by her writing, see how those words turn into action. It gives her work a context that most memoirs lack.
Ultimately, Doyle isn't trying to be your guru. She’s trying to be a mirror. Whether you love her or find her polarizing, you can't deny that she has shifted the conversation around what it means to live an "authentic" life in the 21st century. She didn't just write books; she started a quiet revolution in the living rooms of millions of people who were tired of pretending they were okay.
The work is about the courage to be messy. It’s about the fact that "the truest, most beautiful life" doesn't look like a magazine cover. It looks like a person who has finally stopped apologizing for existing.