Just because you’d give your best friend everything doesn’t mean she has to take it. On the heels of a divorce, all Danielle Meyers wants is her annual vacation with sassy, life-long best friend, Smidge—complete with umbrella cocktails by an infinity pool—but instead she’s hit with the curveball of a lifetime. Smidge takes Danielle to the middle of nowhere to reveal a diagnosis of terminal cancer, followed by an unusual request: “After I’m gone, I want you to finish the job. Marry my husband. Raise my daughter. I’m gonna teach you to how to be Smidge 2.0.” As Danielle wrestles with this major life decision, she finds herself torn between being true to her best friend’s wishes and being honest with herself. Parenting issues aside, Smidge’s small-town Louisiana world is exactly the one Danielle made sure to escape. Danielle isn’t one for playing the social butterfly, or being the center of attention. And when your best friend tries to set you up on a date night with her husband, it might be time to become the bossy one for a change. In the spirit of Beaches and Steel Magnolias, You Take It from Here is an honest, hilarious, and heartbreaking novel that ultimately asks: How much should we sacrifice for the ones we love the most?

"Smart Cookies" and "Men are Just Desserts" were "New York Times" bestsellers. Now author Friedman, the star of CNN's "Sonya Live," continues her journey of the smart self.

Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. Habakkuk 2:2 “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong; but time and chance happen to them all.” (King Solomon, Ecclesiastes 9:11) But- he who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:21-22 Dana’s journey, which began in The Fine Print, is far from over. Her travels, however, have caused her to be confronted with numerous detours, as well as encounter new, unwilling, and perhaps, unwelcomed companions traveling on the road with her which has created road hazards and propelled her to wonder whether the destination she sought will ever be reached or, if the signs she followed were pointing her towards the wrong direction?

An emotional, page-turning account of unhealed trauma and personal transformation that will break your heart and change your mind, in the tradition of Somebody's Daughter, A Piece of Cake, and Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped Riveting, honest, and raw, I Can Take It From Here recounts Lisa Forbes's harrowing journey into darkness — including a fourteen-year-long stint in a maximum-security prison — and her fierce resolve to understand the effects of the trauma she endured, to take personal responsibility for her actions, and to ensure that her history does not dictate her destiny. The youngest of six children, Lisa grew up in a Chicago housing project where she endured sexual, religious, and emotional abuse as a little girl. A voracious reader, she graduated high school at 15 and went to work as a secretary in a downtown insurance office, became pregnant at 16 and, at 19, unexpectedly and uncharacteristically committed a violent act, stabbing and killing the father of her daughter. Providing powerful insights into what we as a society need to learn and confront in the ongoing epidemic of mass re-incarceration, Lisa is a stunning example of an individual who through determination, knowledge, and hard work has been able to reclaim her own life. The book ends with Lisa's rousing call to action to support the people—as well as the shorthanded employers—who need the help, and need each other, more than ever.

The constant playback of "What the hell are you doing with your life?" was my 3 am monster that woke me up daily and kept me from having a full night's sleep. Why was I unable to find my life's purpose while others around me seemed to be doing that just fine?Fear crept in daily, overwhelming me with confusion and second-guessing every decision I was about to make. You are not good enough, not educated enough, not interesting or important enough, and mostly I heard "you are not enough."The messages at 3 am were a constant playback in my mind until I started to listen to what they were saying. I began to question how all this self-doubt arrived in my life after all and began to do the work that required me to put my ear to my heart.In Thank You, Fear - I'll Take It From Here, I share my journey from being locked in my self-sabotage to unlocking my true potential. I did this by listening to the real message I was receiving from my fear. The messages of "you are not good enough" began to fade as I uncovered the power within the passage.The messages were my higher self nudging me towards greatness. Once I began to see the opportunities unfold in front of me by embracing the fear, I had a deeper understanding of truly knowing what my higher self was leading me toward - greatness.Fear has the power we give it. We can take an opportunity and attach fear to it, or we can take an opportunity and see possibilities, it's a choice. We can own our greatness and step into the unknown with courage and self-confidence or we can choose self-sabotage and defeatism.Thank You, Fear - I'll Take It From Here is an opportunity to:* Own your greatness* Unlock your true potential* Live your life authenticallyby learning the language of fear and deciding how to interpret it. Leaning into the discomfort is the beginning of great opportunity, adventure, and living your life's purpose.

The days are long, but the years are short. No matter if it’s your child’s first step, first day of school, or first night tucked away in a new dorm room away from home, there comes a moment when you realize just how quickly the years are flying by. Christian music artist Nichole Nordeman’s profound lyrics in her viral hit “Slow Down” struck a chord with moms everywhere, and now this beautiful four-color book will inspire you to celebrate the everyday moments of motherhood. Filled with thought-provoking writings from Nichole, as well as guest writings from friends including Shauna Niequist and Jen Hatmaker, practical tips, and journaling space for reflection, Slow Down will be a poignant gift for any mom, as well as a treasured keepsake. Take a few moments to reflect and celebrate the privilege of being a parent and getting to watch your little ones grow—and Slow Down. Nichole Nordeman has sold more than 1 million albums as a Christian music artist and has won 9 GMA Dove Awards, including two awards for Female Vocalist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Nichole released a lyric video for her song “Slow Down,” and it struck a chord with parents everywhere, amassing 14 million views in its first five days. She lives in Oklahoma with her two children.

This is a story of shucking the briefcase, losing the tie, and floating 26 tons of riveted iron through France to Paris. The perky young Vice President of Human Resources touched me on the shoulder and said, "Have a nice life." That moment, standing in the parking lot with my personal possessions in a cardboard box and my severance papers stuffed in my pocket, I thought, "Why the hell not?" The anarchist inside me was urging me back into the building to play carelessly with matches, but instead I went to Starbuck's. Sitting in the sun, sipping a cappuccino, it occurred to me that sometimes your life falls apart just enough to allow you to put it back together in an entirely different way. So I did the most logical thing. I bought a barge in France. Then my wife and I set out to fulfill a lifetime dream of living in the shadow of Notre Dame on the Seine in Paris. From Here to Paris is the story of how we climbed out of our well-worn corporate trench and, together, set to work creating our dream life, alternating between our cozy Victorian art studio in Sausalito California and our 56 foot, 1925 Dutch barge, Phaedra, cruising the canals and rivers of France, inching toward our ultimate goal, the Seine and Paris. This is a story of facing up to the emotional and ego hooks so deeply embedded in the trappings and symbols that define "success." Of selling the over sized house, shredding the credit cards and abandoning the mind-numbing commute in favor of a joyful struggle toward a fresh life. One lived in jeans and filled with long, leisurely afternoons floating along glass-still canals through medieval villages and rolling vineyards in the heart of Burgundy. It's also the story of realtors, moose horns, a mysterious black boat, catastrophic engine failures and how your life can pass before your eyes when you put those tons of iron into reverse and it keeps going forward. It's about learning the proper gender of things in French, cheating at Trivial Pursuit, cajoling France's sexiest boat mechanic and why real men don't do yoga. It's about realizing that getting to Paris can take years, so you better enjoy the journey.