What if your best friend were to ask you for one last favor that would change life as you know it? It’s a hard idea to juggle in the back of your mind. Not many of us would be willing to just hand over our lives to our best friends. Only a unique friendship would warrant a sacrifice like that. 

Danielle Meyers and her best friend, Smidge, have just that: the type of friendship in which they consider each other sisters. Their personalities are polar opposites, but since meeting in middle school in their small hometown of Ogden, Louisiana, the two have been inseparable.

However, Danielle was never much of a country girl, and when she had the chance to live in Los Angeles, she took it. Now a successful homemaking consultant, Danielle only returns to Ogden to reunite with Smidge, the well-liked housewife, for their annual girls' vacation.

What Danielle thought was going to be some fancy vacation turned out to be a major wake up call from Smidge: her cancer is back and this time around, it’s terminal. Danielle vows to make the last moments of Smidge’s life manageable, and expecting such a response, Smidge makes one request: for Danielle to take over Smidge’s life after she dies.

Danielle’s struggle with Smidge’s impending death and life-changing proposal plays out in Pamela Ribon’s latest extraordinary novel, "You Take It From Here," which reveals the true meaning of friendship. The depth at which she writes about Danielle and Smidge makes it so easy for the reader to identify with both.

Many times throughout the novel, I projected myself into my thirties, acting out Danielle’s predicament in my mind, as if it were happening to my dear best friend and I. The situation seems unimaginable, the thought of losing a loved one in such a common way is what gives the novel a firm foundation in the reality of the reader’s life. The hope that Danielle maintains for the futile recovery of her best friend inspires readers to appreciate the people in their lives at the moment in the same way that Danielle treasures her last moments with Smidge. 

To any readers who are fans of real stories, I would recommend Ribon’s novel, as well as any of her other works. She writes with such a clear voice in the midst of the uncertainties faced by her characters. "You Take It From Here" is an easy read for those Saturday afternoons at the beach or those nights curling up in bed with a book. 

Pamela Ribon is the bestselling author of the novels "Why Girls Are Weird, Why Moms Are Weird and Going in Circles." A writer for stage, screen and television, her credits include the Emmy Award winning "Samantha Who?" Visit her popular blog at pamie.com.

 

Reach Staff Reporter Essencejoy Evangelista here. Follow her on Twitter.