Take It from Here: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Most of the women that Friedman counsels in her Detroit psychology practice feel""something is missing"" in their lives, but cannot define exactly what. Here the author (formerly of Sonya Live on CNN) offers advice on how women can become more fulfilled by learning to define what they seek and go after what they desire. With inspirational quotes from the likes of Sam Keene, Dostoevsky and the Kabbalah, she assures readers that the past, while integral to character development, in no way ties one to a predetermined future. She devotes a chapter to reckoning with the mother-daughter relationship, and to differentiating between healthy hopes and persistent illusions in love. In one particularly useful chapter,""A New Approach to Forgiveness,"" she redefines this act for contemporary women, using Nancy Kerrigan and Hillary Clinton as case studies.""Forgiveness heals you when you release your grip on a painful past--it is not about pardoning the offender"" as of old, she says. Friedman's book is most interesting, though, when she describes her own emotional battles (discovering in the New York Post that her talk show had been canceled, or confronting her father, who abandoned her in childhood). While two of her previous books have been bestsellers (Smart Cookies Don't Crumble; Men Are Just Desserts), Friedman's latest lacks luster; still, she provides common sense guidance on how to grab hold and steer through life's rough waters.