“The person whose calls you always take, that’s the Relationship you’re in.” This quote from “The Devils Wear Prada” always sort of bugged me before. I thought Nate was selfish and inconsiderate. He didn’t understand that Andy had a life. He didn’t understand that Andy had a career. He didn’t understand that she had made a commitment.

While reading “Boss Bride” snuggled in the commuter car on NJ Transit Charreah Jackson was the first person to make me think that Nate might have had a point. Using the metaphor of the telephone Jackson drives home the importance of romantic,platonic, familial, and professional connections by reminding readers that life is about more than diamond rings. It’s about who answers your call when it rings, and whose call you answer.

This Book, a quick and powerful first effort from the Senior Relationships Editor at Essence Magazine, used this memorable moment and many others to remind readers that the Nates of the world will get tired with the Andys failure to communicate and move on.

Despite it’s eye catching title the book isn’t about wedding planning or bridesmaid choosing. It’s about the plans, choices, and priorities that strengthen and sometimes jeopardize the ties to the people we have, or would like to have in our lives.

One of those people is ourselves. Like her fellow Essence alum Mikki Taylor, Jackson is adamant about readers that their role before that of an employee, philanthropist, mother, or lover is that of a child of God who deserves to care for themselves without guilt.

Unafraid to reveal her own dating ups and downs the author intertwines advice that has impacted her from celebrities, and notable businesswomen, and women who are married. The women take generic adages like “don’t go to bed angry” to the next level by offering specific doses of wisdom that can apply to relationships where the spouse is a superstar athlete or a stay-at-home dad.

Jackson is aware that she’s on the journey with you and it’s nice that she’s willing to be honest about that. It is a testament to the strength of the writing in the book that it makes the reader evaluate their personal and professional priorities without feeling like the author is trying to chastise.

It doesn’t matter if you’re planning on walking into the next chapter of your life in the spirit of a girlfriend or the spirit of a CEO you’re going to want to take “Boss Bride” with you.

Learn more about this amazing book on the Bri Books podcast below.

Disclosure: I met Charreah at the very first Cocktails with Claire in 2013 and I volunteered at two promotional events for the book (because I believed in it). All thoughts, and opinions expressed here (especially those about that annoying scene in The Devil Wears Prada where Nate acts like a punk ***** are my own).