Robbie Leach had a crappy year: her marriage crumbled into ugly pieces and she had to start over again, again; she crashed and burned out in the career she just knew was her true calling; and her Grandma, her biggest cheerleader with the huggably soft bosom that comforted her through many crises, died. When Robbie can't even think of one thing to get up for in the morning, she decides she is done with life. "Good night, World, and good-bye. I've had some fun, but lately you've been a giant pain in the ass," she says as the overdose of pills kicks in and she sleeps her final sleep. But life, or God, or maybe Buddha, wasn't done with Robbie yet. She has some surprises coming. First, she finds herself in a healing place with no name --which for her is a gorgeous beach where thighs have no cellulite (It's a miracle ) -- and on a journey to make sense of the screwed-up life she thought she'd left behind. Surprise number two. Robbie gets company from some unexpected beach buddies. Here comes spiritual guru Richard Gere, in a role like he's never played before that's designed to help him heal as much as her; the best lover she ever had that still had her heart twenty years after his death; and her beloved Grandma, determined to make Robbie believe she is A-okay no matter what. Together they help Robbie figure out how to uncork her intimacy, what it means to truly live on the planet and not just skim the surface, that sometimes you have to let go of love to save yourself, and the simple secret of a happy life. Through laughter, tears, and lots of hugs, Robbie finds out she wasn't so screwed up after all and maybe heaven, if that's where she is, is really just a place where you go in broken and come out whole. "Life Is A Beach -- After I'm Gone" is Roni Blanche's first novel, a long time in the making after losing someone she loved through suicide and always wondering what was on the other side. She finally completed writing the novel when she ran away to live at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and be a full-time writer. You can read all the juicy details of her beach adventures and writer's life in her memoir "Life Gone South (when I ran away to live at the beach and be a writer)."