An authoress defies the odds.

Breast cancer is downright terrifying--particularly for anyone who has lost a family member to it. What's a girl to do? Take control. Here's how Gossip Girl writer/producer Jessica Queller did it:

She did the unthinkable: After losing her mother to breast cancer at age 31, Jessica tested positive for the BRCA-1 gene mutation, aka "the breast cancer gene." She weighed her 87% chance of breast cancer and went for a prophylactic double mastectomy at age 35.

She looked into the future: Queller decided to conceive a baby via sperm donor before having her cancer-prone ovaries removed.

She got it all on paper: The whole story is in Pretty Is What Changes, which just came out in paperback. Now she's on tour, boasting a bump.

Check it out or buy it for a friend who will definitely need a friend if she's going to make the same choice.