Almost 80 years after its initial release, It’s a Wonderful Life is a beloved classic. Airing every Christmas, the film’s message of how one person can change the course of many lives has touched multiple generations of viewers.
It’s a Fabulous Life, by Kelly Farmer, was published last fall. For the last few years, Bailey George has led the committee that has run her town’s annual Winter Wonderfest. But this year is different. Someone else has stepped up to the plate. Her long-planned vacation to New York City is finally in reach. But then the woman who has taken her place has a medical emergency. Not wanting to disappoint everyone around her, she steps back into her old role.
The only thing that has made her abrupt change of plans more tolerable is reconnecting with Maria, her high school crush. Their brief kiss years ago is a memory that has forever been burned into Bailey’s memory. Maria offers to join the planning committee. Her cheerful nature is the antidote that Bailey needs.
Then a series of dumpster fires on the day of Winter Wonderfest sends her over the edge and the town’s old bridge. Wishing that she was never born, drag queen Clara Angel, shows Bailey what her world would look like if she was not in it.
The book is great up until the final third of the story. The author could have gotten to the section in which Bailey is shown what Lanford Falls is like without her faster. It felt rushed. I would have liked for Farmer to slow this part down and let me as a reader soak it in.
Do I recommend it? I am leaning toward yes.
Writergurlny 