What a fun twist on its a wonderful life! I love the movie so it was so fun to try to look for the iconic scenes and how they would be made modern. The drag queens as the angels was my favorite part!

Take It's a Wonderful Life and make it gay, and you get this charming Sapphic holiday book.

Somehow in my 36 years, I have never actually watched It's a Wonderful Life. I didn't even know the plot of the movie... the only thing i knew about it prior to reading this book was the infamous "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings" line.

That said, I would have liked the book more had the author not included the drag queen Angel part of the plot. (So it's clear -- I say this NOT because they were drag queens. I actually thought that was a nice touch, especially in today's political climate.)

I don't remember It's a Wonderful Life, so I only had vague expectations from this one. The beginning gave me Touched by Angels vibes, but these drag queens did not give off the same vibe as Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy.

I enjoyed everything except the clichéd look at the town without the protagonist's contributions to it.

If you’re a fan of the classic film 'It's A Wonderful Life', I think you’ll really enjoy this book! The audiobook was an easy listen with two fantastic narrators. It was such a fun take on the movie and will be a great add to holiday tbrs!

A queer retelling of It's a Wonderful Life? Are you KIDDING?! This book was an absolute delight and perfect holiday read.

This was an adorable take on It’s A Wonderful Life.

I love that this was Sapphic and enjoyed the parallels between the movie and what Farmer did with this book.

I could totally see this as a Lifetime movie remake!

This was fun, charming, and sweet. Plus…fab drag queens!

I really enjoyed this!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with a copy for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting access to this audiobook.
This was a cute story and it reminded me of a cross between 13 Going on 30, Back to the Future and It's a Wonderful life, among other titles. I really enjoyed the premise because even if I am not a huge sci-fi person, I tend to like stories about alternate realities (or the path not taken). The main characters definitely had undeniable chemistry and they were very likeable.

Overall this was a very cute read/listen! Would recommend.

A cute romance reimagining of a classic Christmas Movie. Bailey George was a likeable and fun character to spend time with in this book. The Drag Queen Angel element was a fun addition to this classic heart warming story.

Narration was done well and kept me engaged for the entire book.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was a fun little holiday romance to read! Loved the twist of the Drag Angels. The narrators were great.

This was fun and a quick read (well, listen) but not super memorable overall. Nice holiday vibes though!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This was such a fun holiday romance, a quick easy read with all the fun of Christmas.

What you’ll find in It’s a Fabulous Life:
Sapphic Love Story
Small Town Romance
Second Chance
Hallmark Movie Vibes
Sassy Drag Queens
Magic
It’s A Wonderful Life Retelling.

I loved this book. As an 'oldest daughter' I totally related to the main character and how she feels the weight of the world on her shoulders. I also love a HEA. I love a good Christmas romance. This is such a perfect mix of everything for me!

My second pick for a Christmas story
After the wonderful anthology Whiteout, I immediately started another queer Christmas romance. The setting was far off from that of the first story. This time, we found ourselves in a small town in which everyone knowns everyone. The specialty of this town, nonetheless, is a winter festival. Our protagonist Bailey has been organizing it for years but is tired and exhausted from that. So she decided to skip the festivities this year and go to the Big Apple, to possibly start a new life away from all binding responsibilities. That is, until her high school crush Maria returns to town, and everything goes terribly wrong with the festival. Bailey couldn’t leave now, could she?

Dogs and hot chocolate
This book with its small urban setting, pets, pre-Christmas organizational madness, etc. surely evokes the spirit. I immediately fell for the cutest of all pets–Rosie and Lulu–who bring our protagonist and her love interest back together. Each of their love for their animal companion comes through repeatedly. More than that, their interest in each other is delightful and carries us through the pages or minutes. Their encounters are smoothly written and read, sometimes hilarious, sometimes deeply honest. Bailey and Maria’s relationship are surely the core of this book but not the only development to look forward to.

Beautiful side characters
I first was irritated by the frame story of the three fairy drag queens who are about to work some Christmassy magic. At their second appearance, I fortunately got their endeavor in this story. Since then, I enjoyed all their short chapters, their funny dialogues, and their simple existence. They literally bring magic into this story and Bailey’s life. With that, they turn this story in a Christmas Carol-like tale, which I always love. Additionally, I also enjoyed the appearances of certain other characters like Kurt, Alice, or Bailey’s family. They gave us this beautiful feeling of coming home by the story’s ending. Overall, the whole setting, message, and characters of the story evoke the perfect Christmassy feeling.


In conclusion,
This queer pre-Christmas love story was truly engaging and entertaining. Although most of the story was predictable due to the genre, I enjoyed the unexpected twists and the dynamic between the characters. This certainly is a book worth spending your pre-Christmas time with.

Bailey and Maria were adorable together and the chemistry between them was sweet.

This was a classic opposites attract, small town, coming home for the holidays romance.

If you love a sweet LQBTQ rep, novel with lots of Christmas cheer and a sweet romance.
Definitely recommend

3 stars. i enjoyed it but i was not very impressed by it.

i thought i'd like this It's A Wonderful Life retelling but it just didn't impress me. the point of views from the angels ruined the flow for me a bit. i think it probably reads better than it is spoken.

the story between bailey and maria were sweet but not as exciting as you'd jope a sapphic love story to be. it was a sweet book but underwhelming for me.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an audiobook arc in return for an honest review.

This was a sweet fun sapphic Christmas story. I am not terribly familiar with Its a Wonderful Life so I may have missed some of the more obvious references but it was still enjoyable and fun!

I loved this diverse, modern take on the It's A Wonderful Life plot. Very creative. The characters were likeable and the romance was sweet. Plus dogs. But the latter third of the books dragged a little bit for me. The whole set up to the alternate world was interesting, but since we know what tends to happen after that, that part was a little long for me. But overall I loved the representation and the ending was sweet.

Such a fun reimagining of a classic holiday tale. This is what a retelling should look like. Unique characters and plots with a clear inspiration from the original. The drag angels were a delightful twist. Loved this story. Instant holiday classic.

I really liked this one! I'll admit that I've never seen A Wonderful Life so I can't comment on how well of a retelling this is, but I found the entire story really lovely. It's got small town charm in spades and inclusive small town charm at that. There are multiple queer characters and a sapphic romance at the heart and a family of magical drag queens watching out for them. We've got a woman who kinda got stuck in the small town and has a ton of responsibility and all she wants is to go explore but the town keeps her sucked in and another woman who went out and lived life outside of the town and voluntarily came back. Can these two reconcile their different views about small town Christmas life and find a way to be happy? (Of course they can, it's a fucking holiday rom-com 😂)

This was a super fun modern retelling of It's a Wonderful Life. Bailey George has been stretched way too thin by the demands her hometown and it's Winter Wonderfest have on her, and she's ready for a much deserved vacation. Instead, a last minute emergency means Bailey's once again in charge of making sure Winter Wonderfest is successful, and even Maria Hatcher's return to the town isn't enough to make Bailey feel anything other than frustrated by her obligations.

I thought the interludes from the magical drag queens, specifically Clara Angel, were super fun and a great way to bring in the angelic element of the movie. I did get fairly frustrated by Bailey and her over-commitment to large projects and inability to say no, but that's kind of the point of the character. It was a fun read that followed the beats of the original story while adding it's own spin.

I really enjoyed both narrators and thought they brought a lot of personality to both Bailey and Clara.