It Really Is A Wonderful Life (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I loved this book. It's a Wonderful Life is a favorite Christmas movie of mine. When I was searching for Christmas books to read, and saw this title, I knew I had to read this one this year. Dorie's husband has died and she is struggling. She moved to the town her parents live in... from warm weather to cold northern winters. She is struggling to raise her kids and find a job. She is having a hard time meeting people, she sees an ad in the newspaper about auditions for a Christmas play... It's A Wonderful Life of course. “Did she dare?... Still, what was the worst that could happen? You'd look like a fool and find new depths of rejection.” pg.6She gets the part and enjoys the new people she meets and being in the play.The book is an adaption of the story of It's A Wonderful Life. The characters in the book mirror the play they are doing, differently of course but the same underlying themes. Move to the big city, follow your dreams, or stay and take over your father's business and marry the girl??? Yeah, I knew if it followed “It's a Wonderful Life” what would happen and I enjoyed it and liked the book a lot in spite of knowing how it would end.Yes, this is a romance... and it's a good romance... no yucky stuff, just a couple of kisses. It is a great Christmas book. Yes, it is Christian too. “Zeke glanced her way...and said, “You talking to me?” “No, to the Man Upstairs, but sometimes I wonder if He's home.” “Zeke's laugh cradled abundant joy. “Oh, He's always home, but sometimes we don't wait long enough for Him to answer.” pg 15Love that quote. I have that problem. I want my prayers answered NOW. I want my problems solved now. I have a hard time waiting, especially years, for things to happen. The Bible says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Prov. 13:12 Oh, how true.Other favorite quotes. “Daddy always said that a positive attitude was like a coat, and a person could choose to wear the hard times rolled in.” pg 128 “ Perhaps that's where trust was born—in the belly of the storm.” pg. 128Hard times. Storms. We have had those. I totally understand and have felt both of these things.Happy ending? Yup. Great one. Read it. "It Really IS A Wonderful Life" by Linda Wood Rondeau is a sweet romance for the Christmas season, or any time of year. Ms. Rondeau does a nice job of retelling a classic story with modern updates. In a cute twist, the novel's characters, who lead lives representative of the movie, are performing "It's a Wonderful Life" in their community theater. But everyone doesn't play the role you might think they will.As the story opens, Dorie Fitzgerald's was killed in Iraq a year earlier and now she's moved with her two young children to Upstate New York to live near her parents. It's not where she grew up. Nothing and no one is familiar and Dorie feels out of place,an outsider. After yet another job rejection, she decides to audition for a part with the Midville Players, a community theater group.Meanwhile, Jamey Sullivan has put his dreams of becoming an actor on hold for the past four years. His ailing father has needed him to run the family business, which his father refuses to sell. Now Jamey has an agent and could at any moment receive the call to join a Broadway show. Only problem - he's just met Dorie Fitzgerald and may just be falling for her.Add to this mix Dr. Gabe Wellington. He also is attracted to Dorie. Along with this little love triangle there is a well-rounded cast of secondary characters. As Dorie forges friendships and finds her place in the Midville community, events unfold that draw people in unexpected directions. Though the end is somewhat predictable - it is a wonderful life, after all - the story does serve up some surprises and pleasant twists. There is no Clarence the Angel, trying to earn his wings by showing George Bailey how the world would be worse off if he had never been. Likewise, the Harwood Industries isn't quite the same as Mr. Potter. What this novel does have is believable, three dimensional people. Dorie still struggles with grief, waggling between anger and despair as she strives to make a new life. Her kids are adorable with just the right amount of misbehaving so that any reader can easily picture them. Jamey wants so badly to get a part on Broadway yet he also strives to please his father. He borders on too perfect without actually crossing the line into complete fantasy. Both Branson Harwood Sr. and Junior fulfill the role of Mr. Potter with a new twist sure to delight Christian fiction readers. And, of course, there are all the quirky individuals found in small towns, most of them related to each other in some way. "It Really IS A Wonderful Life" will surely become a classic holiday read, holding its own right alongside the movie.
What do You think about It Really Is A Wonderful Life (2012)?
Sweet little book about a widow starting over.
—abby0925
Cute story if predictable; abysmal editing.
—keziah
