Finalist – 2025 American Fiction Awards (LGBTQ Fiction)

She’s heaven-sent… but not exactly heaven-approved.

Deceased drag queen Pearly Gates has the worst job in the afterlife: cosmic sanitation worker. When her soulmate dumps her for being “emotionally unevolved,” Pearly hatches a plan to win him back. She’ll take over the caseload of a burnt-out spirit guide—illegally—and prove she’s worthy of love and redemption.

Her mission lands her at Thunderbolt Books & Coffee, a cozy small-town café with a ghost problem and a community in need. As Pearly uses her charm (and a little celestial magic) to help a young widow risk new love, a trans baker rediscover her spark, and a dying accountant romance a ghost from the 1920s, she starts to find something she thought she’d lost forever: belonging.

But when she realizes the café’s owner is her reincarnated ex—and one of her charges is falling for them—Pearly faces a dilemma: sabotage the relationship… or become the guide she promised to be. Between saving the café, dodging afterlife detectives, and surviving a lip-sync battle with her own body double, Pearly must decide what really matters most.

Uplifting, hilarious, and full of heart, Pearly Gates is a feel-good fantasy about found family, second chances, and discovering your worth—even after death.