I love Jan Karon books, wholesome and restful, a balm to your soul. ( )

After being reminded by a friend that this series is delightfully like "curling up with a cup of tea," I realized that the whole series is missing from my Goodreads list. It's been quite a while since I've read this book, so I'm just guessing on the date. I won't rate it, because the details are fuzzy, but I loved this series. Don't pick it up if you're looking for something exceptionally deep or literary. It's just a warm-hearted and good series with characters striving to learn and do what it right.

not a bookclub book ( )

Jan Karon is known for writing a number of books about a small town and it’s beloved Episcopal church and Father Tim. A Common Life is the sixth book in the Mitford Years series and is the story about Father Tim’s wedding and all the fun and lovable things that happen. It is found on the library shelves under the number F/KAR.

The small town of Mitford prepares for one of the most important events in the townsfolk's memory when sixty-two-year-old Father Timothy Kavanagh announces his upcoming nuptials in A Common Life: The Wedding Story by author Jan Karon.

Although this is Book Six in the Mitford Years series, I would have read it after Book Two if I'd known it's a look back at a wedding that already took place but wasn't previously written about. No big deal though, since this short ChristFic novel (a novella?) was just the uplifting interlude I needed.

It isn't only a bride and groom story but a significant glimpse into the varied and layered lives of several people integral to the fabric of Mitford and to Father Tim's life. I expected some laugh-out-loud humor, folksy quirks, and a little matrimonial chaos—and there is! But knowing this author, I should have been better prepared for all the different perspectives and emotions that come so effortlessly yet profoundly off the page.

Not to mention the love story. Ah! Newness and worries and joys, wonderings and sheer wonder... Timothy and Cynthia have one of the most natural, believable, and intensely romantic relationships I've encountered in fiction. Their mature stage in life makes it all the more refreshing.

And honestly, lovey-dovey wedding scenes in novels tend to make me roll my eyes. So when I've instead got tears standing in my eyes during the exchanging of wedding vows in a story, the author's got a gift.

Yes, do read at least Books One and Two first to fully appreciate this substantive and beautiful tale. It's one of my favorite books of the series so far, so I'm glad the author "went back" and wrote it. ( )