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“Everything will be okay in the end. And if it isn’t okay, it isn’t the end.”

Author: Jan Karon

It’s finally time for the happy ending (or should I say beginning) of Dooley and Lace’s story. From their previously fiery relationship, they have settled into trust and love, and the day of The Big Knot looms, just as they are going through other important changes in their life. Dooley is graduating, preparing to take over Meadowgate, anticipating a new bull with a terrifying reputation, and secretly sneaking a puppy into the mix. Lace is looking to find the perfect dress for under $100, make Dooley the perfect wedding present, and plan a “simple country wedding” that is quickly getting out of control. In the meantime, they both have more tragic news to finally share, and a secret plan in the works that could potentially turn the calamity into rejoicing.

Now, I’m not a wedding/romance reading kind of person. One quick look at my reviews shows a love of horror, thrillers, and mysteries. And let me tell you, a romance in any of these ends badly. But here, in Come Rain or Come Shine, I was moved by what is truly a saccharine but well-earned and entirely necessary love story. I don’t know how Jan Karon does it but she channels the way people should be, the way they should love and interact, without sidestepping the hardships in life. People in these books have hardships – some of them are truly great – but they push through, faith in and love of God descending over them and their lives with a gentle contentment that mirrors what is to come after death. There is no way you can read it and not want a tissue, and not long to be a better person, to mend enmities in life, and to love others. And this sappiness is coming from a horror reader no less, so that should tell you something about Karon’s magic and the restorative nature of the entire Father Tim series.

As I read Come Rain or Come Shine, I smelled the beautiful country air, walked the rough farmhouse boards, ate the delicious home cooked food, watched the cows gently graze in the pasture, and echoed back warmly to my own wedding and those first hints of a new life to begin. Karon keeps up her descriptive powers here and time and place come through. We’ve visited Meadowgate a little in the past, but here it is all Meadowgate, and the place shines up nicely. We want to come here again, just as we love Mitford.

Image by jdwoolington from Pixabay

Father Tim and Cynthia play more cameo roles in this particular book, something I normally wouldn’t like. But it worked here, this handing of the baton from one generation to the next, the way Father Tim’s work here has completed, and his legacy begun.

Still, I would have liked to be more present for some of the bigger moments in Tim’s life that are glossed over: mainly the passing of Barnabas and Cynthia’s true retiring from her Violet novels. These were too big to happen off screen and to be glossed over.

Likewise, towards the end, Karon adds a bit too much. Everything is happening for Lace and Dooley at once, and when their secret plan comes through, we get one more huge thing shoved into the mix that honestly was just a step too far, even for our happily-ever-after rose-tinted lenses. This entire advent needed its own book, not a last-minute spotlight in this one. Not that it’s not sweet, but it happened too quickly, too left field.

Nevertheless, I was so entirely in love with Come Rain or Come Shine, the small moments of discordance were a mere whisper in a meadow full of birdsong. I can’t wait to read the next book, although I do hope Father Tim and Cynthia will stay the focus of the series, with Dooley and Lace, of course, making appearances throughout. Highly recommended, as always.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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