A Covington Christmas

Ladies of Covington #5.5

by Joan Medlicott

In this wondrous new holiday book in Joan Medlicott's USA Today bestselling series, the Christmas season brings a host of surprises -- not all of them welcome -- to the lovely ladies of Covington and their small North Carolina mountain town.

The new pastor at the Cove Road Church in Covington discovers that a former pastor from forty years ago was never ordained as a minister, and was therefore not qualified to marry anyone -- which means that five longstanding marriages are invalid! With their marriages thrown into crisis, it's decided that the couples absolutely must remarry on Christmas Eve. But with the church desperately in need of repairs and lacking the funds to fix the rotting floorboards and the outdated heating system, how can they ever get it ready in time?

Sounds like a job for the ladies of Covington! Grace, Hannah, and Amelia step in to organize the weddings, while their friends and neighbors volunteer paint, lumber, and good old-fashioned elbow grease to fix up the church. But when last-minute obstacles threaten to stop the weddings, they're going to need a miracle to turn Christmas Eve into a wedding day that no one will ever forget.

Brimming with warmth, charm, and the spirit of the holidays, A Covington Christmas is a delightful gift for new fans and returning fans alike!

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Book Club, Chick Lit, Friendship

273 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Joan Medlicott lives with her husband in Barnardsville, North Carolina, where she conducts the popular Tea on the Porch workshops.

Reviews

[Janeen Swart · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had not been reading this book for my book club, I’m not sure I would have finished it. At the beginning of the book there were so many characters introduced making it difficult to sort them out. There were moments toward the middle of the book when I did get really interested, but then came the very predictable ending. With the premise of several couples finding out they weren’t really married because the pastor at the time wasn’t ordained, five weddings are planned for Christmas Eve. One of the wives questions whether she really wants to go through with the planned remarriage. Guess I’ve been reading too many books with twists at the end because I was expecting something big to turn up with this couple. You’ll have to read it for yourself to decide how the author could have ended this book with a cliff hanger to make her readers want to go on to her next book in this series. Maybe that was the problem with not being able to sort out the characters at the beginning. This is book 5.5 in this series, so most of the characters had already been presented and the reader is just expected to know them. A COVINGTON CHRISTMAS did not get me interested in going back and reading the rest of this series. It was just too ho hum to make it my choice for further reading. I read the whole Miford series but started with the first book so I would recommend doing that with this series too.

[Carolynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this Christmas story but unfortunately it was too predictable. Lots of people to keep track of and just not that heart-warming...meh

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected sweet, warm and fuzzy and while I think it tried, it just didn't work for me. I did not connect with the characters and while the premise of having a group of people who thought they were married and aren't is an interesting one to explore, maybe you just can't do it justice in a Christmas novel. I felt really bad for those in a bad marriage and who really didn't want to "make it legal". Since this is part of a series, I imagine that things will get resolved, I just will never know how.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five couples find out that they are not legally married, and set about to fix the situation. I for one would jump at the chance to remarry my husband! No hesitation!

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 3rd book I've read about The ladies of Covington, who live in North Carolina. I've enjoyed them all because they are so genuine about people being described.

Grace Singleton is one of the principle characters in the book. She shares a farmhouse with her friends Amelia Declose and Hannah Parrish. She is not really a member of the church that everyone attends in Covington, however she is very important to the new pastor, Pastor Denny Ledbetter. He is taking over the parish from Pastor Johnson, who has been there for 40 years, and was not well. Pastor Johnson recruited Denny from another parish. He'd known Denny from the age of 7, and in an orphanage. Pastor Johnson served as the chaplain at the summer camp the orphanage ran and became like a father to Denny. He got him through high school, and then sent him to college and seminary. So, when Pastor Johnson asked Denny to take over his parish, he did it without hesitation. They shared the parsonage, and Denny took care of him.

It is Grace and Denny that are up cleaning the church attic when Denny finds something in one of the letters he finds in one of the opened boxes; "if what this letter says is true, it's explosive." he has found a letter from 1963 addressed to the Chairman of the Cove Road Community Church Council that informs him that the pastor serving their church at that time has not been ordained; not deemed to be a pastor. Also found were several unsigned marriage certificates which were never filed in court. North Carolina is not a common-law state. Therefore, all of those marriages were null/void, and the children of those unions illegitimate.

It is now up to Grace and Denny, and Pastor Johnson to decide what to do about the situation, and how to tell all of those involved.

At the end of the book there are recipes, and also a book discussion section for book clubs.

[Julie Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice, cozy Christmas story.
What would you do if you found that the person you were married to for 40 years wasn't legally your spouse? This is the question not just one couple has to face, but five, all married 40 years ago by a man practicing as a minister back then but who wasn't ordained, so none of the marriages he performed were legal, so now what to do? There were the legal ramifications, of course, but there was a lot of personal baggage, particularly with May and Billy. She, in fact, toyed with the idea of not marrying Billy at all now that she realized she had a choice. May was a sad case though, because the other four didn't need much encouragement to decide that a wedding was just the thing, and why not all get married on the same day? Why not Christmas Eve?
Planning one wedding is crazy enough, but planning five, in a church with a failing heating system and lots of cosmetic work needing to be done, is even crazier. How are they ever going to pull this off?
The three ladies of Covington, Grace, Hannah and Amelia, are up to the task, and with their help, somehow, it all comes together.
I read this book out of order because I'd already started reading it when I realized there were a few other books in the series before this one, but it was good as a stand-alone. From the first book in the series, I was familiar with the three ladies and some of the other characters, but any other gaps in the story were easily filled in as I read. You're left with a warm, cozy feeling the way this book ends, but you do wonder what happens to all the couples. The only one you're sure of is Velma and Charlie, just as much in love now as they were when they thought they'd married 40 years before. This book ended nicely though.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of the Ladies of Covington series about a caring, talented and diverse group of 4 retired women who share a house in a small community in North Ga and band together with their significant others to make change happen. This time the local church needs renovation ASAP. Also 4 couples find out the minister who married them 40 years before was not ordained and they were not legally married-what will they do? The Ladies of Covington to the rescue!

humorous Story told by Ida a local matriarch p. 108-9
There was a painter named Jack over in Montgomery, Al , who used to cheat is clients by thinning the paint so he could mike it go further. One day he got him a big church to paint on the outside...And sure enough he bought less paint than he charged them for and thinned the paint with water.
Well, just about the time the job was nearly done, there was a big clap of thunder and the rain came down so hard, it washed the thin paint right off the walls of that church. The boards were so slippery, Jack fell down off the scaffold onto the lawn. He was no fool. He figured God was sending a judgement on him. He scrambled to his knees and prayed,"Almighty God, what should I do?"
A Thunderous voice replied, "Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more."

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The minister is ill so he asks his "son" Denny to come take over his responsibilities. While there Denny asks one of his congregation members to help clean out the attic. Grace volunteers and while cleaning they find some documents that says a previous pastor married 5 couples 40 years ago and he was not ordained. After more investigation they find that the marriages are not legal nor is common law marriage in their state. They discuss it with the couples and they want to legally marry on Christmas Eve. The only problem is the church is in major disrepair. The story is about the planning and interesting way the church becomes repaired.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is my first Covington read....it was OK...might have understood characters a little better had I read previous books. So many characters to keep track of and there were definitely relationships between these characters that influenced their actions. Nice Christmas read and I did enjoy making the Curried Fruit recipe in the back of the book...not sure why this was included as I did not remember reading about it in the story

[Dorry Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost did not give this book 3 stars as I found it just o.k. ..while cleaning out the attic in the parsonage it is discovered that the marriage of 5 couples is invalid. It is decided that they must remarry and it is to be done on Christmas Eve. Some wanted to and others did not. All about the condition of the church and getting the couples remarried.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, lovely! This book centers more on the other people in Covington and it is certainly wonderful to meet them. And our author, who describes this as a novella, actually gives us a full-length novel--this one clocks in at 234 pages! A delightful addition to the series.

[Reagan Sprout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get through this (mostly because I knew what the ending would be), but I loved the sweet ending. I enjoyed reading about Charlie and Velma the most, because of their character development and their sweet love!

[Shirley Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice story of a small town coming together to help out each other and the church at Christmas time. Lots of thoughts on different kinds of marriage. Hope, giving, and fellowship are the Christmas themes.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho Hum

Nothing to really enjoy. I do not plan to spend time on any of the other books about the ladies of Covington. Sorry

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice departure to meet some of the other Covington residents. The author does a great job with each character's interior dialogue.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in the Covington series. A feel good, easy read book

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

.?? What is in store for May?

[Patti Larche · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a light-hearted book. Many kind people working together to help one another. Not a Christmas story as I had thought it would be.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The additional characters from down the road livened up this one.

[JLS10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace, Hannah and Amelia save the day when a revelation made while cleaning out the church attic traceable that things in Covington aren’t always as they have seems for a few couples.

[Sherry Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one doesn’t have enough of my ladies in it.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

[Reading Fury · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. It was OK. A minor spoiler alert lies several sentences down. In general, the story was a bit tedious in parts and somewhat interesting in others However, there is a major problem with how characters are handled. I won't give away the greater plot, but the book description already explains that some couples find they were never married. Back in the day, a church member covered up the fact that a temporary minister was not ordained. Firstly, what a truly nasty trick that could have had real legal and financial repercussions for these families, especially when the children were young. But the ladies of Covington are much more worried about wedding outfits and event planning. And, as expected, one of the "wives" has had a miserable marriage and doesn't want to go through with making it legal. Ah, heck: SPOILER ALERT. She tries to put on a happy face but really dreads finalizing things and wants to start her own life. The children are grown and moved out, so it is just her and him. When she finally breaks down and talks to someone, they shove her right through the ceremony. She is already planning a separation as the ring goes back on her finger. I was pretty disgusted that the whole point was to "legitimize" her adult children. Yeah, the stuff dreams are made of. Rather callous and the far fetched plot has been done better elsewhere. The TV episodes in which Rob and Laura and even Fred and Wilma found out they weren't married were better written. I won't bother with the rest of the series.

[♥♥Mari♥♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Booklist refers to the novels of Joan Medlicott as 'gentle novels'. This is the first one I've read by this author, but the classification certainly fits. A Covington Christmas is the type of sweetly evocative novel one would want to read on a cozy winter's night. For a while at least, I was transported out of the hot, humid South Florida weather, and to the delights of a part of the country where you can actually see the seasons change. Medlicott certainly sets the scene well for this one, and I forgot all about palm trees and ocean surf, reveling in the North Carolina rolling hills and pine trees, instead.

The plot is certainly unique -- five couples find out, sometime in October of a particular year, that they've never been legally married! It seems that the minister who performed the ceremonies, about forty years before, had not been ordained, and was serving the church under false pretenses. Once this somewhat comical situation is discovered, the five couples involved decide to get married all over again...

New assistant pastor Denny Ledbetter is cleaning out the church attic, with the help of Grace Singleton, a resident of Covington, when he finds an old letter containing the shocking news. Along with this letter, he finds the marriage certificates for the five couples, unsigned. They had obviously never been presented at the courthouse.

The plot concerns itself mainly with the problem of having five weddings in one day -- Christmas Eve, no less! Initially, only two of the couples chose to get married on that day, but then the other three agree to do the same. This presents another problem: the church needs a lot of repairs, the furnace is ancient, the walls have to be repainted, the stained-glass windows cleaned...

Although the plot line is predictable to some extent, I still found this to be a very pleasant read. Instead of dramatic turning points, Medlicott gives the reader a series of memorable characters, and it's their interactions that make the novel interesting. It's as if the reader has been set down right in the middle of Covington, and becomes part of the daily lives of these people. Thus, this is entirely a character-driven novel.

Most memorable of all are Pastor Denny Ledbetter and his mentor, the aging Pastor Johnson. Ledbetter lived in an orphanage as a child, and was taken under Johnson's wing around the age of seven. From then on, Johnson became like a father to him. It's very touching to see how Ledbetter cares for his elderly mentor. In fact, he has left a wonderful congregation in South Carolina to come up to Covington to assist the older man. He has also left behind a broken heart, which I think Medlicott intends to do something about in a future novel.

Memorable as well are Grace Singleton and her friends, Amelia Declose and Hannah Parrish. Throughout the novel, they each contribute to the planning of the five weddings, with Grace being the leader in setting up meetings with the couples, and generally overseeing things. I especially liked Amelia, though. She's a photographer whose creative talents also manifest in other areas.

Then there are the five couples who find out, to their great dismay, that they're not really married. Each of them deals with this unexpected news in his/her own way. Most poignant of all is May McCorkle's reaction. In contrast to her twin sister, June, she realized, early on, that she should never have married Billy. She had done so because he had gotten her pregnant. Their marriage has been an unhappy one, and so she's not at all pleased at the prospect of having to marry him all over again. In contrast, Velma and Charlie Herrill are very much in love, as are Frank and Alma Craine, although Alma has had to tolerate Frank's incorrigible flirtatiousness toward other women for many years.

Readers preferring more action, more conflict, will probably not like this novel. I would have preferred a bit more conflict myself, especially when it became apparent that the church furnace would definitely have to be replaced, and Pastor Ledbetter had to make a last-minute trip into Tennessee for a new one, just as a snowstorm was approaching. Having a villain or two in the story would also have added some interesting conflict.

In spite of these objections, I still think that A Covington Christmas is a great holiday story. Yes, it's 'gentle'. At the same time, however, it's also full of wonderful characterizations, as well as a beautiful setting, and a very real sense of belonging, of joyful togetherness, that's just perfect for the beautiful season of Christmas!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. The storyline involves 5 couples who find out that they are not legally married because the "priest" was not ordained. The ladies take a back seat in this one and others in the village that we normally only hear reference to are brought forward. We get a little insight into their lives and hear about the Ladies from their point of view. New to Covington is the priest who discovers the problem while cleaning out the attic, his job as the newbie. Grace volunteered to help him, even though she isn't a Catholic, and this gets her and the other ladies involved in the weddings.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another nice "Christmas" story from a collection by author Joan Medlicott. The story centers around 5 couples in Covington, NC married approximately 40 years ago. While cleaning out the church attic it comes to light that the pastor at that time was not certified to marry the couples and they are not legally in valid partnerships. A story of women, friendship, family, marital relationships, hardship and a struggling church which ends on a nice note of the 5 couples getting married in the refurbished church on Christmas Eve. A light reading feel good kind of story.

[Doris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read - from the opening with a young pastor who is filling in for an older friend, to the mix of couples who aren't really married due to a set of strange circumstances. The main threesome of ladies help with making sure the marriages are made legal before Christmas, but the focus of the story was on the brides and the marriages. The only part that bothered me, and it may be correct, is that North Carolina doesn't give long term partners any stake in the relationship or the assets that are not joint. Scary thought, that!

Overall a fun and good read!

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

When cleaning out the church attic, the new pastor discovers that a previous "pastor" was not legally ordained and the 5 couples he married where not really married. The couples decide to marry in a 5 wedding ceremony on Christmas Eve. The story is about the brides and their relationships with the men in their lives.

This was an easy, gentle read, perfect for reading on a cold winter night during the holiday season. I don't know that I'll look up this author for more, unless I want a nice, fast read.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea at all. This author was recommended to me by a friend, but I will pass on any further books. I almost stopped reading this book about halfway through. It was really poorly written, and lacked character development at that point. Finally at about 60%, a few of the characters were finally fleshed out, but by that point I did not care.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I had not read the earlier books I was confused about the relationship between Grace, Hannah, and Amelia but that did not detract from the story. Interesting topic, easy read, and just average writing. Ok, but I am not sure there is a pull for me to read more of the series. Not sure why but maybe just not my type of story and writing style.