Helpful Score: 6
I read this booka and it was one I wanted all my friends to read. It is a great love story between a girl and her grandmother. There is also a love story between the girl and her friends. It is a must read for anyone who likes Francine Rivers.
Helpful Score: 5
I always like Francine Rivers and her books showing people facing life's problems and God providing a way out.
Helpful Score: 4
Don't expect the expected ending with this story. The characters are real the and the plot could really happen.
I found the mother's contentiousness droning on and on sometimes, but as one moves through the story, that is understood and again, I think the realistic approach of the author would bring all aspects to the story. Faith will be encouraged as we see the heroine grow, but Ms. Rivers doesn't spare hard subjects and grappling with issues--painful at times.
The end comes gently and leaves the reader comforted.
I found the mother's contentiousness droning on and on sometimes, but as one moves through the story, that is understood and again, I think the realistic approach of the author would bring all aspects to the story. Faith will be encouraged as we see the heroine grow, but Ms. Rivers doesn't spare hard subjects and grappling with issues--painful at times.
The end comes gently and leaves the reader comforted.
Helpful Score: 3
A wonderful multigenerational story! I couldn't put this down!
Helpful Score: 2
Very interesting story with some interesting points regarding aging and the value of human life as we age. I enjoyed the characters and the story. Not my favorite Francine Rivers work, but worth the read.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was hard to put done right from the beginning. Many hard lessons to learn in this book of how we treat other, see others, judge others, and why self must die! And lessons on why we must lean and trust in God and HIs will for us.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book. This is another one from Francine Rivers that is hard to put down. I loved the relationships that develop between the characters. The author deals with many of the hot topics of the day in a way that makes you think, and puts them in realistic situations. You are given a glimpse into lives of people in a very believable way.I recommend this book.
Helpful Score: 1
I love the author, Francine Rivers, but this was my least favorite book. I recommend that you start with Redeeming Love instead.
Helpful Score: 1
Have a tissue ready when you read this one - just a really GOOD, GOOD story.
Helpful Score: 1
Good story, but slow moving. Not as emotionally involving as some of her other books.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book. This is a great author.
Helpful Score: 1
Great book. The story pulls you in right from the start. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters. I am a little less enthusiastic about the ending. I'm not sure why Leota had to die that way. It seemed unresolved. Still well worth reading.
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time! Many lessons to be learned in this book.I had a hard time putting it down.
Helpful Score: 1
This book deals with the problems a family faces when the truth is covered-up for generations. It also gives insight to the issues a family faces when old-age catches up with the members who have been estranged for year. Once you begin reading, you can't put it down.
I absolutely loved this book. It really made me think about how my actions and attitudes effect others. It was definitely a tear jerker! Francine Rivers has become a staple in my house a constantly recommended author to my friends. This book was great!
A very touching story. Suggests in story form that each life has a certain number of days and only God knows how many they should be. I loved the characters and Francine Rivers really outdid herself. My favorite of her books.
Once, Leota's garden was a place of beauty where flowers bloomed and hope thrived. It was her refuge from the deep wounds inflicted by a devastating war, her sanctuary where she knelt before a loving God and prayed for the children who couldn't understand her silent sacrifices.
At eighty-four, Leota is alone, her beloved garden in ruins. All her efforts to reconcile with her adult children have been fruitless. She voices her despair to a loving Father, her only friend.
And God brings a wind of change through unlikely means: one, a college student who thinks he has all the answers; the other, the granddaughter Leota never hoped to know. But can the devastation wrought by keeping painful family secrets be repaired before she runs out of time?
I loved this book. I couldn't put it down! It made me very sad but also helped me to see through the eyes of those who are living in this "cage of a body" that we live in. Very profound. I recommend highly, especially for those who are taking care of the none speaking or edlerly.
At eighty-four, Leota is alone, her beloved garden in ruins. All her efforts to reconcile with her adult children have been fruitless. She voices her despair to a loving Father, her only friend.
And God brings a wind of change through unlikely means: one, a college student who thinks he has all the answers; the other, the granddaughter Leota never hoped to know. But can the devastation wrought by keeping painful family secrets be repaired before she runs out of time?
I loved this book. I couldn't put it down! It made me very sad but also helped me to see through the eyes of those who are living in this "cage of a body" that we live in. Very profound. I recommend highly, especially for those who are taking care of the none speaking or edlerly.
Terrific book about family. This one is disfunctional and not able to talk to each other. Younger family members and new friends break through the wall of pain and misunderstanding and generations apart start to appreciate each other in a neglected garden. Reconciliation does not happen easily, but God can heal broken hearts and broken families.
Acclaimed Christian fiction writer Francine Rivers's (The Atonement Child) Leota's Garden uses the image of the garden as a metaphor for the cycles of life that the characters experience. While the story revolves around a number of lives, they are all connected through Leota--an 84-year-old grandmother--and her garden, which was once a place of beauty and hope but has in recent years gone to ruin. Beginning in desolation--Leota has been neglected by her self-centered daughter, whose obsession with getting her own daughter into the best college has driven them apart--the novel slowly shows the weaving together of lives in the mysterious ways of grace: a proud and narrow-minded college student ends up learning more from Leota than he'd bargained for, and the granddaughter Leota had never been allowed to know shows up looking for some answers, and even more, looking for Leota herself. A garden blooms, the novel suggests, by getting one's hands a little dirty doing the hard work of love.
I LOVE this book. I don't think Francine Rivers is capable of writing a bad book. I just wish she would come out with a new book. I am rereading this book as well as her other books. Can't go wrong!!!
As with all of Francine Rivers books, I highly recommend this one.
I started this book and just never got into it...it didn't grab me quick enough i guess. But after reading reviews from others it make me wish I'd held onto ut a little longer...because how good they say it was!
Really enjoyed reading "Leota's Garden". Leota's family and their relationships to each other through three generations was a learning experience that I could relate to. Francine Rivers perspective touched my heart and hit close home. Leot'a relationship with God and her courage in dealing with what life handed her was inspiring. Recommend this book to anyone who has had any issues with their grandparents, parents and children and are looking to understand them better. That would include everyone.
Love it! Francine Rivers always writes enjoyable books, but this is by far one of her best! I'm holding on to my copy because I know I'll want to read it again!
Great book I really enjoyed reading this book
Leota's garden is a precious look into a families struggles. This is relevant to so many family problems and misunderstandings that arise when one does not take the time to get into another ones shoes and understand them through their eyes. Francine Rivers never disappoints and I am on a quest to read all of her books. I am a better person because I always walk away with a new understanding of God thru her writing!
Great story of reconciliation.
I really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down.
Great book!
Another well written novel by Francine Rivers. It brought laughter and tears. I read it in 2 days. I couldn't put it down.
Excellant book! This is only the third book that I've read of Francine Rivers. I want to read them all!
Terrific read. dg
This is a wonderful story of a young 18 year old girl who defies her mother & makes contact with her aging Grandmother. She wants to get to know her grandmother while she can. She also wants to know what alienated her mother & her grandmother. In the process of getting to know her Grandmother, she begins to help her in the garden & before she knows what has happened, she has taken over the garden & moved into Grandma's house to care for her after a stroke. This is a very tender love story between a "child" & her Grandma & how while caring for her Grandma, God uses that time to bring healing & truth to the family & to also show the girl God's path for her life.
I am a Francine Rivers fan - I really enjoyed her Mark of the Lion Series and the last book that I really enjoyed was "The Scarlet Thread" -- I chose this book because it was written by Francine Rivers, but I rank it along with "And The Shofar Blew" -- it was ok, but not one that I would want to read again.
I've enjoyed every book I've read by Francine Rivers. You just can't go wrong with her.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
This is a wonderful story to read once you start to read it, you will not be able to put it down. It has a great story with a christian prospective.
I know you will definitely enjoy the story/book.
I know you will definitely enjoy the story/book.
Award-winning author Francine Rivers opens a world full of vibrant characters with a powerful story of hope. In this stunning novel, Francine explores the new life that love can bring to a decaying garden of broken relationships. Through the lives of 84-year-old Leota, her granddaughter, and a college student with all the answers, Francine leads readers to ponder the value of life and truth in a way that only she can.
This book was a gift and has no spine "bend" marks. I couldn't get into the book and have not read it.
