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Easter Blessings: The Butterfly Garden/The Lily Field (Steeple Hill Easter 2-in-1)
Easter Blessings by Lenora Worth\Gail Gaymer Martin released on Feb 21, 2003 is available now for purchase.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2003
1 person is currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Gail Gaymer Martin
147 books137 followersMulti-award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin writes Christian fiction for Winged Publications with many books published by Love Inspired and Barbour Publishing, where she was honored by Heartsong readers as their Favorite Author of 2008. Gail has 77 published novels or novellas with over four million books in print. She is the author of Writers Digest’s Writing the Christian Romance and a founder of American Christian Fiction Writers, a keynote speaker at churches, libraries and civic organizations and presents workshops at conference across the US. She was named one of the four best novelists in the Detroit area by CBS local news. Gail loves to hear from readers through her website contact and adds the reader's name to her bi-monthly drawing for a free book or two.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 2, 2016
2 cute stories. I enjoyed both of them.
June 3, 2021
Two books in one!! It was such sweet stories.
April 25, 2022
My kids' jaws *dropped* when they saw this in my hands. Because we don't celebrate Ishtar/Easter. It's a bastardization of Pesach, a mixing of darkness with light that the Bible says God abhors. We have *NOTHING* to do with it - we keep the Leviticus 23 feasts. And yes, I'm thinking I'm going to deface the book and try to remove the word 'Easter' from the front with nail polish remover or alcohol or something.
Having said... this was in the bags of books I've picked up. And it being spring, I thought I'd see if I could stand it.
THE LILY FIELD (Lenora Worth) - ★★★★☆
This was an amazing romance story - it's about love at first sight. And there are NO pretenses, no undercurrents, no subtext - Heath is open about every single feeling he has for her, from moment one. Seriously refreshing, in light of all the books that are misunderstandings or 'how can I know how he feels'... there is NO doubt that Heath loves Mariel. I loved this about the story, by the way.
Mariel has been burned - first by her father, then by a boyfriend in Dallas. She's burned out on her job, at the same time... she thought getting promotions would make her happy, but it's just made her busier, more frustrated, and more burned out. So when her grandma calls her back to the family lily farm she's loved and grown up at, she goes for a 'vacation'.
Heath has been wandering since his father died, but he grew up tending lilies before that, and when he centers himself back in the Lord's hands, he comes to work as the new foreman of Mariel's grandmother's farm. And now that he's found a purpose, a faith, and a home... he's ready to find love. He looks up... and there's Mariel... and that's just it for him. He loves her. Period. The kind of love story you hear old people talk about, but don't see, anymore.
The writing, the description, the dialogue, the characterization... all beautifully done and solid. This story is well told, and you learn about raising lilies, in the reading. I love when I come away with something new from stories, so kudos to Worth for that, too!
As for the 'inspirational' part, the spirituality in this one is so weak and stupid, it was super easy for me to dismiss. There's only one reference to the resurrection (that isn't more than a passing nod at the 'holi'day), but there are just as many references to chicks, eggs, flowers (<--fertility symbols of Ishtar). And of course everything they eat is scripturally unclean, from the crayfish to Rocky Road (has gelatin - pig fat in it). Typical chrischun story fellowshipping paganism with scant mentions of Biblical truth. It didn't really dwell on the crucifixion/resurrection, so I breathed a giant sigh of relief. Nothing there to ruin the story for me!
I loved this one. It was a worry, but it's easy to just enjoy the romance, which dominates the story.
BUTTERFLY GARDEN (Gail Gaymer Martin) - ★☆☆☆☆
I DNF-ed this hot mess. This is a book about a woman 'confined' to a wheelchair. Except she's not, she's just afraid of the surgery that would allow her to recover. But the author abuses the concept of 'being trapped', and makes other people push her around (a HUGE don't-you-dare in disability circles) in her wheelchair.
Worse, it's demeaning that only a physical therapist would be interested in a disabled person, and that's where the author took this. It's all about him badgering her into a surgery that she's afraid of, while insisting he's in love with her. But she's a sulky, nasty, uncooperative brat to him the whole time so *WHAT* is he, exactly, interested in her for? There's nothing there - we're not told she's pretty, she doesn't have faith, she's cowardly and obstinate... just YUCK.
And then it goes even FURTHER south, by dragging her to Special Olympics and Disability sports, to... do what? Get her out of the house and out of her funk by showing her how much better off she is than other people? That's offensive, too. The whole thing was handled REALLY badly.
As for the writing, it starts off and doesn't even tell you who's sitting at the table (a sister shows up out of nowhere a whole page later who was apparently sitting there from the beginning?), we don't know a thing about the accident she was injured in, we don't know any specifics about her 'pain' or 'injury'... except she later says it's 'arthritis'... which does NOT come from an accident, hello.
And what is this magical, mystical surgery that can make her troubles all go away, a la chrischun delusions of faith healings and 'God can do all things', along the same lines as the Jabez fad/myth? We're never told exactly what they're going to do. At least not to the point where I read... and it was enough, believe you me.
The dialogue is whiny/obnoxious, the writing isn't at all descriptive, the author TELLS us they're developing a relationship instead of showing it... it was just awful, all the way around. I was done. I love (and am kind of a collector of) good disability stories, but this one was insultingly bad.
To the point where I'm ripping the book in half, pulling the back cover off, and re-taping it in, making the book half the size. Because I'm *NOT* keeping crap... but I loved the first story.
Having said... this was in the bags of books I've picked up. And it being spring, I thought I'd see if I could stand it.
THE LILY FIELD (Lenora Worth) - ★★★★☆
This was an amazing romance story - it's about love at first sight. And there are NO pretenses, no undercurrents, no subtext - Heath is open about every single feeling he has for her, from moment one. Seriously refreshing, in light of all the books that are misunderstandings or 'how can I know how he feels'... there is NO doubt that Heath loves Mariel. I loved this about the story, by the way.
Mariel has been burned - first by her father, then by a boyfriend in Dallas. She's burned out on her job, at the same time... she thought getting promotions would make her happy, but it's just made her busier, more frustrated, and more burned out. So when her grandma calls her back to the family lily farm she's loved and grown up at, she goes for a 'vacation'.
Heath has been wandering since his father died, but he grew up tending lilies before that, and when he centers himself back in the Lord's hands, he comes to work as the new foreman of Mariel's grandmother's farm. And now that he's found a purpose, a faith, and a home... he's ready to find love. He looks up... and there's Mariel... and that's just it for him. He loves her. Period. The kind of love story you hear old people talk about, but don't see, anymore.
The writing, the description, the dialogue, the characterization... all beautifully done and solid. This story is well told, and you learn about raising lilies, in the reading. I love when I come away with something new from stories, so kudos to Worth for that, too!
As for the 'inspirational' part, the spirituality in this one is so weak and stupid, it was super easy for me to dismiss. There's only one reference to the resurrection (that isn't more than a passing nod at the 'holi'day), but there are just as many references to chicks, eggs, flowers (<--fertility symbols of Ishtar). And of course everything they eat is scripturally unclean, from the crayfish to Rocky Road (has gelatin - pig fat in it). Typical chrischun story fellowshipping paganism with scant mentions of Biblical truth. It didn't really dwell on the crucifixion/resurrection, so I breathed a giant sigh of relief. Nothing there to ruin the story for me!
I loved this one. It was a worry, but it's easy to just enjoy the romance, which dominates the story.
BUTTERFLY GARDEN (Gail Gaymer Martin) - ★☆☆☆☆
I DNF-ed this hot mess. This is a book about a woman 'confined' to a wheelchair. Except she's not, she's just afraid of the surgery that would allow her to recover. But the author abuses the concept of 'being trapped', and makes other people push her around (a HUGE don't-you-dare in disability circles) in her wheelchair.
Worse, it's demeaning that only a physical therapist would be interested in a disabled person, and that's where the author took this. It's all about him badgering her into a surgery that she's afraid of, while insisting he's in love with her. But she's a sulky, nasty, uncooperative brat to him the whole time so *WHAT* is he, exactly, interested in her for? There's nothing there - we're not told she's pretty, she doesn't have faith, she's cowardly and obstinate... just YUCK.
And then it goes even FURTHER south, by dragging her to Special Olympics and Disability sports, to... do what? Get her out of the house and out of her funk by showing her how much better off she is than other people? That's offensive, too. The whole thing was handled REALLY badly.
As for the writing, it starts off and doesn't even tell you who's sitting at the table (a sister shows up out of nowhere a whole page later who was apparently sitting there from the beginning?), we don't know a thing about the accident she was injured in, we don't know any specifics about her 'pain' or 'injury'... except she later says it's 'arthritis'... which does NOT come from an accident, hello.
And what is this magical, mystical surgery that can make her troubles all go away, a la chrischun delusions of faith healings and 'God can do all things', along the same lines as the Jabez fad/myth? We're never told exactly what they're going to do. At least not to the point where I read... and it was enough, believe you me.
The dialogue is whiny/obnoxious, the writing isn't at all descriptive, the author TELLS us they're developing a relationship instead of showing it... it was just awful, all the way around. I was done. I love (and am kind of a collector of) good disability stories, but this one was insultingly bad.
To the point where I'm ripping the book in half, pulling the back cover off, and re-taping it in, making the book half the size. Because I'm *NOT* keeping crap... but I loved the first story.
July 13, 2023
I really, really liked the second story, "The Butterfly Garden." I could emphasize with BOTH characters.
Favorite quote: "I wish I'd just accept it and not feel so victimized."
I'm thankful I could see Emily's journey from despair to victory --- spiritually and emotionally before physically.
Because this is how life is, I think. There is brokenness for sure .... but also hope for a NEW START. (aka, the butterfly motif!)
I also thoroughly enjoyed Gail Gaymer Martin's writing style. As an author I could see how every scene drew the characters CLOSER to their goal or FARTHER away. I want to implement this in my novels, the way Emily or Greg learned something in EVERY scene. Remarkable writing, actually! (And yes, I finished this one story in ONE DAY. A story that definitely moves!)
Favorite quote: "I wish I'd just accept it and not feel so victimized."
I'm thankful I could see Emily's journey from despair to victory --- spiritually and emotionally before physically.
Because this is how life is, I think. There is brokenness for sure .... but also hope for a NEW START. (aka, the butterfly motif!)
I also thoroughly enjoyed Gail Gaymer Martin's writing style. As an author I could see how every scene drew the characters CLOSER to their goal or FARTHER away. I want to implement this in my novels, the way Emily or Greg learned something in EVERY scene. Remarkable writing, actually! (And yes, I finished this one story in ONE DAY. A story that definitely moves!)
April 8, 2020
I just have a hard time believing that someone can fall in love at first sight. The second story, The Butterfly Garden was better.
November 1, 2016
I read the first story, but never got around to starting the second one. It was alright, but rather cutsey for my tastes. Might read the second one eventually, or might pass on the book to somebody else entirely.
February 23, 2008
Sweet stories
September 27, 2010
Both sweet, heartwarming stories. Although, I did enjoy 'The Butterfly Garden' better.
Read
March 30, 2012Two novellas in one edition. Really sweet. Predictable, but sweet, quick reads. :)
Read
January 12, 2009YAI-Wor
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews