The Naked Gardener

by L.B. Gschwandtner

In a remote forest of northern Vermont, Katelyn Cross takes five women on a wilderness canoe trip where they hope to come up with ideas for saving their dying town. Although the river is not always what it seems and the women have not left their problems behind, a painting ritual creates a new way to look at the world - and themselves. Artist Katelyn Cross loves Greg Mazur and he loves her. He wants to be married but a previous relationship that went sour has made Katelyn overly cautious about any permanent commitment. And what about Greg's first wife? He lost her to cancer and Katelyn worries that he's only looking for a replacement. What's a girl to do? Canoe down a river with five gal pals, camp out, catch fish, talk about life and men. The problem is, a river can be as unpredictable as any relationship and just as hard to manage. On their last day, when the river turns wild, the women face the challenge of a lifetime and find that staying alive means saving themselves first while being open to help from a most unlikely source. As Katelyn navigates the raging water, she learns how to overcome her fear of change in a world where nothing stays the same. When Katelyn returns to her garden, she'll face one more obstacle and the naked gardener will meet the real Greg Mazur.

What readers are saying about The Naked Gardener:

Lyrical ... Scandalous ... Empowering ... Exhilarating ... Honest ... Sensual ... Fun ... Gentle ... Pleasurable ... Transporting ... Timeless

In her first novel, award winning writer L B Gschwandtner explores the push and pull of love, a woman's need to maintain her individuality within marriage, and the bonds that can make women stronger even when the world feels as if it's breaking apart.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Relationships, Ebooks

230 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2010

Reviews

[LORI CASWELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What you feel is your own to tend. No one can share it. No one can endure it for you. No one can inhabit your world but you."

Katelyn loves Maze, he loves her, there is no denying that. Maze wants to get married but Katelyn has had her heart broken before and likes things just the way they are. They have recently brought a farm in Vermont and spend time there each summer.

Katelyn has made a friend and a few acquaintances. They meet up one day and decide to take a trip. A canoe trip down the local river. Six women, three canoes and they are going to take a break from their lives for three days and camp out, catch fish and get to know each other better. Maze is not behind this plan at all but there is not stopping Katelyn.

The river and the trip takes a wild turn and some great friendships bloom including one very unlikely one.

Dollycas's Thoughts
This was one of the first free books I had on my Kindle and I am kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. The story was like a breathe of fresh air as I sit watching my own flowers bloom.

I had heard nothing about this story and didn't read any reviews or even much of the synopsis before ordering it. With a title The Naked Gardener I wasn't sure what I was getting into but I can honestly say I will never look at a garden the same way again.

Katelyn's journey in the story as well as all six women's journey down the river was a delight to read and offered much insight to my own journey through this world. "We have only a small corner where we can make a difference and a short time to try. But if we start in one small place, no one can predict how much difference that little corner might make."

This is the author's first novel and it is so beautifully written. Her descriptions of the garden and the river almost transport you right there. This book is about friendship, love, being a strong woman and making our own choices, so much more than gardening naked.

This is a very fast read and I give it my highest recommendation. Make it a book group choice or read it with a group of your friends, it would make a great read for a girl's weekend. Enjoy!

[Romancing the Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Amie Lou
Book provided by author

Six women, three days, and one river. When I first read the blurb, I was afraid I was about to read Deliverance with women.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Naked Gardener is the story of six women of varying ages, walks of life, and personalities coming into themselves. It’s a poignant story of discovery, self-acceptance, and understanding.
Katelyn had always wanted to canoe down the Trout River, more specifically the Trout River Falls.

And when the women of the city council need a gimmick to save their dying town, the ladies use brainstorming ideas as the perfect excuse for the “girls only” weekend canoe trip. It is the quintessential “girls night out”--on steroids.

But the trip turns out to be much more than a way to figure out how to save the town. Each woman brings her own individual angst, issues, and problems on what turns out to be a very enlightening and fateful trip.

Beautifully written, artistic, and touching, The Naked Gardner is a novel of coming to terms. Each character has to discover, reveal, and accept who they are, the changes they face, and the lives they are living at that moment in time.

There’s a piece of every one of these women in us all. Hope the virgin, Valerie the aging beauty queen, and Katelyn who’s afraid to get her heart broken again. As for the others? Well, I can’t spoil the story. You’ll just have to read it for yourself.

[Read for your future! · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the naked Gardner. The characters are believable and very full. The story floated along just like the river. It is very relatable to real life. All the adversities and concerns of the woman are all things that we all face daily. The bond that comes about on their canoe trip is what every woman wished for from friendship. All six of them are very different in their styles. Yet they mesh well together, Katelyn and the others learn things about themselves that they never realized before Each one has secrets yet they all accept each other without question. All relationships have their own set of problems. But with a lot of hard work and determination anything can be worked out. This book sets up beautifully to overcome the obstacles. I would recommend this book to any woman of any age There is something in the story for everyone to take away with them. This is an excellent read and I am impatiently waiting for the sequel!

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stridently feminist, this novel annoyed me with its stock characters: the woman undecided about marriage because she might turn into a "wife"' the woman who has just found out she is pregnant, the botaxed social climber whose husband is having an affair, a young Christian who has never dated, the "fat" woman who discovers her true beauty. It's not that the message is bad, but it's presented in such a heavy-handed way that it put me off. There is no subtlety to this story. Of course they would all take turns completely baring their inner lives around the campfire! And of course, even though almost all are novice paddlers, they would canoe through floodwaters and then cap it off with an adventure run over a waterfall! And of course the women would save the town after those worthless men gave up on it! With all the great books out there about strong women who persevere over great odds, I regret wasting my time on this.

[Kim Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Naked Gardener is a fast, fun read and the main character, Katelyn, is extremely appealing and easy to relate to. She isn't sure if she wants to marry her longtime boyfriend Maze because she knows all too well what marriage can lead to in terms of losing her freedom and identity. But you have to move forward eventually, right? Especially if part of you craves marriage and motherhood. The author takes a classic female dilemma - freedom vs. love and family and rounds out the story with a cast of interesting female characters and a river rafting trip that pushes everyone beyond her limits. This is a great vacation read and would be a natural for book clubs. (And, oh yeah, the title isn't just provacative. Katelyn does into her garden naked whenever she is frustrated. It's a very cool part of the story.)

[Jjpierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing, but body paint?

[weaverannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Als een boek ruim tien jaar ongelezen op de plank staat, of in dit geval: op de ereader, weet je vaak niet, wat je kan verwachten en wat de reden ooit was voor aankoop van het boek.
Het was op zijn minst verrassend. Natuurlijk: er werd getuinierd. De planten werden goed verzorgd en onderhouden. Maar belangrijker was het onderhouden van relaties. Dat was vaak niet zo vanzelfsprekend. Blijf je bij deze man? Kan je vertrouwen dat hij hetzelfde blijft? Zal je zelf hetzelfde blijven?
Ook vriendschap is een belangrijk thema, vooral. De vriendschap met de vrouwen , die de gemeenteraad vormen van het dorp in Vermont, waar het verhaal zich afspeelt. Zullen zij het dorp kunnen redden van totale leegloop?
En dat is maar een deel van het verhaal. Achter elkaar uitgelezen, hoewel de stukken over de boottocht op de woeste rivier voor mij moeilijk te begrijpen was, omdat ik geen enkele ervaring heb met wild water varen.
Maar verder: een aanrader!

[Hope Kotsonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Maybe it's the stages of life as a woman and where I'm at in it but I found this story to be so true of the way I think and look at life. It has been a boost to my self esteem and now I'm ready for adventure and discovery.

[Melissa Calvanico Pollio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light adventure read

A little adventure, a little romance,a quick read. I will look for the sequel. A chick read for sure. Thumb up

[Bill Mock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grab your body paints and read this book. Gardening, canoeing, and nakedness, what more could you want!!?

[Joanne Heins · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun read

[Mechele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Naked Gardner


By: L B Gschwandtner

Summary-
In a remote forest of northern Vermont, Katelyn Cross takes five women on a wilderness canoe trip where they hope to come up with ideas for saving their dying town. Although the river is not always what it seems and the women have not left their problems behind, a painting ritual creates a new way to look at the world – and themselves. Artist Katelyn Cross loves Greg Mazur and he loves her. He wants to be married but a previous relationship that went sour has made Katelyn overly cautious about any permanent commitment. And what about Greg’s first wife? He lost her to cancer and Katelyn worries that he’s only looking for a replacement. What’s a girl to do? Canoe down a river with five gal pals, camp out, catch fish, talk about life and men. The problem is, a river can be as unpredictable as any relationship and just as hard to manage. On their last day, when the river turns wild, the women face the challenge of a lifetime and find that staying alive means saving themselves first while being open to help from a most unlikely source. As Katelyn navigates the raging water, she learns how to overcome her fear of change in a world where nothing stays the same. When Katelyn returns to her garden, she’ll face one more obstacle and the naked gardener will meet the real Greg Mazur.What readers are saying about The Naked Gardener:Lyrical … Scandalous … Empowering … Exhilarating … Honest … Sensual … Fun … Gentle … Pleasurable … Transporting … TimelessIn her first novel, award winning writer L B Gschwandtner explores the push and pull of love, a woman’s need to maintain her individuality within marriage, and the bonds that can make women stronger even when the world feels as if it’s breaking apart.(Goodreads)

Review-
I loved the naked Gardner. The characters are believable and very full. The story floated along just like the river. It is very relatable to real life. All the adversities and concerns of the woman are all things that we all face daily. The bond that comes about on their canoe trip is what every woman wished for from friendship. All six of them are very different in their styles. Yet they mesh well together, Katelyn and the others learn things about themselves that they never realized before Each one has secrets yet they all accept each other without question. All relationships have their own set of problems. But with a lot of hard work and determination anything can be worked out. This book sets up beautifully to overcome the obstacles. I would recommend this book to any woman of any age There is something in the story for everyone to take away with them. This is an excellent read and I am impatiently waiting for the sequel!
My Score -4.5 Stars
Reviewed by~Mechele

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Naked Gardener by L. B. Gschwandtner is a thoroughly enjoyable read. It tells the story of a group of women who have all arrived at a crossroad in their lives, where they have to make difficult decisions, which require courage and a leap of faith. Katelyn, the main character, needs to deal with her fear of commitment to a man she loves. Another woman is faced with a possible life-threatening illness, a third has to decide if her marriage is still worth the effort, one woman is torn between her strict moral upbringing and the desire to break out of it, and another one has to decide how to deal with her career and a pregnancy. The novel is beautifully written, the symbols of the garden and the river fit seamlessly into the plot and portray the theme of freedom, of shedding those parts of ourselves, which hold us back, and the courage it takes to master the river of life. What I like most about this book is that it doesn't follow the "traditional" often narcissist, self-centered, new-age depiction of women "trying to find themselves" with the occasional hidden or overt male-bashing. This book speaks equally to women and men. And last, but not least, it is full of action. I was holding on to the sides of my imaginary canoe as I experienced it shooting down that turbulent river and plunging over the rapids.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting tale about life and love and women and relationships, an unexpectedly appealing story with great characters. The story revolves around Katelyn, an artist trying hard to maintain her distance from her live-in lover Maze. As she works through the reasons why she feels the way she feels, she finds herself leading a group of inexperienced paddlers on a canoe trip through the wilderness. Each of these women has a problem and of course the trip becomes a bonding experience that helps them work through these problems.

Despite what seems like a hackneyed plot, this book is actually quite enjoyable. The characters are appealing, both as individuals and as a group, and I was quickly pulled into their story. My initial dislike of Maze was eventually tempered as more of his character is revealed, and the sub-plot about their Vermont town was equally engaging. The ending makes it clear a sequel is in the works, but the author does an admirable job of wrapping up the story, providing enough of a conclusion to satisfy readers while introducing a hook to help sell the sequel. 4 strong stars- a great way to ring in the new year!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly entertaining and intelligently written analysis of the dilemma of the "modern woman," the classic freedom vs. commitment debate. Choosing love and commitment often seems to be paired along with the loss of one's identity and the freedom to live as one chooses with no responsibilities nor ties to anyone or anything. The author flawlessly juxtaposes the struggle the main character faces in her personal life with the unpredictable wildness of nature itself - the river, calm one minute yet wildly out of control the next; the garden, growing and full of life while entirely at the mercy of the elements.

The main character's story is enhanced by the lives of the friends that surround her, each one dynamic and dramatic on their own. Presenting a group of women as such, the reader is provided with a clear understanding that we each have our own story to tell that collectively allow us to relate to one another as human beings while setting us apart as individuals.

[Janet Leszl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a woman grappling with decisions about her future.

Katelyn’s an artist in a living with a widower college professor in Virginia. He says he’s ready for marriage. She resists, fearing she’ll lose herself in the traditional role of a wife. They summer every year in Vermont on a farm in with dilapidated buildings they’re renovating. Nearby the town of Trout River Falls is in danger of disappearing. On the spur of the moment, she organizes a canoe trip with the women of the town council, each of whom has their own secret issues weighing heavily on their minds.

This book is a light, easy entertaining novel. Yet, the reader can ponder along with the main character life issues of stability vs. freedom and risking predictability over seeking new challenges.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book.

The heroine enjoys gardening in the nude. Not even her lover knows about her habit, but losing her clothes and getting in touch with the earth is satisfying to Katelyn. Especially when she's so insecure in her relationship with Maze.

When Katelyn suggests a canoe trip to five other women with their own problems, she doesn't intend it to be a catalyst for change, only for reflection. But as they make their way back to civilization each woman changes, Katelyn most of all. The ending seemed a little tame. Until I kept reading on to the real ending. And it was great.

I expected another women/friendship book, but this was much more.

The writing is lyrical. I not only saw Katelyn's love for the land and nature, I shared it. I not only watched her go over the rapids, I was there. And I'm not an outdoorsy person.

Really good book.

[Ann Garvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women, you gotta love 'em. L B Gschwandtner clearly loves her women characters and though The Naked Gardner, we fall in love as well. When women are faced with a problem in the community they become a community of problem solvers. They do it with grace, beauty, and support. This book is filled with complex women solving modern problems using the typical tools of women-hood: relationship building, communication, logical thinking, and good old fashioned elbow grease. If that weren't enough L B Gschwandtner writes in a sensual style that is filled with gorgeous scenery, gardens, wild life and a kind of living we might aspire to but never quite acheive. I felt decadent reading her prose. Sexy and appealing, The Naked Gardner makes you wonder why you wear so many clothes.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange, but totally engaging read. Brilliantly written, thoughtful, funny, and even thrilling! Six women in three canoes on a river - never thought I'd love an action-type story, but it's much more than just that. Katelyn is a quirky and endearing narrator, and her relationship (and troubles) with Maze was wholly relatable. I enjoyed this adventure with her to self-discovery.

The only thing that didn't sit well with me was how all these women would believably, and so eagerly, without much hesitation at all, jump on board with ALL of Katelyn's odd whims (you'll know what I mean when you read it, lol!). But if you can look past that, then it's a really great read.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. It pulled me in from the first line right through to the end. It's really not just about Katelyn, the naked gardener, but about all women, and the choices they make in their lives. I adored each of the ladies in this book and could relate to each one at some level, and ultimately, I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. The story is sometimes leisurely, sometimes fast and compelling, but always interesting. LB Gschwandtner has proven to me that she's a writer to contend with in the world of women's fiction.

[Ionia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disagree with the low star ratings of this book. I can see how this would not appeal to everyone, but personally, I thought it was an example of literary prowess and intelligent writing. I liked the way the story unfolded and thought the author did a good job of giving the reader a view of the inner workings of the mind of the main character. I thought this was an easy read from the beginning that kept me turning pages. In the end, I was glad that I read it and would encourage others to do so as well.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mar. 2016. Re reading


Nov. 2010. The Naked Gardner is a refreshing and thought provoking read. Each of the 6 women gets to challenge themselves and reflect on their lives during a 3 day canoe trip. The author put into words ideas that were lurking at the fringes of my consciousness but were never fully formed. I find myself reflecting on the book often and wishing it was spring and the garden was alive instead of November and the garden is put to bed.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fast read that immerses you in the lives of several women in a small town in Vermont. it was neat that the women were of all different age groups but still had some of the same struggles and some unique to their to their age.

I love the freedom and liberation that Katelyn feels as she goes to her garden naked. And there was a lot of symbolism with the rocks.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to be totally engrossed in a good book.

[Susan O'Neill-Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Naked Gardener was my favorite book in a long time. It is a book about women and trust and change and empowerment. There isn't one character in the core group of women that I couldn't relate to in one way or another. This includes the elderly Ms. Ward.

LB Gschwandtner has an amazing way with words. I experienced every flower, every bend in the river and each emotion that the women felt on their.adventure.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy and sweet read. I liked the women and I think delving any deeper into their issues/problems would have made the book too long and too dark. However, I wish I could have understood what really effed up Katelyn that she was so scared of committing to such a great guy besides people changing overtime. I would like to see Katelyn's garden for sure. :)

[Judi Coltman · Rating 4 out of 5]

L.B. Gschwandtner writes authentic, clean prose that convey the story as well as the feelings of women who decided to embark on a life altering adventure. The gardening theme encompasses not only vegetables and herbs, but friendship and personal growth as well. They best part is that Gschwandtner does all of this without pretense or false depth and a little bit of humor to boot.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm the person who won Naked Gardner but that does not affect my judgement of the book. Katelyn is extremely appealing and easy to relate to which is something not often found in a female protagonists these days. This novel is a well written fun read. Katelyn faces the problem many women do stability vs freedom and predictability vs adventure.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unusual book called The Naked Gardner. The story is a fast read, but one that makes you think about your own "life choices".

The main character interacts with five friends at her Vermont summer home. All have some issues unknown to the others that become shared on a challenging trip in canoes down a roaring river.

[della · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the beginning of this book but by the end there were just too many irregularities. I kayak and I would never take five untrained kayakers down a river in flood stage. Also, first they say they leave their equipment on the river bank, then that they leave it at the manor house. If I was kayaking a river in flood stage, I don't think body paint would be the one thing I took with me!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a free book fro Goodreads First Reads. Overall this was a good story. The female character has some issues. She goes rafting down the river with friends, she reflects. I don't know, there are many things I have issues with this book. You should read it for yourself. Going rafting with basically no experience and gardening in daylight naked-you decide.