Customer Reviews

The Same Smile: The Triumph of a Mother's Love After Losing Two Daughters

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4 star:		(2)
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This book touched me in many ways. I read it twice in the first week. This is one of those stories that will have you thinking "I could never make it through such a difficult time" but you will see that Susan made it through an unbearable time not once, but twice...losing a daughter, on two separate occasions, and yet she emerges with a determination to find her relinquished daughter and deal with the roller-coaster ride of reuniting. I highly recommend this for anyone who has heart...but make sure you order a box of Kleenex along with it!

I just LOVED this book! I can't say enough about it. I am an adoptee and it was really great to hear a birthmother's perspective. She told an honest, heartwarming story that flowed well and was easy to read. I couldn't put this one down!!! Grab your box of tissue, warm blanket & enjoy!!! It was EXCELLENT!

I attended High School with Susan Mello Souza but we were never friends. I knew who she was, but always considered her to be one of the "popular" girls and she always seemed to just be bursting with confidence... little did I know. I reconnected with Susan just this past year as I was surfing the net doing genealogy ... our last names were the same and that is how it came to be that I found a former classmate. After I read about the loss of her daughter, Jackie online and the story of her being pregnant in High School and giving that daughter up I contacted her via e-mail. She was very gracious and we e-mailed back and forth several times and I ordered a copy of her book.
The story is very well written and for me personally it showed me the "other side" of the adoption story. You see, while Susan was struggling with giving a baby up I had my own personal struggle. My parents were getting a divorce and I decided to give up my Dad and allow a step-father to adopt me. Like Susan this decision would haunt me for many years.
I thank God that I too had the chutzpah to correct a decision that was in may ways made for me and I was reunited with my Dad.
After reading Susan's book I came to realize how much pain I had inflicted on my own Dad.
Susan lost not one but two daughters in her life and you feel her pain, but also know that hope is what carried her through the dark days. This book I believe will inspire not only those birth mothers still looking for their child, but also those who may have given up on people that loved them.

This book touched me in many ways. I read it twice in the first week. This is one of those stories that you will have you thinking "I could never make it through such a difficult time" but you will see that Susan made it through an unbearable time not once, but twice...losing two daughters, on two separate occasions, and yet she emerges with a determination to find her relinquished daughter and deal with the roller-coaster ride of reuniting. I highly recommend this for anyone who has heart...but make sure you order a box of Kleenex along with it!

I very much enjoyed reading this "fantastic" read! I have been in the adoption searching business for over 13 years now and this is one of THE best adoption search stories ever - not kidding. The way Susan expressed herself and that oof her family members shows such genuine love and affection, considering what she had to go through.

Jan Bowyer

When reading Susans and Joannes book...It brought me to a place I once was. As I shared Susan's life, her love, loss, reunion. I felt as though I was there. Sharing, hurting, caring. It really IS a MUST read. Whether you are a part of the adoption community or not. If you are...it helps the healing process. If you are not..you will learn we are not horrible. Just loving mothers searching for our lost children.

Susan Souza has managed to write a story in which the reader feels as though they are right there with her. She paints a picture of what it was like to be a young, single, pregnant teen. She also allows us to feel the depth of her love and grief as she experiences the devastating loss of another daughter who died as a teenager. Thanks to Susan's ability to put the reader right into her story, we also see the joys and struggles of reuniting with your grown child. I highly recommend this book for all who have been touched by adoption, or any Mother who knows the love we have for our children.

I was a class mate of Susan Mello at New Bedford High School, class of 1969. Although we didn't travel in the same circles, I knew who Susan was - the tall, pretty, popular girl who always had a smile and a friendly hello. I dusted off the old year book and found Susan's picture. There was that big smile. A happy girl. Who could have known that under that smile was a broken heart and a sadness that would last for many years.

While reading Susan's book (which I could not put down!), I enjoyed hearing about old familiar places and smiled remembering the care free days of high school yet, could not let go of the sadness I felt that no one was allowed to know her secret and help her through such a difficult time for a young girl.

After finishing The Same Smile, a heart-wrenching yet heart- warming story, I found that Susan has grown to be an extraordinary woman. She has endured a pain that many of us will never know. Her caring and compassion, as evidenced in her daughter's final wishes, shows that she taught by example. She is truly an inspiration and I thank her for sharing her very personal and touching story.

I highly recommend this book; once you pick it up you won't be able to put it down! This is a true story of triumph over adversity and the hardship of losing two children.

Susan Souza give a heart wrenching account of what it was like to be young, unmarried and pregnant in the 1960's and the life altering effects that relinquishing a child has on a mother's life. However, losing a child to adoption was not the only hardship that Susan was to experience, just when she is ready to search for her first born she learns that her first daughter born after losing her baby to adoption has an incurable disease.

This book is a must read for all those who's lives have been touched by adoption, although, I believe that everyone should read this book as it is an inspirational, eye-opening educational experience for those who have not dealt with these issues in addition to valadating the emotions of those who have.

If you are looking for a wonderful book that will make you laugh and cry; a book that will leave you with a sense that no obstacle that life throws in your path is too hard to overcome...then read `The Same Smile'. I loved this book and want to thank Susan for having the courage to share her story with the world.

Denise M. Leitch
First Mother to Michael
DOB: 12/23/69
DOD: 5/26/88
FOUND: 5/30/03

Very well detailed description of her love of her high school sweetheart, her feelings while pregnant, her feelings about her daughter's death and her feelings before, during and after reunion. A great read for bereaved parents as well since losing both daughters, even though through different ways, the experience of loss is still there and understandable for both groups of people, those who lost a child via adoption and lost a child via death.