What really happened in the Garden of Eden? What was life like for Adam and Eve after the Fall? How did the events of the first chapters of Genesis unfold? These are some of the questions Jill Eileen Smith attempts to answer in Daughter of Eden: Eve’s Story.
Ms. Smith did a fantastic job of showing what life in the Garden may have been like and then sharply contrasted it with how Adam and Eve may have felt after they were expelled.
Readers will walk with the characters as they learn to exist and thrive outside of the Garden and how the hearts of some of Eve’s descendants drifted away from God.
Daughter of Eden offered a reminder that the devil is real and is the enemy of humanity. He will do anything to destroy us, but we can defeat him when we walk with God and call on His mighty name.
As I read Daughter of Eden, my heart hurt for Eve and the regret that dogged her steps every day of her life. It couldn’t have been easy knowing that everyone and everything suffered because of a single act of disobedience.
But that’s how sin is. One act of rebellion has repercussions for generations.
It’s easy for us to blame Eve for listening to the serpent’s lies, but if we’d been in the Garden of Eden, would we have done differently?
Would we have avoided the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Would we have obeyed God? Or would we have eventually gotten to a place where we doubted God’s goodness and wondered what He was withholding from us?
Daughter of Eden will have you contemplating your relationship with God and remembering how much He loves you. It will remind readers that while sin separates us from God, there’s nothing we can do to stop Him from loving us. I could relate to Eve’s fear that her actions had separated her from the love of God and was grateful for the reminder that God loves us all.
There’s nothing we can do to earn His love. Even if we reject it—reject Him—He still loves us with an everlasting love. Daughter of Eden will encourage readers to get to know the Creator and to serve Him with their whole hearts.
I received an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher through NetGalley as part of the author’s launch team; a positive review was not required.
About Daughter of Eden: Eve’s Story
When the greatest joys she has ever known are stripped away, the first woman must find the courage to face an unknown future
The first time she opens her eyes, Eve gazes on one whose beauty nearly blinds her, whose breath is in her lungs. Her Creator takes her hand and gives her to another like her and yet different. Together, she and Adam experience pure joy as they explore Eden. Her favorite moments are when the Creator comes to walk with them, day after day.
Then everything changes.
Through one act of disobedience, Eve finds that her world is no longer a friendly place. With remorse in her heart, she must face the unknown future–the births, the deaths, the sacrifices, the loss of the only home she has ever known. Perhaps worst of all is the loss of trust, not only with her Creator but also with the man who shares her life. How will they ever survive out of Eden?
Bestselling biblical fiction author Jill Eileen Smith imagines the life of the first woman to ever live, unspooling an epic story of love, loss, and the promise of redemption.
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About Jill Eileen Smith
Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Wives of King David series, Wives of the Patriarchs, Daughters of the Promised Land, The Heart of a King, Star of Persia, Miriam’s Song, and the nonfiction When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams, and She Walked Before Us. Her research has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times.
When she isn’t writing, she loves to spend time with her family and friends, read stories that take her away, ride her bike, snag date nights with her hubby, try out new restaurants, or hug her lovable cats, Kody and Kaelee. She lives with her family in southeast Michigan. Learn more at www.jilleileensmith.com.
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