Rating: 
Summary: The Same Smile
Review: I am an adoptee, who was contacted that my Birth Mom was trying to find me. I immediately started doing research on adoption reunions and discovered Susan's book. This wonderful book gave me the "other side of the story"...how my birth mother was feeling. It helped me understand my feelings and how they were normal in this situation. Susan and Joanne wrote this book with so much truth and openness. It is a must read for any adoptive situation.
Rating:
Summary: From the Other Side
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking and healing story
Review: I couldn't put this book down. I had to finish it within a few days of getting it. It is the true story of a young woman who gave up her child, and her heartbreaking story along the way, and only to lose another child years from then, her love and loss, and finding love again, and her story of how she found her first daughter and reunited. It is such a touching story. I have never lost a child, but lost my only sibling. It touches you so deeply when you read this story, you are right there with her with all that she goes thru. This is a must have book for your home library.
Rating:
Summary: A realistic birthmothers story.
Review: I had a great opportunity to read this book. I am a birthmother and reading Susan book made me feel that I was not alone in my pain and survival. Even though our placements took place during different times, the similarities were startling. Susan has written a beautiful story about a birth mother and how she processes her pain though the different stages in her life. Her story of her lost of her daughter Jackie brought tears to my eyes..I felt like I knew her. She was a very courageous girl. This book honor how there is room in the adoptive child life for all the people who love them. This is a great book for adoptive parents, adoptee and birth parents to read. It shows another side to the triangle without trying to place someone at fault. Very refreshing. I had the great opportunity of meeting Susan at a Women's forum.
She is a beautiful person and I am glad I was able to meet her.
Rating:
Summary: A must read book for everyone with a heart!
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ for all members of the triad!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: The Same Smile
Review: I loved this book. Although it is difficult to understand in this day, the stigma attached to being single in pregnant in the 50's and 60's was devastating. This book addresses what happened to all those girls who went to their "aunts" for the summer. Eventually reuniting with her daughter, Susan's live wasn't without more sadness. Expecting this to be a particularly sad book with the loss of not one, but two daughters, instead it was a book of triumph and celebrations of the human spirit.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Adoption Stories
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Adoption Stories
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Devotion and dedication is the story of Susan Mello Souza
Review: 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.
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