An intriguing project, that brings to life how the author imagines the beginning looked like, through the lens of multiple perspectives.

Honestly this wasn't my cup of tea, I tried to get into to multiple times putting it down and then picking it up later, but each time it just didn't pull me in. Now I understand that much of this comes from the challenge of working with a source material that you can't take many creative liberties with, and when you do take even the smallest ones it can feel like too much. But everything just kinda happened so quick, one thing after another just as expected with very little to spark my interest or grip me.

I found some of her thoughts about the way they might have experienced things very interesting, as their experience were unlike anyone else's since. But in the end this felt very 2D, and I just didn't enjoy it. But I've read other reviews where others felt differently than I did, so that's great, but not my experience.

I have only read a few biblical fiction books but I have really enjoyed the ones I have read. Daughter of Eden was right up there at the top too! It was so nice to see what might have happened to Adam and Eve and their offspring, even though so much of it is heartbreaking. It really helped me get into their lives and imagine what might have been.

I will definitely read more by Jill Eileen Smith in the future. I also listened to the audio book and feel like it was very well done.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 14 February 2023

I am a huge fan of Jill Eileen Smith! I love all of her works. However, I must say that this was her best novel yet! It was a very beautiful story of Eve. It gorgeously illustrates how Eve was innocent and her fall. It is a novel of sin, loss, redemption, and hope! The story was very lyrical, and I could not take my off her work! This is the best story of Eve yet! I can’t wait to see what Jill Eileen Smith has in store! She has definitely improved as a writer, and I am very impressed with Daughter of Eden! This is a must-read for biblical fiction fans!

Wow. This was a huge undertaking for this author.

It's pretty straightforward. We follow the creation of Eden and Adam and Eve. Starting in the perspective of the angel Michael. Fascinating.

As Adam is created, we see a glimpse of this author's take on the garden. Then comes Eve and we stay in her perspective most of the time. The time in the garden was very interesting to me.

We also get a bit of Lucifer's perspective. That was unsettling in a good way.

Overall though, it fell flat. It felt like all of a sudden Eve and Adam ate the fruit and were out of Eden fending for themselves in a couple of pages. Most of the book is watching Eve have children and watching those children have children. Then Cain and Abel happen. That felt quick too. It just went on and on and I did not find it engaging.

Sweet ending I guess, but it just felt like a story we didn't necessarily need. It wasn't bad; it just didn't wow me.

As Eve opens her eyes for the first time, she gazes at One whose beauty nearly blinds her and whose breath fills her lungs. Taking her hand, her Creator gave her to a companion who is similar to her, yet different from her. As they explore Eden together, she and Adam experience pure joy. However, her favorite moments occur when the Creator walks with them each day.


That is, until everything changes. Eve discovers that the world is no longer friendly after one act of disobedience. She faces the unknown future with remorse in her heart, a future filled with births, deaths, sacrifices, and the loss of the only home she has ever known. The most painful of all is the loss of trust, not only with her Creator, but also with the man with whom she shares her life. Will they be able to survive outside of Eden?

This was a beautifully written fictional account of Eve. It had me opening my Bible and going deeper, which I love when biblical fiction does that. Recommend and I’m looking forward to discovering more from this author.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

<strong>A beautiful possibility!</strong>

This is the first biblical fiction I’ve ever read, and I found it to be very engaging. Most of the book is written from Eve’s perspective, and takes us from the moment Eve is created until her last breath. We meet their many offspring (not just the ones we know about from the Bible) and see life from her eyes. I really loved seeing Adam and Eve’s very human reactions after their fall from Grace, and the feeling of love that continuously came from Adonai. I felt like the story meandered around a lot, and there were places that it seemed to move very slowly, but listening on audiobook helped keep things moving. I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Revell for an ARC of this book.

I have read several books by this author in the past and have really enjoyed them, so I was excited to see this one on NetGalley.

I was really intrigued by the synopsis of this book, but over all it was just ok for me. I felt like it went on a bit to long in places especially towards the end. It was kind of a shame because I really liked so many of her other books.

This might be really enjoyable for some readers of Christian Fiction, but it wasn't really for me.

Daughter of Eden
by Jill Eileen Smith

About the Book



My Thoughts

I was really intrigued by the idea of this book. The story of Adam and Eve is one of the most mysterious and controversial stories of all time. I’ve always felt sorry for Eve, and this book reinforced those feelings. Though there is no solid proof to back up anything that is written in this book, I can definitely see the emotions described being felt by Eve. She expresses true remorse throughout the story following her eating of the fruit, and is desperate to make things right between her and the creator. I must admit that toward the end of the book, my attention began to wane, though the beginning was

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Daughter of Eden by Jill Eileen Smith imagines what the first days of creation and Adam and Eve’s life would have been like from inside and outside the Garden of Eden. She weaves a great story that includes what we can imagine Eve would have felt after being deceived by the serpent from the spiritual realm and also dealing with elements from the spiritual realm after having to leave the Garden of Eden. She lives through many generations and has many children to obey God’s command to cover the earth. I enjoyed this story. It’s easy to blame Eve for everything but this book puts things into perspective on how she could have felt about it all.
Thank you Revell and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book so much. It definitely had me interested the entire way through. It's hard to imagine things that happened, and those situations and conversations back in the days of the Old Testament, but this author did such a great job at creating this story for Eve. Great book, and I will read the others by this author as well!

I’ve never read biblical fiction before and thought I would give this a go as the premise intrigued me as someone with no religious affiliation. First off I do think this book was well written, and the writer gave very good visual imagery as well as writing very well rounded characters. I do know the basic Adam and Eve story but I felt that her writing helped to explain the full story in a was that someone with very little background knowledge like myself could easily follow and understand.

My only criticism is that Eve had a tough time! Particularly in her relationship with Adam. However I completely understand that this is most likely the way things went down in the original source material and the author was staying true to this.

I have to admit that I am always a bit hesitant to read Biblical fiction. It stresses me out that the author may take too many liberties (according to my standard) and I'll be left disappointed. The exception to that are stories by Jill Eileen Smith. She is meticulous about accuracy yet gifted with imagining how it might have been.

Daughter of Eden is glorious. I found myself at times weeping at the profound sadness of the Fall. But then I also couldn't help but smile at the beauty of creation and the Creator Himself. As you can guess by the title this is Eve's story. The time span is from her creation to her death.

The details pack in between those two dates are fascinating and thought provoking. Think about this . . . when Adam and Eve are removed from the garden they are suddenly thrust into a world that is completely unknown to them. How did they know to make fire the first time? Or weave a basket to use as a container? Ms. Smith uses these instances to show God Himself teaching them and reminding us that He never left them.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's beautifully written and I think it will leave you longing for a deeper fellowship with the Creator.

I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review.

While not my favorite Jill Eileen Smith book, I still enjoy her writing style as well as her ability to wove Biblical truth in to her fiction stories. And you can always tell that she does her research before writing her books.

Just in the first few pages of this book, I was in awe. I mean, imagine creation. Imagine looking Jesus in the eyes right after He created you. Wow. Walking up to the very throne of God. WOW. And the glimpses into what the throne room of God Himself could possibly be are awe-inspiring. Literally. Can you IMAGINE???

I was completely lost in this story from the very beginning. The way Jill wrote this made me feel the guilt that Eve must have felt for the rest of her life. The guilt over animals dying, people dying, Adam working, pain. I'd never thought of that before.

And can you imagine the changes that happened in Adam and Eve's lifetime? Think about the changes in one person's modern-day lifespan. But from creation to 930 years, when Adam died? Wow. Unimaginable. I mean, not only from just the two of them on the earth to hundreds, thousands(?) of descendants, but also how the animals, flora, and fauna must have changed. How did Adam and Eve feel about this? How horrible was the guilt and heartbreak that they felt?

I could go on and on, but this review is far longer than I anticipated. I whole-heartedly recommend this book.

Daughter of Eden is a very thought provoking book. Adam and Eve would have understood better than anyone the price that sin played on the earth and humanity. After all, they had lived in a perfect world. Jill Eileen Smith captured what that transition after sin might have been like. The Bible is limited on what it tells us about their lives. So she used literary license to fill in the gaps. But nothing written appears to contradict what we know from the Bible
I was totally engrossed in this book. And while I knew from scripture some of the events, I still caught myself hoping or a different outcome. Daughter of Eden really helped me feel the grief of what Adam and Eve gave up because of sin. I really enjoyed this authors style of writing and will definitely be reading more of her books. This book was a little longer than I preferred and kept my focus primarily in the first few chapters. I received a complimentary copy of Daughter of Eden with no obligation. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Jill Eileen Smith does a good job of explaining what Adam and Eve would have experienced after being cast out of the garden. As a work of fiction trying to show what they were feeling, I thought she did a good job. There are some things in this book that contradict my personal beliefs about the Creation and Fall of Adam and Eve so this book was a challenge for me to read during those parts. I did like seeing her depiction of Eve and how, with age, we see the relationship with God change and develop. Overall, this wasn’t my favorite book by this author but there are some things that I liked.

I received a complimentary book from publishers, publicists, and or authors.  A review was not required and all opinions and ideas expressed are my own.

Daughter of Eden by Jill Eileen Smith

This book takes the account of Eve from the book of Genesis and imagines some of the conversations and emotions that Eve and Adam and their children might have had. Since the Biblical account is not very detailed, the author adds some likely details to the story.
This was a fascinating read for me because of the amount of thought that the author had to put into her book. She had to imagine what it would have been like for Eve to be created, to live in a perfect garden with her perfect husband, and to commune with God. Then she had to relay to readers what the fall of Eve and Adam would have been like, and how the consequences of it would have dogged Eve for the rest of her life.
The author’s writing was convincing and brought me into the story. I could easily imagine Eve’s pain, discomfort and disappointment in the fallen world, and especially her despair over the death of Abel and the banishment of Cain. And this emotional connection kept me reading, especially since I knew the outcome of the story.
Readers who enjoy biblical fiction, especially by Jill Eileen Smith, will enjoy this story and find themselves wanting to dig deeper into the Genesis account of the first woman. I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this, my honest review.

Daughter of Eve is a biblical fiction about Adam and Eve. The story starts
in the Garden where there were living the perfect life God has in store for them until the serpent angel convinced her to eat from the forbidden fruit. She explains how Lucifer was thrown out of heaven and took his revenge on humanity.
Throughout the story we feel their pain, their struggle to adapt to their new life after leaving the Garden of Eden. For Eve especially at the beginning, Adam’s behaviour changed, she was also pregnant and have a lot to figure out by herself. Her hope despite her mistake was to see God redeems our world and that what He did later with Jesus.

It’s an interesting story and I like the idea of writing about Eve.

I have read several books by this author and I absolutely love her biblical fiction books! This was such an engaging, descriptive story about Adam and Eve, their children, and their life after being sent out of The Garden of Eden. This story was written mostly in Eve’s perspective and obviously some of it is fictional since there isn’t alot of scripture references about Eve and her life.

I love how this author brings the scripture stories to life! The chapters fast forward through their life-sometimes months later, sometimes years later. I felt alot of emotions during the course of reading this book. I really enjoyed it! Highly recommend if you enjoy biblical fiction stories!

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.