Sustainer’s Smile Review

This is another post that’s part of the Write for Life Blog Tour. Today, I will be reviewing Erika Mathew’s book Sustainer’s Smile. Sustainer’s Smile is being officially released on October 21, but you can preorder a copy either on Amazon or on Erika’s website Resting Life.

A couple reminders:

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! You can enter here!
If you are on social media, please join the Honor Life Challenge.

Now, let’s talk about Sustainer’s Smile : )

About the book:

It’s Book Four of the Truth from Taerna series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.
It’s a prolife novel.
It tells the story of Liliora Ellith, who makes peace with her past and discovers her future among the cradles of Taerna’s unwanted babies, born and unborn.
It’s a kingdom adventure fiction novel.
It’s clean and family-friendly, though it’s recommended for teens and up due to dealing with the issue of abortion.
Its launch date is October 21 but it’s available for preorder right now!

Synopsis:

Suffering suffocates her soul.

How can she ever smile again?

A helpless newborn…that’s exactly how twenty-four-year-old Liliora Ellith feels in her efforts to speak up on behalf of the youngest members of Taerna’s pleasure-driven society. Her tender heart for the defenseless and deep aversion to conflict throw Liliora’s soul into turmoil when tragedy opens her eyes to the quiet yet heartrending war on Taerna’s babies—both born and unborn. Adon Olam’s Word coupled with a secret in her own past fuel her determination. All she wants is to make peace with her past and discover her future among the cradles of unwanted babies. However, the challenges ahead of her threaten to send her spiraling into hopeless depression time and again. Saving innocent lives from the crush of the destroyer and raising a generation in the ways of Adon Olam seem more impossible than ever. At the very end of herself, will the sufferings of her and her babies prove to be anything less than the catalyst for complete disaster?

REVIEW:

This book is now one of my favorite books. I have loved the Truth from Taerna series so far, and Sustainer’s Smile was not a disappointment. Somehow, each of them have a way of dealing with something that either I’m dealing with or that is close to my heart. This book is a good way to deal with the atrocities of abortion without delving into too much detail. I think that Liliora’s ministry is one that, even though we may not be able to get involved to the extent she did, shows that anyone can be influential in this endeavor to save lives. I appreciated the fact that the author didn’t sugarcoat the fact that helping to save the lives of babies is a painful task. It will be painful, but if showing these children our love causes someone to save their child or another child, then we have attained our goal. Before I get too sidetracked, here are some more thoughts on the book.

One thing I appreciated was that the author didn’t portray all of the mothers of the aborted children as cold, heartless monsters. The author really showed that some choose abortion out of fear. Some choose it because of selfishness. Some are simply misinformed. I think it is so important to emphasize this because overall, what we want to show in being pro-life is our love of all life. I also appreciated that the author showed the guilt that mothers feel after having an abortion. Many do not mention the guilt that mothers feel.

One other big thing that really caught my attention was the fact that even though Liliora was doing the right thing, she wasn’t able to do it all. Even though she was doing the right thing, evil was still happening around her. But the difference was that she was doing what she could instead of watching these babies suffer without an advocate. She couldn’t save everyone, but she did what she could.

I don’t think children under 15 would enjoy this book (at least most of them), and it is a heavy book even though there is no content. I would highly recommend any girl 15 or older read this as it inspires young ladies to help fight for the lives of babies.

Thank you so much to the author for the opportunity to read Sustainer’s Smile and review it!

If you enjoy this book, you will definitely love R.M. Peterson’s book To Save a Life. Stay tuned for my review on that book next week. In the meantime, definitely hop over to some other blog posts and Instagram posts in this tour. I’m sure my blogging buddies would appreciate it.