Name: The Way I Used to Be
ISBN: 9780861546749

Amber Smith

THE TIKTOK SENSATION THAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT 'After finishing this book, my heart was pounding and I couldn’t find words big enough to describe how brilliant, beautiful, and powerful it is.' L.E. Flynn, author of All Eyes On Her All Eden wants is to rewind the clock. To live that day again. She would do everything differently. Not laugh at his jokes or ignore the way he was looking at her that night. And she would definitely lock her bedroom door. But Eden can’t turn back time. So she buries the truth, along with the girl she used to be. She pretends she doesn’t need friends, doesn’t need love, doesn’t need justice. But as her world unravels, one thing becomes clear: the only person who can save Eden … is Eden.

The Way I Used to Be

Isabella 

This book was so heart wrenching and painful to read. Right off the bat, I already felt like crying. It is so heavy, and it pains me to read everything that happened in the book. Seeing Eden struggle for years was so sad. This book really captured the emotions, and it brought awareness to the trauma people like Eden have gone through. (view spoiler)[I saw people commenting about how annoying Eden was, but who could blame her… she was fourteen when it happened, and no one knew. Yes, she could have done things differently, but can you really blame her after everything. (hide spoiler)] At first, the ending felt kind of rushed, but I guess, it makes much more sense to end it that way. To hope.

Julie Rubens

This is such a heavy book. Not only the rape and mention of that, but the way she deals with it and the things she does afterwards. I read books about mental health and things like this quite often and I think this book was very well written. I’m giving it 4 stars because I think to really get into a book I need to be able to place myself in someone’s shoes and be able to relate, at least a little, to someone. The way she dealt with everything was very important to read but I just couldn’t personally relate to it.

que difícil fueron los últimos capítulos me dejaron destrozada 😭

loren

peyton 

this book made me feel something that i’ve never felt before, as someone who has been if dark places before and hadn’t known had to cope this book brought such a new perspective into my life and it also made me realize that you should always treat people with kindness. and i believe everyone should read this book once in their lives.

Natalie 

3.5/5⭐️ Honestly, I’m not sure about this one. I think this story is so important in that it raises awareness to topics like sexual assault and rape, but Eden’s actions as a character were horrible throughout the book and it was almost painful for me to read.

Hailey Rae

4.5/5 Stars (GoodReads needs half a star option man) 

This book starts off very strong, and I mean that with it starting with Eden getting raped. (This is not a spoiler, it talks about it in the summary on the back of the book) This book makes you feel all the things when you hear that someone has been assulated, your chest is heavy, your stomach is in nots because this author, Amber Smith, makes it truthful and so real in the moment. I cried during this book at certain points, both happy and sad to see the unraveling of Eden from how this catastrophic event changes her. How it affects her in every aspect of her life, because that’s exactly what happens, and how at the end she’s trying to find herself again. This book leaves you feeling surreal and uneven because this is real life, and Amber truly captivated that in Eden’s character. 

I give this a 4.5 because I felt like something was missing to this story, but unsure what exactly as well as it leaving off in a weird spot for me, in addition to there being some parts of the book that I got lost in how they connected to Eden’s sorry fully, but also understanding it did somehow. Maybe Amber wanted it that way, which could always be the verdict. I do believe, everyone should read this book. 

I will be pre-ordering the book that follows this about Eden fully re-finding who she is, and getting better for herself and learning to love herself.

Enna Burton

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING, IT'S ONE OF THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ SO FAR.

wadeeeeema

Kota Smith

Lulu Evensen

Omg where do i even start, the writing, the scarily realistic plot, the character that showed how utterly and completely destroyed you can become after experiencing such a terrible experience, at some point it 
had me punching my pillow for how frustrating and sad it was, this story was tragic and will never be forgotten

Sajdah Medina 

4.5 ⭐️ 
TW for this book 
One of my favorite books-I’m so sorry that Eden had to go through that trauma,her becoming hyper sexual from it her thinking she couldn’t tell her brother, her best friend or anyone the way her parents overlook her as this troubled teen . Her having an anxiety attack when the officer was questioning her about her rapist , her constant flashbacks of that night 
I like the way the book is structured into the 4 years of high-school Showing us how she changed from this “nerd” being bullied at lunch to kind of dropping her good girl persona, smoking cigarettes, getting drunk, doing drugs, going to college parties, falling out with her parents 
I don’t like that she lied to josh about her age because he was genuine I think but it was probably hard for her to believe he was 
The way at the end of the book she called him and he came back to make sure she was alright I’m kinda mad the didn’t get their happy ending together 

Also if I’m remembering this right Kevin’s little sister was being mean to eddy because she thought she slept with Kevin , but even if that WAS true why is she mad about that, how is that any of her business like why did it make her so mad that she is now spreading rumors of eddy being a slut ??? And without even asking eddy if it was true that’s just super weird to me

dorah luxieux

i don't know where to start. something about this book made me love it so much. the topic is a sensitive topic and it happens to a lot of people, but i wanted to know how she dealt with it and how she moved on and the choices that she made. it made me realize a lot of things.