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  • The Way I Used to Be

  • By: Amber Smith
  • Narrated by: Rebekkah Ross
  • Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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The Way I Used to Be

By: Amber Smith
Narrated by: Rebekkah Ross
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Publisher's Summary

In the tradition of Speak, this extraordinary debut novel “is a poignant book that realistically looks at the lasting effects of trauma on love, relationships, and life” (School Library Journal, starred review).

Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.

What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.

Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young woman’s strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, all while learning to embrace the power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.

©2023 Amber Smith (P)2023 Spotify Audiobooks

What listeners say about The Way I Used to Be

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

this story was so sad and so good

i loved this book n would recommend it but just a trigger warning as there is a lot of depth into the topic

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So sad

I loved this but it was so sad but definitely a good book and the layout was great

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Frustrating

This was an easy book to just listen to and get on with daily activities.
but I found I got frustrated with how the story went, and with the main character,
I think I would have enjoyed reading it a lot more, the narrator sounded too much like siri was reading the book at times .

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Relatable

I really enjoyed this book, confronting, all the emotions. Cheered eden on the whole way. Relatable.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Important storyline but too much of the same.

This is an incredibly important storyline but I found it too long with too much of the same plot.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The narrator.

Maybe I just don’t love listening to American narrators. But the book was good. I originally accidentally bought the second book first, when I realised it was the sequel I had to come and listen to this. Not a book that left me crying or staring at the wall. But an entertaining listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Intense but great

Loved the story, but not happy with the quality of the recording. Disappointed that we had to pay for a book that has been so terribly recorded.
This should be fixed!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I’m love

Devastatingly sad but a story that needed to be told. Beautifully written and executed, probably my favorite book of all time

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Glitchy

I dont know if its just me but every now and then in the book it just went quiet, and then it would come back on another sentence and I wouldn’t know what happened, i tried to skip back but it did the same thing so i dont know whats going on there…

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A journey

It was alot, but worth it !! Alot of up & down, back & fourth but its so important people understand most if not all of this is true in terms of how people come out of a traumatic situation, especially this one. Im looking forward to the sequel, where i hope closure is provided.

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