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The Way I Used to Be

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The Way I Used to Be

By: Amber Smith
Narrated by: Rebekkah Ross
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About this listen

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 Bullying & Abuse Difficult Situations Literature & Fiction Physical & Emotional Abuse Heartfelt
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Most relevant
I’m not too sure if it was just my device, my the production and quality was really janky, and kept skipping and replaying parts all the way through the book, and occasionally names were mixed up in the audio.

Okay story, poor production

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

So sad

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I absolutely loved this story. So real. I felt like I really connected to this story

I loved this story. So real

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

this story was so sad and so good

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Powerful words needed to be told to help the many women and girls that suffer this crime !!!!

Sadly needed to be told

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

Relatable

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

Important storyline but too much of the same.

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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.

The narrator.

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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 .

Frustrating

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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!

Intense but great

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