Title: The Way I Used to BeAuthor: Amber Smith
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: March 22, 2016
In the tradition of Speak, this extraordinary debut novel shares the unforgettable story of a young woman as she struggles to find strength in the aftermath of an assault.
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, and while learning to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.
Amber Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of young adult and middle novels, including The Way I Used to Be, The Last to Let Go, Something Like Gravity, and her forthcoming middle grade debut, Code Name: Serendipity. She has also contributed to the YA anthology, Our Stories, Our Voices, edited by Amy Reed. An advocate for mental health, gendered violence, and LGBTQ equality, Amber writes in the hope that her books can help to foster change and spark dialogue. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, and now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her wife and their ever-growing family of rescued dogs and cats.