The Way I Used to Be (Collector's Edition) -- Amber Smith, Hardcover

This special edition features a foil-stamped paper over board cover, stenciled sprayed edges, and bonus content!

Amber Smith's extraordinary, New York Times bestselling, TikTok sensation debut novel "is a heart-twisting, but ultimately hopeful, exploration of how pain can lead to strength" (The Boston Globe) about a teenager struggling to cope in the aftermath of being assaulted.

Eden has always been good at being good. Starting high school doesn't change that. 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, and of friendships broken and rebuilt, all while learning to embrace the power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.

Author: Amber Smith
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 12/02/2025
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9798347101443
Age Range: 14-17

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.4
Point Value: 13
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 180846 / Way I Used to Be

About the Author
Amber Smith is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and internationally bestselling author of the young adult novels The Way I Used to Be, The Last to Let Go, Something Like Gravity, and The Way I Am Now. An advocate for increased awareness of gendered violence and LGBTQIA+ equality, she writes in the hope that her books can help foster change and spark dialogue. She lives in Ithaca, New York, with her wife and coauthor, Sam Gellar, and their ever-growing family of rescued dogs and cats. You can find her online at AmberSmithAuthor.com.