The Way I Used To Be by Amber Smith

The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story about rape and its effects on a freshman in high school was a sucker punch readers will not be able to escape. Rebekkah Ross's narration of this audiobook was compelling; the voices Ross used for Eden, her friends and family were so good I did not want to stop listening! Eden is young for her age and nerdy. One night she is savagely raped by her brother's best friend, Kevin Armstrong, whom Eden idolized. As the reader follows Eden through high school, we see her terror (Kevin threatened to kill her id she told anyone & he said no one would believe her), self loathing, and descent into a life of self harm (she sleeps around, is rude and mean to her friends, she turns on her brother and parents, drinking and drugs). It was so distressing to see this young girl who was full of life and hope become angry, isolated, and desperate (Eden keeps pushing down the incident). I rooted for her to trust someone with the truth and for her rapist to burn in hell. Amber Smith gives the horrifying statistics about rape in her Author Notes- rape doesn't just destroy the victim and so many times it goes unreported, why is this? This story does a stellar job of getting into a victim's head and heart. Every school should have this book in their library and all teens MUST read this raw and compelling book!

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