![]() ![]() It will be available everywhere books are sold (but I always recommend finding your local indie bookstore!).Īnd if you have been the victim of abuse, there are always people who are willing to listen. The Way I Used to Be will be released in hardcover by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing in March 2016 for $17.99. This book is so important, and I commend Amber Smith for putting this story out into the world. Unfortunately, millions of people have, in some way, shared Eden’s experience, and these are the real stories that are continuously suppressed, even though they desperately need to be told. And I would recommend this book especially for young men to help them understand what it means to be a young woman in the world today. I would recommend this book for anyone who has ever felt that they’ve lost their way. ![]() I would recommend this book for any person who has been, or knows someone who has been, abused and/or bullied. And isn’t that something we’re all trying to do? This is a story about a young woman just living her life, trying to make it, and trying to figure out her place in the world. All of this may sound a bit dark and depressing, but Smith presents these issues and this story in a way that is not dark and depressing – just real life. She also touches on the powerlessness, the hopelessness, the self worth issues, and the berating of one’s self that come along with those emotions. Smith explores what it means to be abused and how the emotions behind that influence one’s thoughts and behaviors, how it influences all of one’s relationships, not only the romantic ones, and how when one is abused in some way, it’s so easy to let it be the defining thing in one’s life. And the emotions are what Amber Smith just nails perfectly. There isn’t a ton of action however, the book isn’t about action – it’s about emotion. The story itself is fairly simple – this young woman is dealing with a traumatic event the best way she knows how. ![]() There are themes of bullying, first relationships, best friendships, rebellion, and acceptance. But at it’s core, this book is about a young woman just trying to find her place in the world while fighting her own monsters, something to which almost anyone can relate. It may sound a bit intense, and that’s because, at parts, it is. ![]() The rest of the novel follows her over her high school journey as she deals with the emotional aftermath of abuse. The Way I Used to Be opens with a fourteen year old girl named Eden being raped by her older brother’s best friend. I started reading that evening when I got back to my hotel room, and by the time the plane landed home in New Orleans, I had cried so much, I’m fairly certain I left the people sitting next to me on the plane wondering what my deal was. We bonded over similar experiences, and I knew I had to read this book right away. Although the story itself is fictional, the emotions behind the story are very real, and ones that I knew I related to as a woman who has been the victim of abuse. I had the opportunity to meet the author at a Simon & Schuster sponsored dinner I attended, and she was so genuine and passionate about the way she talked about this story and her emotional journey in writing it. I picked up The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith at the ABA’s Winter Institute in Denver as one of about 100 books. ![]()
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