The Way I Used to Be (Collector's Edition)

By Amber Smith

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DXD5K5DW
• ISBN13: 9798347101443
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12