Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The way I used to be

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The way I used to be by Amber Smith

140 reviews

jelkebooks's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Honestly, explaining my feelings on this book is going to be difficult. I can already tell that if I break everything down it is going to sound more negative than how I feel, but let's try anyway. First and foremost this was a very compelling read. I could not put it down, and in the rare moments that I did I was constantly thinking about picking this back up again. It just would not let me go. I also feel it is kind of rare in YA stories that surround rape to have the rapist be someone so close to the main character, and the discussions around that were also really interesting and very well done. The ending to this book felt so incredibly powerful, and I legit cried so much throughout it.
All that being said though I did feel like this book was lacking depth in parts. For some reason it just felt like we were going through the motions, and not much else. I get Eden closed herself off to her own feelings, but the way we delve into absolutely nothing made it so that I also didn't really feel connected to anything. It's just there.
Although, I do have to say that I liked how Amber Smith wasn't affraid to make Eden unlikeable. Like she went through something HUGE and then just internalised it. That's going to fester at you. She makes so many 'wrong' choices, and at times is quite rude, but it felt very real. The perfect victim doesn't exist, and I love how this book wasn't affraid to show the 'ugly' side effects. So I understand her friends getting fed up with her at a certain point. However, they just managed to be the absolute worst. Same with her family members. They all just kind of treat her terribly, and when she finally explodes/fights back they also just go straight to being the worst misogynists you've ever encountered. Overall, the misogyny in this book was fucking RAMPANT and I hate how it wasn't adressed at all. Instead over time Eden just went 'well, maybe they're right'. NO. Especialy considering this was written for teens that kind of pissed me off.
On top of that I also just disliked how every single romantic or sexual relationship Eden has in this book is with someone 18+ (except one) while throughout this book she's 13-17. Even though it is understandble why Eden would go that self destructing route, again this is never actually discussed or talked about. In fact as she gets older, her romantic interests get more age appropiate, but she actively isn't interested in them they're just interested in her. Then at the end we get back to a guy from the start who is now 20 and very much in college, and Eden is barely 17 and very much still in high school. Even though they don't get together it is implied he's her endgame, and reading the synopsis of book 2 very clearly shows that is the direction we're going. It just gives me a massive ick, that this is so full of inappropiate age gaps and never really sees it as such again especially as this is directed towards teens.

Content Warnings

kosali's review against another edition

4.25

challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Super bewegende und herzzerreißende Geschichte.
Man ist einfach das ganze Buch lang so unfassbar angespannt , weil man so mit Eden mitgefühlt.

Sie war einfach so ein komplexer und ehrlicher Charakter und man hat richtig gut gesehen, wie sich dieses Trauma der Vergewaltigung auf ihr späteres Leben ausgewirkt hat und wie schlimm es für sie war, zu schweigen, all die Jahre.

Spice: none

Content Warnings

friendel's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Content Warnings

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

5.0

dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

thebibliotourist's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Such a hard topic to read about, talk about, and live through. This is one of those stories that can be triggering to some. Read the warnings before going into the book. I'm glad I read it though.

Content Warnings