A review by st0bbit
The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith

challenging dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

really makes u think about the myth of the model victim :( eden is hard to love, and understand, and excuse, but that’s what makes her so real. trauma is not glamorous, and it bleeds into victims’ lives, and that of those around them slowly. discusses such important topics, and certainly one that many, many people should read. 

i remember thinking that the one thing that never sat right with me was how josh and eden’s relationship started. it always felt superficial, shallow — based off her looks. but jeez, everything else i love about this book makes this feel v minor. and by the end….. you cannot tell me there’s no chemistry. they rly had something :/

as mentioned right at the top… i love that eden is such a frustrating MC. she is not lovable and is definitely not meant to be, she isn’t romanticised and i love that she realises she cannot be fixed by any one.
even though she doesn’t get her happy ending with josh (at least… in my head they do but not in the book….), she definitely was in no state of mind for a relationship, neither could she have expected josh to single-handedly dragged her out of the pit she was in.
a happy relationship will not magically save her, and i’m glad this book made that clear.

the ending felt right to me… or maybe because i sped through this in a few hours straight. but i like this place, enough closure, yet still open enough for us to imagine where the road takes her! and the many possibilities she still has, despite her life having once felt like it had ended
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