Courtney Summers broke my heart again. I’m the Girl is a beautiful, sad, furious and important novel. I’m glad I read it, and now I need about a dozen romcoms to clear my brain.

I’m the Girl is billed as a young adult thriller, though I’m not sure how I feel about the “thriller” label. It’s the story of Georgia Avis, a 16-year-old girl who is invited to work for Aspera, a private members club for famous and influential men. She also discovers the body of Ashley, a 13-year-old girl, on the road from her town to Aspera.

The book is partly a mystery as Georgia and Ashley’s sister Nora investigate Ashley’s murder. But really it’s also a literary novel that looks at abuse, grooming, consent, power, and wealth.

Georgia is such a well-written character, someone difficult to like but so easy to understand. As an adult reading this book, I can see every awful piece of manipulation from the adults around her, even as Summers writes the novel from Georgia’s own perspective. It’s incredible and disturbing.

This book is so beautifully written that even with the dark subject matter, it’s a pleasure to read (and I appreciated the romance between Georgia and Nora to give some brightness to the story). And I hope that I’m the Girl opens conversations with teen readers about consent and dealing with similar situations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my review copy of this book.

3.50 Stars. Super impressed by the writing but I wasn’t as wowed by the story as I was hoping to be. Ever since the book Sadie came out, I have been keeping my eye out for a Courtney Summers book to read. I’m not normally big on reading books that have a bunch of trigger warnings, but when a book in some ways mirrors the Jeffrey Epstein case, I’m not surprised it has tough to read subjects like sexual assault, grooming, and physical abuse. In this case I was up for the tough read because not only do I love YA, but because this book was promoted as a ‘queer thriller’ and I’ll say yes to those two words being together just about any time.

I found Summers’ writing style to be pretty unique and I loved it. I don’t know how to explain it any better but to say that she would go from almost explaining a scene, to putting you right into the scene with the characters. I don’t know if there is a technical term for her type of writing, but it’s different and I thought it was great. It took me a minute to get used to it but once I did, I was hooked and it made the book so easy to read even getting passed the awful parts.

While the trigger warnings were not as bad as I expected, they were still tough. One really bothered me and when it started I should have skimmed/skipped and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t. I don’t think Summers’ needed to add as much detail as a little less would have made the point. Anyway, I’m going to mention it encase people want to be able to skim/skip it so just skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know. The main character, who is only 16 and also queer and not interested in guys, is manipulated by the powerful older man character into sex. It was the worst part of the book for me to read, and I think it was supposed to be. But the tough scenes do not end there, I just think because of the details it was the worst. This is YA, but if it can turn my 40 year-old stomach, I would suggest this more for high school age teens or for a younger audience maybe this is the kind of book parents should read/discuss with them.

I don’t know if you would call it a romance, but there is a sapphic relationship between the main character and one of the main-secondary characters, which was one of my favorite parts of the book. Both of these characters have a lot of baggage and wounds that need healing and these common circumstances bring them together. While I would not call it enemies to lovers but more like dislike to like, but watching nothing turn into friendships, that turns into feelings, that turns into something even stronger, I thought was one of the most powerful parts of the book. Eventually, they went beyond a teenage romance because these two need each other to really keep going.

While I talked about what I liked, and some of the tougher parts, that is where it kind of ends for me. As I mentioned above, the words ‘queer thriller’ was a big reason why I read this book. While I was happy about the queer part, the thriller part was really lacking. While there were one or two scenes that had a tiny bit of excitement, that is really it and to say I got any ‘thrills’ would just be a lie. The mystery part had so much potential that I was following it and I had my suspects lined up, but then that just kind of fizzed out. For a book that is so beautifully written, I found the mystery wrap-up to be oddly convoluted and unfortunately a letdown. And to be completely honest, I don’t know if the whole plot of the book every really went anywhere. I don’t know if I really got the whole point of the book except for some scenes that mirror famous rapists like Harvey and Epstein. Had this book come out before #MeToo, I think it would have shocked me to me core (in a good way), but after reading books like She Said and hearing the real accounts of Harvey’s survivors, I don’t think this book gave me the emotional punch I needed to wow me.

TLDR: In the end it was Courtney Summers’ writing that I fell in love with more than the book’s content. I can’t wait to read Sadie as I just want more of her unique and beautiful writing style. While this is a tough book to read trigger warning wise, that was not what didn’t work as well for me. I was prepared for a hard read, it was more that I was missing the thrills that I expected from a thriller and I thought the mystery plot was too convoluted in the end. I did really enjoy the sapphic relationship between the main character and a main- secondary one. It was a dislike to like, friends to something more, and it was so nice to watch something sweet develop in a book that was pretty depressing at times. This was not the wow book I was hoping for, but boy can Courtney Summers write!

An ARC was given to me for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

While the situations in this book are not fun to read about, I thought this was really well done. I am in awe of how blunt and raw this story actually is. Behind the words of this story lies the painful reality for too many women and girls. This is one of those stories that demands to be told.

One thing I think was done really well was the portrayl of sexual coercion. The situation we witness shows how sneakily someone can be coerced. In the book there are no outbursts of rage or pleading, he just talks his way around the situation to make it almost look like he is doing her a favor.

Overall, was it perfect? No it wasn't. But I do recommend this book for anyone who is looking for an dark thriller that will engage their mind and hurt their heart.

I have really enjoyed Courtney Summers' past books but really did not care for this one. It is extremely disheartening, dismal, depressing, and lacks any positivity. It is quite dark for a YA as well.

Georgie is a sixteen year old girl who is coming into her own and has a chance to live what she thinks is her dream. Of being wanted, being given attention, and being recognized for her looks. Then she finds a body in the woods, a girl who is three years younger and someone whose older sister Georgie is in love with. I don’t want to say much more other than this is a heartbreaking read. I remember being that age and wanting the power of being wanted or being able to get someone’s attention. This book takes it a few steps further with some very heavy topics. I saw someone say this is a bold, depressing book, and that is exactly what it is. Courtney Summers knows how to take a tragic, uncomfortable topic and turn it into a page turning tale where you just don’t want to stop reading. I will forever read novels by this author because of this.

Please check trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

Man, Courtney Summers really knows how to write a good book and strong female character!!

Georgia Avis hasn’t had the easiest life and that doesn’t change when she takes a job working for the wealthiest couple in town at Aspera. After befriending Nora, the sister of a slain girl she’s stumbled upon, they set out to find her killer. And what she finds while working at Aspera makes everything too crystal clear to fathom.

I loved Georgia s character. Although she was a teenager, she was strong and very head smart. She stood up for herself and even though she found herself in a few precarious situations, she used them to her advantage and made herself a stronger person for it.

Courtney Summers is well-known for her bleak and gritty YA novels that handle difficult, taboo topics and I’m The Girl is no different. With a plethora of unsettling content warnings and a philosophy best summed up as Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here, this isn’t a book that will suit all readers. Brace yourself to feel uncomfortable, shocked and sickened at the situations depicted within.

The author’s last two releases Sadie and The Project were both focused on a girl desperately trying to uncover the truth behind her sister’s disappearance, and I’m The Girl is a variation on the same theme. This is the tale of troubled teenager Georgia Avis, an underprivileged white girl in the care of her older brother after their mother passed away. While he does his best to provide and care for her, Georgia has that feeling of invincibility that teen girls often do and winds up in one compromising situation after another, displaying zero sense of self-preservation in her unswerving ambition to work at the nearby exclusive and remote resort Aspera. This is against her brother and her late mother’s wishes, but fuelled by the need to prove herself worthy of being an ‘Aspera girl’, Georgia stubbornly pursues it nonetheless by stealing over four grand from Tyler to fund an explicit photoshoot and heading to Aspera in the hopes of securing a position there.

On the way, Georgia is struck by a car and as she struggles to make it to Aspera while injured, she is sidetracked by the discovery of 13-year old Ashley’s broken, violated body in a ditch. The prevailing presumption is that the killer knocked Georgia off her bike after abandoning Ashley’s body, which brings her older sister Nora into Georgia’s orbit. From the blurb, my expectation was that this would be a murder mystery with the two girls investigating Ashley’s death, however that turns out to be a side-plot with minimal focus so it would be a good idea to adjust your expectations accordingly to avoid disappointment. Georgia never really shows a strong desire to work with Nora to unmask the killer, it comes off as more an excuse to spend time with her crush; the couple clues she finds are either by chance without any intention on her part to find a hint to the killer’s identity or she wilfully blinds herself to the warning sirens and withholds evidence.

The real heart of the story is Georgia’s quest to make it as an Aspera girl, which she sees as the ultimate pinnacle of achievement, again without heeding any warnings that suggest a sordid underbelly to that role at Aspera. Georgia is hardly naïve or sheltered, her ignorance appears to be deliberately self-inflicted based on the unfortunate belief that she can wield her beauty as a tool to manipulate men without realising that the worldly older men in positions of power over her are the only ones who win when she uses her body to influence them. There is a vast gaping chasm between Georgia’s perception of the abusive situations she ends up in compared to the reader’s horrified identification of the many ways in which the men (and a female accomplice) around her groom and take advantage of her.

I’m The Girl functions as an effective cautionary tale, showing how girls who are exploring their sexuality and think they’re in control can quickly get in over their head when surrounded by the immoral and depraved elite who believe they can take what they want without consequences. But it’s a very dark and depressing read that doesn’t offer much hope or any sort of silver lining; this book depicts a vulnerable overconfident teenage girl suffering one traumatic event after another without offering much in the way of insightful social commentary or a fresh deconstruction of rape culture and the patriarchy that might provide a meaningful message.

Raw, brutal and emotional, this book is recommended for readers who aren’t looking for an escapist story to block out the real world, but those who are willing to be bluntly confronted with all the ugliness and horrors that our world can inflict on young innocent girls. Read it and weep.

The vibe of this book is very much patriarchal sex slavery cult meets Lolita. I wouldn’t have been nearly as uncomfortable with the story if the girls weren’t teenagers. I imagine this is a little like how Jeffry Epstein and Ghisaline Maxwell operated. I wouldn’t really classify this as a YA book because of how ambiguous the lines were when it came to grooming. I know most teens are naive about the subtlety and complexities of grooming and I feel like the relationships in these books could be easily romanticized by young people.

this one wasn’t my cup of tea, and I think it had to do with the genre.

it’s advertised as a YA mystery, but it definitely reads in terms of plot line as a NA more adult side of a thriller. however, the writing style didn’t match and felt like a beginning YA author. it was a very mix and match scenario when I was reading and it made me not want to continue.

however, I really enjoyed the story and how all of the disappearances and murders were connected to the mysterious aspera. this definitely had true crime elements added to it, and the enjoyment of following a teenager along to solve a crime was thrilling … but a little far-fetched and misguided.

I would definitely read books by this author in the future, but this one wasn’t for me and my style.

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: napa valley chardonnay

I found this to be a bit of a frustrating read. My main frustration came from main character Georgia, who somehow loses her mother, discovers the body of a raped and murdered child, and is hit by a car but also remains tremendously, hopelessly, constantly naive; I know that characters in a book shouldn't generally act like they know what genre they're in, but Georgia doesn't even really act like an average human, instead telling whatever gut instinct she has to go screw itself as she traipses through empty parking garages (calling out the classic horror movie, "Hello?") and wanders through her boss's private spaces like she couldn't possibly get in trouble for it. More than anything, she felt like a vehicle for the Themes and Issues that the book was discussing rather than an actual person. I was also somewhat let down by the lack of actual investigation/mystery (perhaps if love interest Nora had been the main character, things might have been different) and by the way the world didn't really seem fully rendered - the only characters were essentially the ones who appeared on the page, and it made the whole thing feel a bit empty and underdeveloped. The pacing seemed quite off, most of the narrative following a slow build but then with a lot of revelations packed very quickly together toward the end, and a very nebulous and unsatisfying conclusion to show for it. Extra frustrating that it was well-written, but these other factors kept it from truly engaging me. Older teens or those who like darker fiction or true crime might enjoy.

3.5 stars!
Georgia finds the body of 13 year old Ashley, the daughter of a local police officer, on the side of the road. She is hit by a car upon her discovery and ends up in the hospital. As she recovers, Nora, Ashley’s sister, reaches out and Georgia decides to help her figure out what happened to Ashley. Georgia also gets a job at a resort that is for the extremely rich and elite called Aspera. She soon realises being an Aspera Girl isn’t everything she thought it would be.

Summers can definitely write a gritty YA book. I know she gets criticisms for the graphic nature of her scenes, but her books are real. There is definitely a trigger warning here for sexual assault as it comes up several times. The initial setup really seemed promising but the story just wasn’t that cohesive. There were many floating parts and some never fully connected to the plot. Georgia was part of the LGBTQ+ community which I always love to see.

WOW. Stunning and unique, this one will shock you. “Disturbing” would be putting it lightly. This one is going to haunt me and stick with me - a book hangover that requires a light palette cleanser after for sure. This reads more like a “novel about a young adult” than a “young adult novel” in terms of content and themes. 4.5 stars, rounded up. Thank you to Wednesday Books and Courtney Summers for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for my free and honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I am a big Courtney Summers fan. I love her writing. I love her ideas. I love her characters and how she does not give a fuck if people find them unlikeable. She knows how to tell a story and it sucks me in every single time. I'm the Girl is no exception. It is gripping and intense. Heartbreaking and frustrating. I don't know if this will make sense but as sucked in as I was, it was still a really hard read.

Will you feel uncomfortable reading this? Maybe. I did, more than once. But the uncomfortableness is worth it. At least it was for me.

As always, I can't wait to see what Courtney Summers writes next.

I know that when I pick up a Courtney Summers book that it will - without a doubt - destroy my feels, gut me, and leave my head spinning, yet I eagerly await her next powerhouse. While I did devour this in one day, I am going to need a moment to process. This was just as heavy and powerful as I expected it to be. My God this one kicked me right in the teeth and asked for three month's rent up front because it was going to be staying in my head for a while.

Biking home one afternoon, Georgia Avis is hit by a car and left injured on the road. She stumbles into the woods following a flash of pink and discovers the body of Ashley James, missing two days. Ashley’s sister, Nora wants Georgia’s help finding the killer after they determine he must be the one that hit Georgia.

Full of shocking twists and unbelievable revelations, I’m the Girl is a gripping, enthralling thriller that kept me on the end of my seat unable to stop reading. It was so easy to read and definitely makes you question the wealthy power hierarchy that exists in our current world. And the ending was so perfect for the story, it couldn’t have been better!

I’m honestly not sure what I just read. The entire cult culture of Aspera had me completed creeped out throughout the book, which had me looking forward to the culmination of the story at the conclusion. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Everything about “I’m the Girl” fell flat for me. While Georgia’s character came full circle & we saw her mature in regards to her relationship with her deceased mother & her attitude towards Aspera, I didn’t feel we got closure when it came to her mom, Matthew, Cleo, Nora, Justin or Kel. I feel like there are so many places Summers could have continued the story & wrapped up the various character lines in a more satisfying way. Left me hoping for more.

Trigger warning: sexual assault

Georgia has a dream. She aspires to be an “Aspera Girl”, a coveted position that only the most beautiful in town can have at the most exclusive member club. One night, she finds herself in the woods after being hit by a car and having her bike stolen. While she crawls for help, she finds the body of missing girl, Ashley. As she recovers, Georgia’s life becomes intertwined with Aspera, Ashley’s family, and all of the secrets in between. A psychological thriller that will leave you unsure of who to trust.

A beautifully written thriller that covers incredibly difficult topics. This book left me at the edge of my seat multiple times as I felt myself become entranced by the mystery that is Aspera. A must read for anyone looking for a dark read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

WTF

Sixteen year old Georgia Avis has always thought she could be more than she is, and she won't let anything get in her way. After finding 13yo Ashley's dead body on the side of the road and being nearly killed herself, she is found by Cleo, wife of Matthew, owner of Aspera; a very elite club where George's mom used to work and got laid off on bad terms. She later sees this as an opportunity for a job while connecting with Nora, Ashley's big sister and trying to find out what did happen to her.

I cannot rate this. I have no idea where I stand. I kept tearing up spontaneously after finishing it. Some books make you uncomfortable, this was past that for me. I should have paid more attention to the trigger warnings… It truly shook me to my core. I binge read this in a little over a day and that was a bad call. I also finished this book yesterday and had related nightmares last night. Basically, what I'm saying is be mindful of trigger warnings and take care of yourselves.
Anyway, this was still very very well crafted and the characters had such layers and were so complex and flawed. I absolutely loved Nora and Tyler, but Georgia drove me nuts. I think that's part of what's so interesting about this book though. The plot also kept me captivated and reading despite feeling very bad while reading...
I just don't know if I can truly recommend this though, like part of me wants to but part of me wants to protect everyone from this? I don't know... I'll still keep reading Courtney Summers's books though...

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Rape, grooming, pedophilia, murder, child pornography, sexual assault...
I probably forgot some.

This book made me sad. The book has the same kind of melancholy and harsh reality as the other Courtney summers books, but something about the murder victim being only 13 made me just so sad. The murder mystery is really interesting and tense, and the rest of the plot surrounding Georgia wanted to be "in" with the rich crowd was really well written and also really disturbing. There are a lot of really awful things that happen in this book, so be aware of that. overall this was a really good but very saddening. Just like I expect from a Courtney Summers books lol.

I posted my review to my Goodreads on August 29, 2022. I submitted my review to barnesandnoble.com on August 29, 2022 under the username "lilyd". I posted my review to Amazon.com on I'm the Girl's release date, September 13, 2022 under the username "lilyd". I have linked my Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon review pages below.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader’s copy of this book!

2.5 stars

I was so excited to start I’m the Girl. Unfortunately, the important message of this story is hindered by its lackluster execution. There are aspects of this book that I loved, but I want to start by talking about why I’m rating it 2.5 stars.

The plot of this story is almost nonexistent until the very end, which does redeem the book somewhat. I like stories that are slow-paced, but I feel like I was just reading endless pages of description about what every character was wearing and random hand movements they were making rather than reading dialogue simmering with tension or about anything of import. There are other ways to convey the dichotomy between the rich and the poor besides painstakingly detailing characters' outfits. I feel like I barely know the characters as a result of this dull, repetitive description, and while I understand why Cleo and Matthew Hayes were mysterious figures, I shouldn’t feel that way about Georgia or Nora.

Georgia’s desire to be an Aspera girl was reiterated on practically every page in the first half of the book, yet we don’t really learn why she wants to be one. I’d rather have the motivations behind Georgia’s dreams be overstated than the dreams themselves. It says that Georgia wants to use that position as a way to escape poverty, and that she wants to prove to her mother that she can be an Aspera girl, but we didn’t get a real window into how Georgia’s economic standing and her relationship with her mother impacted her life. That would have been more interesting to read about than to read paragraphs upon paragraphs about how much Georgia wants to work at Aspera.

I know that I read a prepublication copy of I'm the Girl, but the writing style of this book was clumsy and confusing at times. Some of the attempts at lyricism here defied the rules of grammar, and not in a necessary or inventive way. I had to read some sentences twice to make sure that I hadn’t misread anything. Also, certain words were taken out of the dialogue to make the dialogue sound more natural, but it read as clunky. For instance, instead of a character saying, “Are you working at Aspera?” they would say, “Working at Aspera?”. This isn’t a quote from the book, but a made-up example so that you know what I’m talking about. It’s not a horrible writing choice, but it does make it harder for readers to figure out who is being spoken to or talked about. And yes, people talk casually in real life, but not in the way that I was reading. Like, someone I know might say, “You working at Aspera?” but they wouldn’t take out the “you”.

Also, I don’t want to police authors, but this is the third Courtney Summers book in a row that deals with avenging a sister after something has happened to her. I was actually excited to see that Georgia didn’t have a sister, and then Nora was introduced, and I was disappointed. I don’t have an issue with that subject matter; I just think that there are only so many different ways you can talk about being the sibling of someone who has been killed or sexually assaulted or abused in some manner. There are only so many nuances and different thoughts you can have about that. Plus, Courtney Summers' previous book, Sadie, expressed all of those thoughts succinctly and beautifully, and in a more expert way than in I’m the Girl.

Additionally, I was uncomfortable with how lesbianism was portrayed in this book. Every time Georgia sees a female character in this book (besides Liv and Ashley), she describes her breasts or her body or objectifies her in some manner. There is even a scene where Georgia peeps on Cleo, which is a complete boundary breach. I am upset to see that our lesbian main character (who we are supposed to root for) is depicted as a predator. This perpetuates negative stereotypes against the LGBTQIAP+ community.

Now, moving on to the aspects of this book that I loved. Refreshing, right?

Georgia’s refusal to admit that she was a victim was painfully real. Her journey of realization is one that a lot of victims go through, and to see it written in a non-judgmental way was lovely. Throughout the course of this book, Georgia keeps repeating that she looks beautiful, and then there’s a moment where she looks in the mirror and all she can say is that she looks young. She realized that she should not be seen as beautiful, not by grown adults. I loved that.

While the dramatic irony employed in I’m the Girl for readers that know that this book is based on the Epstein case does give away its plot, I loved how naive Georgia was. I’ve read some reviews saying, “How could she be so stupid?” or things along those lines, but there’s a reason why teen girls get groomed. It’s not because they’re stupid, it’s because they don’t want to believe that anything bad can happen to them, and because they are at the hands of master manipulators.

There was one small twist in this book that I did not see coming, and I appreciated that.

The whole tone of this book is monotonous until the last 10%, and while that makes the reading experience less than enjoyable, it does mean that the climax of this book surprised me and got my adrenaline flowing. I'm the Girl ends at the height of its action, and I loved that choice. It made me start to feel actual emotions about this book, and my heart was still pumping after reading the final page.