Courtney Summers' books demand us to look at the girls who go invisible in the world. The ones who don't get our praise and don't get our pity. The ones who are scraping their way through this life and trying so hard just to exist at all. She asks us to get in their heads and see them. Know them. Understand their dreams, their flaws, their loves. She doesn't ask us to pity them, she just asks us to look. To look and acknowledge that they're there.
'I'm the Girl' is a tough read. It's tough because of the content and even tougher because it is meant to be a fictional mirror into a very real and very awful reality. 'I'm the Girl' is a story about exploitation and power and girls trying to find their place in the world. It's a story about dead girls and living ones, and how easy it is for us to look away while bad things happen. It's also a story about first love and hope and resistance.
It's hard to give a rating or review to a book like this because this book that is meant to make you angry. It's meant to make you rage against the way this world treats girls as a commodity to be used and thrown away. It's meant to ask you what we are supposed to do about it. So I don't really know how to give this a series of stars because I inhaled this book and I hated it and I enjoyed it and I put it down at the end not really knowing how to hold all those feelings in at once. But here it is. If you like Courtney Summers' work, this one won't disappoint.

I'm the Girl is a gripping young adult mystery thriller that takes readers on a wild ride. This book is thought-provoking, sad, and intriguing!

I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers did not hold my interest. After reading 75 pages, I could not agree with the situations the main character put herself in.

3.5**

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!

There was something about this one that didn't do it for me. EVERY other time Courtney's amazing cult vibes and writing really gets me full on, but for some reason this one didn't hit.
Georgie is a grey character with a lot of growing up needed, but I enjoyed her & she was easy to get behind and follow in this story. This was all a bit complex with how characters knew each other as well as Aspera and the dynamics. Geeeez, that place is a horror show - which is my cup of tea. (yes I need therapy)
I can't say much else as I am not sure where the problem really lies, just that the story was all over the place and it wasn't revolutionary as many others have been. Courtney Summers still remains an author for me!

Thoughts

It is absolutely unconscionable that this book has been published for and marketed toward children. YA is a marketing category enjoyed by a lot of people, a fair chunk of them adults, but it is, at the end of the day, a category meant to be for teens--that is, minors. The amount of on-the-page assault in this book would be too much for an adult audience. For an audience of children, it is entirely reprehensible. I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.


Pros
Family: One of the few things that I appreciated about this book was its inclusion of family. Characters like Georgia, who are easily taken advantage of, often have no family to speak of--or no functioning family, if they do have an (addict) mother or father. Georgia might be an orphan, but her older brother has stepped in to care for her. And he does care for her a great deal, as much as he fails to protect her in this book. I appreciate his inclusion, at least.

Hard Reality: One of the things that I appreciate about Courtney Summers is that she doesn't steer away from hard characters and terrible realities. The things that happen to Georgia in this book aren't unthinkable--which is part of what makes the things that happen to her so terrible. This book goes too far, but I can at least commend Summers for going there at all. A lot of authors would avoid it entirely.

Growing Relationship: A lot of YA romances happen fast, fast, fast. They meet, they crush, and they are so, so in love in that (quick) order. This book doesn't move so fast. It also doesn't move glacially slow. These girls grow on each other. They support each other and figure out life--and then their respective feelings--together. And that more realistic pace is nice.


Cons
Gratuitous: Anyone who has read Courtney Summers's work before won't be surprised to know that this book is harsh. But from the very first page, the narrative here is rough, rough, rough. The on-page assault (with no repercussions, I might add) is a lot. One assault would be a lot for the market. This book had significantly more than one. The sex and sexual violence in this book weren't just harsh. They felt gratuitous, and that's not a word that I use lightly. I would highly advise, for anyone who doesn't want to fill their head with sexual violence, to AVOID, AVOID, AVOID this book.

Jumbled: On top of the content issue here, this book had a narrative issue as well. That is, the narrative ends up pretty jumbled and hard to follow. It makes sense, coming from the perspective of a character who is repeatedly and horrifically assaulted. Her narrative perhaps shouldn't come out quite coherently. But for readers, it can be tough to follow without any sort of grounding in the world. From page one, this book goes, goes, goes without much through-line.

No Reflection: I'm not a person who needs a happily-ever-after. I don't even need a happy-for-now. In some cases, I even prefer not to have a nice and neat conclusion. But here, in this book soaked in assault and marketed toward teenagers, I would expect at the very least for this narrative to end on a note of reflection. Hope would, of course, be better. But this book ends in nothing. There's no reflection. Nothing changes. It's just terrible, awful, horrible through to the end.


Rating
⭐
1/10

Fans of Courtney Summers's The Project might enjoy this new harsh reality. Those looking for a new dead-end protagonist after Laurie Devore's A Better Bad Idea may enjoy this new girl-at-the-end-of-the-line.

This queer thriller by Courtney Summers lies within the same universe as Summer's previous book, Sadie. It's just as brutal too and poignantly heartbreaking. Georgia Avis lives with her much older brother after their mother, a housekeeper at Aspera, an exclusive resort, died from an aggressive cancer. She'd never wanted Georgia to work there, but after Georgia is hit by a car on the road to the resort, she's rescued by the owner. Georgia teams up with her old crush to investigate her younger sister's rape and death while trying to track down the photographer who took nude pictures of Georgia.

Lots of trigger warnings
Young Adult

4.3/5

This book wasn't terrible, just not my cup of tea. The story was kind of all over the place and couldn't keep my interest at times. I couldn't stand some of the characters either.

While I understand what this book was trying to do thematically, and while I do think it succeeded in a very brutal portrayal of the grooming of underage girls, this is, first and foremost, supposed to be a mystery thriller, and it utterly failed at that. It's extremely predictable, not very thrilling, and all based on a mother determined to keep something a secret from her daughter, even after dying, that her daughter, really, really should have been told.

George has been obsessed with Aspera, a resort catering to elite clients, ever since its owner, Matthew Hayes, found her as she was running away from home. He told her she was beautiful and she should come to Aspera when she was older. Her mother worked there and was adamant that it was no place for George, but refuses to tell her why. And the why is a doozy. I just don't buy that it's more important to keep this secret, even when she knows she is dying, than to explain in graphic detail why George needs to stay the hell away from that place. It's a very flimsy premise.

I do think there are some interesting discussions in here about the perceived value of beauty, and how much young girls can hang their sense of self-worth on being told they're beautiful, and how money equals power, especially for men. I just wish the underlying story had been better.

This book threw me through some loops with all the chaos that happened throughout. I originally walked into this novel thinking that it was going to be a murder mystery type novel with added elements of society and secrets that caused the death of this young girl, but I was blindsided.

Georgia Avis is a 16-year-old girl, who frustrated me from beginning to end because of how naive she was about the situations she was putting herself in and the possibility of the same trauma that her mom went through at the hands of those with lots of power and money. Throughout the novel, Georgia comes to deal with her sexuality and her feelings toward her friend Nora, the sister of the murdered young girl.

This book was rather graphic with the descriptions of peoples bodies especially her own and that made reading through aspects a bit difficult because it felt like a very private moment for a young girl. There is also a lot of grooming and sexual assault throughout the novel and how Georgia handles every instance that she walks herself into. I am not sure labeling this as YA is smart because of how graphic and unsettling this novel is and would be for young adults that would be picking up this book.

There are a lot of twists and turns with hidden secrets and corruption, but the plot and storyline got a little convoluted especially when the mysteries are supposed to be resolving and coming to an end. Sadly the end was also lackluster because it just ends and no consequences are put into place for the people, which I guess is fitting to the real world but might be very grim for a lot of young adults.

I wish that I liked this as much as I adored Sadie, but it fell short for me. I want to pick up more by her to see if I enjoy her other novels because her writing style is beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the e-ARC for an honest review.

This was a hard review to write. It took me almost five hours to create some kind of cohesive post. I'm here with a book review for I'm The Girl by Courtney Summers, which takes place in the same universe as Sadie. I really liked Sadie, and loved The Project so I was excited to receive an arc from Netgalley for I'm The Girl. Sadly, this was just okay. I think there is an audience for this book and I will try to help you figure out if this is a book you'd like. This is a long review, if you want to cut to the chase scroll down to where I list CAWPILE score and read my Final Thoughts.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: grooming, sexual assault, rape, dead bodies, death of a parent, sexual abuse, pedophilia
Title: I'm The Girl

Author: Courtney Summers

Publication Date: September 13, 2022

Publisher: St. Martin's Press (Wednesday Books)

Suggested Reader Age: in my opinion: 18+

Genre: Thriller
› I'm The Girl was inspired by "the patriarchal power systems that protected Jeffrey Epstein and helped enable his abuse of young girls." It takes place in Ketchum and is told in the first person from Georgia Avis's perspective. Georgia is sixteen years old. Her mother, Katy, worked in housekeeping at Aspera. She didn't want her daughter to work there, but Georgia was determined to be an "Aspera Girl". Katy recently died of cancer and Georgia is now living with her thirty-year-old brother, Tyler. He's a hard worker and is very patient. He doesn't even get really angry after finding out Georgia stole four thousand dollars from him. A man at the mall told her she could be a model and gave her the contact info for a photographer who is a creep and takes nude photos of her. Riding home on her bike she's hit by a car, her photos are stolen, and Georgia finds Ashley James dead in a ditch on the road that leads to Aspera. Ashley James was thirteen years old when she was raped and murdered. Her father, Justin, is a police officer. Ashley's sister is Nora - a girl that Georgia has had a secret crush on for years. Nora and Georgia team up to try and find Ashley's killer.

› Georgia convinces Tyler to let her get a job at Aspera so she can pay him back. Aspera is a rustic 12,000-acre members-only mountain resort with a golf course. The owners are Matthew and Cleo Hayes. Matthew is a financier - he helps the rich become richer. Cleo helps him serve the elite and train the "Aspera Girls", a select group of beautiful girls who attend to members of the "executive floor". The resort is meant to be a place for rich people to retreat from the world. The whole idea of Aspera is discretion.

› Georgia lands a job at the resort as a digital switchboard operator - basically just reading on-screen requests that guests input on a tablet in their room then she contacts the appropriate department at the lodge to fill the request. One of the important staff members is Kel. He helps train Georgia and is basically Matthew's right-hand man.

› I'm The Girl is marketed as an LGBTQIA+ mystery thriller for teens and YA and I have to disagree with some of that. As a mother and Educational Assistant, I feel like this book is for adults. I have a fifteen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old and I wouldn't want either of them reading a book lacking consequences for rape and murder. What would it teach them?


› I'm The Girl is a thriller because the protagonist is in danger from the beginning and there is a threat to her physical safety throughout, but the pacing and reveals didn't feel like a well-written mystery. From the reviews I've read from queer people, the protagonist's relationship with Nora felt like a plot device and I'd have to agree.

› This book takes place in the same world as Sadie, but I found only one instance that mentions Sadie. Sadie was a likeable, smart, resilient character and we were rooting for her. Georgia is written as naive, makes stupid mistakes, and you constantly find yourself incredibly frustrated with her decisions. I did have empathy for her and I was rooting for her - but in the end, I was left feeling unsatisfied.

› There are on-page descriptions of grooming, sexual assault and rape. One or two felt necessary for the plot or character development, but there were some that felt just plain gross and unnecessary.

› In a newsletter post written in May Courtney Summers said:

"Despite my reputation, I’m not really here to push the boundaries of likability, but to understand the limitations of empathy, to see what happens when I offer readers a space where there is no perceived risk, nothing to lose or gain by supporting a traumatized girl in crisis, and to see if my work can tip the scales in a fictional girl’s favor."

› I'm The Girl DID NOT "tip the scales in a fictional girl's favor". Did it make me care about Georgia? Yes. But the scales were not "tipped" in Georgia's favour. She was used and abused with no retribution or consequences.

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 3
Georgia had a goal, I didn't quite understand her motivation. I needed more character development, more internal conflict, backstory, characteristics, and better side characters. All of the characters felt flat to me.
› Atmosphere: 2
I needed more descriptions and world-building. I didn't feel appropriate emotions or mood.
› Writing Style: 6
Beige writing (direct, brief descriptions), good readability, but didn't connect with the dialogue and some parts felt repetitive.
› Plot: 5
Great beginning, okay middle, anti-climactic ending. It is a page-turner. The ending was horrible for me. Extremely unsatisfying.
› Intrigue: 5
› Logic: 2
There are parts that are confusing and elements that don't make sense.
"...my breasts always, a little, preceding me." What does this mean?
"...or the way I'd glimpse myself in a mirror and lose my breath at what my image seemed to be hinting toward." Lose your breath at your own image? That is just plain ridiculous.
With everything that Tyler knew why did he let Georgia work there?
HOW did Georgia steal four thousand dollars from Tyler?

› Enjoyment: 4
overall experience: This might be my most disappointing read for 2022. Maybe there are problems in this arc that have been fixed for the final copy. What is the point of this book? Just to show us rich people getting away with horrible behaviour? We already know this exists. How is this book adding anything to that conversation?

Average 3.8

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★

› Final Thoughts
• I'm The Girl is a depressing and disturbing book. If you're picking this up just because it's marketed as taking place in the same universe as Sadie then don't. Sadie is only mentioned in passing. If you're looking for a provocative fast-paced thriller and you're okay with a bitter ending then this might be a good read for you. Other reviewers have said the audiobook is really good.

Other Books by Courtney Summers:
Debut: Cracked Up To Be (2008)
Some Girls Are (2010)
Fall For Anything (2010)
This Is Not A Test (2012)
All The Rage (2015)
Sadie (2018) My Rating ★★★★
The Project (2021) My Rating ★★★★★
I'm The Girl (2022) My Rating ★★★

Short Stories:
PG
Defy The Dark (2013)
Please Remain Calm (This Is Not A Test #1.5 - 2015)
Violent Ends (2015)
Here We Are (2017)


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

A riveting and engrossing novel you can’t put down. The plot is propulsive and intriguing and at times heartbreaking. The characters are well developed and entrancing. There are a few loose ends that I wish had been explored further but the overall story is captivating.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this evocative, mysterious, and clandestine eARC. I have read all of Courtney Summers' work up to this novel, and she has never disappointed. It seems as though with every release, the subject matter gets more and more raw, and readers can absolutely feel every emotion within I'm the Girl as though they're living it themselves. A spiritual sequel to Sadie (even having a nod to the novel in passing), this work is a long and hard look at manipulation, its consequences, the forms it comes in, and its aftermath. The narrative is a warning, but also a testament of the strength required to overcome.

Our protagonist here is Georgia Avis, who has had a lengthy and varied history with the road that leads to Aspera, a local lodge. When she was young, she came across the owner, Matthew Hayes, there-- who told her she was beautiful. It was the first time she had heard such and believed it. This refrain played in her head for the rest of her life, prompting her to aspire to be a model; an endeavor that would leave her broken and bruised on the same fateful road... this time not alone. Georgia discovers Ashley James' lifeless body, and even as her life gets indescribably complicated, her dreams begin to come true. She is found by Matthew's beautiful wife, Cleo, and winds up on the radar of Ashley's alluring sister, Nora.

As Georgia attempts to unravel the puzzle of Ashley's untimely demise with Nora and rises in the ranks at the Aspera with Cleo at her back-- she also struggles with her burgeoning lust and love for both women. The queer aspect of this novel hits home for me as a pansexual woman, and so did hearing the line 'the sight of a beautiful woman could be more for me than anyone'. Georgia being so scared to use her own power at first also invoked a kinship between myself and the protagonist; especially as she was being instructed as follows: "Don't put a ceiling on what you're meant to receive, Georgia." By the end of the book, Georgia has seen the way the world is and is unafraid to push the limits of her place in it. I would recommend this book to anyone in need of empowerment, all lovers of whodunnits, and especially to young women finding their way in life.

Thought provoking, raw, intense and uncomfortable. These were the words that were constantly going through my head during Georgia's story in which she is seeking answers after she is attacked and a young girl is murdered. She is thrown into a world that she is familiar with, but naively accepts and is slowly pulled into the rabbit hole.

Georgia is a teen that has been lured into a world that her mother was a part of. Aspera is the name given to this compound of sorts. Where the elite and powerful rule. Where there are no laws and where the young, beautiful, yet naive Georgia succumbs to the powers of the Hayeses. Her beauty will become her sword once she learns how to wield it to her advantage. But while there, she is also looking for answers that these people keep hidden.

Courtney Summers is the type of author that goes against the grain and has a way of writing that will pull you in and question everything. She is no holds barred. Everything she writes is relevant to now and makes you think beyond what is on the written (or audio) page. This book and this particular story struck a chord with me. Grooming and seeing the power these people hold over these young ladies was disturbing. I liked that we got the link to Sadie in I'm the Girl and the story of strong young women not understanding their full capability. But it was the 'outside world' of Georgia's that I wanted to dive deeper into. After reading this book, I have a feeling I'm going to need to come back and listen to the audio. It seems the type of story that would translate well.

If you're not afraid of flawed characters that give you a complex and disturbing story, dive into this book. It starts with a bang and then give you another world that combined with the murder of a young lady is anything but easy. Just hold on tight and don't let go.

I don't think any other Courtney Summers book will top Sadie for me as my favourite. I found this book abrupt at the beginning, throwing you immediately into the mystery of a teen girl's murder and how our main character, Georgia, discovered her body. Georgia teams up with the dead girl's sister to try to solve her murder while she also works at a mysterious lodge that her mother worked at when she was alive.

Georgia was an interesting character because she has this need to be admired; she loves when people tell her she should be a model/actress. This book had interesting plot twists that made the story go by quicker. But I definitely struggle with the ambiguity of Courtney Summers' writing at times. I don't love having to interpret what's going on, sometimes I just want to be told for sure what happened.

This definitely gave me some gritty Nancy Drew vibes so I would recommend it if you like Courtney Summers' writing and want a new sapphic mystery.

This was dark and honestly difficult to read at times, given the content--there's a lot of underage girls being taken advantage of, from literally page one. I enjoyed the creepy vibe, and the writing, and the mystery Georgia is kind of trying to solve of who killed Ashley James (she says she's trying, but really she's just trying to get her dream job.) I saw the final twist coming about a mile away, but I did like how the ending was handled. *
This handles some really dark material in a really great way. Georgia refuses to believe she's a victim even though it's incredibly clear she is (again from page one, this isn't a spoiler). A lot of that felt very real and I wish there'd been a little more character growth to address that. 
*
I would have liked this more if Georgia wasn't just so unbelievably naive. In addition to trusting all the wrong people, her life mission at 16 is to get a job at the Aspera resort, which she does but she's upset because her job is real, as opposed to being an "Aspera girl". I really thought I was misunderstanding what an Aspera girl was, but...it's basically what it sounds like and this girl is 16! I mean, I guess that's part of her character, but it was hard to root for her when I just wanted to shake her. *
 There's a clear message about predators that really was very powerful. All in all, I did really like this book, and was completely engrossed in the story.

This book does a great job exploring gender and sexuality as one young woman discovers the dead body of another and teams up with her sister to bring a killer to justice. Perfect for fans of Ashley Winstead's The last housewife and great on audio. This book will keep you on your toes and enrage you about the injustices of violence against young women. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

4 stars. This novel dealt with very disturbing matters and it was difficult to read at times. Despite this I could not put it down! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press Wednesday Books for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. Unfortunately, I really cannot recommend this book. The plot had enormous holes, the main character made stupid decisions throughout the entire book, and although the book isn’t long, it just dragged. I really enjoyed Sadie, but this one was just a mess.

I could not get into this book. It felt shocking and I just was not in the right place for it. I loved Sadie by Summers but I didn't love The Project. I think maybe I'll steer clear of this writer from now on.

Compelling plot, but the characters were thinly written and felt distanced from the reader. Still suspenseful and gripping in a farfetched way.