Thank you NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and St. Martin's Press for giving me an eARC to review. This is a difficult one - both to review and to read. I would absolutely consult the trigger warnings as Summers unapologetically tackles sexual assault and grooming/abuse of minors. It's an important novel, but make sure you're in the headspace to read it.

As always, Summers has incredibly poignant writing. We follow Georgia, a 16-year-old girl who stumbles upon a dead body on the road to Aspera, kicking off the events of the novel - her coming of age, revelations of different secrets in town, the understanding of the power structure of the patriarchy. Summers successfully gives us an unreliable narrator, a naive girl who has a dream that, as a reader, I was SCREAMING for her to run away from - but didn't we all feel those things at 16? Didn't we all not realize how weird it was when a man complimented us, stood a little too close, watched a little too long? We know now. But it's easy, at 16, to tell ourselves a different story, and Summers captured that perfectly.. The club, the men - all of it is so menacing, and it's so heartbreaking to watch Georgia get taken advantage of.

I would argue this is not so much a thriller/mystery - Georgia isn't TRULY investigating the death of Ashley, she just kind of finds things at Nora's insistence. If you're looking for a thriller in the vein of Sadie, this might not be it - but it's still important, still gripping, and still a book you won't be able to put down.

4.5 stars

Georgia Avis found the body of 13-year-old Ashley James. Depserate to find some sort of justice for her, she teams up with Ashley's older sister Nora to find out who her killer was. However, the investigation puts Georgia herself in danger as she navigates the world of the wealthy and powerful. People who never have to answer for anything.

As Nora and Georgia get closer to the killer, Georgia realizes it might not just be about one person who is guily. When everyone around you is a part of the dangerous thing, how do you decide who is at fault? And how do you keep yourself from enjoying the power that it can bring? Georgia has to figure out how to have her own power to hopefully bring Ashley's killer to justice.

Thanks to NetGalley, LibroFM, and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers to review! Courtney Summers is never afraid to cover the tough topics, and this book is no different. It's being pitched as a kind of successor to Sadie, and that's an accurate description. It definitely has the same kind of feel.

I'll start with the fact that this book isn't easy to get through. Summers tackles a lot of issues connected to teen girls in relation to men who are wealthy with power. There are some very dark moments in this book, especially as Georgia tackles her own traumas. While she might not be the most likeable character, that's also kind of the point. Teen girls are complex beings, and that's part of Summers' purpose in writing these stories. They need to be told as much as the happy ones.

Summers also nails the emotions in this book. All Georgia really wants is someone to love her and appreciate her for her beauty. She wants her life to mean something, pretty much like anyone else does. It's part of the reason the relationship between her and Nora works so well. They're both looking for someone to support them, to help them through their trauma. It felt so realistic.

The narrator for the audiobook is also fantastic. I was engaged in the story the entire time, even if it was difficult to read. Summers takes you on the same journey as Georgia.

All in all, if you look for dark, true crime like stories, this one will be right up your alley.

I’ve read many books by this author, and she is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. This book has all the raw emotion I expect from one of her novels. She always writes about such hard topics with dignity.

Georgia’s streams of consciousness were very interesting and I feel made up most of the book. I really felt connected to her as a character because of all of her inner dialogue. I was intrigued with her encounters with the “privileged wealthy people” she comes in contact with.

Nora frustrated me the first 30% of the book, but I really grew to admire her. I liked the interactions between her and Georgia. I felt like she grew as a character throughout the story almost as much as Georgia.

I wasn’t expecting the story infield the way it did, but it definitely added more mystery. I was highly impressed with this book, as I always am with works by this author.

This book was so good and different. I really liked how different this was and the different things going on. I really hope there will be a sequel!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC in return for an honest review.

Wow! Where to begin? Georgia is a beautiful 16 year old who is poor and has dreams of being an Aspera girl. Aspera is and exclusive club for the ultra rich and famous who frequent there because of the privacy and other special treatment they receive.

When Georgia stumbles upon the dead body of 13 year old Ashley on the side of the road, that only leads to Aspera, it changes her life. Due to other events, she is suddenly swept up in the world of Aspera and the wealth and privilege that comes along with it.
Georgia takes an office job in hopes to help find Ashley's killer and work her way up to the coveted position of Aspera girl. She is willing to do whatever it takes.

I heard that this is inspired by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell and it's spot on. While this book is a tough read, it delves into the world where money and power can make anything happen. It's sad and very scary that we live in this world.

Georgia is only 16 and yes she made some bad decisions but she is a child. She has very little adult guidance being that she's being raised by her older brother Tyler who takes on extra shifts to make ends meet and it's still not enough. Tyler knows the reputation of this place but is still willing to let her work there because he hopes she is safe with a desk job and they need money.
When I finished the book I said damn and sat with my thoughts for a while. It's a very powerful YA book. I would suggest it as well as Sadie.

Georgia just wants to escape her life, especially after stumbling across a dead body. The key to that escape is a job at a wealthy, secretive club, the same club that tore her mother apart.
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Nora wants answers for her sister’s death and teams up with Georgia to find them but these answers may lead to their worst nightmares.
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As this mystery unraveled I just wanted to get to the end to see it all come together. There are many, many Trigger warnings in this one so tread carefully.
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Thank you #Wednesdaybooks and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This is a story about a girl, who feels she the girl.

Wow, was this not for me. I don’t really have a lot to say- I don’t need a protagonist to be likable, but I do need them to be compelling. In fairness, the subject matter felt a lot like reading about the victims/survivors I work with, and reading this felt like a weird fever dream version of a work conversation.

That being said- the audio was great! Thank you so much @netgalley @wednesdaybooks & @macmillan.audio for the advanced copy!

DNF at 23%

I just was so confused. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters and didn’t really want to figure out the mystery. I was bored and there were no chapter headings so I felt like it was far too long to hold my attention.

Disappointed by this one!

I honestly have no words to describe my feelings about this book - in a good way. It's strong, heartbreaking, unfortunately realistic, and pulls you right in. The one thing I still feel like I have actual loose ends about is her mom - what did she actually do and how did she actually die???? Outside of that, this was another amazing, impactful novel from Courtney Summers - never to be missed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

I'm the Girl follows teenager Georgie Avis, a 16-year-old desperate to break out of her impoverished life. When she finds the body of 13-year-old Ashley James, she is thrust into a glittering world of wealth, excess... and murder.

This book was billed as the "spiritual successor" to Courtney Summers' breakout hit, Sadie, and while I think I enjoyed the format of Sadie's storytelling more, I'm the Girl is still a phenomenally written, chilling, and occasionally haunting story. There is a lot of assault and grooming, which may be triggering for some readers, as Summers does not pull punches.

This is not a fun book. It really, truly is a difficult book, from the first page to the last. But if you're a fan of Courtney Summers, I'm the Girl delivers the deftly written, timely, thought-provoking, and haunting kind of story Summers excels at.

So, this book is definitely on the dark and disturbing side. There are a lot of trigger warnings so definitely look into them before reading.
It follows Georgia as she obsessively tries to become an Aspera Girl. Which is a girl that works at the Aspera Resort where her mother used to work. They basically work exclusively to attend to the high roller executives. Doing literally whatever they want or getting them whatever they need. I'm not sure why this is the pinnacle of what Georgia wants to be, just because at the age of thirteen after running away the owner called her beautiful and told her to come back when she was older.

She makes many.. many... many... bad decisions when it comes to working for Aspera. I don't know if she is naive or just very willfully ignorant when it comes to getting what she wants. But I do know that multiple times I wanted to reach through the book and shake her until she came to her senses.

A lot of her issues could have been avoided if her mother told her the truth about what went on at the resort, and stopped telling her she wasn't good enough to work there. Maybe rephrased more like your too good to work there? Every time her mother said she wasn't good enough it just doubled her effort to work there. Even going so far as to try walking thereafter she was hit by a car and found the body of a young girl who had been assaulted.

While this is supposed to be about Georgia and Nicole solving Ashley's murder it really takes a backseat to all the bizarre stuff that Georgie keeps doing to herself to get ahead at Aspera. It could have not been included at all and I think the book would have been mostly the same.

Honestly, I kept reading just to see if she would ever wise up, and realize that her brother is the only normal male relationship she has. And even in the end, I'm not totally sure she 100% realized what actually was happening.

I genuinely hated this book.

I’m the Girl centers around a resort like members only club full of adults that groom and exploit underaged girls from impoverished backgrounds. It’s aggressive written and sexually violent, and gave me the ick

Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

This is a tough book for me to review because Georgia is one of the most dreamy, naïve, and impulsive characters I have come across in fiction. But it’s a fine line to walk in judging that because it would be easy for a reviewer to victim blame her because of the sheer amount of dangerous situations she lands in because of that naivety. If you’re looking for character growth, you won’t see it in this one. While I’ve always said you can like a book without loving the characters, it’s hard to like the situations she keeps landing in, which are central to the story.

If you’re a fan of Summers, then you tend to know the subjects she writes about. So you can go into this expecting some tense and uncomfortable situations throughout the book. It’s often incredibly inappropriate, leading you to want to reach into the book and pluck Georgia out of it. I spent so much time screaming at her to come clean, to fess up to things she shouldn’t have kept secret, that it was futile. So overall, I have mixed feelings about this. I think some portions were helpful, and the story overall is enjoyable, but it’s tough to get around Georgia. Thank you, St. Martin’s, for sending this along.

I found this book a little hard to get into at first because I was a bit confused, but once the story hit the ground running I was in.

I will say that I came to this book NOT having read Sadie, though Sadie has been on my radar and my TBR. Therefore, I had no expectations for comparing this to Summer's other work. I was here for the vibes: murder, terrible people, and explorations of the seedy underbelly at the intersection of priviledge and gender. When I learned that this particular story was based on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell I knew I had to read it.

Overall, it delivered. The main character, Georgia, is a complex character with a complex history. She wants to be a model. She want to be bigger than she is expected to be. In her town, the ticket to this lifestyle is becoming a Aspera girl -- the girls who work at the local resort that caters to people with extreme wealth and priviledge. Aspera girls are beautiful and get to spend time with powerful people, potentially giving them connections to fame and money. However, Georgia discovers the dead body of 13-year-old Ashely with connections to the Aspera world and suddenly Georgia is thrust into a world of wealth, secrets, and some pretty disturbing practices.

Georgia is invited to work at Aspera, which is her dream come true. Simultaneously she is investigating Ashley's murder with Ashley's sister, Nora, as the two girls try to figure out what series of events would result in such a young girl being found beaten to death on the side of the road.

Be aware that pretty much everything in Georgia's journey, both in her work at Aspera and in her murder investigation, is FULL of trigger warnings: sexual assault, grooming, rape, suicide, substance abuse -- the list goes on and on. My main complaint about this novel, and what keeps it from being 5 stars, is that the story focuses on the shocking content over fully developing the murder mystery. Teens will love the grittiness of this and won't notice, but the mystery plotline does lack some finesse. I was confused at points, especially in the beginning, and felt like some of the subplots suffered from strange pacing issues. But don't get me wrong -- this is still an excellent read and one I will recommend to students and mystery/thriller fans of all ages. Summers' story has an edge and believability that many YA thrillers are missing (and that is SO HARD to pull off in YA!) and I can see why her stories get so much buzz.

ALSO, and I hate that this is so tacked on to the end here, but do note that this is a QUEER story! I personally love when we get a queer story in genres outside of contemporary/romance, so I will always note with a thriller or mystery has a little bit of WLW swooning on the side. Georgia is queer and explores that side of herself in this novel, and this plotline is juxatposed against the exploitative and abusive sexual power dynamics found in Georgia's dealings at Aspera. I thought this element of the story was particularly well done.

I rated this book 4/5 stars and recommend it to folks who love reading complex character with complete motives, queer stories, and who can handle reading about some of the darkest parts of society. The content here is not for the faint of heart and will make people angry, as it should.

I, unfortunately, did not finish this book. I was very confused about what was going on in it. I loved Summers' last book and I thought this one would be along the same lines as it. It started off fine but then all of a sudden I was like "what is going on?" I seemed like the book started off with one story and then kind of forgot about it and went into another one. It seemed disjointed to me and wasn't intriguing enough for me to continue.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I tried to get into it but could not finish. The writing was choppy and the story did not grab me.

This book took forever to get through due to the intense, and disturbing subject matter. Trigger warnings for sexual assault. The story was well written. It was difficult to read at times and I found myself stopping frequently to get some air from the subject.

Georgie is a 16 year old girl who comes from poor surroundings and the key to freedom and the lifestyle she dreams of is her beauty. She accidentally comes across the dead body of a young girl. From that moment on her life drastically changes.

This was a heavy read but it was well done. Ultimately I have mixed feelings about it. I’m curious to know what other people think.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

What a disturbing read.

In some places, it really aggravated the anxiety I was already feeling but I also felt so confused throughout the book about some general stuff. Like there are things that are still not super clear to me even though I have finished the book and I wish there was more clarity so I could fully understand some of them, while others took quite the time for me to realise what was going on.

Another thing is, this story did not feel as gripping as Sadie by the same author so my inattention might have contributed to the confusion I was experiencing. I was just breezing through the story without really being interested in where things were going, and that took away my appreciation significantly.

Overall it was great but I guess having experienced Sadie, I know that the author could do much better and this story obviously has so much potential, but it didn't quite meet expectations and left me somewhat disappointed on the front of how well I connected with the book.

Wow! What a great and provoking book. This book kept me on my toes and made me think and wonder. I couldn't believe the ending. Solid 4 star read!

Just finished the ARC of this book by Courtney Summers, set to publish on September 13th, and I'm a bit conflicted about my feelings on this read. On the positive side, Summers' writing itself is articulate & passionate, deeply atmospheric at times, and yet, the arc and pacing of the story, especially the ending, left much to be desired. This felt like an unfinished early draft rather than a book that's going to be out in the world in less than three weeks, and while I appreciated where Summers seemed to be leading us with this latest novel, ultimately I didn't feel that she took us there in a satisfying way.

*Thank you to NetGalley & Wednesday Books for this ARC.*