Unfortunately I DNF'd this book at 27%. I just found that I didn't care where the story was going and I didn't care to pick it up and keep reading. I think I was hoping for more of an active mystery where we were trying to solve a mystery and this was more of a slow plot that just happened to have a mystery in the background that the main character didn't seem that interested in solving herself. I wish I had loved this but it just wasn't for me.

Audiobook/Book Review

I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers
@SummersCourtney
Pub date: September 13, 2022
Narrated by: Lori Prince
@LoriPrince212
Duration: 8H 21M


This will be my starter review because the more this book marinates, the more I have to say. I read/listened to this in ONE. DAY!

Courtney Summers is a favorite author and I will read anything she writes, no questions asked. Her books leave me feeling raw and exposed and they always tug at my soul in a meaningful and sometimes painful way.

There’s something about how she’s able to uncover the complex relationships/love between people that feels real to me. In I’m the Girl she describes the inherent power of women while also showing the vulnerability that’s forced upon us by the patriarchy and it is a devastating read/listen.

Here's the gist:

16-year-old Georgia is a beauty; she knows this and accepts this as a way out of her poverty-stricken life. Living in the shadow of her dead mother’s crime (which will be slowly revealed) she stays with her older brother who does his best to care for her. Georgia has always known that Aspera, a resort for the wealthy is her way out. But at what cost? What exactly goes on up there? Aspera holds the town in the palm of its hand; responsible for most of its employment and greasing a lot of palms, including that of the local police which makes it hard for the people who run afoul of Aspera.

When a young girl is found brutally raped and murdered, it starts a chain of events that will lead directly to a corrupt system that protects abusers, rapists and murderers at the cost of innocence.

Understand that above all else, this is a painful book to read; it is a realistic look at how beauty is both valued and devalued, how women are groomed from a very young age to think being called pretty/beautiful is the highest of compliments and their only true worth and focuses on those that will take advantage of this. The emphasis on the inequality between the wealthy and the poor, between men and women and between adults and non-adults, feels tangible.

This is narrated by Lori Prince and she understood the assignment! She reads the part of teenage Georgia with such emotive perfection! There’s a part where another young girl is describing heart-wrenching painful emotions about the loss of her friend to rape/murder and it was so powerful! Bravo, Lori, bravo!

I will be recommending this sapphic coming of age thriller to everyone!

My thanks to @Macmillan.Audio for this gifted ALC and to @StMartinsPress @WednesdayBooks for the gifted DRC.

I will be recommending this to my followers who are obsessed with thrillers. This book had it all and was very impressed with the writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of 'I'm the Girl'. Sadly, this book was not for me. The writing was confusing - especially in the beginning. That was the first turn-off for me. I wasn't a fan of how everything was laced with an essence of sexuality. I felt weird reading certain scenarios and the characters didn't feel well-developed. I was intrigued enough to continue each chapter - but overall, I was confused, felt weird, and underwhelmed. It's still not very clear who the killer is.

This was an interesting one, and I don’t think it quite worked for me. But I haven’t forgotten it, so that’s something. I think the author was attempting commentary on sexism and the agency or lack there of that young women have over their own bodies, but I just couldn’t get over how naive the main character was.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me at 40 percent. I requested this book from net galley because of how much I loved Sadie. However this one did not have the same effect on me. I felt that it was very hard to follow storyline wise and the characters were one dimensional. overall this one was not for me unfortunately.

This just wasn't for me. I LOVED Sadie so I had really high hopes. It seemed like it took a long time for everything to click and then when it did, it felt like "duh, of course that's what happened." I think that this will definitely appeal to teens who like thrillers but I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone.

Again, Courtney Summers gives us a book that is hard hitting, uncomfortable, and a cautionary tale. This book was hard to read. TW for grooming and sexual assault. I think what makes this book so hard to read is how naïve the main character, Geogia, is. Georgia is 16 and thinks she knows what she wants and what is good for her. She's been told she is beautiful, and she thinks she knows how to embrace it and wield it. Unfortunately, others embrace it and use it against her.

As with any Courtney Summers book, we can learn from these harsh lessons. Hopefully we can educate ourselves and others about how to avoid these situations or take down institutions that perpetuate these situations.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story was written from the POV of a 16 year old girl, naïve, eager to please, and thought she had the world figured out. I kept on thinking there's going to be some plot twist of why she wanted to work at Aspera so badly, I thought it was because she wanted to solve the crime, but no, her 16 years old self just wanted to be recognized to be beautiful, I guess that makes sense if you're looking at it from an adolescence's mind. A lot of the plot will have you slap your forehead in frustration, but in a way, making Georgia an unpolished but realistic character.

This is a well written thriller and a look at a society that tells girls all they are worth is whether they are beautiful or not. The author makes us feel and think and this is a good read for student to discuss and learn from

This is another strong book from Courtney Summers, a book about power, about desperate girls who aspire to better things, who believe their beauty will save them and give them everything. It is also a mystery, who killed Ashley and while to me, the reader it seem obvious what the outcome would be, it was Georgia's path of growth to get there and to know her real worth. Heartbreaking and powerful

Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea, the mystery itself and the plot were fairly good, but I just feel like the end left a few too many questions unanswered. In my opinion, the end of the book was confusing. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for a honest review

This is my first read by this author even though, I do own Sadie. While I love a good mystery, this book left me asking myself what I had I just read. There were definitely parts I enjoyed but by the end, I was confused about what actually happened. What actually happened to Ashley and who dumped her body on the side of the road? What did George’s mom see while working at Aspera?

Uncomfortable with hard-to-read topics, but beautifully written.

I’m the Girl is about a 16-year-old girl who dreams of escaping poverty and sees her beauty as a way out. When she discovers the body of a 13-year-old girl, she is lured into a world filled with wealth, privilege, and power, at the risk of losing herself.

Narrated solely by Georgie, her character is raw and painfully naive. I didn’t completely like her, but I understood her desire for her dream. She is beautiful and conscious of the power of her beauty, but she doesn’t fully understand her power, nor does she understand desire. Her focus and awareness of her beauty grew redundant and frustrating to read, but at the same time, there is a purpose behind Summer’s focus on this aspect of Georgie’s character.

This is book is one giant trigger warning: with grooming and sexual assault at the forefront. I can’t say I enjoyed reading this, but it is provocative and timely. There is a nod to Sadie, and Georgie is an interesting character. Overall, while this wasn’t a fun reading experience, I am glad I read I'm The Girl.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Courtney Summers specializes in making me feel uncomfortable and I mean that in a good way.
All of her books have been tough, hard to read, and raw.
I’m the Girl was heartbreaking to read.. it was so dark and gritty and naive and frustrating. I just felt so many things about everyone in the story as Georgia attempted to secure a place in a world she didn’t understand while trying to find out what really happened to a murdered girl.
The book was incredibly dark and not for anyone who is sensitive to any kind of content.
Also, I know a lot of people will not like Georgia, but I feel like it was bold to have written from her POV. Yes, she was naive and kind of dumb about the whole industry. As an adult, I just wanted to shake her and explain how things worked, but no one else in her life ever did. People are drawn into the glamour of things without realizing the ugly truth about them and young, beautiful girls are drawn to some of the worst things imaginable in our society and don’t always have people in their lives that warn them about it. We want to avoid talking about it, we want to assume girls are just being self absorbed or promiscuous, when sometimes maybe they are are just lost and they need people in their lives to level with them.
This book won’t be for everyone and it’s not comfortable to read, but it was so good and sharp and provocative.

Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read I'M THE GIRL early.

I have been a Courtney Summers fan since picking up CRACKED UP TO BE in high school. I'm drawn to Summers' style of writing; the way she roots us in the shoes of young women and makes us understand "unlikeable" girls.

Thank you, Courtney, for writing "unlikeable" girls.

I would recommend I'M THE GIRL to any reader because everyone has something to learn from its pages. I'M THE GIRL masterfully takes untrustworthy characters and makes them seem trustworthy. It makes us understand a young woman's confusion about how she fits into a man's world. It makes us understand a young woman's desperation to make something of herself--a desperation so poignant that she's ripe for the picking.

And then, of course, there's the all-too-real exploration of law enforcement's involvement in keeping powerful men powerful,

I'm not easily fooled--it's not often that I get to the end of a book and don't know the "who" in the who-dun-it. But in I'M THE GIRL, there's more than one who-dun-it, and that's a beautifully illustrated point in this book: there are entire societies of people who work together to protect men in power.

In true Courtney Summers fashion, I'm left with complicated thoughts and feelings about one of her books.

Courtney Summers doesn't write happy endings. She writes complete train wrecks so terrible you can't look away - in the best ways possible.

The difference I felt with this one is that I was thoroughly lost and confused through the first 20%, so much so that I HAD to go back and reread, which is mainly why I took one star away. The first 30-40% is just...odd. It's written oddly (as far as words and phrasing) and you're thrown into the not-quite-middle of the story but definitely not the beginning. It was truly my curiosity of /what the heck is happening/ that kept me going through the story. I was worried at one point that there wasn't going to be enough to keep me interested on solely the desire to figure out the story, but I got through it and there's a big event that happens just over 1/2 way through the book that carries you through the rest of it.

I didn't enjoy the ending - AT ALL. It felt abrupt and weird and unsatisfactory. I didn't expect happily ever after, but I wanted more closure than what we were given, and I felt that the last 15% was rushed in its pacing.

If I could give .5 stars, this would have been a 3.5 rating, but I thought it was a unique book and bumped it up to 4 stars for that reason - it's weird partially because it's not like every other book out there, and I greatly appreciate that.

Ever since I've read Sadie by Courtney Summers, I've been a big fan. Her books hit in ways that other books do not, and they constantly wrap you in and you always want more. Not sure if I'll ever feel the way I do when I read her books. Five stars, every single time.

Wow, what a heavy hitter of a book. Dark, tension filled with power struggles, sex, murder, money all rolled up into this gripping thriller. Some of the content may not be for all readers. The ending felt a little unfinished for all the tension readers go through.

Giving this a 3.5 star only because dark, gritty thrillers normally aren't my jam. But wow, the writing is FANTASTIC! You can feel the tension as you read!

I'm The Girl follows sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis as she becomes entangled in the brutal murder and assault of a fellow neighborhood girl, Ashley. Over the course of the book, she teams up with the victim's sister in hopes of finding answers about what really happened and who's out there killing young women. While this book is advertised as a thriller, it felt more like Georgia's coming-of-age story. Ashley's murder is tragic and starts the action of the book, however, it takes a backseat the more we get into Georgia's motivations for going to Aspera. I expected more from the story, but that's only because I thought I was about to read a murder mystery solved by two teenage girls.

Courtney Summers' writing is strong, poignant, and engaging — I'd happily read more from her. I just think I'm the Girl is not quite giving what it promises.