I haven't read a book this fast in months, and I honestly couldn't put this book down. I love Courtney Summers and all of her work and being able to read her books early has always been an honor. She is truly the nicest person and I appreciate her so much.

With all of her main characters Georgia quickly became one of my favorite main characters, and someone I really wanted to protect. Summers really has a way of making you connect really well with the characters, and making them so easy to trust even when you shouldn't. I can't wait for my physical copy to come in later this year.

Overall, I gave this book 5/5 stars and I can't wait for everyone to read it.

I'm The Girl by Courtney Summers was my first read by this author, and I think I will give her another try. I really enjoyed the premise and the story, Summers is very good at rounding out her characters and giving them depth. However, I felt like the way she writes with scenes ending so abruptly confused me a little. I also am still a little vague on the ending, but I can be ok with that. Overall, I will read more by Summers and recommend this read!

Although I enjoyed the author early books, I did not care for 'Sadie' that much and, sadly, I wasn't engrossed with this one either. It was certainly a dark and uncomfortable read because of the themes but I'm not sure I liked the way they were addressed nor felt any type of connection to Georgia. And I know I will probably be in the minority, but I was not a fan of the mystery, I found it quite predictable and unappealing.

This book is sad and viscerally real. This is definitely not something I'd recommend to just anyone. Definitely check trigger warnings if you need to because this deals with some extremely heavy topics. But I felt it did it in a way that felt respectful and true to real life experiences. I can't say I had a good time reading this book but I'm glad I picked it up

I've loved all of Summers' works that I've read so far and I'M THE GIRL doesn't disappoint! There's just something about Summers' writing that's so beautifully haunting and gripping - once I start reading one of her books, I can't put it down! Georgia is a haunting protagonist, and watching her relationship with Nora bloom was a wonderful bright spot on a bleak horizon. While the mystery itself is on the slow-burn side, the tension is sky high throughout, and kept me hooked. I often find the ending of thrillers to be rushed, but this one felt especially satisfying - with all of the clues and theories I'd come up with coming together in the final moments. Highly recommend!

I’m The Girl is the newest book by Courtney Summers. A spiritual successor to the much loved “Sadie,” we follow our main character, Georgia, an aspiring model, after she discovers the body of thirteen year old Ashley James. Georgia teams up with Ashley‘s older sister and together they try to figure out what happened to Ashley. Georgia finds herself thrust into a dark world where power is held by those who are rich and beautiful. When answers lead to even more questions, Georgia is left wondering if turning a blind eye to what she learns is her only choice if she wants to survive.

I read and loved Sadie when it came out in 2018 as I think most people were. When I saw that this book was being marketed as a spiritual successor, I was intrigued. You do not have to read Sadie to enjoy this book but it does have a very similar vibe.

This book is extremely dark, especially considering it is a young adult book. Make sure you check the trigger warnings if you are sensitive to anything. This book doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the hard hitting content. In this book, we are in Georgia’s head so we follow her thoughts. She has spiraling thoughts and it can be hard to follow but I loved it because it felt authentic. Because we are in Georgia’s head, there is a lot of information we as a reader don’t know because Georgia doesn’t know. The disjointed nature will make some people dislike this book.

This book also has extremely short chapters and that coupled with the mystery of everything going on make it very hard to put down. Some of the darker content was a lot to handle though so I did have to take a few breaks. But I really loved this book. It is something that I will be thinking about for a long time, much like Sadie. If you think you can handle very dark content and a narrative that isn’t always the easiest to understand, I would definitely recommend this book.

Name of Book: I’m The Girl
Author: Courtney Summer
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press ~ Wednesday Books
Genre: Teen/YA Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: September 13, 2022
My Rating: 3.2

I read both ": Sadie" and "The Project" by Courtney Summer] Loved "Sadie" but struggled a bit with "The Project". But have to admit I certainly have been looking forward to reading another story Ms. Summer!

Life changes for sixteen-year old Georgia Avis, when she finds the dead body of thirteen-year old Ashley James along the side of the road near the wealthy Aspera resort.
Ashley and her older sister, Nora are the daughters of the sheriff. Nora has graduated from Ketchum HS where she was one of the most popular girls. Nora joins Georgia and they set out to find out what really happened and who killed Ashley.
Story had me interested at times but it was a struggle. Georgia wants out of Ketchum and really wants to be an “Asperan Girl”. Hmmm

Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press ~ Wednesday Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 13, 2022

I really hate to negatively review a book by an author I have thoroughly enjoyed, but I'm the Girl was not my cup of tea. I didn't love the writing style as much this time, and I easily got lost in the the narrative as it jumped around. It was a real struggle for me to get into, and I eventually DNF'd the book around 30 % read. This leads me to believe this book is probably one you have to stick with to get the full unfold, but I have gotten to a point where if I'm not enjoying it to begin with, I don't need to push myself to read it. I will certainly give Summers another chance if/when her next novel comes out, in the hopes that I love it as much as I loved Sadie, but unfortunately, I'm the Girl wasn't for me.

The beginning immediately hooked me, though shortly after that this starts to really sink in terms of pacing and feel stagnant. Where at first Georgia comes off like a typical Summers MC, street smart and wide beyond her years due to circumstances and trauma, the naïveté of Georgia rankles.

It’s hard to suspend belief that she would have NO concept of the things that happened to her and start to unfold, which made following her along as an unreliable narrator and our only POV a bit daunting and often frustrating. Georgia’s main motivator for much of this isn’t even the murder mystery or her budding romance, but just a desire to be special, beautiful, more. And while that is something I can understand — that need for validation, it seemed to wax and wane with Georgia and also contradict the naive storyline since she obviously KNOWS she’s beautiful, she KNOWS her young body is sexualized, and that’s what she’s counting on to get her out of poverty.

You can feel where this is going early on, but the fact it takes Georgia so long, well into 80% in for her to finally start to see it felt too drawn out and I’m not sure for what purpose or value. Perhaps it’s to show how truly heinous and harrowing Aspera’s secrets are, when set against Georgia’s naïveté, but I think that would have been the case regardless. Summers has never needed to paint a docile and too sweet teen girl against the cruel world to show us the brutalities the world is all to ready to wreak upon women and girls.

While we finally, FINALLY, get to the crux of Aspera’s deeds and the mystery at 90%, it’s just far too late. The tension isn’t there. The shock isn’t there. Where usually Summers’ climaxes feel masterful if not also gutting, this felt entirely too expected and almost neat.

I’ll be curious to see what others think of this, sadly it just didn’t work for me.

This was a quick read that left me with much to think about. It's one of those books where better communication between family members could have helped avoid a lot of mishaps/tragedies!

Ms. Summers has a beautiful style of writing that stayed with me long after I finished this book. She is masterful in giving the reader enough information to paint a unique picture in their mind of the circumstances and situations she is describing. I wasn't totally sold on the sexual nature of some aspects of the storyline. I would look for future titles from this author.

This book was an absolute knockout. Courtney Summers uses gorgeous prose to keep you feeling totally off-kilter, unable to stop reading until you find your way through. I wanted to whisk Georgia away and hug her, but Summers forces you to sit with the reality of the world she’s created … of THIS world, and when you finish she’ll have you looking around with fresh eyes. This is t an easy book to read, but it’s powerful and necessary.

This book in 3 words: Bold. Dark. Gripping. 

Georgia Avis, 16-years-old and desperately trying to find her own way, discovers the dead body of Ashley James, a 13-year-old classmate. She pairs up with Nora, Ashley's sister, in the hope of finding anything they can about the killer and the person who spared Georgia. 

The story coats your skin like an incredibly humid day. I picked it up, and no matter how ick it may have felt, I couldn't stop reading. The prose is delectably dark and consuming; it hooked me from the first page. You'll want to read the trigger warnings before jumping in but this is a refreshing take on a young adult, coming of age, sapphic romance.

Courtney Summers toes the line in this sharp, raw novel about a queer girl with aspirations and regrets. I found myself swaying from character to character, feeling their hurt, before jumping to the next. This book puts you in a trance and then effortlessly dances through the plot. The twists are sudden, engulfing, and like you just can't get enough. 

I know this won't be for everyone but it's so insatiable and unique. I 100% recommend I'm The Girl by Courtney Summers.

Courtney Summers does it again! Her writing style is so unique and heartbreaking, it makes all of her books so special.

Georgia Avis lives in a small town with her older brother fighting to make ends meet. Before her mother passed, she made Georgia promise her that she’d never become an Aspera Girl.

After a string of events that leaves Georgia feeling vulnerable and alone, Matthew and Cleo take her into Aspera, a resort/club for the ultra wealthy.

This story overlaps with Georgia’s befriending of Nora, a girl who’s sister was brutally murdered. Georgia and Nora look for answers, since Georgia is the one that finds the body and is left with the whole traumatic event hanging over her head.

It’s Courtney Summers so I knew this would destroy me emotionally and it did and I welcomed it.
This book is both engrossing and horrific in equal measure. The chapters are often short and blur together like a fever dream, allowing you to sink into a reading session and find yourself spat out three hours and half the book later. It’s easy to get sucked into and also extremely hard to read, in that it doesn’t flinch away from the horrible gory details of privilege, abuse of power, and abuse in general, especially when it’s all filtered through the voice of a precocious sixteen year old girl who thinks she knows everything and can’t see what older and more experienced readers clock immediately as depravity. But because of that it’s necessary to hold up those violations and horrors and as the book itself says, refuse to accept it.

And I will say, because this is a mighty low bar, I think the very ending was slightly happier than I’ve come to expect from Summers, all things considered.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital egalley in exchange for my honest review.

I didn’t mesh well with the narrative.

The chapters are too long and it leaves the narrative really messy. There’s a lot of breaks where naturally a chapter should end but it doesn’t. Sometimes there’s a break but no time has really passed so there shouldn’t be a break.

The prologue, which kind of jumps around takes up ten percent of the entire book. So when you reach “Part One,” you’re kind of left feeling like okay what did I just read then? And the book is at 65% when you reach “Part Two.”

It just wasn’t for me, but it has an interesting concept.

I went back and forth with what I should rate this, ultimately I ended with a 4. I've had this book to read for over a month and kept starting it and putting it down. I just couldn't find myself being interested in the first few chapters. But, buuuut once I actually sat down and read it, it was great.

After reading Sadie and LOVING it, I had high hopes for what the author called a "spiritual successor". I think it was a success!

*I received an ARC copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

"I'm the Girl" is a story of beauty and power, and the power that can come with beauty, but also the abuse and manipulation that beauty can trigger. When she was thirteen, Georgia Avis ran away from home after a fight with her mother. She is found by Matthew Hayes, the owner and operator of Aspera, an exclusive resort for the rich and powerful outside of Ketchum, Idaho. Matthew tells Georgia that she is beautiful and that when she is older, if someone else does not discover her first, she should be an Aspera Girl. Her mother, who works housekeeping at Aspera and knows what the resort is really like, does not want Georgia associated with Aspera. However, Georgia is now sixteen, her mother has passed away, and Georgia's beauty and naivety resulted in her involvement in a modeling scam that cost her brother and guardian, Tyler, $4000 (that she stole from him to pay for modeling photos).

The modeling scam is the first instance in the story of how her beauty is used to violate her -- the photographer slowly but steadily makes her feel comfortable taking more flirtatious photos than ending up being rather risqué and inappropriate for someone her age.

Her efforts to rectify her mistake result in someone running her bike off the road and stealing the photos, but also result in her finding the body of a missing girl, Ashley James, and once again being "rescued" by the Hayes, this time, by Matthew's wife, Cleo. The incident also gives her the opportunity to realize her dream of being an Aspera Girl (in part, because working at Aspera will allow her to earn the money to repay her brother much faster than any other job available to her). However, instead of becoming an Aspera Girl, she is an Aspirant, and is shunted into an office job as a digital concierge. This is not at all what she expected or wanted, but the Hayes have taken a special interest in her, which will open her up to various opportunities and experiences, not all of them positive. Georgia's interactions/relationships with the Hayes, and with Nora James, Ashley's older sister, will help her discover the power that her beauty provides her, and how she can craft her own narrative and own that power for positive results (Nora), but also how wealth and privilege can rob her of the power that beauty can bring. "I'm the Girl" is an intense story exploring important and difficult themes.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Unfortunately I just don’t think this author is for me.

I felt like the plot never came together and things were disjointed.

I honestly think this is more a me problem than the book - I think most will like this, but it just didn’t work for me.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley and the publisher for the E-Arc of I'm the Girl. Courtney Summers has established herself as a gifted writer who can create characters that jump off the page and that is exactly what happens in I'm the Gir.

This is the perfect thriller which also speaks to the hidden world of beauty and power and lies.

Another home run by Summers!