This thriller is all a reader would enjoy. It is brutal, stirring and heartbreaking. I can’t recommend this book enough. Courtney Summers has brought a realistic take to the genre. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the advanced reading copy of I’m The Girl by Courtney Summers.

This new thought provoking thriller from Courtney Summers is a must read.

Since the night Matthew Hayes found her on their road Georgia Avis wants nothing more than to be something, an Aspera Girl. A world of beauty, power, and intrigue. But is everything always as it seems? Georgia soon finds herself in unimaginable circumstances after finding the dead body of a 13 year old girl.

I highly recommend this book to past readers of Courtney Summers and people who like gripping, fast paced novels with open endings. I will continue to read everything Courtney Summers writes.

Georgia wakes up on the side of the road disoriented with a broken arm and a missing bike. Not far from the scene, she finds 13 year old Ashley dead. Georgia reluctantly agrees to help Nora find out who murdered her sister.

I wish that I could physically share with you the relief I felt around the 15% mark when I knew in my bones that whatever magic that Summers manifested to write Sadie was alive and well in I'm the Girl. Summers writing is unhinged. Her writing is an intoxicating blend of sexy and intimate, brutal and unforgiving. Reading I'm the Girl reminded me of every reason I fell into chaotic love with Summers work.

Here is what I love about Summers: her plots are hypnotizing, her characters are fully formed before they even speak up, and, most importantly, her plot and its resolution are never the point. The story and its unwindinh is just a vehicle to get you to sit with the discomfort of the point. Its like the salt-lick before the burn of tequila. I'm obsessed with this tactic. I admire the hell out of an author who lures you in with a siren call made of a black, glittery-plot, only to drop you off at the end of the novel dazed and unsatisfied. This is a brilliant tactic that only a meticulously self-aware author could pull off.

If you come into this novel expecting a gritty YA thriller, you might be disappointed. While I'm the girl has gritt by the bucket-full, it isn't your average thrill-ride. If you come in knowing you are getting more than just the price of admission I think you'll see how special and rare a reading experiences like this one is. You have to enjoy this for what it is not what you want it to be. Summers knows best! You have to let her do her thing. Is I'm the Girl as good as Sadie? In my inconsequential opinion, no. However, it is far more confident in its identity than Summers last book The Project!

A special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced readers copy of I'm the Girl in exchange for my honest review.

I'm super bummed to announce that you cannot get your hands on this until September 13th but what you can do is call up your local bookstore and pre-order this so you get it ASAP!

Just wonderful, maybe even better than my favorite "Sadie" from the same author. The queer rep was so great, the writing was beautiful and heartbreaking, I just can't recommend this enough.

This is really a lovely breakdown of living under a patriarchy. We can play into it, ignore the atrocities as long as we gain some benefit, "safe" until we open our eyes too widely or are unable to fulfill the purpose projected onto our bodies. A book friend described this as if the main character believes she is in a romcom, while everyone knows she's in danger. I think that simplifies the feeling a bit, but I digress. It is so hard to watch this hopeful young girl walk past the red flags and put her faith in those looking to take advantage of her.

Courtney is a must-read author. She tackles pain head-on without being exploitative. This was especially difficult to get through this past month, but I always come out of her novels feeling bittersweet. (The sweet feeling is there! There is some hope!)

Unfortunately, this book didn't blow me away like Sadie did. Georgia was infuriatingly stupid to me, and her growth only happening on the last page made me annoyed and mad, which is how I spent the majority of this book. Summers has some amazing works out there, but this story felt discombobulated and unfinished. There was none of the rage or understanding that radiated off her last book like this, instead just confusion and tired conversation on how powerful the rich are. This added nothing new or no new observations about it, just a sad girl who is refusing to learn for the better until the very, very end of the novel. I was frustrated with this and wished it did something more for what it was trying to say.

I am a huge Sadie fan so I was excited to request a digital ARC of this new book by Courtney Summers! I was so disappointed in this book because it was so fragmented and confusing from start to finish. That being said it was also a page turner and hard to put down. I still can't say that I enjoyed the story but it did hold my attention. Summers does not hesitate to write authentically raw and horrific stories. This one plunges the reader into a world of privilege and power in a patriarchal society that exploits the vulnerability of young women. Contemporary events such as Epstein's "Pedophile Island" and the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe vs Wade will stir up emotions and conversations among readers. I feel that the graphic sexual content lends this book to an older teen audience.

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.