To be honest…I didn’t love this like I thought I would. The ending was so unsatisfying, and the buildup seemingly meaningless. I felt like it had a ton of potential, but it fell really flat. I wouldn’t recommend it as a good thriller.

Another slow-burn thriller from Courtney Summers, a force to be reckoned with in YA fiction. I'm the Girl follows Georgia Avis as she copes with trauma (her mother's death, a car accident, being ripped off by a faux-model scout), rekindles a friendship & more with Nora (the sheriff's daughter), and starts working for Aspera.

Aspera is an exclusive getaway for the richest and most famous men who've never heard the word no. Georgia is convinced she's in control of the situation, that she has the power. But as Georgia is sucked into the world of Aspera, she's forced to challenge her preconceptions of glamor, success, and control before it's too late. This YA fiction will appeal to older teens and adults, especially ones interested in true crime.

Side note: I ADORED the very meta reference a character made to having to live-up to the success of a movie named Sadie. Sadie was my first introduction to Courtney Summers, and it's the title that receives the most buzz. It's important to note that Summers' work isn't just Sadie. She wrote amazing novels before Sadie, and she's kept writing them after Sadie. While her works differ in scope, pacing, and topic, Summer never shies away from complicated female protagonists whose stories serve as a means to explore complex topics.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the early widget of I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers. Having been previously broken by Summers in the past (in the good way a book can) I was very much looking forward to her newest.
Riding her bike one night, 16 year old Georgia Avis is hit by a car. When she comes to, her bike and belongings are gone. As she is coming to her senses, she also notices that not far from where she is lying, is the dead body of missing 13 year old Ashley James. As typical for a Summers novel, from here unfolds a world of exploitation, a corrupt organization and simply growing up.
Georgia must navigate the world she’s always wanted, even when it turns out to not be as shiny and bright as she first thought.
I’m the Girl has a few jaw dropping twists that really got me. Overall, I didn’t get quite the gut punch that I’ve come to love from this author. Nonetheless, this is still a 4 star read that will leave your breathless.

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis lives in a weird small town with a super fancy resort/spa for rich people called Aspera and dreams of becoming an “Aspera Girl”. Then she finds the brutalized dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James on the side of the road and works with Ashley’s sister, Nora, to find out who killed Ashley.

I can appreciate that a takedown of rape culture and condemnation of privileged men getting to do whatever they want to with less powerful peoples’ bodies with zero consequences is what this book was aiming for, and it definitely illuminated the issue, but I really didn’t like reading this book or feel like the message was fully expressed. I was hoping for another Sadie to root for, but Georgia was - I’m not sure what - boring? Too obsessed with being told she’s pretty? Too naive but also knew what she was getting into? I don’t want to give this book a bad review because I’m thrilled that stories like these are being told, but this one just did not work for me. That said, I will always be a Courtney Summers fan and will read anything she writes.

I was really looking forward to I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers. Sadie is a book I recommend to older teens constantly. This book seemed a little too dark even for older teens. I know that these events can happen in real life but to put raping a 13 year old and sleeping with someone to get ahead for a job seems more adult to me. There were a lot of twists and turns but I figured out the ending quicker than I wish I had, at about chapter 54. The best part of the book was the relationship between Georgia and Nora. It was the only healthy relationship in the book. I will buy this book for our collection but I don’t think I would actively recommend it.

This was my first dip in the water reading a book by Courtney Summers, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. It actually made my head hurt the first quarter of the way through due to the strange writing style. I could not connect to the 16 year old Georgia and her Asperations (see what I did-I had to) because it was a drum beat of repetition of her longing to be an "Aspera" girl over and over. Aspera is some really weird pseudo spa/hotel/resort. Georgia understood how she was beautiful and she definitely thought she knew how she could use it especially after the spa owner's wife Chloe tells her to use her body to her advantage...argh.. this comes after an adult man gives her booze to drink and gropes her.. The superficial beauty of Georgia and Chloe and mention of it was redundant. .. Worse, much worse to me, was how unsettling it was that this fancy spa/hotel would hire underage girls to be geisha -like symbols and flutter throughout the location doing just what???? I did push forward to see how the murderer and rapist was caught..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review..

I was given this ARC by the publisher in return for an honest review. Thank you publisher!!

This was a strange strange book! It was definitely not at all what I was expecting. I have read a few Courtney Summers books (my favorite of course being Sadie) but this was out there for even me. While it kept me captivated and interested, I can’t say that enjoyed it. It starts out as a murder mystery but quickly turns into a nightmare amongst the wealthy. There are a million trigger warnings for this book and deals with some very harsh and uncomfortable topics. You want to like the main character but she is so naive and focuses so much on people thinking she’s beautiful for all the wrong reasons, you end up getting so frustrated and almost hating her. Because it kept me coming back for more I rated it 3/5 stars.

I’m not even sure where to begin with this book so I’m going to begin with some thing I never do which is saying that there are definite trigger warnings going into this book, there are disturbing scenes of rape, murder, death, all of which are upsetting but never gratuitous. Anyone who has ever read this author before, I’ve read everything she’s written, are aware that the author often takes and unflinchingly honest direction with all of her topics and Georgia’s story is no different. Georgia desperately wants to be loved, appreciated, and in her adolescence and changing body to her that means being seen as beautiful. When another girl turns up brutally raped and murdered, Georgia is forced to look in the mirror at her self and also at the world around her. This is a vicious and unfortunately all too accurate view of how some powerful people views of people that they deem below them, and how those people, especially men as we’ve seen in the news, use those young women for their own gains. This book is excellent and takes its reader on a journey and a roller coaster that you often wish you could get off of but ultimately has left me with so many things to think about.

Once again, Summers deftly faces difficult subjects with raw honesty. In this story, Georgia Avis has lived her life almost close enough to touch the opulence that is Aspera, an exclusive “club” for the rich and powerful. Although she’s always wanted to be an “Aspera girl,” one of the stunning young women who work there, her mother always railed against her former place of employment. When Georgia finds the body of a thirteen year old Ashley James on the road to Aspera- and she’s attacked at the same time- the world of Aspera opens up to her. She teams up with Nora, Ashley’s big sister, to figure out what happened, and she also finds herself drawn further into the world of Aspera, which is much darker than it seemed from the outside. I absolutely loved this story, and although the ending felt off to me, I recommend this book.
Thank you to @WednesdayBooks and @summerscourtney for the ARC.

I was blown away by this book. I was a huge fan of Sadie so I was super excited to read this and was not disappointed! I enjoyed the premise and really loved our main character. The ending was phenomenal! Definitely a thought-provoking read. If you decide to read this, please check trigger warnings.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I'm the girl had everything going for it—unfortunately it fumbled the bag so completely I'm tempted to reread Sadie just to get this sour taste out of my mouth. The writing was creative but gave me a headache if I spent more than 10 minutes reading; the main character, Georgia, was infuriating, and her love interest was so annoying I couldn't muster any sympathy for them even at their darkest times. Also, the constant use of Aspera was this ominous saying was so boring to read.

Damn. This book hit me right in the feels! It's a tough read, though very realistic.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for my copy!

Ahhhhhh, she does it again!! This book was heartbreaking in the same way Sadie was and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I finished. Courtney Summers truly can’t do no wrong.

I'm the Girl starts with sixteen year old Georgia Avis finding Ashley James, a girl from school murdered on the road. The road hold a certain value to Georgia because it is the road that leads to Aspera. Aspera is more than a lodge, it's where wealthy people meet and secrets are kept from outsiders.

Georgia's mom Katy, used to work for Aspera as a cleaner which was the start of Georgia dreaming of being a Aspera girl. But as Georgia tries to find out who Ashley's killer is and gets tangled in the wealth of Aspera will she like what she finds out?

This book makes you think because there are places like Aspera where the wealthy feel like they are better than others and to use their status to have things their way. Courtney Summer makes the reader question why do men in life have all the power and women are trying to grab whatever that was left as scraps.

Im the Girl comes out September 13th 2022. Thank you St. Martins Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read this release!

I've definitely been a fan of Courtney Summers's books since I first read Sadie. She isn't afraid to delve into tough subjects, push the boundaries of what is comfortable, and expose the darker corners of life and human beings. Georgia Avis dreams of being an "Aspera Girl" at an ultra-exclusive country-club style hotel for the rich and famous - but she is too young and naïve to realize what that entails. After discovering the body of a young thirteen year old girl who was raped and murdered - Georgia is given a chance to become an Aspera girl only to discover too late the dark reality of that dream. I'm the Girl shows the reader the world that lets people like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein take what they want without suffering repercussions for so long, a world where predators are protected because of the power they hold. This book exposes the darkness of those in power but stops short of dismantling the system protecting the guilty and saving those who have been hurt or could be hurt in the future. I'm The Girl can be brutal and devastating at times - in a way that I think only Courtney Summers can write. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I've been a big fan of Courtney Summers' for awhile now. No one does raw angst the way she does (see: All the Rage, Some Girls Are, Cracked Up to Be, Fall for Anything). All truly solid titles. But nothing she's written comes close to how I feel about Sadie.

While I have The Project on my shelf, I haven't reached for it yet, which means that this one is the first book I've read of hers since putting Sadie on an impossibly high (and well-deserved) pedestal. And while I did enjoy some aspects of this, it unfortunately didn't have the same impact for me.

I'm the Girl centers around Georgia Avis, a beautiful sixteen year-old girl with aspirations of finding success. For her, that could come in the form of being an actress or model, sure. But more alluring to her is the potential to become an Aspera girl. Aspera is a local resort that appears to be an oasis for the rich and famous, offering them exclusivity and discretion as they relax and unwind away from the public eye.

Georgia's fixation on this place becomes entangled with the murder mystery at the heart of the novel. It opens with the death of thirteen year-old Ashley James, whose body is found on the road leading to Aspera. From there, Georgia works alongside Ashley's sister, Nora, to piece together the mystery surrounding Ashley's death. As you might imagine, everything is connected. The more we learn about Aspera and its inner workings, the more that becomes clear about what actually happened on that road. What I have not mentioned is the fact that 1) Georgia's now-deceased mother once worked for Aspera and was terminated after going against the company's founders, 2) Georgia paid a large sum of money to have some modeling shots taken of her, which were mysteriously confiscated at the scene of Ashley's murder, 3) Georgia received this sum of money from her brother Tyler and works at Aspera to help pay it back, and 4) Ashley and Nora's father sort of has it out for Georgia, given she was the person to stumble upon his daughter's body.

It's kind of a lot to sum up. It was kind of a lot to read. I wasn't a huge fan of the way the story unfolded. Or the way Summers chose to wrap it. Things became a bit convoluted at times.

However, I do think this was an important story to tell. Summers covers a wide range of topics that felt inspired by many semi-current issues (including, but not limited to, #MeToo and Epstein's island). What I found most fascinating/disturbing is how Summers presented such a variety of villains that helped maintain a network of abuse. The obvious culprits - the rich, perverse men at the heart of the operation - weren't hard to spot. But everyone else - from the women who aided and abetted them in their pursuits, to the lower-level employees who made such situations possible - was complicit, as well. We see Georgia learn that the hard way throughout the novel.

Definitely a thought-provoking read. Various trigger warnings can easily be applied, so I recommend proceeding with caution.

: ̗̀➛ 4 stars.

thank you to netgalley, courtney summers, and wednesday books for this arc in exchange for an honest review

this is honestly one of the most frustrating books i have ever read and this is exactly what made it good.

courtney summers takes us through the life of georgia avis who is dreaming and aching to become a model. the thing about georgia is that she is immensely frustrating and aggravating to the point of screaming. you understand that she's being taken advantage of and it makes you hate the fact that she doesn't understand even more.

this in itself is an excellent use of reader response. i think that through the frustration of the reader and the anger that you feel at georgia's decisions and ashley's as well, you encounter the world's inclination to blame women for the instances they find themselves in instead of the predators that cause them. summers makes us think of how we tend to define the victim instead of the perpetrator.

even the dead girl is defined as a "trouble child". but in the end, she was a child, and now she's forever a dead one. the violence that is so synonymous with girlhood is explored explicitly and rawly through visceral writing and discomfort that sometimes is so great that you want to look away.

courtney summers makes us experience the world of women who are condemned instead of helped and questions of morality and legality are raised in the face of keeping the rich richer.

it's very easy to condemn those who are pointing a finger, but it's harder to recognize that it's your own hand.

3.25 stars!

I don't really know how to explain my feelings on this book. It was a solid read... buttttttttttttt having read all of Courtney Summers books, I feel like I just expected more??

Ugh, I don't even know. This was a good book that covers an intense topic and per usual, Summers does that super well.

BUT something didn't grab me in this one. I feel like I didn't really get into the story until the last 25% of the book. The first 75% just felt kinda...repetitive? We just keep hearing how Georgia was desperate to be an Aspera Girl. Over, and over and over again.

I feel bad saying this, but Georgia just got on my nerves TBH. She felt like the polar opposite of all of Summers previous main girls. I love reading the unapologetically, brash, bold and hard girls Summers gives us. I live and die for those girls.

As always, the book is impeccably written and Summers handled a really sensitive topic perfectly. I will say, there are parts of this book that are fairly graphic, that made my super uncomfy to read and made me audibly gag (FU rich, powerful men).

I will forever continue to read Courtney Summers books because I love her so much.

The biggest than you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for the ARC and wanting my honest opinion!

I feel so lucky to have gotten a chance to read I'm the Girl early. In my eyes, Courtney Summers is A Big Deal and I am not worthy. This was definitely a five star read for me. I was on an emotional roller coaster through the whole thing.

Georgia Avis is a teen girl that knows she's beautiful and she's meant to be something special. She doesn't know exactly what she wants to be but she knows her beauty will get her wherever she needs to go. She's painfully naive at times because she's young. I lost count of how many times I thought oh honey in response to something she thought or did. I just wanted to hold her and protect her from everything.

Right from the start, Georgia has already been taken advantage of by men who made her think she could be a model and took inappropriate photos of her. Then she discovers the body of Ashley James, the younger sister of Nora, the girl she's always had a crush on.

Georgia's life soon revolves around helping Nora figure out who killed Ashley and also working at Aspera. Aspera is a resort for the rich and powerful to hide and escape their lives for awhile. They are given everything they want with the utmost discretion. Georgia knows she should be an Aspera Girl, catering to these member's whims. Her late mother and the older brother that takes care of her have been against this particular dream of hers.

Georgia grows close to the husband and wife that own Aspera. She wants to impress them and win their approval so badly. The wife Cleo teaches her that men run the world and will do whatever they want to you, all you can do is use that. It was difficult to read about things Georgia thought was acceptable to happen, that she thought she was in control of or had a purpose that benefited her.

The only times it seemed like she could really be herself and have something nice was when she was with Nora. But only when Nora let her guard down, she had a lot of anger to deal with because of her sister's murder. You want to root for them even if their circumstances make them seem like an unlikely pair.

All I can say is I was blown away by this book. Courtney Summers ripped my heart in two then stomped on the pieces. As with everything she writes, this was brutal and honest. If you loved Sadie then you have to read I'm the Girl.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Courtney Summers does it again with a new explosive YA novel!
She is hands down my most favorite author!
And I'm the Girl is one of my favorites!

I cannot and will never ask for a better book than this one. It had everything I love and I cannot believe perfection like this even exists.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. As I knew I would be!
The plot is packed with twists and turns, and I loved how in the midst of a fast-moving storyline, there's still breathing room for wonderful character depth and growth. 
This has to be the most addictive, gripping, raw, real and simply the most delicious read I've laid eyes on!
It's brilliant!… Makes your heart skip a beat… Will have the hairs on your head standing… A total binge worthy story!

Summers you killed it! Nailed it!
And I couldn't be more thankful! For the opportunity to read such a powerful novel!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

St. Martin's Press:Wednesday Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

Well this badass Publisher sent me a widget and I can't thank St. Martin Press enough!
Because this has been high on my wish list! 😘