This book is about Georgia, a 16 year old girl who, in the wake of tragedy, discovers that she can control her future by using her body. Until it’s all too much. Until the truth comes unraveling.
No money, beauty, or power can undo what has been done or fix what’s been broken.

This was…eh at best, and the ending was so open ended that I feel frustrated. I felt committed to finishing it, but it wouldn’t be a novel I’d readily recommend.

3/5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks for the ARC!
I was very excited going into this one hanging been a big fan of Courtney Summers previous books.
This one was a bit slower for me. It hit different, but that's not a bad thing. I find myself revisiting the text and rereading certain parts. I would definitely recommend to my friends!

I am a huge fan of Courtney Summers. Having read Sadie, my favourite so far, and The Project, I feel that this novel was the weakest one of all three.

Let's start of with the good. She sticks to her writing style, which I like. It lures you in, engages you into the story, and she creates an atmosphere that's real and palpable. I felt like I constantly had this cloud of rain over me and my Kindle while I was reading it. It was depressing, disturbing, sad, and frustrating. It's easy to read, fast-paced and not too long.

When a book can evoke any feeling in you, it doesn't have to be joy and comfort, I take that as a win. But in this case, it was hard to focus on just the emotion and disregard other things that didn't quite hit the mark for me.

For example, the whole idea of Tyler and her mother not divulging the crucial information about Aspera, knowing exactly how obsessed with them she is. This could have prevented a lot of the chaos, and after her mom's passing, I don't see why Tyler didn't share this 'secret' with her, especially after all the traumatic events that happened.

But, then there's also her. She somehow is so angry at her mom, just because of her mom's persistence that she isn't Aspera 'material'. She has so much hate and frustration and she is so bitter and stubborn, that she ignores every rational thinking. It's incredibly frustrating to follow her, especially listening to her reasoning for doing certain things.

She ignores everyone around her and all the signs that point to the truth because she wants to be an Aspera girl. Even though everyone knows what this entails, she somehow manages to convince herself it's this Holy Grail she must get, simply because her mom told her she can't and never will.

I also felt like some of the characters didn't feel real, felt like villains from a comic book or something. Cleo for example. She felt like this mannequin that was placed at certain points of the story, that did nothing for me as a reader at all.

Now, is this something that can happen in real life? Of course, especially when underage girls are involved. Especially vulnerable girls who have a lot of unresolved issues. Especially girls who come for poverty and want to rise above it and have a better life. Especially when you have this rich circle of powerful people who get away with grooming, sexual assault and all the other gruesome things. We've seen this happen in real life, so this is what makes this book so hard to read and makes you as a reader so angry.

Overall, since I am already a fan of Summers, this book won't stop me from the joy of reading her future books. I feel like Sadie set a standard for me, that wasn't quite reached with this one.

I apologise to the publisher and author for providing such late feedback - I've had two unexpected deaths in the family last year, and I was away due to this.

I received an advance ebook copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for review.

I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers follows sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis. When she discovers the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, she works with Ashley’s older sister Nora to find the killer. The journey to the truth is full of extremely privileged and wealthy people who hold lots of power. The killer is closing in, but they aren’t the only one who is guilty.

This book was a bit too uncomfortable for me. It is dark and full of many potential triggers. I can appreciate that it is a thriller and that is the point. I do recommend this book to fans of thrillers.

Georgia, a 16 year old girl, accepts a job unaware of what truly goes on behind the walls:. Wrapped up in a hit and run of a 13 year old girl, Georgia is unsure if she can escape. Multiple trigger warnings in this book.

I love Courtney summers. I have been reading Summers' books since I was young, and they only get better. I will definitely suggest this book to my students, friends, nieces and everyone. Another winner from CS! Perfect prose. Great writing. Great story. I love Courtney Summer's brain always

Freaking love this author and this book, Almost as much as Sadie! was a great day when I was approved for this one. Forever fan of Summer!!

It is absolutely time for me to admit I am not going to finish this book. I forced it to 35% and have been dreading picking it up for months. It started off explosively and I was immediately hooked, but I soon found myself confused and having to re-read multiple parts. I did like the author’s writing style and would be open to trying her future novels.

Thank you to netgally and the publisher for the ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

First, Courtney Summers has a beautiful was of writing hard to read topics.
We follow 16 year old Georgie Avis as she discovers the body of 13 year old Ashley James. And everything Georgie encounters after has left her on a terrible path.
This book has major triggers for grooming, sexual assault and violence. While Georgie my be 16, she is incredibly naive and at times it is difficult to follow her thinking. Sne finds herself wrapped up in a world much bigger than her and the power and wealth that is held over her, makes her give in and lose herself along the way. The way her thoughts and feeling were written as she came to realize certain things was painful, but perfectly put.
Saying I enjoyed this book isn't exactly the right words, but I do think this topic is something that needs to be written about more in YA. That being said I would recommend readers under the age of 16 beware of the intense topics amd conversations of this book.

I had high expectations when I originally got this book, especially since it was being sold as the spiritual successor to Sadie, a book that I loved dearly. When some reviews from my friends started coming out, my excitement lowered, since the reviews weren’t all positive (and these friends loved Sadie as much as I did). I still wanted to give the book a shot, though, and see if it would still at least hit in some ways, even if differently from Summers’ other books.

This was, sort of true? Overall, I can’t say I really liked this book, and it wasn’t memorable in any good way, but I also didn’t entirely dislike my time with it. There were moments where I felt like I could see what Summers was trying to do, even if it wasn’t always entirely clear. I’m still left disappointed, due to the original high hopes I had, but this book did still make me think.

One of my biggest issues may have been how horrible everything was. In this way, it hit similar notes to Sadie, where there’s just this deep well of the vileness of humanity, and we see how it’s been put on a teenage girl. However, even with Sadie, it felt like there was enough light and hope to feel like the story and Sadie’s efforts mattered, despite all the pain. Georgia’s story here didn’t really feel like it ever had that light, that reason to keep going. Everything sucked and it kept on sucking. The abrupt ending also left us without any actual satisfaction this time around, in my opinion, and it just left me wondering what it was all for. In that way, this story may be more realistic than Sadie’s, but it also felt way more hopeless.

I also just didn’t like Georgia as much as a narrator. I completely understand she’s a teenage girl, and that she’ll make mistakes and decisions that don’t necessarily make sense logically. But at the same time, she never seemed to learn or grow from them either. Her view of the world and her supposed role in it has been very skewed by the people around her, but we never really see the mindset/view combatted, and she never seems to actually escape it. There’s not enough in the narrative to show that her thoughts about herself and her relationships (especially with men) were harmful, and it also didn’t feel like she really learned that herself either.

This book was also different from advertised in another way. The synopsis played up this mystery being solved, maybe to make Georgia’s story more similar to Sadie’s, but it really was just a background piece. It was more a reason for Georgia to hang out with a side character than anything else, and sort of just came up whenever it was needed to move other parts of the story along, instead of feeling like a full part of the story on its own.

I also felt like the story itself was often a bit jumbled, especially in the beginning. This was largely due to how the story was being told and how the different pieces were being introduced, but it made it harder than it needed to be to get a real grasp on the story and the characters. While it resolved itself later on, and become less and less confusing as we got a clearer picture of the timeline, it once again felt like a way to try to emulate Sadie, without actually fitting Georgia’s story.

Overall, I’m The Girl probably won’t stick with me like Sadie did, and the impression I have of it currently is still just, generally disappointing. I do think there were some good pieces here, but it regularly felt jumbled up, often when this story was trying to act too much like Sadie, even when it didn’t make sense. I will still try out future books by Summers, but this one just wasn’t for me!

Review will be live on my blog on January 20

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the gifted copies.

I wanna start this by saying Courtney Summers is a favorite of mine. When I first heard this was coming out, I was so excited. While it’s not a sequel to Sadie, it’s in the same world and has some references.
Sadie is still one of my top YA books.

I am so heartbroken to say I didn’t love this book. I barely even liked it to be honest. A part of me wanted to DNF so I didn’t have to write a negative review but I had to give it a chance.

The writing was beautiful as always, Courtney just has a way with words that I can’t get enough of.

My issues came with the characters and plot itself. Our MC Georgia was honestly the most annoying and frustrating character. So many times I wanted to yell at her for being so naive and vain. One of the worst characters I’ve ever read.

The plot was slow and somewhat boring. This isn’t a nursery mystery like the blurbs makes you think. The murder in this book takes a backseat while we navigate Georgias desire to be the most beautiful girl. Rolling my eyes as I type that. I basically rolled my eyes for most of the book because of her privilege.

Summers is known for her dark books but this one was graphic. While I didn’t mind it, I do wonder why this is marketed for teens. The rape scenes were very detailed along with other topics. I wouldn’t recommend this for anyone under 17.

I can’t say that I don’t recommend this one because the writing is still so beautiful and lyrical. I know some people still loved this book. Do check the trigger warnings because there is a lot.

Unfortunately, this was a bit of a letdown for me. I tried multiple times to get through this before realizing I would really just have to power through to get to the end. I understand what the author was trying to do but the writing style left me feeling incredibly confused for a good majority of this. It just didn't quite click for me like Sadie and Cracked Up to Be did. Despite that I will still be picking up all of Summer's new releases when they came out, I just think this one wasn't for me.

Courtney Summers never fails to gut me in the most beautiful way. This is definitely a heavy one, so I would recommend to teens with caveats, but definitely purchased for my library.

If you’re a fan of, Sadie, by this same author, definitely pick this book up and give it a read. This is an a sequel, but it takes place in the same world as Sadie , and there’s quite a few references. However, this a stand alone and you certainly do not have to read Sadie first. I loved the LGBTQIA+ representation. I wish the pacing of this book was a little faster, but I did really enjoy it.

Georgia Avis is the character of the year. I was hooked by her interpretation of the world and what she will do to get what she wants. Loved it!

I am so sad to report that I'm the Girl just didn't work for me. I have tried to get through it multiple times but I think I have to accept defeat here. There is no denying that Courtney Summer is a talented writer (Sadie is a favourite of mine!), but I think this was too dark for me, which isn't usually a problem for me.

Courtney Summers is just a two star author to me. The books she writes always try to come across as edgy and something new but they fall flat for me. I had high hopes for this one to be the one that shows me the love people have for this author, but again it just couldn't make me love her.

I had high hopes after finding out this was a semi-sequel to Sadie, but I don't think that's fair to I'm the Girl. These, I don't feel are comparable stores other than it's the same town and it still has not-so-great humans in it. There is no podcast element, which is something I absolutely adored during my read of Sadie. I also wasn't as invested in the mystery.

All that "negativity said", I love Summers' writing and the dark twisted characters and mystery she brings forward. I was heavily invested in finding out more about the company and just how dark and twisted it was, but the characters themselves did what I had expected.

I definitely enjoyed this darker contemporary, but it did not take top spot in my Summers' reads.

I can honestly say that this was a refreshing read. I read mystery and suspense novels all the time, and I can say that this one is different from all the rest. I really enjoy watching Georgia and Nora's relationship blossom. We see the struggles that Georgia and her brother go through, and how tough they have had it. I was happy when Georgia finally became an "Aspera Girl" even if it makes her question her decisions. I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the novel, and how you truly didn't know where the story is going, I've enjoyed a lot of Courtney Summer's novels, and this one is included in that as well.

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of I’m the Girl! Courtney Summers books are normally really hit or miss for me- I’m the Girl is the 3rd Courtney Summers book I’ve tried reading and while I loved The Project, I couldn’t get through Sadie, so I was worried about this one, as I read somewhere that it was similar to Sadie, but OMG y’all, I loved I’m the Girl!
I’m the Girl 4/5 Stars
Summary from Goodreads: The new groundbreaking queer thriller from New York Times bestselling and Edgar-award Winning author Courtney Summers.
When sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis discovers the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, she teams up with Ashley's older sister, Nora, to find and bring the killer to justice before he strikes again. But their investigation throws Georgia into a world of unimaginable privilege and wealth, without conscience or consequence, and as Ashley’s killer closes in, Georgia will discover when money, power and beauty rule, it might not be a matter of who is guilty—but who is guiltiest.
A spiritual successor to the 2018 breakout hit, Sadie, I'm the Girl is a masterfully written, bold, and unflinching account of how one young woman feels in her body as she struggles to navigate a deadly and predatory power structure while asking readers one question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?
This book was so gritty and intense! It showed the underside of wealth and how people overlook what wealthy and powerful people do to/with girls, especially ones who are seduced by the idea of a life of glitz and glamor. It reminded me a lot of everything with Jeffrey Epstein. I really liked the way the writing was done. Plot and pacing wise, there were definitely times when I had to take breaks because it was a little much for me, but overall, I think it was done really well and it was a super powerful book. I really enjoyed I’m the Girl and I definitely think y’all should pick it up today!