DNF for me.

It took me a few chapters to realize I had no idea what was going on and it just didn't make sense to me.

I'll try to pick it up again soon.

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. WOW just WOW! This book surprised me and was REALLY good. I was totally pulled in from page one and had trouble figuring out what was going to happen. There were so many twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. Can't wait to read more by this author.

I absolutely love Summers' writing and this story was no exception. It's gripping right from the beginning and keeps your attention the entire time! With the perfect balance of stressful drama to enhance the plot, I was not ready for this book to end. A couple things seemed a bit predictable to me, so I took a star away, but overall this was a really great read. I can't wait to add this to my classroom bookshelves.

This book is a slower pace than I'm used to but overall it was a very good read. It's a very dark read with some triggers.

3.25 stars.

I love Courtney Summers other works but this one was a lot to get through, the ick factor was strong (which I understand was the feel that it was supposed to have) but I almost never wanted to pick it up and continue but when I did I loved it. Always looking forward to more that Courtney writes.

This is the third book I have read from Courtney Summers. While I don't think this title was as good as Sadie, her most well-known piece, I did enjoy reading it. I'm The Girl was much darker than I was expecting and has graphic depictions of physical and sexual violence. If these topics are triggering for you, please be mindful of this before picking up the book. I ended up going with a three-star rating because I found the story to be a little slow at times and I don't think I would go out of my way to recommend this title to others unless they were already a fan of Summers' writing.

*1,5

I probably won’t be the only one who was excited to read this book after having read and loved Sadie. But sadly this book was a major letdown in every possible way.

Based on the synopsis I was expecting a completely different plot. I thought this would be a murder mystery, but the murder that happened in the book was merely a side plot that the main character did not care about at all.
The actual plot of this book was very boring and did not catch my attention at all. It felt repetitive and I got annoyed very quickly.

The characters were very unlikable but especially the main character was so annoying I did not care at all what happened to her. I was not invested in her or what was going on.

I get what the author was trying to do and I think it will work for many people but sadly I just did not vibe with this book at all.

I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers is a hard and uncomfortable read. It deals with Georgie who finds a 13 year old body and then gets hit by a car. She doesn’t remember much about that night but she teams up with Nora the older sister to find who the killer is. There are many triggers to this book so be advised before you get into this book and read it.

Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'M THE GIRL is one of those books that is just a gut punch of a read, which is something that Courtney Summers excels at. It isn't a book you're supposed to enjoy, but one of those books that is sure to anger, sadden and horrify you, and it's reflective of a subject in our world that should evoke the same in everyone. Reading Georgia's point of view was equal parts disturbing and compelling. Summers perfectly depicts the ways young girls fall prey to sexual abuse and how abusers groom their victims, especially young impressionable ones. It's something, while reading Georgia, that just breaks your heart. And it's so common in cases where children and teenagers, and even many adults, are set up to be abused by powerful people. The exclusivity of Aspera and it's members just reinforces the role that privilege, power and money make abuse possible and tends to provide a safe haven for abusers. Perhaps most disturbing was the role of women, especially the female role model that Georgia finds in Cleo and how complicit women can be in protecting sexual abusers. But yeah, this book is not your light read, but it is powerful. Shocking and feral, I'M THE GIRL is an excoriation of how girls are taken advantage of in a man's world and all the different factors that factor into it.

Absolutely yes! I really enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were fun, it held my interest, and provided an escape from reality. I would definitely recommend!

This was my worst read of 2022. It was slow, boring, uninteresting... I didn't like the MC. I didn't like any of the other characters.. for a thriller, it most definitely was not thrilling.

I disliked Sadie but this was worse.

I hope other people like it, but it was not for me.

2.5 stars - I know that the topic of this book is meant to make you feel sick, and shrunken down, and distressed. I expected that from the plot and what I assumed would be the larger conversation throughout the novel on the abuse of girls from men in power...however I didn't expect to be distressed by the MC so much. I can't believe the degree of lacking intelligence and common sense she was written with. She is one of the most entitled characters I've read and I hate that she was written like that given the severity of the topic (her motivations for what she did "I'm so beautiful", "I deserve to be THE girl", "No one knows me" felt so misplaced). The other thing that gets me is that she stayed quiet about the older scammers taking nude photos of her - after she hears that they did it to many other minors - out of sheer vain. She didn't want anyone to take the photos away from her. When in reality, so, so many girls/women stay quiet out of fear of being believed, hurt, threatened, etc. Not the book I thought Summers was going to write.

ANYWHO, I WOULD RECO 'SADIE' by Courtney Summers though, like for real that book is amazing and unbelievably impactful!

Intense and visceral, a searing indictment of these disturbing times. Summers has a way of cutting straight to the bone of the matter, not bothering to pretty it up. That's not to say she can't build a fantastic world, because she can and does. It just means her words are unapologetic, much like the titular girl of this novel. I can't say I loved this book, because it was extremely hard to read at times, but I appreciate it and feel it's important. 4 stars

This mind-blowing novel will keep you on the edge of your seat and will refuse to get out of your head. And in your head is where it should remain. Summers gives you a lot to think about and it should be required reading.

I finallyyy finished this one after starting it and putting it down several times and - hmmm. I'm not sure. It wasn't bad, but it's certainly not a fun reading experience and I think I was a little too drawn in by the blurb referencing Sadie (there are clear references!). Please read the content warnings before you pick this one up!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Unfortunately, I have been locked out of my netgalley account for a few months and was not able to see which books I had on my list, in order to properly read and review. I do apologize and am doing a 3 for neutral. Will update once I’m able to obtain a copy and read!

This was such a compelling thriller, I read most of it in one single day. The story starts with Georgia, a girl who is hit by a car and wakes up to find the body of another young girl, murdered. Georgia and the girl's older sister, Nora begin investigating, and what ensues is about the murder, but also goes so much deeper than that as they find more questions than answers.

This book mirrors the Jeffery Epstein case, and with that, there is of course some major trigger warnings here. However, we do also get a sweet queer romance, and those scenes add some levity to an otherwise heavy book. George is naive and wants to be wanted, which makes her ignorant to some of the powers that be. As an adult, I wanted to scream at her to get out, but as a reader, I understand how her character arrived to this place to begin with.

This book was captivating, haunting, and an unfortunately realistic portrayal of the protection that money and power can provide.

This is a difficult one to rate. I think I was expecting more sleuthing like in Sadie but really the main character, Georgia, doesn't seem all that invested in solving the mystery of who killed Ashley, just in keeping close to Nora, Ashley's sister. Which, fair. She was really traumatized by finding Ashley and did not want to keep revisiting her case. So the sleuthing bit is more Georgia doing what Nora asks and kind of stumbling onto things but not putting the clues together. On the one hand, I don't think Georgia wanted to see the truth or all the warning signs around Aspera. She had built it - and the owner, Matthew - up into an unshakable ideal, and even as bad things started to happen to her at Aspera, she wouldn't admit that anything was wrong. The story is heartbreaking and heavy, especially when Georgia finally discovers how deep the rot and conspiracy at Aspera has gone. For me, it was frustrating to read Georgia's denial of all the bad things she goes through and how she continues to place her trust in the worst people instead of the ones who love her. However, I do realize she was being groomed and didn't want to see herself as a victim, but instead as someone with power over her situation and future. All that to say, this book stirred up a lot of complex feelings! Not a book to be taken lightly.

Another gut punch from Courtney Summers. It was a riveting and emotionally charged book. I enjoyed reading it and really like her writing style. It's raw and thrilling and addictive. Another fantastic read by this author!