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!

I know Courtney Summers is well known for writing unlikeable female characters - but man, was this one incredibly unlikeable. She was so unlikeable that it truly was a bit of a drag to keep reading, I just wasn't invested.

However, I do think the the heart of the story - essentially men grooming young girls and preying on their dreams - was timely and important. While it was gross, I understand why the author says this was a response to Epstein.

Unfortunately, this was truly just not my jam. The audiobook was hard to follow; I was just not invested in the FMC at all.

This book covered so many really difficult topics, especially for a YA, but done well.
This is not a book I would recommend to everyone just based on the content, but a good read.

Thank you, NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. I didn't love this book - not because it was poorly written but it just wasn't a book for me.

For this review, I’m not really going to talk about what happens because the synopsis kind of tells you everything you need to know, and the fact that Courtney Summers said that this book was written in response to Epstein. I think that explains it pretty well.

Ok, let’s talk about Georgia. Did I scream at her to not believe the people she believed and to open her eyes to what was going on? Of course, I did. I didn’t want to see her hurt. But I also don’t blame her for believing what she did or for what happened to her. These people prey on and hurt girls like her as a job. They are very good at it. And who are we to say we would never get ourselves into a situation like that? We can never know.

If there is anything I’ve learned from reading about cults, it’s that they can take in anyone. No one is immune. You may think you’d never act like Georgia (I thought it too), but can we ever know? Especially in a world that hates women so much? I don’t think so.

Beyond that, I loved her character. Her vulnerability. Her strength. Her love. Her confidence in her abilities. She is the epitome of a Courtney Summers character. Bound to be misunderstood by some but loved and cherished by readers who get what Summers is revealing with Georgia’s story.

Can we also talk about Nora??? She is the fucking best! I am much more a Nora than I am a Georgia. She doesn’t trust easily but the ones she does trust, she’ll protect with her life. I love how much she cared for Georgia when she needed her. And I love how she lets Georgia in after she loses her sister and even after what happens with her father.

As for trigger warnings, I cannot say enough that if you’re triggered by sexual assault, rape, child abuse, or manipulation, please be careful reading this book. Or skip it altogether. Your health is more important than reading a book.

With I’m The Girl, Courtney Summers once again ruins our lives, shows us the dark parts of society, writes like her very soul is being put onto the page, and tells us a story of someone who is often overlooked. Her books are nothing short of remarkable.

I’m giving I’m the Girl 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am going to try to be nice here, but we'll see if that happens. I loved Sadie, and I was so excited for whatever Courtney Summers brought with this one. Turns out, what she brought was not much of anything. This book follows Georgia who gets hit by a car after being convinced to take inappropriate photos by some random man at the mall. She finds the body of a missing girl on the side of the road, and the story takes off after the dead girl's sister convinces her to help solve the murder. The thing is, this book isn't really about that. Its about Aspera, a powerful resort type business that runs the town. Georgia dreams of becoming one of the beautiful girls that work there, despite her late mother telling her not to do it.

Obviously, Aspera is a shady business that takes advantage of girls. For some reason, Georgia's mother refused to explicitly tell her this, even though it would save her from a whole lot of hurt. At Aspera, we have to read through three explicit sexual assault scenes. This because Georgia is incredibly naïve. And I get that. A lot of teenage girls are. However, most young women in 2022 are acutely aware of the difficulties they'll face. And if they're not, they learn pretty quickly. But Georgia never gets it, to an aggravating degree. We see her suffer, and for no reason. This is a book that never gives its teenage girl protagonist no credit at all. Girls are smart and better than this. More than anyone, they can read the room. They are more aware of danger. Except Georgia! And then, once she suffers through all the worst things imaginable and finally gets a vague understanding of how girls are taken advantage of, the book ends. There's no resolution, no hope for things getting better, no take down of all the men. Instead we are told not to accept this system. Obviously, we don't accept it! Once again, its 2022. We know men in power take advantage of women. We didn't need another book all about this. I needed, and wanted, a story about how to fix it. How girls can take back their power. Instead I got a ton of triggering content to learn a lesson we already know. Honestly, teenage girls (or teenage anyone) should not read this. It won't help them. Maybe adult men should so they can understand their power? I don't know, and I'm mad.

2.5 stars

While Courtney Summers is a great writer, unfortunately this book didn’t work for me. Our protagonist’s POV could often be pretty confusing - she made a lot of decisions that felt like she was leaving readers in the dark, and we had to catch up with them. She was also a bit hard to understand - like some of her motivations and key personality traits made sense, while there were others I wish we could have fleshed out more.

The plot was really fascinating - very Jeffrey Epstein inspired, and it was also pretty hard to read for some of those reasons. The character development was a bit lacking, and the plot had promise, but ultimately It felt a bit convoluted, and the pacing was weird and rushed.

I would definitely recommend looking up content warnings before reading this book!

I really wanted to love this book with how much I enjoyed the authors previous works. However this one just didn't have the same feel to me. I was confused for most of the book as to how the main character knew these people. There is some vague references to their parents that I didn't understand. While it's mostly wrapped up by the end, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something big

Thank you to St Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of I’m the Girl in exchange for my honest opinion. I read about half and listened to the audiobook for the rest after pub day. The audiobook narration by Lori Prince is EXCELLENT - listening to it, I felt I was in MC Georgia’s mind, which is a pretty intense place to be.
Georgia is sixteen, poor, motherless, and beautiful. She wants, more than anything, to work at Aspera, a privileged community on the outskirts of her town. Aspera’s money and power control the town, but what exactly is happening there? There are multiple mysteries to uncover as the reader proceeds through this saga.
Gritty and raw, Summers’s writing is so descriptive it’s almost frightening. The story is dark and, for me, it didn’t read as a young adult book, even though the MC is a young adult. Fans of My Dark Vanessa will likely enjoy this one - and I recommend checking the content warnings before proceeding. I had the pleasure of attending the book’s virtual launch, where Courtney talked with Sara Farizan hosted by Brookline Booksmith which was really interesting, hearing more about the process and influences in writing their books. I’m excited to read more from the author - I’ve heard about the cult following Sadie has!

lots of TW like a lot! this is a YA and I cannot believe it! want a rollercoaster ride and go into the thriller modeeee then read this for sureee

Yikes. This book tackles a lot of hard, difficult, uncomfortable topics that young women deal with. I will say it was very well written, no matter how many times I wanted to stop reading. This is listed as young adult but I don’t know if I would even put this in a high school library. It reads like one big trigger/content warning. Please take lots of care before picking this one up.

I’m the Girl is an absolutely heart-wrenching story of Georgia, a 16 year old girl who strives to be seen. A murder-mystery is the backdrop for Georgia’s story. Georgia finds the body of 13 year old Ashley when she’s run off the road on her bike. She has no idea who was driving the car, and can’t even remember details about the car itself, but she knows she’s now in danger, too, because when she recovers her backpack, from the scene of the accident, photographs of her are missing. She teams up with Nora, Ashley’s older sister to try to solve the mystery, but she’s wrapped up in an elite world thanks to her new job at a local resort. She has to decide what matters more and she learns painfully difficult lessons along the way. This book is a brutal and honest look at power, sexuality, and corruption.

this story was strange and confusing at time but the ending made this book for me worth the read.. over all now a new fave but would recommend

Every time I finish one of Courtney Summers books I am left thinking about it for hours. She is so good at crafting an ending that is non-traditional and unexpected. The main character George is so naive you can't help yelling at her to wake up and smell the roses. I suspected very early what was really going on. It is very disturbing to watch events unfold. The narrative is a sad comment about our society as it is unfortunately true. A very thought provoking story.

This book was definitely hard to read…lots of trigger warnings. I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that this is being marketed as YA. It’s a bit too much for teens in my opinion. Other than that, the writing itself was good. I just wish it wasn’t so graphic.

I keep reading Courtney Summers books wanting to feel the way Sadie made me feel, and they keep falling short. The thing I love the most about Summer's books is that she doesn't bite her tongue, she writes real stories about things that young women actually go through and that's exactly what this is. My main issue with Summer's books is that her main characters are often kept at a distance from the reader, they're flat and don't evoke much emotion if any at all. Unfortunately that's what this book did of me. I didn't feel any connection to the main character, and more importantly the people in the main characters life didn't seem truly connected to her, the relationships were surface level, and the character development was pretty much non existent. We got more character development for a character who dies before the book even started than we did for the actual characters we're following. Overall, this was a quick read, that left more that I'd like to the imagination.