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.

If I am reading a thriller, we all know it will be good.

Courtney Summer mixed tough topics with a decentish plot in her newest YA Thriller, I'm the Girl. This was a little bit of a letdown from Sadie but overall still a great storyline for YA audiences. It felt a little immature, but I still read the entire thing in one sitting. The thriller aspect was very well down, and it took me a few chapters to figure out the ending. The story will leave you on a rollercoaster ride, and it's perfect for the spooky season. If thriller YA is your thing, this will most likely be your book of the year. and should shouldn't wait to pick up your copy today.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced review copy.

I have loved every book that I have read from Courtney Summers, and this book is no exception. This book is described as a spiritual successor to her book Sadie, which I really enjoyed, and I think anyone who enjoyed Sadie will like this book. I like how Summers always includes a lot of social commentary in her novels (social class and privilege, and their effect on teenage girls, in this case), and how it all feels so natural. Sometimes I feel like an author can be too on the nose or beat you over the head with their message, but I never feel that way with Summers’ novels even though I still get the messages and themes she is going for. I also love how she writes characters, especially teenage girls. They just feel like real people, with all the good and the bad. They are allowed to be gritty and flawed and make mistakes, even if you sometimes want to yell at the choices they are making. I also enjoy the sapphic representation that she includes in her books. Another win for Courtney Summers.

I couldn’t put this down…no seriously!

Georgia is painfully naive about the world around her and defiant against the adults in her life but I felt so connected to her and how she perceived the world from personal experience when I was her age. I read this late into the night in one sitting (rare these days) and while these topics are important for young readers, I would not feel comfortable with a 14 year old girl reading this, as it’s listed in the YA category. The trigger/content warnings are a mile long and this is a dark but important read.

The writing is beautiful, Courtney Summers really is just captivating with her use of words, and I’m a HUGE fan of the voice for Georgia though I realize I may be the unpopular opinion on this one. If you’re not a fan of “emotionless” narrators that are dealing with/discussing trauma, the voice of the MC may not be to your liking. As a Capricorn and someone who processes events without emotion, this was 100% perfect for me and an absolute delight!

I really and truly cannot wait to see what comes next for Courtney Summers! I’ve read and loved Sadie and will be moving through Summers’ backlist now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love Courtney Summers books. One of my favorites by her is Sadie. I’ve yet to be disappointed by any of her books. This is going on my shelf.

Interesting book and I'm new to this author but I liked it and I thought it was a good book. Hoping for more from this author in the future.