***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of I’M THE GIRL by Courtney Summers in exchange for my honest review.***

Being approved for an ARC of I’M THE GIRL is like winning the lottery and I jumped into the book as soon as I downloaded the galley.

Reeling from finding the body of a dead teen then being hit by the murderer’s car Georgia doesn’t want to team up with the girl’s sister Nora. Georgia has ambitions of a bigger life than her deceased mother’s, dreams her mother tried to thwart. Solving a murder isn’t part of the plan. After losing money to an unscrupulous photographer promising her a modeling career, Georgia wants a job as an Aspera Girl at an exclusive resort where discretion is *everything*. But everything can be relative.

Courtney Summers pushes the boundaries of comfort with sexual innuendo both appropriate and inappropriate. It made me question my own thoughts on the age of consent, manipulation and attraction. Georgia oozed both sexuality and innocence. In my day, high school students sometimes had parent approved relationships with adults. At most it was considered inappropriate, never a crime if both consented. The idea of a teenager being too young to consent wasn’t part of the discussion. Decades later we know more about power and grooming and the vulnerability of minors as well as sex trafficking.

I’M THE GIRL pushes the boundaries of legality. At times Georgia appears to be steering interactions, though behind her behavior is the naïveté of a young woman who doesn’t consider the potential consequences of her actions. While the responsibility always lies with the adult who crosses the line, the reality is that some people still wonder if she “led him on”. When “him” is “her” all bets are off as to how outsiders will perceive blame.

Without directly asking those questions, Courtney Summers made me squirm mad question what I *know* with what I experienced and the culture when I was Georgia’s age. I wondered what charges, if any, a prosecutor would deem viable.

I’M THE GIRL evokes a plethora of emotions, some conflicting. Though not every reader will love this often disturbing book, I’M THE GIRL is a brave exploration of both the beautiful and ugly sides of a teen’s emotional and sexual awakening.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this book. I enjoyed it, but the perspective is so unusual that it kind of threw me off balance. I feel like most of the time when we see a character like Georgia, she's just a victim or a cautionary tale, so seeing her POV as the main character felt both refreshing and somehow dangerous. Some of the developments with Aspera and the Hayeses were predictable, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Excellent psychological thriller by a great author. Keeps you guessing & reading throughout. Ending was disappointing in my opinion & the reason I gave it 4 stars ⭐️ instead of 5. Didn’t like the way it left the entire plot just hanging. 😞

This gripping, addictive, riveting cutthroat wild ride makes you numb for hours! You keep giving empty looks, staying speechless as the whirlwind thoughts occupy your mind!

Another bold, depressing story is coming from Courtney Summers hit you like a sucker punch! Her words make you dizzy, disturbed, flabbergasted, shocked!

This book is telling the ugly realistic Aspera world ruling entire town, wrapping law enforcement around its finger. This is the real, bleak, ruthless, vicious world where only money, power and beauty rule!

Georgia Savis wants to be a part of this world by acting her dead mother’s wishes: she wants to be privileged Asperan girl. She wants to be adored. She wants to glow! She wants to feel the pure love!

But her mother’s words keep repeating in her head: “it’s better to know who you are than who you think you’re meant to be.”

Georgia’s life changes when she gets attacked, left in the middle of the road after she’s found 13 years old Ashley James, raped and brutally killed. The same people committed the murder might be her attackers who not only hit her with their car, they also stole her bike, left her unconscious. And she keeps telling the victim’s father Justin James who is the sheriff and her elder sister Nora: she didn’t see the faces of the perpetrators.

She’s lucky enough to be found and taken care by Chloe-Matthew Hayese who perfectly sit on the throne of Aspera Empire, giving Georgia a summer job that help paying the debts after stealing from her brother.

She thinks if she behaves and earns trusts of Hayeses, the sky is the limit.

But there are still unanswered questions out there: who killed Ashley James? Who stole her intimate photos she planned to use for her modeling career? What secrets are hidden behind the closed doors of Aspera?

Georgia is complex, flawed, struggling character who is way too much naive, allured by the pure beauty, lost, loveless, sad, lonely. Only thing she wants to be cherished, loved unconditionally, kissed, held! You get every right to get angry of her obtuseness, naivety. She created a dreamy world in her head and Aspera is the kingdom of the fairytale she’s written. But when the harsh reality collided into her dreams, only thing she is forced to do is waking up from that dreamy world and accept frightening nightmares of her own life!

This book is thought provoking, sad, intriguing!

I loved the bitter ending! Absolutely another heartbreaking, well executed, impeccably written book from Ms. Summers!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.