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!

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. I'm The Girl tells the story of Georgia, a beautiful teen girl who is just figuring out who she wants to be, who stumbles upon body in the woods of another beautiful teen girl. Georgia teams up with Nora, the dead girl's sister to find out what happened to her and discovers a world of power, intrigue and abuse at the top levels of her world and beyond.

Courtney Summers creates characters that can be very unlikable. This was another twisty thriller that You just can't see where it is going until the end.

All sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis wants is everything, but the poverty and hardship that defines her life has kept her from the beautiful and special things she knows she deserves. When she stumbles upon the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, Georgia teams up with Ashley's older sister Nora, to find the killer before he strikes again, and their investigation throws Georgia into a glittering world of unimaginable privilege and wealth--and all she's ever dreamed.

Courtney Summers' books are...different. Provocative, I'd say. The material is always kind of hard to read, but at the same time you can't tear your eyes away and can't stop thinking about the book after you do finally put it down. Ultimately, I loved this one. It left you with a lot to think about...but that's what's important, right?

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I could not get into or really follow “I’m The Girl.” I love thrillers and mysteries, but this provocative story didn’t get me hooked like that. It was dark and handled difficult topics, but that was not really an issue for me. This book just seemed a little too meta for me so perhaps I am just not the intended audience. 2 star read for this one. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy for review.

While the twists of this book didn't surprise me, I still couldn't look away. The main character feels like an unreliable narrator and unlikeable in many ways. However, she reminded me a lot of my adolescent self and the societal themes explored made my skin crawl in a way I look for in thrillers. She's the type of girl who's behavior will have adults going "what were you thinking?," and since we get her POV... we see exactly that. If you read and enjoyed Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson, this one reminded me of that. This is not a book everyone would enjoy, but it will stay with me. I listened to the audio and loved the narrator who did the voice acting on this.

LGBTQ+ rep: F/F relationship with main character

I loved Sadie by Courtney Summers so I knew I had to sign up for this ARC. Please check the trigger warnings if possible. Grooming/Sa being a big trigger. I liked Georgie even though she was a bit naive. She definitely wanted people to notice and adore her. After she found the dead Ashley James that was raped and murdered, she tried to turn life around... but still haunted by what happened that night. Summers knows how to deliver heartbreak, sadness and gripping all in one.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Georgia has a dream to be an Aspera girl. It’s a pretty girl who works in hospitality at the fancy Aspera hotel in town. But I’m not sure she quite understands what’s in the job description. It looks glamorous on the outside looking in, but has hard Jeffrey Epstein vibes on the inside. And it’s actually on her way to the Aspera for the first time that she finds the dead body of Ashley James, a 13-year-old local girl.

This launches Georgia into a quest to find the killer. She teams up with Ashley’s sister and together they try to get to the bottom of it. And while Georgia does land a job at the Aspera, she is quickly discovering what really happens there. What if being a pretty girl actually makes your life worse than if you never qualified for the Aspera girl distinction? To top all this off, Georgia is also realizing that she’s in love with Ashley’s sister, Nora.

I’m the Girl is definitely a coming of age story. Georgia is figuring out who she is and also figuring out that the world is a harsh place. She has a strong voice as a character and I did like her. I wanted to like this one more, but there was almost too much going on, and I even found it hard to sum it all up in a quick book review.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out now.

Super impressed by the writing but I wasn’t as wowed by the story as I was hoping to be. Ever since the book Sadie came out, I have been keeping my eye out for a Courtney Summers book to read. I’m not normally big on reading books that have a bunch of trigger warnings, but when a book in some ways mirrors the Jeffrey Epstein case, I’m not surprised it has tough to read subjects like sexual assault, grooming, and physical abuse.

Part mystery, part queer novel, this story really walks the line of young adult and adult. This has content and subject matter that all may not be comfortable letting their average teenager read (and I don't mean the queer relationships in the book either!) This book walks the line, but ultimately, it did appeal to both adults and young adults, especially those who are queer or questioning.

Running with a lot of the adult themes, including inappropriate relationships, murder, sexual harassment/assault and gaslighting, all of which occur with frequency in this book. It makes you feel uncomfortable as you read it, as many adults take advantage of the naivety of a teenaged girl, and definitely try to sway her way of thinking and her own morals, to their own advantage.

While parts of this book made me feel yucky, it was a thought provoking book, that checked all the boxes for entertaining, thought provoking and social commentary, and I would recommend it to others that want to be challenged in the best possible way.

DNF Review - I'm really sorry but I don't think the blurb was good enough to understand how dark and brutal this story was. I was expecting a typical murder mystery story like Good Girl's Guide To Murder and I can't deal with rape/murder of a 13 year old kid and someone said an on page rape later. It's too much for me. I've rated what I did read.

At sixteen, Georgia Avis has big dreams, but she's held back by a life of poverty. While walking alongside the road, she discovers the body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, the daughter of the local sheriff. Georgia is hit by a car during everything, and her memories of the incident are jumbled. But she teams up with Ashley's older sister, Nora, to try to figure out what happened. All trails seem to lead to Aspera, a beautiful resort where Georgia's late mother once worked.

Ugh, I feel terrible as I love Courtney Summers, but this one just didn't work for me. Her writing is as lyrical and gorgeous as ever, but I didn't care for the plot, which dragged and had a lot of issues. I really enjoyed the writing in this book, that there was a queer relationship between Georgia and Nora, and that it featured a mystery to solve. The rest of it... not so much.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Nora and Georgia has no depth. It's thrown at us, but we see no development with them, or really any other characters in the book. I wanted to care about them--and everyone else--but it was hard. Georgia honestly came across as frustrating beyond words. Her decisions made me want to scream. Aspera--this strange, fancy resort--and its owners--loom over Georgia's life. She's obsessed with it, but we are never sure why, and her focus on working there is borderline insanity. So many of the problems in this book could have been avoided if everyone would have just been honest with each other from the beginning (including Georgia's family)--this is a huge pet peeve of mine in literature.

GIRL bills itself as a cautionary story about the power of the wealthy and the power males hold over women, but it adds nothing new. If it's focused on sexism and patriarchy, Georgia does not seem to want to fight those things--if anything, she lets things happen to her and spends a lot of time caring what the men around her think of her. Again-this just adds to the confusing angle of Georgia and Nora's relationship.

Overall, I had a hard time caring about any of the characters or the story here. It was confusing, seemed full of plot holes, and then, after everything, gave us a vague ending. So frustrating. 2 stars for me, but many others liked it more.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

I’m The Girl is one of those heavy-hitting books that talks about very difficult topics. To me, the vibes of this book were like if Euphoria was a thriller. I recommend this for fans of Mindy McGinnis’s works.

Courtney Summers does it again! Like Sadie, this book had me guessing and re-guessing throughout the twisted chapters. I very much enjoyed the character development and the many mysteries woven into the narrative. This books is seriously thrilling.

Absolutely amazing. The character relationships, the reality of being a naive teenager in a world out to get you, and the dreams of living against your parents wishes, everything so utterly revealed behind the mask.

Courtney Summers does it again with a knife-sharp thriller, tense plotting, chilling revelations, and desperate characters, Loved loved loved it

Courtney Summers does an amazing job of conveying what it feels like to be a teenage girl sometimes in ways that is both impressive - because accurate - and deeply depressing - because accurate. This book follows that trend.