This book was just as brutal and raw as Sadie was. It was so easy to jump into this story and was hard to put it down.

I'm The Girl was so hard to read because as the reader you know where things are going even though Georgia doesn't, but it is so realistic in its portrayal of a situation we see too much on the news. Courtney Summers doesn't shy away from the ugly truths of reality but allows her readers to empathize with the characters dealing with that reality.
This book has haunted my thoughts since I finished it - demanding justice for girls like Georgia and protection for all girls so that history will not repeat itself.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers.

I remember really enjoying Sadie and The Project, also written by Summers, so I couldn't wait to pick this hot new release up. And while I didn't love this as much as Sadie, it still had a lot of the delicious dark tones and all the dangerous teen living you could ask for.

Georgia Avis is a sixteen year old who has just found the body of a thirteen year old girl named Ashley. In order to find her killer, Georgia teams up with Ashley's sister Nora, who Georgia can't help but feel tingles for every time she's around her. But a much larger force is going to go to great lengths to stop anyone from discovering who the killer is, and Georgia may find herself right in the center of that.

This just wasn't quite...strong enough? The tension, intrigue, and swampy underbelly was all there, but the joints were too weak. I never quite got a strong idea of what Aspera (you'll find out when you read it) was, or what exactly went on there. I was also, once again, totally dissatisfied by the ending, and yeah, it was just a bit weak. I don't want to discourage Summers fans from reading it, I am but a grumpy old lady, but I've enjoyed her others more.

Firstly, if you've read a Courtney Summers book before, you know what to expect from this book. Georgia Avis isn't necessarily a likeable character, but is instead very flawed and very real. Things in this book are not as black and white as you would think, and it explores the shades of gray in a world run by the patriarchy. Georgia is a very strong character that you can root for, even though her own naivete gets her in a lot of trouble. The plot is very slow burn and character driven. The characters and the writing style are definitely what I enjoyed most about this book, especially because the ending overall lacked the oomph I was expecting from a Summers book. Nonetheless, the book is enjoyable and hard-hitting in its exploration into the exploitation of beautiful young girls. It's definitely hard to read, because we as the readers know what the rich and powerful can do to manipulate young women, and we are forced to watch Georgia make all the wrong decisions.

While this isn't my favorite Courtney Summers book, I did enjoy it and think it's an important read especially with the climate of today's world and how young women are mistreated..

CW: sexual assault, rape, grooming, death

To be honest…I didn’t love this like I thought I would. The ending was so unsatisfying, and the buildup seemingly meaningless. I felt like it had a ton of potential, but it fell really flat. I wouldn’t recommend it as a good thriller.

Another slow-burn thriller from Courtney Summers, a force to be reckoned with in YA fiction. I'm the Girl follows Georgia Avis as she copes with trauma (her mother's death, a car accident, being ripped off by a faux-model scout), rekindles a friendship & more with Nora (the sheriff's daughter), and starts working for Aspera.

Aspera is an exclusive getaway for the richest and most famous men who've never heard the word no. Georgia is convinced she's in control of the situation, that she has the power. But as Georgia is sucked into the world of Aspera, she's forced to challenge her preconceptions of glamor, success, and control before it's too late. This YA fiction will appeal to older teens and adults, especially ones interested in true crime.

Side note: I ADORED the very meta reference a character made to having to live-up to the success of a movie named Sadie. Sadie was my first introduction to Courtney Summers, and it's the title that receives the most buzz. It's important to note that Summers' work isn't just Sadie. She wrote amazing novels before Sadie, and she's kept writing them after Sadie. While her works differ in scope, pacing, and topic, Summer never shies away from complicated female protagonists whose stories serve as a means to explore complex topics.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the early widget of I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers. Having been previously broken by Summers in the past (in the good way a book can) I was very much looking forward to her newest.
Riding her bike one night, 16 year old Georgia Avis is hit by a car. When she comes to, her bike and belongings are gone. As she is coming to her senses, she also notices that not far from where she is lying, is the dead body of missing 13 year old Ashley James. As typical for a Summers novel, from here unfolds a world of exploitation, a corrupt organization and simply growing up.
Georgia must navigate the world she’s always wanted, even when it turns out to not be as shiny and bright as she first thought.
I’m the Girl has a few jaw dropping twists that really got me. Overall, I didn’t get quite the gut punch that I’ve come to love from this author. Nonetheless, this is still a 4 star read that will leave your breathless.

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis lives in a weird small town with a super fancy resort/spa for rich people called Aspera and dreams of becoming an “Aspera Girl”. Then she finds the brutalized dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James on the side of the road and works with Ashley’s sister, Nora, to find out who killed Ashley.

I can appreciate that a takedown of rape culture and condemnation of privileged men getting to do whatever they want to with less powerful peoples’ bodies with zero consequences is what this book was aiming for, and it definitely illuminated the issue, but I really didn’t like reading this book or feel like the message was fully expressed. I was hoping for another Sadie to root for, but Georgia was - I’m not sure what - boring? Too obsessed with being told she’s pretty? Too naive but also knew what she was getting into? I don’t want to give this book a bad review because I’m thrilled that stories like these are being told, but this one just did not work for me. That said, I will always be a Courtney Summers fan and will read anything she writes.

I was really looking forward to I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers. Sadie is a book I recommend to older teens constantly. This book seemed a little too dark even for older teens. I know that these events can happen in real life but to put raping a 13 year old and sleeping with someone to get ahead for a job seems more adult to me. There were a lot of twists and turns but I figured out the ending quicker than I wish I had, at about chapter 54. The best part of the book was the relationship between Georgia and Nora. It was the only healthy relationship in the book. I will buy this book for our collection but I don’t think I would actively recommend it.

This was my first dip in the water reading a book by Courtney Summers, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. It actually made my head hurt the first quarter of the way through due to the strange writing style. I could not connect to the 16 year old Georgia and her Asperations (see what I did-I had to) because it was a drum beat of repetition of her longing to be an "Aspera" girl over and over. Aspera is some really weird pseudo spa/hotel/resort. Georgia understood how she was beautiful and she definitely thought she knew how she could use it especially after the spa owner's wife Chloe tells her to use her body to her advantage...argh.. this comes after an adult man gives her booze to drink and gropes her.. The superficial beauty of Georgia and Chloe and mention of it was redundant. .. Worse, much worse to me, was how unsettling it was that this fancy spa/hotel would hire underage girls to be geisha -like symbols and flutter throughout the location doing just what???? I did push forward to see how the murderer and rapist was caught..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review..

I was given this ARC by the publisher in return for an honest review. Thank you publisher!!

This was a strange strange book! It was definitely not at all what I was expecting. I have read a few Courtney Summers books (my favorite of course being Sadie) but this was out there for even me. While it kept me captivated and interested, I can’t say that enjoyed it. It starts out as a murder mystery but quickly turns into a nightmare amongst the wealthy. There are a million trigger warnings for this book and deals with some very harsh and uncomfortable topics. You want to like the main character but she is so naive and focuses so much on people thinking she’s beautiful for all the wrong reasons, you end up getting so frustrated and almost hating her. Because it kept me coming back for more I rated it 3/5 stars.

I’m not even sure where to begin with this book so I’m going to begin with some thing I never do which is saying that there are definite trigger warnings going into this book, there are disturbing scenes of rape, murder, death, all of which are upsetting but never gratuitous. Anyone who has ever read this author before, I’ve read everything she’s written, are aware that the author often takes and unflinchingly honest direction with all of her topics and Georgia’s story is no different. Georgia desperately wants to be loved, appreciated, and in her adolescence and changing body to her that means being seen as beautiful. When another girl turns up brutally raped and murdered, Georgia is forced to look in the mirror at her self and also at the world around her. This is a vicious and unfortunately all too accurate view of how some powerful people views of people that they deem below them, and how those people, especially men as we’ve seen in the news, use those young women for their own gains. This book is excellent and takes its reader on a journey and a roller coaster that you often wish you could get off of but ultimately has left me with so many things to think about.

Once again, Summers deftly faces difficult subjects with raw honesty. In this story, Georgia Avis has lived her life almost close enough to touch the opulence that is Aspera, an exclusive “club” for the rich and powerful. Although she’s always wanted to be an “Aspera girl,” one of the stunning young women who work there, her mother always railed against her former place of employment. When Georgia finds the body of a thirteen year old Ashley James on the road to Aspera- and she’s attacked at the same time- the world of Aspera opens up to her. She teams up with Nora, Ashley’s big sister, to figure out what happened, and she also finds herself drawn further into the world of Aspera, which is much darker than it seemed from the outside. I absolutely loved this story, and although the ending felt off to me, I recommend this book.
Thank you to @WednesdayBooks and @summerscourtney for the ARC.

I was blown away by this book. I was a huge fan of Sadie so I was super excited to read this and was not disappointed! I enjoyed the premise and really loved our main character. The ending was phenomenal! Definitely a thought-provoking read. If you decide to read this, please check trigger warnings.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I'm the girl had everything going for it—unfortunately it fumbled the bag so completely I'm tempted to reread Sadie just to get this sour taste out of my mouth. The writing was creative but gave me a headache if I spent more than 10 minutes reading; the main character, Georgia, was infuriating, and her love interest was so annoying I couldn't muster any sympathy for them even at their darkest times. Also, the constant use of Aspera was this ominous saying was so boring to read.

Damn. This book hit me right in the feels! It's a tough read, though very realistic.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for my copy!

Ahhhhhh, she does it again!! This book was heartbreaking in the same way Sadie was and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I finished. Courtney Summers truly can’t do no wrong.

I'm the Girl starts with sixteen year old Georgia Avis finding Ashley James, a girl from school murdered on the road. The road hold a certain value to Georgia because it is the road that leads to Aspera. Aspera is more than a lodge, it's where wealthy people meet and secrets are kept from outsiders.

Georgia's mom Katy, used to work for Aspera as a cleaner which was the start of Georgia dreaming of being a Aspera girl. But as Georgia tries to find out who Ashley's killer is and gets tangled in the wealth of Aspera will she like what she finds out?

This book makes you think because there are places like Aspera where the wealthy feel like they are better than others and to use their status to have things their way. Courtney Summer makes the reader question why do men in life have all the power and women are trying to grab whatever that was left as scraps.

Im the Girl comes out September 13th 2022. Thank you St. Martins Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read this release!

I've definitely been a fan of Courtney Summers's books since I first read Sadie. She isn't afraid to delve into tough subjects, push the boundaries of what is comfortable, and expose the darker corners of life and human beings. Georgia Avis dreams of being an "Aspera Girl" at an ultra-exclusive country-club style hotel for the rich and famous - but she is too young and naïve to realize what that entails. After discovering the body of a young thirteen year old girl who was raped and murdered - Georgia is given a chance to become an Aspera girl only to discover too late the dark reality of that dream. I'm the Girl shows the reader the world that lets people like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein take what they want without suffering repercussions for so long, a world where predators are protected because of the power they hold. This book exposes the darkness of those in power but stops short of dismantling the system protecting the guilty and saving those who have been hurt or could be hurt in the future. I'm The Girl can be brutal and devastating at times - in a way that I think only Courtney Summers can write. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I've been a big fan of Courtney Summers' for awhile now. No one does raw angst the way she does (see: All the Rage, Some Girls Are, Cracked Up to Be, Fall for Anything). All truly solid titles. But nothing she's written comes close to how I feel about Sadie.

While I have The Project on my shelf, I haven't reached for it yet, which means that this one is the first book I've read of hers since putting Sadie on an impossibly high (and well-deserved) pedestal. And while I did enjoy some aspects of this, it unfortunately didn't have the same impact for me.

I'm the Girl centers around Georgia Avis, a beautiful sixteen year-old girl with aspirations of finding success. For her, that could come in the form of being an actress or model, sure. But more alluring to her is the potential to become an Aspera girl. Aspera is a local resort that appears to be an oasis for the rich and famous, offering them exclusivity and discretion as they relax and unwind away from the public eye.

Georgia's fixation on this place becomes entangled with the murder mystery at the heart of the novel. It opens with the death of thirteen year-old Ashley James, whose body is found on the road leading to Aspera. From there, Georgia works alongside Ashley's sister, Nora, to piece together the mystery surrounding Ashley's death. As you might imagine, everything is connected. The more we learn about Aspera and its inner workings, the more that becomes clear about what actually happened on that road. What I have not mentioned is the fact that 1) Georgia's now-deceased mother once worked for Aspera and was terminated after going against the company's founders, 2) Georgia paid a large sum of money to have some modeling shots taken of her, which were mysteriously confiscated at the scene of Ashley's murder, 3) Georgia received this sum of money from her brother Tyler and works at Aspera to help pay it back, and 4) Ashley and Nora's father sort of has it out for Georgia, given she was the person to stumble upon his daughter's body.

It's kind of a lot to sum up. It was kind of a lot to read. I wasn't a huge fan of the way the story unfolded. Or the way Summers chose to wrap it. Things became a bit convoluted at times.

However, I do think this was an important story to tell. Summers covers a wide range of topics that felt inspired by many semi-current issues (including, but not limited to, #MeToo and Epstein's island). What I found most fascinating/disturbing is how Summers presented such a variety of villains that helped maintain a network of abuse. The obvious culprits - the rich, perverse men at the heart of the operation - weren't hard to spot. But everyone else - from the women who aided and abetted them in their pursuits, to the lower-level employees who made such situations possible - was complicit, as well. We see Georgia learn that the hard way throughout the novel.

Definitely a thought-provoking read. Various trigger warnings can easily be applied, so I recommend proceeding with caution.