I really enjoyed Courtney Summers' latest novel I'm the Girl. The initial tone set throughout the book is unsettling and Summers does a great job of keeping that unsettled tension throughout the novel. There's no mistaking that this will not be a fairytale.
Georgia Avis dreams of being an Aspera girl, whose actual position is vaguely defined until the latter half of the work. Being an Aspera girl is a position that affords prestige and a way out of poverty. Summers uses the exclusivity of the Aspera girl as a way to allude to what the girls might have to do in order to obtain such access to wealth. Georgia's mother is dead, father absent, and she is being raised by her older brother, Tyler. When Georgia finally get the in to Aspera she wants, partly due to the discovery of a dead thirteen year old, her world is opened to what exactly being an Aspera girl entails.
While I like the title, and would recommend to adults, I wouldn't put this in my library due to the mature themes and abundance of triggers.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of I'm the Girl.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Didn’t see that ending- her best yet!

Thank you NetGalley and Courtney Summers for the chance at an early read. Wow, this was just such a story that sucks you in in the most shocking way. CW galore, this isn’t an easy read. George has always wanted to be an Aspera girl after being picked up on the side of the road and called beautiful by the provocative secretive owner of this elite club filled with the rich and powerful of the world. After 13 year old Ashley is found by George murdered, her choices and path begin down a literal and figurative road she may not be able to turn away from. This example of corrupt power has mirrorings of Harvey Weinstein, and (if you’re a twin peaks fan) reminds me a hell of a lot like One Eyed Jacks. This is a tough read but seeing George come to terms with not only the power of her body but also how fragile you feel growing up is so real.

It's a bit difficult to describe the experience of reading I'M THE GIRL by Courtney Summers. The author has created a compelling character in Georgia: she is very confident and (seemingly) grounded in how she believes the world operates. Summers manages to give the reader the opportunity to see things Georgia can't even though the story and POV is Georgia's. This creates a very disconcerting read, especially as a reader wonders when Georgia will understand the title of her own story I'M THE GIRL. It makes the book impossible to stop reading.

I'M THE GIRL is a hard read, though, in that the violence toward young girls and young women is relentless. Having read several books by Summers, she takes big issue with the treatment of teenage girls and does not hesitate to take it on in raw, hard-hitting stories. I appreciate that and I especially appreciate how she digs into complex, thorny issues, such as how women can also perpetuate and enable the horrible wrongs perpetrated by men.

Although I finished the book several days ago, I still have mixed feelings about the ending. Of course, I knew it wouldn't be a perfectly packaged, happy ending. This is a Courtney Summers book! But it does feel like it ends a few beats too early. I don't want to reveal anything, but this reader wanted a bit more time between the last big event and the last page of the book.

I, in what you're going to have to believe is an incredibly rare occasion, really don't know what to say. It's moving and painful and a somewhat confusing and occasionally joyous and all of that for the one single reason that...it's true.

#NetGalley #I’mTheGirl

This book is devastating, sumptuous, and impossible to put down. The story belongs to Georgia, a 16-year old girl who survives a criminal act, only to find a girl even younger than she is in the woods who was not as lucky. Both girls are adolescent, but in the bleak and hopeless community Summer allows them, there is little chance for redemption. Here, the men are good-ole-boy monsters, and the women protect and enable them. Hope is scarce, although there is a protective older brother, and an older woman who takes Georgia under her wing. Summers writes that the book posits a question she hopes her readers will have the courage to answer. Highly recommended for readers who love suspense and razor-edged writing. Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Haunting and sad. It's frustrating how the world is and courtney took that head on. It angers me for the girls in the book.

I've been obsessively following Courtney Summers newsletter for details on her upcoming book, I'm The Girl. She's posted on social media about how this book is set in the same world as Sadie. If that doesn't give you any indication of how brutal this book is, then I don't know what will.

When I got the email about review copies for I'm The Girl, I immediately accepted.....and then I read the entire thing today. I'm so emotionally drained from this story. The energy of this book is raw and real. It does a deep dive into the power hungry people who seem to have the run of the world. These people enable abusers and will go to great lengths to protect themselves and the good 'ole boys.

It hurt me to read this book.
But the power behind the words is what makes this story one of Summers' best books yet.
Sadie broke my heart but I'm The Girl obliterated it.

I'm The Girl hits shelves September 13, 2022.

Huge thanks to St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for sending me an e-ARC.

Courtney Summers never fails to write a book that feels like a punch to the gut. She had me at the edge of my seat throughout the entire book up until that bitter ending. 5 stars!

I've been a big Courtney Summers fan for years so I'm always excited when she has a new book. This wasn't an easy read in terms of subject matter, but that's to be expected from her books. Well-written, gripping.

Summers new novel is gripping, addictive and hard to put down. When Georgia is run down while riding her bicycle home on a dark road, she ends up finding the body of 13 year old Ashley. Ashley was brutally murdered, quite closely to the Aspera Resort.

Aspera has long been linked as the exclusive resort for all kinds of “executives” and famous people to live out their dreams - even if that includes request for “Aspera Girls” - beautiful young women at the beck and call for the executive floor.

Georgia dreams of becoming an Aspera Girl, but gets hired at the resort as an apprentice. She also starts helping Ashley’s sister, Nora (her biggest crush) explore Ashley’s mysterious death.

I loved the LGBTQ+ addition to this story. TW for sexual assault, grooming, predators.

Thank you, Wednesday Books, for allowing me to read I'm the Girl early!

Courtney Summers is a writer like no other. A writing style that is brutal and raw, in the most beautiful and emotional way. Thrilling and completely addictive, I'm the Girl delves into the not-so-hidden secrets of beauty and its destructive power. I'm obsessed with this story.

This thought-provoking thriller was smart and bold. Although I felt like the identity of Ashley’s murderer was pretty clear from the start, that didn’t diminish the book thanks to its extra doses of social commentary and elegant writing.

courtney summers does it again! propulsive, fast paced and action packed, i can't think of a summers book better than this one; this may well be her best work to date.

Courtney Summers absolutely killed it with “I’m the Girl”. Thrill, suspense, and very human relationships, I think this book is site to be a YA smash hit for fans of Karen McManus.

** A copy of I'm The Girl was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

Courtney Summers does it again! I'm The Girl is gripping and haunting, but still manages to hit you with all the emotions. The story is a rollercoaster, and is a very in-depth look at trauma, grief, female ambition, and the price of secrets.

Sidenote: Can we please get matching covers in the style of Sadie and Cracked Up to Be?

As a reader, I always know that going into a Courtney Summers book means that there will be no happy ending, in fact, you will be utterly devastated by the end of the journey. Now, does this make me back away from reading them? No. Maybe I’m a masochist or maybe I prefer unhappy endings in art (what can I say? Watching Romeo & Juliet at 4 has fucked up my expectations).

Georgia Avis has grand expectations for herself and she’s convinced that working at the exclusive resort Aspera will bring her in close contact with people who matter and will help her kickstart her dreams. Although life for her takes a dark turn when she stumbles upon the dead body of 13-years old Ashley James and the killer is still on the loose and has stolen Georgia’s modeling photos. In order to repay her brother back of the $4k she stole to pay for her modeling photos, Georgia gets a job at Aspera, but is sad when she’s not offered to become an “Apera girl” but rather is left to work in an office alone.

Georgia yearns for the life of the rich and famous, thinking that it will save her from her boring existence, but she doesn’t know the price one truly has to pay to sometimes get the things they want. There’s a particular scene in the book that is equal parts disturbing and horrifying as you see how a man in power manages to expertly manipulate Georgia into thinking that she actually has the power, while in reality she never did.

The thriller/murder mystery aspect of the novel was expertly executed and I loved how everything fell into place without feeling like it came out of the left field for the sake of a twist.

The ending will leave you feeling both frustrated and helpless, but knowing that in the circumstances Georgia was in, it was going to be a given that she’d never had the upper hand.

Another deliciously binge-worthy read that will have you flipping the pages as you get immersed in the decadent world of Aspera while leaving you with a serious case of FOMO like Georgia as she wonders what is going on the executive floor.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Georgia always always dreamed of being Someone. She wants to be an Aspera Girl, women hired by the exclusive resort to cater to their most important clientele. When the body of a young girl, Ashley, is found near Aspera, Georgia teams up with the murdered girl’s sister, Nora, to get to the bottom of things. I’m the Girl dives into so many incredibly relevant issues in a way that always feels genuine. The book made me absolutely anxious and I couldn’t put it down until I reached the end. It’s intense, honest, and an interesting study in the dynamics of power.

This book was everything I wanted it to be from Courtney Summers!!! Books don't have to be horror for them to be spine tingling like this one was. It felt so realistic like it could happen to anyone in the world which is true. There are girls who have had to fight what our main character Georgia goes through in this book.
She is told that she could be an Aspera Girl and she did everything she could to become one despite her late mother trying her best to push her away from it.

We watch as Georgia grieves and deals with each day at a time after the death of her friend Ashley is found in the forest, raped and murdered. Everything about Georgia's story is scary and realistic and I was happy to have been invited to review it.

I was looking to read something different when I came across “I’m a Girl” by Courtney Summers. This book was certainly it. Part New World, part psychological thriller, the novel focuses on Georgia who comes across the body of Ashley. The search of this girl’s killer leads her into the world of Aspera, a place where the most privileged flourish and Georgia may not survive.

While the message of the book is clear, I admit that I probably wasn’t the intended reader for this novel—it was a difficult read, but that was partially because of how thought-provoking this story was. Courtney Summers certainly has a vast readership and her fans will certainly love this story, but unfortunately, this was not for me.

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, Courntey Summers for the eARC in exchange for my review