This one was REALLY good. I was hooked the whole time. I tried to predict what happened and who did what, but it kept having twists and made me clueless. I enjoyed the premise and the main character is absolutely my favorite. The ending was phenomenal! There are major trigger warnings (rape, dead bodies, etc) but it was a great and thrilling read. I truly enjoyed this book, would highly recommend everyone check it out!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a good read, i would reread it in the future and would recommend it!

I loved the author's previous novel Sadie, so I was excited to read I'M THE GIRL, which features an account of how one 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 story delivered, as I hoped that it would, and I really thought the audiobook was my preferred way to read.
**There are a few trigger warnings to be aware of, including sexual assault.**

many thanks to Macmillan Audio and netgalley for the gifted 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

Thank you so much for the advanced copy of this book. It definitely lived up to its hype. This author has become a must read.

Courtney Summers audiobooks are always something special and Im the Girl does not disappoint. Such a dark but beautiful story. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

A great novel looking at the life of one girl with the body that draws everyone's attention. When she gets her dream job she see a new side to the world that isn't so pretty. Was her mom protecting her from bad people when she wouldn't let her work there? Or trying to keep her in a box?

On the one hand, this is a nuanced picture of predators and grooming, the ways that society harms girls and what we teach them to value. There is a fair amount of discussion of how girls dress, partying and alcohol, and what a girl "asks for". While it is interesting to explore girls owning their sexuality and taking hold of their power, it is not without concerns. The ending is complex and could lead to discussion but it's hard to give it my whole-hearted recommendation.

I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers is absolutely gripping and will have you flipping the pages at record speed. A book centered around one vicious world ruled by money and power. This book is so thought provoking.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, St Martin Press and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review in exchange for my honest review. My favorite reading experience is reading along with the audiobook. It truly brings the story to life for me and I couldn’t have binged this story any faster.

This book is full of hard topics. I suggest checking for trigger warnings before going into this one. Sexual assault and grooming being the BIGGEST of these. It was hard to read at times but beautifully written if that makes sense.
This book was painful but such a great powerful read.

Lovely book. Check the trigger warnings on the book. but its not exactly a YA book its advertised as. I don't know that i would let my YA read it. but it is a good book.

This book was so addicting! The narration was excellent and kept me coming back for more., I was glad for the trigger warnings, as this entire book was just one giant one. But this book was excellent.

Sadly I DNFd this book. I just didn't catch my attention. I did enjoy the authors other titles, so I will try to read the physical copy, but the audio just wasn't it for me.

Courtney Summers does it again. What a phenomenal YA book. I can't get enough of her stories.

Aspera. A beautiful, mysterious, exclusive place filled with the elite and wealthy. It oozes glamour and mystique, and to be an Aspera girl would be the highest honor for Georgia Avis. Before she knows it, she's sucked into the world of Aspera while trying to uncover the story behind a young girl's death. But everything is not quite as it seems from the outside. Georgia is about to pay a high price to belong in Aspera, a price that begs the question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?

I'M THE GIRL. HAS. EVERYTHING. Murder mystery? Check. Twists and turns? Check. Coming of age? Check. Sapphic romance? Check. It's also an incredibly relevant and important commentary on the toxic power structures that let wealthy men get away with crime and convince women to go along with it in exchange for power and prestige. CW/TW: grooming and sexual abuse. It's very pertinent to the story (and to real life, as Cleo and Matthew Hayes mirror Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell), and it opened my eyes to how a teen girl could get sucked into something so sinister and not even realize it. I hope that teens read this book and learn to recognize the signs of grooming and to be skeptical of the people they so blindly admire.

This is shaping up to be my favorite YA read of the year. 5/5. Now excuse me while I start my next Courtney Summers book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced listener's copy of the audiobook!

I had a hard time with this book for some reason I just didn’t connect with it, I did enjoy the narrator! I enjoyed Sadie and This is not a test so I suppose I had high hopes for this one. This book in the end honestly just left me with a lot of unanswered questions. But remember just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it isn’t for you!

This is the third book I have read from Courtney Summers. While I don't think this title was as good as Sadie, her most well-known piece, I did enjoy reading it. I'm The Girl was much darker than I was expecting and has graphic depictions of physical and sexual violence. If these topics are triggering for you, please be mindful of this before picking up the book. I ended up going with a three-star rating because I found the story to be a little slow at times and I don't think I would go out of my way to recommend this title to others unless they were already a fan of Summers' writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

After discovering the dead body of Ashley James, Georgia Avis teams up with Ashley’s older sister, Nora, to find and bring the killer to justice before they strike again. The investigation quickly throws Georgia into a world of privilege and wealth and discovers that when money, power, and beauty are involved, it may not be who is guilty that matters most, but the guiltiest.

This book navigates a deadly and predatory power structure while asking us one question - if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?

The writing was excellent, but the story kind of fell flat for me. The author did not shy away from the struggles and uncomfortable dealings of young women which I appreciated. Major trigger warnings but this was a good read and would recommend if you are looking for a thriller that covers deeper subject matter.

Courtney Summers does a subtle and excellent job of giving realistic young women a voice. Her characters can be messy, naïve, smart, kind, careless, etc but always deserving of love and safety that the world does not always offer. They have to navigate ways to find it for themselves. I'm the Girl continues that strong streak

I have been a fan of Courtney Summers for years, but I found this book disappointing. I never really warmed up to Georgia. she was an okay main character, but she never felt completely developed. Also, the setting was supposed to be opulent but was never truly described. I enjoy Summers' writing, but this book didn't have the same impact as her past novel.

“I was angry with my mother, the kind of anger that changes the way you look at the world and makes you understand, for better and worse, the way the world’s looking at you.”

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis dreams of working at Aspera, the fancy resort her mother worked at before she died. The same resort her mother got fired from. The same resort her mother always told her she was never good enough for. After a series of unfortunate events, Georgia is left being $4,000 in debt to her brother, so she gets a summer job in the heart of Aspera—and discovers it might not be all that she dreamed of. To make matters worse, Georgia stumbles across the body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James. Georgia teams up with Ashley’s sister, Nora, to help find the killer and the investigation leads them deeper and deeper into the gates of Aspera.

I’m the Girl is a novel that is emotionally difficult to read. Summers does an excellent job of portraying what it feels like to be a young woman in a world that overly sexualizes teenage girls. Readers watch as Georgia grapples with her beauty and how she can use it to her advantage to get what she wants. These brilliantly written scenes leave the readers asking: is Georgia actually taking advantage of her good looks, or are the people around her taking advantage of her?

I highly recommend I’m the Girl to anyone looking for a bold novel that explores sexual exploitation versus liberation among young adults. Georgia is a courageous character with a lot of depth. She’s confident, passionate, naive, and stubborn—and the mix of these traits gets her into a lot of difficult situations. Many young women will be able to relate to her struggles throughout the novel. However, the story is upsetting and graphic, so please proceed with caution.

(Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for sending us an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

I love Courtney Summers. I will read anything that woman writes. I was invested in this book the whole way through. I loved the characters, the writing, the storyline (although the mystery was pretty easy to solve). I listened to this one on audio, and the narrator did a great job also.

All of the stars!!!