Heavy topic, especially for YA, but also very important to be shining a light on this since it's not talked about and, if it is, we don't hear the full story. Love the LGBTQ perspective. Love the POV from the girl. Now I need to read Sadie. Not for the faint of heart. It didn't really feel like a thriller, though.

Courtney Summers has yet again written something so beautifully painful, something women are always struggling to deal with in life.

I felt the pain each character was dealing with, and the audiobook did not shy away with letting me hear it in her voice as well. I was heart broken, angry, lost (emotionally) as in lost in all of the chaos that us women have to deal with.

I knew things were gonna go the way it did early on HOWEVER i thought it was going to end alot differently, i mean like something happening in the end like how Sadie did.

The writing was enchanting and raw, Courtney certainly did an amazing job on this one.

How did you like the characters?
I like each of the characters growth, i wanted to see a little more of Tyler.

I think the romance between Nora and Georgia was to pass the empty spaces between what was really happening. I did not care much for this romance but i did love the aspect of a LGBT story.

Rating: First half 5 last half 2

Please make sure you read the TW for this story.

Depending on the reader this book will either be a 5 or a 2 star book. The first half of this book was fantastic and I could not listen fast enough. This book was extremely well written and the narrator did a great job. I could feel the emotion in her voice and when she was sad or frightened it unsettled me. My heart was racing at certain scenes!

This book has a lot of issues with the characters as well as the overall story. I understood Georgia’s character in the beginning and could see why she made the decisions she did. But as the story kept going, her actions didn’t make sense to me and in a way what was happening to her was her fault. She could have at any point confided in her brother or even in Nora about what was going on but she didn’t. She was so desperate to be seen as beautiful and accepted by these people that she lost herself in the process.

The synopsis for this book was extremely misleading. Georgia and Nora did not team up and I never felt like the killer was truly closing in. I’ll be honest, this book was predictable. You know who the killer is about 20% in. Knowing that didn’t ruin the story for me because I still wanted to see how it played out. Unfortunately, the ending in a way ruined the story. I feel like the author tried to shock the reader by making the decisions they made but all it did was leave me upset. There is so much I wish I could warn about but that would cause me to share spoilers and I don’t want to do that. Just know this book is problematic and the story will not make you feel good.

I don’t think I would recommend this book to teenagers. I think it sends the wrong message and deals with issues that some teens might not be ready for yet. As for adults, I would recommend the audiobook version. If you're able to just think about this story being a work of fiction then you might enjoy it.

Thank you so much @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy on Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Man, Courtney Summers really knows how to write a good book and strong female character!!

Georgia Avis hasn’t had the easiest life and that doesn’t change when she takes a job working for the wealthiest couple in town at Aspera. After befriending Nora, the sister of a slain girl she’s stumbled upon, they set out to find her killer. And what she finds while working at Aspera makes everything too crystal clear to fathom.

I loved Georgia s character. Although she was a teenager, she was strong and very head smart. She stood up for herself and even though she found herself in a few precarious situations, she used them to her advantage and made herself a stronger person for it.

The audio and narrator were excellent! I listened to this book in one day because I couldn’t put it down!

I am just absolutely flabbergasted as to how @summerscourtney does it. She has an uncanny ability to capture the angst and perils of navigating young female adulthood. You feel the yearning for independence alongside the overwhelm of complex feelings matched with the naive confidence that only a young adult can muster. I felt this keenly in her book SADIE and even more so in I'M THE GIRL.

When Georgia finds the body of Ashley James, she is horrified and teams up with Ashley's beautiful and edgy sister Nora to find the killer. To do so, Georgia joins an elite club where money and power are only shadowed by beauty. As Georgia navigates this power structure she starts to realize it is much more predatory than she first thought...

Summers does an amazing job of fleshing out Georgia's character - her wants, her hought patterns, her naivety and willingness to trust people who she feels truly "sees" her.

Lori Prince, the narrator also did an amazing job at capturing Georgia's spirit so if you like audiobooks this one is well worth your while.

This book was raw and riveting and so freaking relatable. You should definitely read it. Like, now, go buy it now, it is out today!!!

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and @mamillanaudio for the ARC audiobook.

3.5 stars!
Georgia finds the body of 13 year old Ashley, the daughter of a local police officer, on the side of the road. She is hit by a car upon her discovery and ends up in the hospital. As she recovers, Nora, Ashley’s sister, reaches out and Georgia decides to help her figure out what happened to Ashley. Georgia also gets a job at a resort that is for the extremely rich and elite called Aspera. She soon realises being an Aspera Girl isn’t everything she thought it would be.

Summers can definitely write a gritty YA book. I know she gets criticisms for the graphic nature of her scenes, but her books are real. There is definitely a trigger warning here for sexual assault as it comes up several times. The initial setup really seemed promising but the story just wasn’t that cohesive. There were many floating parts and some never fully connected to the plot. Georgia was part of the LGBTQ+ community which I always love to see.

Oh my. This one is dark and intense but in such a good way. It makes me terrified to be a girl and raise girls because it does not shy away from the horrors of the world, but wow does Courtney Summers know how to write about it.

Biking home one afternoon, Georgia Avis is hit by a car and left injured on the road. She stumbles into the woods following a flash of pink and discovers the body of Ashley James, missing two days. Ashley’s sister, Nora wants Georgia’s help finding the killer after they determine he must be the one that hit Georgia.

Full of shocking twists and unbelievable revelations, I’m the Girl is a gripping, enthralling thriller that kept me on the end of my seat unable to stop reading. It was so easy to read and definitely makes you question the wealthy power hierarchy that exists in our current world. And the ending was so perfect for the story, it couldn’t have been better!

Whoa. I went into this one completely blind and so glad I did. I love Sadie by Courtney Summers and really enjoyed this gripping and dark thriller. There are definitely uncomfortable topics covered in the book, but I feel the author covered them well. Make sure to read trigger warnings though. I was so frustrated by the main character at times for her naivety, but had to think back to when I was sixteen and impressionable. This book is definitely an emotional roller coaster.

“One man’s depravity is so much less captivating when its mystery is solved. But it’s no less an aftermath because the world’s passed the moment by. The rest of us are still here, trapped inside it.”

When sixteen year old Georgia Avis discovers the body of thirteen year old Ashley James, she teams up with Ashely’s older sister Nora to bring the killer to justice. But their investigation throws them into a world of unimaginable wealth and power, without conscience or consequence.

Hmm. This one started off so strong for me. A dead girl. A near miss. Some familial drama. But I don’t know, I struggled to stay interested in this story. I get that the main character is 16 and therefor basically clueless about the ways of the world. But, at some point, shouldn’t Georgia have had some inkling as to what being an Aspera girl actually means?! Yes she’s being groomed. Yes she’s without any strong parental influence. Yes she’s young. But oomph, this one was tough.

Although loosely based on the Jeffrey Epstein case (making me acutely aware of the subject matter) I still had a hard time listening to this. It is tough story but it is written beautifully regardless of that. The narration was great. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was more of a thriller and less a character study of Georgia and the crooked wealthy adults surrounding her .

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and the author for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m the Girl was not a fun story to read. It was hard and dark and really upsetting. But it is also important.
I gave the novel 3.5 stars due to the fact that I felt the plot was a little convoluted and strung along for too long, the ending was also not long enough for me to be satisfied in my opinion. However, Summers is an amazing writer and the subject matter is handled beautifully in the novel.
I would definitely recommend, although I wish it went through another editor.

Even though I am rating this book 5 stars, this book was by no means enjoyable because it deals with incredibly heavy and disturbing content. Please check out the content warnings.

That being said, this book is impeccably written. By the end of this story, I just wanted to hold these girls and protect them from the cruel world that they have been made pawns in.

16 year old Georgia lives with her brother, and following the death of their mom, are doing whatever it takes to make ends meet. In their town is Aspera, an exclusive club for the rich and famous where their wildest fantasies come to life. Georgia wants nothing more to become an Aspera girl in order to achieve her dreams, but of course, be careful what you wish for.

I’ll be honest, Georgia will not be for everyone because she’s naïve to the cruelties of the world. But at no point does she feel like “the beauitful girl making dumb decisions” trope. Rather, there’s a desperation and need to be loved and overcome her dire circumstances, which makes her easy prey for the likes of Aspera.

Nora. Oh my god, I loved her character so much. She’s the antithesis to Georgia’s character. She’s fully aware of the horrors that happen in their town, and she refuses to sit by and let more girls get hurt. She’s gritty and fierce but still needs to be protected from monsters close to home.

These two girls should’ve only been focused on falling for each other, but this is the story of what happens when those who are supposed to protect you fail you at every turn.

The book centers around teen Georgia Avis, whose life changes forever when she discovers the dead body of thirteen-year old Ashley along the side of the road, near the wealthy Aspera resort. Along with Ashley’s sister, Nora, Georgia sets out to unravel the mystery surrounding Ashley’s murder, while all the while, desperate to become an “Asperan Girl”.
I’m the Girl was an extremely fast paced book dealing with murder, assault, relationships, and class issues. Full of interesting and well-developed characters I highly recommend this book to fans of mystery/thriller books.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this audio e-arc.*

I really enjoyed I'm The Girl; it's layered and addictive in the way the story unfolds. It covers topics like grooming, sexual assault, and the power of money.

The author did a great job giving us a real feeling MC who's unlikable at times but scarily relatable. Georgia is very much a product of the patriarchy and beauty culture; she's very focused on her beauty and external validation. She's an imperfect victim and makes some poor decisions.

Lori Prince's narration was great. She did a good job portraying the characters and was clear and easy to listen to.

I listened to this YA, coming of age thriller. It was a very good listening. A teen girl finds a younger girl dead in a ditch. She had been missing for a few days. As she becomes friends with the dead girls sister they begin investigating some on their own. She also goes to work at an exclusive club that her late mother wanted to keep her far away from. The book had themes of privilege, sexual identity, growing up, and learning about the power females can have. Overall I found there was a lot of different things going on and it’s hard to write about without spoilers, but would recommend to YA lovers.

This book had some really interesting parts and some that really seemed to drag on. This book was just okay for me - 3 stars. I felt like most of the time not much happened and I kept waiting for something exciting to happen and it never did. I’m not disappointed I read it, just not one of my favorites this year.

Trigger Warnings: Sexual assault, adult/minor relationship, child abuse, emotional abuse, child death, murder, drug use, toxic relationship, car accident, death of parent, classism, misogyny, pedophilia, sexism, violence, grief, alcoholism, drug abuse, physical abuse, gaslighting, alcohol, addiction, body shaming, cursing, gore, incest, infidelity, suicide, blood, trafficking, Lesbophobia, injury/injury detail, torture, police brutality, cancer, gun violence, vomit

Representation: Lesbian

I’m the Girl is a new queer thriller about Georgia who teams up with Nora to try to find the killer when Nora’s sister, Ashley turns up dead. Georgia must navigate a deadly world to seek justice in this privileged society she has been thrust into.

This book is beautifully written and Georgia is so raw. I thought the writing was very provoking and eerie. The list of trigger warnings is long because this book handles very tough topics. The story evokes true emotions and should not be read lightly. The author does an amazing job keeping the reader on their toes with all of the twists. The narrator also does a wonderful job with such heavy topics.

Overall, I loved this book, despite the incredible painful subject matter. The narration gives so much life to these characters. I enjoyed the voices given to each character by this narrator, creating a seamless storytelling.

The story, the writing, the way I was pulled in to these characters and their pain… all things I loved. Things that happen to the people in these pages is heart-wrenching. Courtney Summers has done a fabulous job creating the feeling this book elicits. It’s both in your face and subtle at the very same time. Mirroring horrors of the real world, this book is believable and disturbing.

Georgia longs to be better than how she was raised. She has big dreams, even though she doesn’t know quite what they are yet. Stumbling across the dead, abused body of the sherif’s thirteen year old daughter, Ashley shakes up her life in ways she never imagined. Strangely, it brings her closer to one dream she has… Aspera! An elite country club catering to the rich and glamorous. And she is going to be an Aspera girl… but is that a good thing?

Another way this event has changed her life is her interactions with Ashley’s sister, Nora. What had been a tentative dislike between the two, buds into something so much more as they maneuver through Nora’s pain and Georgia’s healing.

I can’t get past how I felt about our main character, Georgia. She is incredibly self-aware, and yet knowingly and purposefully ignorant when it suits her. I flip-flopped between caring for her and being infuriated with her, resorting to the realization that I can feel them simultaneously. Though, that is what brought this from a five to a four star for me.

It had to happen eventually: Courtney Summers has written a book I didn't actually like. The writing is wonderful, and the gritty violence hiding just below the surface of a seemingly quotidian world is there, too -- both hallmarks of what makes Summers so great. But I'm The Girl relies heavily on our ability to believe in a place and people whose rarified wealth and status make them untouchable -- and in some ways, unbelievable. Books like Sadie and The Project hit hard because they seemed to shine a light on dark, twisted parts of our culture that nonetheless felt true. I'm the Girl doesn't ring with truth in the same way, and the story overall suffers for it.

Three-sentence summary: Sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis dreams of being an Aspera Girl -- one of the elite, beautiful few who work the "executive floor" of the titular club on the edge of her small town. But her mission to join their ranks is interrupted by tragedy, when Georgia discovers the body of a 13-year-old girl on the road to Aspera. After a too-close encounter with the killer, Georgia teams up with the victim's sister to uncover the truth behind the brutal murder, only to discover that wealth, power, and complicity too often leave the truth woefully far out of reach.

Georgia is a frustratingly unlikeable character who reads younger than her 16 years. Sadly, I think she's probably emblematic of too many young women raised on a steady diet of patriarchy, objectification, diet/beauty culture, systemic racism, and poverty. But her single-minded focus on becoming an Aspera Girl makes her seem more unhinged than the average teen, and simultaneously less sympathetic. More than anything, Georgia is a victim of circumstances far beyond her control, and I'm The Girl is a stark reminder that we need to advocate for all victims -- especially minors -- regardless of whether they're especially likable.

Summers is known for tackling difficult issues in her books and exposing violence against girls and women, but I hope she doesn't lose sight of the fact that her first purpose is to tell great stories. Like some other recent YA thrillers -- e.g., Ace of Spades, The Mary Shelley Club -- I'm The Girl relies on the portrayal of power and wealth so great, it makes those who have it untouchable; and while this is likely a reality for some (Epstein and Weinstein, I'm looking at you), the truth of it is already stranger than fiction.

Lori Prince does a fine job voicing a substantial cast. Even listening at 1.5x speed, her inflection and emotion were crystal clear.

Thank you to SMP/Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio for the advance eBook and audio copies.

⭐️3.5/5 stars.
This book reminded me a little of Twin Peaks in the sense we had a lodge in the middle of nowhere with a dead girl and a beautiful girl. The beautiful girl is our main character and a times, she’s hard to like. But I think it’s because she thinks and does things that are scarily too close to how I sometimes used to think when I was a teenager. The side of me that also secretly put too much credence on wanting to be a model because being a model meant validation of my beauty. That being said, Georgia made some terrible decisions and you can’t completely hate her because you realize she’s not aware that these are terrible decisions. And these decisions have me squirming, waiting on the edge of my seat for something horrible to happen because we expect it to. Then when it does, she’s so deep into her ideas of what she needs to be that she doesn’t even realize what happened is bad. And that’s a part of the reason why this story is important to be read. The message of this story is so important. Of being a girl in a world that values how men see us. Of a world where those like Harvey Weinstein exists.
I gave this story 3.5 stars mostly for personal reasons. It was tough to listen to this audiobook. It was a tough topic with a main character who doesn’t comprehend that. But the story is brillant. The author did an amazing job giving us this believable, unlikable character. She did a great job telling this story illustrating what the world is like for young girls. I would totally recommend this book, but I would tell them to be prepared, even though the book doesn’t explosively show specific scenes.
Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for providing the ARC for my honest review.