Reviews with content warning for Car accident - I'm the Girl

Although a book of heavy subjects, this was an incredibly quick read, that admittedly felt at times easy to predict - I would have loved to see more closure for the protagonist at the end.

Content Warnings

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Content Warnings

abookandaspotoftea's review

Go to review page

challenging dark tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

toofondofbooks_'s review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

thereadingraccoon's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m The Girl is a young adult mystery about a sixteen year old who discovers the body of a local girl. It contains thriller elements but it is also is a coming of age story. Due to the graphic nature of this book I recommend it to readers sixteen and older.

Georgia is struck by a car while riding her bike to Aspera, a golf course and resort for the rich and famous where she’s dreamed of working as one of their elite “girls” since she was thirteen. When she wakes up injured by the side of the road her bike, cell phone and the explicit photographs of herself she was carrying are all missing. While stumbling to find help Georgia discovers the body of Ashley James, the thirteen year old sheriff’s daughter in the brush nearby. As she recovers from her accident she’s enlisted by Ashley’s older sister (Nora) to investigate exactly what happened that night. But due to all the attention from the murder and accident and her youthful beauty she attracts the notice of the Aspera owners (Matthew and Cleo) and she’s finally closer than ever to being an actual “Aspera girl”. Georgia juggles her skeptical older brother slash guardian, a blossoming romance with Nora, unexpected demands at Aspera, the investigation into the murder and the demands for answers from Ashley’s grieving father.

As a reader you are very aware that something isn’t right with Aspera and only the main character’s age, naïveté and ambition keeps her from seeing the reality. It is a “ripped from the headlines” type novel echoing the #metoo movement and Jeffrey Epstein allegations as Georgia is pulled into a world of sex, money and power where the bodies of young girls are commodities to be bought and traded.

I will state right off that this is not the feel good book of 2022. It is dark and gritty and has detailed scenes of the grooming and exploitation of a minor. The mystery and thriller elements keep the reader interested but there are also serious topics of discussion about abuse of power, consent and female sexuality. I thought Courtney Summers did an excellent job of showing the more complicated and human parts of a teenage girl and her desire to be special and beautiful.

Overall this is a dark and tragic story about two teenage girls that are abused and exploited for the gratification of powerful men and the wall of secrecy that protects abusers. I would recommend it to readers that enjoy reading about challenging contemporary topics.

3.5 stars

Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

This book honestly creeped me out and not in a good thriller way.

Telling a girl she has the power to stop a man from raping her is just disgusting. I obviously don't know if the author explains that this female character's view is WRONG later, but that's what got me to just stop with this book

What I read of it just left me feeling gross.

I loved Sadie! But this book was just terrible. The MC was highly unlikeable. I think you were supposed to feel sorry for her, but honestly, I didn't really. She just seemed like an entitled poor person. who thought she deserved better because she was attractive, WTF. As someone without a lot of money, I'd never assume, "well, if I were more attractive... I'd be rich!". Just because you're attractive does not translate into an entitlement to be rich. NO ONE has the entitlement to have money. Some people are lucky enough to be born with money or have an easy or harder path to wealth, but most people will still be around where they were born.

I did like Nora and Tyler. But they couldn't make up for Georgia.

Also, Georgia's entitlement overruled any thought of the "thriller" element, which was mostly ignored for Georgia's attempts at social climbing.

Content Warnings

lrcartee's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Georgia Avis wants more from life. She feels she deserves more and is determined to have more no matter the stakes. To Georgia, the epitome of making it is to become an “Aspera girl”. Aspera is an elite resort for the rich and famous surrounding by mystery and secrets. When Georgia is offered a job there, the secrets begin to unravel.

I love Courtney Summers books. I love how she tackles difficult subjects and brings them to light. I wanted to love this book. I did not. There were so many plot points that it was very hard to decide how to write a synopsis. Was it about Georgia’s obsession with the resort and the people who run it? Was it the fact Georgia found the dead body of a 13 year old girl and trying to solve the mystery of what happened to her? Was it about trying to spotlight a young girl’s naïveté and thereby unable to see the dangers that lurked around her? I don’t know! It was all those things and didn’t do any of them particularly well. It was too disjointed and because of that nothing really resolved. As for character development, there was none. Georgia wandered in and out of so many traumatic experiences seemingly learning nothing from any of them. She became very trying.

The blurb for this book says it’s about Georgia and her friend trying to find out what happened to her friend’s sister. To me this was secondary. In my opinion, it was more about Georgia fulfilling her dreams no matter the cost and sometimes stumbling upon something about the murder case, usually by being in situations from very poor decision making.

Another reviewer wrote that the entire book was a giant trigger warning and I agree. They were all represented, rape, child molestation, grooming, human trafficking, murder, suicide, drug use, classism and more. For me, the book needed more cohesion. As I said I have loved Summers other books but this one, for me, was just too all over the place.

Content Warnings

More...