At the beginning of The Project, we see things through Bea’s eyes. We see how scared she was when at the age of six, her newborn sister, Lo, almost didn’t make it. Then we flash forward twelve years to another time when she didn’t think her sister would make it. This reminded me a bit of If I Stay, with the girl who is in a horrific crash and her entire family has passed except for her. So traumatic!

Then we switch to Lo, who did in fact survive. And she lived with her Aunt for 5 years until she recently passed away. Because as much as Bea loved Lo, she left and joined a cult instead of sticking around to hep raise her in the absence of their parents who died in the crash.

Lo has been dealing with a lot. She’s lost her parents, she has a huge scar on her face, and she is left to wonder everyday, why her sister left. She wants to write and has secured a job as an assistant at a magazine she would love to write for. After she witnesses a horrific suicide, her boss really wants to find out more about the cult that Bea has joined. Reeling from what she saw, and wanting to find out why Bea left her, while also seeing it as her chance to get her foot in the door and write an article, Lo starts digging.

I can’t give much away, but it’s pretty standard cult fair. And by that, I mean amazing. What is the allure of these types of stories? I think its’ the unknown and the fact that people join for no good reason. So they must really hate the alternative, their normal lives.

The Project is a great read, you definitely won’t regret picking this one up. Yes, it’s technically YA, but it’s one of the YA books with amazing crossover adult potential. Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley in exhange for my honest review. This one is out…wait for it…TODAY!! Hurray! Get your copy:

The Project by Courtney Summers

I give this book all the stars. I fell into this book and almost didn’t want it to end. Lo is on a mission to find her sister Bea while also trying to write her first piece as a journalist. The Unity Project is where she starts. This book is so well written. I am not a super religious person but this book makes me see how people can be. Without giving much away, I will say I didn’t see any of what happens before it happened. The emotions I felt and still feel finishing this one... I can’t put them into words. Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. And so many thanks to Courtney Summers for writing this.

I came into this book with high expectations, after loving Summers' previous work, Sadie, so much. This book did not meet the same expectations. However, it was still an enjoyable read that I could not put down. I would recommend it for anyone who wants a quick, suspenseful read that will keep you engaged.

for a book about a sisterly relationship through a cult, this was painfully boring. i will say that there's a lot of very good quotes scattered throughout.

it's a shame that the project and sadie have both failed to hold my attention, because i do like courtney summers' writing style and the stories she chooses to write. i just wish there was more.

the ending was rushed, i wish there was more of a conclusion regarding lev and lo. like, there is one, but we don't get to see it. i understand that the story is about the sisters so when you reach the plot twist (i hesitate to call it that), the story abruptly kind of just ends. it's weird.

i haven't read a lot of cult stories, but i definitely want to. i'm a sucker for religious imagery and larger than life conversations about faith and meaning. the project kind of delivers, but i was left wanting.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing my review copy

Astounding. Riveting. Chilling. Everything I want from a Courtney Summers book. Lo fights for what she wants, even in the face of strong fear and setbacks. Lev is terrifying, and yet it's so easy to imagine being swayed by him, caught up in his celebrity of personality and selling your soul to him. As the reader, I absolutely believed that the people in the cult believed in the cause of the cult, and with Lo, I ached for them to be set free.

While I was able to finish this book quickly in just a few sittings because it’s easy to read and a compelling enough plot, I was disappointed in the quality of the writing and depth of the story.

I enjoy stories with multiple POV’s, especially where the storyline goes back and forth in time, so that was the strongest aspect of this story. Summers did a good job in creating suspense by shifting back and forth between Bea and Lo’s perspective, and the jump from past to present kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next.

But Summer’s writing is bare bones and to the point. If you don’t like flowery writing and if descriptive prose is not your jam, then this might not bother you as much. But the sparse description and simple writing style make it hard to immerse myself in the setting.

Also, I had a really hard time understanding the choices Lo and sometimes Bea made throughout the story. They made some rather impulsive, off-the-wall choices that almost came out of no where. I felt there needed to be much more depth and fleshing out with the characters and their motivations.

The villain of the story was so bland and two dimensional! I couldn’t understand why the members of the cult were so drawn into his lies. For a cult book, I was expecting more suspense and dread and a more intimate look into its inner workings instead of just a surface level view.

I did enjoy Sadie quite a bit more than The Project, so I would pick up another book from Summers in the future. Unfortunately, The Project just didn’t do it for me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Courtney Summers is a masterful storyteller and an incredible writer of character. I cared so much about the characters that I was almost afraid to keep reading at some points. I loved it so much and have been recommending it nonstop to friends.

Almost exactly a year ago, I read Sadie and it completely enthralled me. I've been keeping my eye out for more from Summers so I was ecstatic when I was approved for an early copy of this one - another tragic sister story. Bea and Lo are sisters; Bea, the older, remembers precisely when she first saw her younger sister and felt a fierce love for her. At 19 now, Lo hasn't seen her sister in six years - not since a tragic accident. She still desperately misses her sister while feeling adrift in the world as the same accident claimed her parents' lives. The accident that destroyed their family also brought Bea to the Unity Project - a good works group that emphatically denies being a cult, but acts like one with its "Redeemer" leader, Lev.

The book unfolds between the stories of both sisters, with the timelines moving towards one another. The upstate New York setting compliments the plot and it's a definite page turner that I had to pry myself away from in order to get some sleep! I suppose it reminded me a bit of that Sweet Valley High so creatively titled, Kidnapped By The Cult - though to a much, much darker level. This one slowly builds up to reveal how horrible the group really is - a dark current in stark opposition to the flowery and accepting rhetoric and supposed good deeds. Summers especially builds Lo's character arc well. I do wish that there had been a bit more to the ending - there is some aftermath revealed, but I just wanted a bit less to be left hanging. Still, it's a wonderfully written book and I am looking forward to seeing what Summers will write next!

Rating: 3.5 rounded down

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my review

tw: abuse, death of a parent

The Project is a YA cult novel. The story is narrated by two sisters, Bea and Lo, in dual timelines. The girls are six years apart in age, and when Lo is 13 and Bea is 19, their parents are killed in a car accident that leaves Lo in the hospital with a large scar on her face. Despite Lo's condition, Bea leaves her to join the Unity Project, a collective that runs homeless shelters in NYC and around the country and is led by a man named Lev, who claims to have a direct connection to God.

Fast forward six years and Bea is 19 and working for an investigative journalist and hasn't heard from her sister in years. When the journalist's friend claims that The Unity Project murdered his son, Bea is determined to prove the leader Lev is evil and that the Project is a cult.

I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word for how I felt about this book, but it was definitely suspenseful and kept me intrigued throughout. The story is tragic and engaging and I appreciated the tie to the current political situation. I thought the way the sisters' stories were told in dual timelines was executed really well; Summers did a fantastic job of letting information come to the reader slowly and showcasing the moments' in the sisters' lives that mirrored one another.

This is a tough review to write because I really wanted to love this. I'm all for books about cults because cults are fascinating but to me this one just fell flat. There wasn't anything about the cult aspects that were new to me. It's all about using sex and religion as weapons against those who are vulnerable. I wanted more mystery and suspense and thrill but I never felt that. To be honest it was a bit boring for me.

The beginning was confusing and you aren't really sure if Lo died or Bea died or if anyone died at all. Once I got into it and the story got going it was interesting but then I shortly lost interest. I don't understand Lo's complete 180 from investigating The Project to being a member. Her motives for doing so didn't make sense to me. Why didn't the fact that her sister "left" The Project raise any red flags for her? How is Lev's cringy personality not cringy to her. I didn't really connect with Lo at any point in the book which made it hard for me to really be invested in her.

I understood more of why Bea fell for what Lev had to offer. She was much more vulnerable when he preyed on her and over time she realized that things weren't what they seemed. Her story was much more interesting and I felt bad for her in the end. She didn't ever find the happiness she was really looking for.

Overall I could see the potential but by the end it just fell flat for me and the most interesting parts were the beginning (which was still a bit confusing) and the ending but even then the information felt like it just took too long to reveal itself. I loved Sadie and was so excited for this one so I'm honestly bummed it didn't do it for me.

At the very core of this story is the tight bond between sisters. All they want is to help each other the best they know how after becoming orphans as teens. Lo is 19, working as an assistant at a magazine, itching to be writing stories of her own. When a man makes his way into her office claiming The Unity Project murdered his son, Lo takes it upon herself to throw herself into investigating the cult that she lost her sister to five years earlier.

Lev Warren preys upon the weak and the vulnerable. Like any other cult, he deliberately finds the people who are in need of guidance and are so lonely that they will take help from anyone. He and The Unity Project wiggles their way into the lives of the people of upstate New York through acts of service and community outreach. What's the harm in that? However, there is sinister ideals within this group that Lo needs to investigate in order to get to her sister. As Lo infiltrates the group and learns more from their members, The Unity Project starts to completely unravel.

I don't even know what to say about this book. I finished it a few weeks ago and I can't stop thinking about it. Where to even start! There are so many levels to this book that don't really notice until you are close to finishing. It is an extremely complex and layered story that Courtney Summers wrote so expertly. I don't want to say too much as to give anything away and honestly, It's hard to put into words how much of a gut punch this book is. Although it is a tough read, I couldn't stop.

I definitely don't consider this a YA book, but that's where it's being placed. I wonder if Summers planned to write this as an Adult book, how much she could have expanded. I really hope the fact that it's being marketed as YA doesn't turn people away from reading it.

I hope this was coherent. You know when you really excited about something and you just can't put it into words? Yeah, that's where I'm at.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of The Project. I didn't always know how it would end and I couldn't put it down. It was a tad bit too religious for my taste.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read this ARC of "The Project."

I loved the author's other book, "Sadie," which was fast-paced, thrilling, and suspenseful, so I was excited to see there was a new book coming out. However, I confess I had some trouble getting into this one. I loved the premise, but found it hard to follow the alternating timelines, and while I was very interested in the complexity of the relationship between the two sisters, pacing-wise, the story was a little too slow of a burn for me. I'm sure this is just a matter of preference, and I loved "Sadie" so much that I will be sure to give this author another shot with her next book.

The Unity Project stands for helping others and family values or is there something more sinister behind the smiles. Lo Denham knows the Project took her sister from her, and she will do everything in her power to get her back. The Project is a deep dive into what makes us vulnerable and who we place our faith in. As always Summers execution of a sister's love is concrete and pulls at the heartstrings. The narrative is split into two, with Lo in the present and Bea in the past, both adding to the context as in formation is given. This narrative of one sister chasing the other mimics the narratives in Sadie. Giving a sense of strangers passing in the darkness, give the plot a eerie feel when the Project set as the background. The reader's heart will break for both Lo and Bea, w3anting then to move toward each other. Through their narratives you meet other side characters that add to the dimension of how a cult is seen. The most interesting narratives are the ones from current members, yet their narratives are the most shrouded in darkness and not as elaborate. Causing the plot to falter a little bit, due to the fact that Los whole mission is to unearth all the Projects secrets. To be honest, I expected more from Summers. Wanting her to crack the cult image wide open and shock the reader more. The ending was anticlimactic, leaving a disappointed feeling for the reader.

I swear Courtney Summers does a great job evoking so many thing out of you when it comes to her book. I felt happiness, anger, and sadness all throughout the story. The Project follows Lo whose entire family is gone. Everyone but her sister Bea. Bea is apart of The Unity Project and Lo hasn't heard from her since after their parents died. But when a man comes into her line of work claiming that the unity project killed his son, Lo has to investigate. This brings so many emotions towards Lo and how she really misses her sister.
I loved getting to read through Lo's perspective but boy did she make me mad in this book. She does something that is so stupid despite that she's a really smart girl with a level head. But she also made me proud of her too. She stands up for herself and what she's not willing to take. More women need to learn how to do this and realize that it really is okay to stand up for yourself.
The Project has quickly become one of my favorite cult books!

2.5/5 ⭐️
The writing and explorations of different cults was done very well. Another thing that I really liked about this story was that it focused a lot on the bonds of siblings specifically sisters, and how far they are willing to go to protect one another. I really enjoyed the premise and themes that were in this story but I was never hooked into the story. Something that an author needs to do in a book is make you care about the characters and want to read more but I honestly have no feelings for this book. There was nothing about the characters that made me connect with any of them especially the main character because I felt she was overly whiny and entitled because of what she has accomplished. Overall, I personally did not like this book as much as her previous book Sadie.

A good thriller. Keeps you in suspense until the end. Good vs evil - don't believe everything you're told - or even see! Another charismatic leader revealed by the most unlikely heroine.

<i>Having a sister is a promise no one but the two of you can make—and no one but the two of you can break.</i>

lo is nineteen, working as an executive assistant at a fledgling magazine whose founder’s mission to expose the truth at any cost is one she deeply admires and hopes to someday contribute to in a more meaningful way than fetching coffee. the truth she would most like to expose is that of the unity project; a religious group in upstate new york dedicated to social betterment through community outreach under the guidance of the charismatic lev warren.

it’s also a straight-up cult.

six years ago, when lo’s sister bea was herself nineteen, she met warren in the hospital chapel where she was praying for thirteen-year-old lo, clinging to life after the car crash that killed their parents instantly. desperate and alone in the world; a teenager tasked with the burdens of funeral arrangements and medical decisions in the midst of her own grief, bea is as shattered emotionally as her sister is physically, so when lev appears, and seems to perform a miracle—bringing lo back from weeks-long unconsciousness, it is as though he is the literal answer to her prayers. once lo is well enough to be left in the care of a great-aunt neither of them know, bea joins the unity project, becoming more and more distant until she eventually cuts ties with lo altogether.

lo is convinced that the unity project is shady—there have been controversies and rumblings over the years, but no one has been able to uncover enough dirt to stick. when lo witnesses the suicide of a young man affiliated with the group—who calls her by her name and mouths “find it” before stepping in front of a train—she sets out to investigate the group on her own, hoping to find her sister, bring her back and hold lev accountable.

the story alternates between these two parallel stories in different timelines; bea gratefully entering into the project’s fold and lo barging in with her notebook, skepticism, and virtuous agenda. the more time lo spends with lev, however, the more she begins to question her own beliefs about the project, her sister, and herself.

i put off writing this review for like five months, partly because i was tears-in-my-eyes touched that courtney summers even knew who i was, let alone was offering to give me a copy of this gorgeous creature, and i wanted to Do a Good Job, but also because i didn’t love it right out of the gate, on a visceral, emotional level.

now that some time has passed for reflection, i’m able to see that on a craft level, what she did is really impressive, so even if it didn’t ponch me in my feels the way Sadie did, it’s more important and resonant a reading experience, chronicling the influence of a strong personality on two vulnerable women: both nineteen, both alone in the world, both emotionally underfed; one who wants to believe very much and one who’s not gonna believe anything.

we’re drawn to bea’s story because we want to know where she is and what happened, but we naturally align ourselves with the skeptical lo (right?), and as her resistance is chipped away by doubt, it is a potent destabilization for the reader.

it’s been a year of mass manipulation, of people believing unbelievable shit, of herman cain tweeting weeks after his own death-by-covid that the pandemic was no big deal—so many things you would read in a book and think, “that’s too contrived.”

but here we are. and this book’s depiction of the seductive appeal of being seen, of sinking into someone’s ideology, in being told how special you are by someone everyone around you regards as capital-c chosen, how, among so many true believers, a little self-doubt goes a long way; it’s masterfully written and needs to be read. the exploitation of loneliness is reprehensible.

<blockquote>I can’t stand it, anymore, when people touch me and I find it hard to explain. It’s not that I don’t want to be touched. It’s because I do—so much—and I’m afraid I’ll give away what’s left of myself to feel less alone.

I already did it once.</blockquote>


i read this and the (still-unreviewed, grrr) We Can Only Save Ourselves months apart, and—oddly enough—they both pub on feb 2. if you're gonna read one cult-themed book this year, i'd go with this one, even if you're not into YA, because—like so many of her books—it's got crossover appeal for days.

The Project by Courtney Summers is an interesting book that explores how a cult can destroy families. The main characters' lives are greatly impacted by the influence of a charismatic leader. The book reveals how appealing membership in one of these organizations can be to individuals seeking love and acceptance, but that acceptance comes with a cost.

The main characters in this book are sisters. One sister, Lo, is in a life-threatening accident as a child. Her older sister, Bea, struggles to deal with Lo's accident and its aftermath. She turns to Lev Warren, leader of The Unity Project, to find healing and purpose. By joining the Project, she severs her ties with her sister. Lo does not understand why her sister has left her life and blames the Project for taking Bea from her. Therefore, Lo sets out as a young woman to learn and reveal the truth behind the Project. To do this, she must get close to its leader, which is a risky endeavor.

The premise of this book is interesting and engaging. The delivery is a bit chaotic, though. The story is told in two different timelines from the perspectives of Lo and Bea. It is often not clear at first which sister's storyline is being told at a given moment in the book. Some aspects of the story do not get explained well, either. Overall, I just found myself often confused.

This is one of those books that I find it hard to really like any of the characters. That's not necessarily a problem in the writing. Not all characters are meant to be likable. It just lowers a book's appeal to me in the sense that I will not likely want to pick it up again. I will admit, however, that the cult leader character is very interesting to read and well portrayed. I wish I had enjoyed the two main characters more.

I would recommend this book to fans of fiction that is focused on cults. It portrays that lifestyle and its members in a very engaging and fascinating manner.

The Project is a compelling and riveting reading experience. It’s a story of sisterhood, but it’s so much more than that. It’s emotional, gut wrenching, and utterly heartbreaking. This author slowly, quietly, and effectively ripped my heart out with every turn of the page.

Bea and Lo’s lives were forever changed by the horrendous car accident that claimed their parents’ lives and left Lo hanging on for dear life. As their mother always reinforced, sisters share a sacred bond, and losing her parents and seeing her sister wounded was almost more than Bea could bear. She felt lost, alone, bereft, helpless…and in walked Lev Warren, the leader of The Unity Project, to make his pitch and save the day.

This may sound a bit odd, but I’ve always had a fascination with cults. They cater to the most vulnerable, lonely, frightened, lost souls and offer them the promise of family and community. In The Unity Project, they offered all of this as well as redemption.

Lo, an aspiring journalist, was lonely, angry, afraid, and in the shadow of the accident that had left her maimed and orphaned. She didn’t only lose her parents; she also lost her beloved Bea, and she would stop at nothing to get her back. Lo was on a mission to get to Bea and expose The Unity Project for what it truly was.

Lev Warren was everything that one would expect from a cult leader. He was charismatic, convincing, warm, welcoming, committed to doing God’s work and making the world a better place. He preyed on the vulnerable, offering redemption to anyone who wished to join in his life’s work. He was, after all, God’s chosen Redeemer. How could you blame people for falling for Lev’s promises? They needed to believe in something, to feel worthy, and Lev filled the void.

After several attempts and failures to go to The Unity Project’s property to confront Lev and find Bea, Lo finally got the opportunity to go and interview Lev. Her investigation brought her into the fold of the organization and its members, however, it also put her in the direct pull of Lev’s magnetism and made her question whether she could have been wrong about The Unity Project all along.

The story jumps back and forth to different years in the sisters’ lives, giving the reader a window into how everything transpired. This style worked well for this story, allowing me to get to know the characters better, to understand them and their motivations, and to feel the emotions right along with each of them.

The Project had my pulse racing and my suspicious nature on high alert. It is an intriguing, fast-paced, thrilling story that had me holding my breath in anticipation.

*4.5 Stars