Bea and Lo are sisters who lost their parents in a tragic car accident. Lo was also in the accident, but survived after what Bea thought was a miracle. That miracle was Lev Warren, the charismatic leader of The Unity Project. When Bea joins The Unity Project, she leaves Lo to survive on her own. Six years later, Lo is working at a magazine. When someone shows up claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo decides to do a story in hopes of finding her sister and proving that The Project is in fact a cult. Lo begins to get closer to Lev and the members of The Project and starts to question her beliefs. Will she figure out what is in fact real and what happened to her sister?

This book is a slow burn. It is told from both Bea and Lo’s perspectives and jumps around from different time periods. It was a bit confusing figuring out who everyone was at first and what time we were in even though there are headers with the years. There are no chapters in this book just five parts, and I think that if there were chapters stating the year and who was telling their story it would be more helpful to the reader. There are some jumps from one situation to another that do not have a break, which can be confusing to the reader.

I found Lo to be unlikeable and preferred the sections told from Bea’s perspective. I thought that Foster was a great character and really liked his story. Lev was the epitome of a cult leader so it was definitely hard to like him, and Casey was another interesting character as she helped Lev all along throughout the book.

I liked the setting of upstate New York and found the author to be very descriptive. I could picture the lake and cabin at The Unity Project. Parts 1-3 were a bit slow for my liking, but Parts 4 and 5 moved quickly and were the most interesting to me. I liked the mystery aspect of what happened to Bea and how it all came together at the end although I do feel some parts were rushed and skimmed over. However, if you enjoy books about cults, I would recommend this.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so thrilled to receive a copy of The Project to read for review, after recently reading and loving Sadie. I was and continue to be a huge fan of Summer’s writing and the themes and topics she writes about are so compelling.

After Bea loses both her parents in a tragic accident that leaves her younger sister hospitalized and in the care of a family member, she becomes involved with The Unity Project. Years later and Lo, her younger sister, is investigating The Project as a writer and more importantly in search for her sister.

I loved the back in forth in time and character POV throughout the book and the pacing was on point for my taste. I wish we could have seen even more of the actual cult but I understand it wasn’t the sole focus...I’m just fascinated by cults and would probably always want to read more. I was surprised with some of the paths the story took, while other reveals were less surprising but still satisfying.

When Courtney Summers won the Edgar Award in the Young Adult category for her 2018 novel Sadie, long-time fans such as myself nearly stood in ovation. Here was a book that took serious chances and really said something to readers – both young and old. Since then, we have waited patiently to see how Courtney Summers would follow up this success and next week she releases The Project. Believe me when I tell you it was more than worth the wait.

At the core, The Project is a story of sisters – Beatrice (Bea) and Glory (Lo) Denham. When a tragic car accident takes their parents from them and leaves Lo at death’s door, it seems that all is lost forever. But then along comes Lev Warren, the spiritual leader of The Unity Project, making promises to the vulnerable Bea. When Lo eventually wakes in the ICU, she learns that her parents are gone (dead) and her sister is gone (left); Bea has joined The Unity Project.

Several years later, working a grunt job at a highly controversial magazine, Lo stumbles upon what she hopes can be her first big journalist assignment. After witnessing a suicide on her way to work, she discovers that the victim’s father believes that The Unity Project is at fault. The fact that this boy called out Lo’s name before he jumped onto the subway tracks links this back to Bea and sets Lo on a journey to save her sister – and herself.

Granted unparalleled access to Lev Warren and The Unity Project, Lo’s exposé proves to be more complicated than she could ever imagine. Every step is a potential trap and Lo, for all her single-mindedness, is still in an extremely vulnerable state.

Readers know that Courtney Summers isn’t going to take the easy path – nor even the predicted path – with her novels and The Project is no different. This is a difficult read in the sense that the scars, both literal and figurative, are very near the surface. Anyone who has ever wondered about how cults work and what types of people are susceptible to them will find much to explore in The Project; but trust me when I say that you may be surprised.

To narrow The Project down to a “cult novel” is unfair. It is really a book about self-discovery, trauma, faith, and family and uses the cult as a powerful backdrop upon which all of that unfolds. Courtney Summers is a beautiful writer; she crafts sentences that sing while they mine for emotion that wants to stay buried by ultimately must be torn asunder. Forget trying to mount a defense against the hypnotic power of The Project.

Who knows where Courtney Summers will go next, but I know that her fans will follow her anywhere and we will be justly rewarded.

This was a good read, but not mind blowing like others by the author. Overall, it was well written, fast paced, and hard to pit down at times, but something war missing for me and I just couldn’t give it the full 5 stars. I don’t even know for sure what is off, but it was lacking something that brought it to the mind blowing 5 star good! I would still highly recommend, as it’s quite easy to get through and does provide the thrills, chills, and shocks most us genre lovers yearn!

Will make sure to buzz it up on platforms and use low amazon reviewer number on release date!

It's hard to read this and not compare it to the last Courtney Summers book. SADIE was phenomenal, the kind of reading experience I crave and rarely find. THE PROJECT was great but I was wanting so much more.

It's not the page-turner I was expecting, and the plot is a slow build. The non-linear timeline took some getting used to and the sister's relationship didn't touch the emotions like I thought it would. With topics of cults, abuse, and trauma I didn't get the dark, suspenseful vibe. The ending seemed rushed or thrown together.

I liked this book (even with all those problems) and CS can write. The realness of the topics CS writes about exudes from the page. The characters feel like real people along with their issues. I look forward to the next CS book.

3.5 stars- the writing was compelling & I was definitely sucked in, but the middle third lagged & Lo was not a very smart character. she honestly just annoyed me a lot. Also, maybe like one too many sub-plots going on. Overall, I liked it, but didn’t love.

[Content warnings: cult, gaslighting, manipulation, child abuse, abuse (cigarette burn, scalding, etc.), panic attacks, death of family members, suicide (jumper), vandalization, pregnancy, car accident, substance-induced psychosis, threatening, possible PTSD, infidelity]

“The Project” is a story about a cult, The Unity Project led by Lev Warren, and the unbreakable ties between sisters Lo (b.1998) and Bea (b. ca. 1992) Denham.

Lo has always dreamed of being a writer but is currently, in 2017, stuck working as an assistant for Paul Tindale at SVO, a magazine company. When the opportunity arises for her to dig into The Unity Project, a religious organization Lo believes to have taken Bea from her, she risks her own safety for a series of exclusive interviews with Lev. With Lo being facially scarred from a life-threatening car accident that killed both her parents in 2011, she is recognizable everywhere at The Project’s compounds as Bea’s little sister. But Lo is tired of everyone else knowing Bea when she hasn’t heard from her sister in a long time, and she is desperate to find out what is really going on at The Unity Project.

I finished the book in one afternoon, the plot so intense that I couldn’t put it down. The most unsettling thing is that Lev Warren truly believes in what he preaches and that he seems like a very nice and incredibly charming person (as many cult leaders are). I kept wanting to know what hides behind his façade.

There are two alternating timelines: Lo’s present first-person POV and Bea’s past third-person POV, both in present tense as young adult fiction often is. Most of the story is set in 2017-2018, the present time for Lo, but we get glimpses of what Bea was going through over the past few years.

The Unity Project takes advantage of the human need of being seen, loved, and cared for. I can definitely see why Lev has so many followers, but given Lo’s blatant hatred toward him in the beginning, I couldn’t quite see how she slowly falls into his thrall. I guess being on the outside looking in, I could never fully see the shift. But it is undeniable that Lo, who lost her parents to death and her sister to The Project, has no one in her life, and as a 19/20-year-old, she has definitely gone through way more pain and trauma than anyone should ever have. I understand that her yearning for the idea of being part of a family plays a big role in the plot, too.

“The Project” was a bit more complex than I had anticipated; it isn’t just about exposing Lev Warren but also the butterfly effect of Jeremy’s suicide, Lo’s almost-fatal car accident years ago, and the bond between between siblings. I love that we get to see some characters from different viewpoints, especially Foster and Rob, and I really like the pureness of the three-year-old Emmy.

I did expect the book to end on a darker note but was pleasantly surprised that it has a relatively happy ending. The Unity Project feels like a warm place but throughout the narrative, there is always a sense of foreboding that makes this book such a page-turner. In the end, there is hope despite the horridness of theme.

“The Project” is a thrilling YA on cult and familial losses. This is my first book by Summers; I love the world she created for this story and will certainly be reading more of her works as well.

Two sisters. One trying to find answers and one holding them.

Nineteen-year-old Lo is on her way to work when a man confronts her before throwing himself in front of a subway train. Shortly after a man comes into her work at a small newspaper, claiming a cult called the project, killed his son. Soon Lo starts digging into the group in order to find her older sister that she hasn’t seen since a tragic accident that left Lo barely alive and their parents deceased. Now if she wants answers she will have to trust in the man that started it all, Lev Warren.

This story is such a thrilling, deep and mind twisting ride. Just when I thought I knew how things are going to go they just flip again. I’ve always enjoyed Courtney Summers books and this was another good one in my opinion. The characters were intriguing and the way she made the cult feel was so perfect. It was a mild thriller. I wouldn’t say an on the edge of your seat thriller but it was still a thriller non the less. The story itself kept me glued to it and I had a hard time putting it down.

I recommend this story for fans of mysteries and light thrillers. I would say its also a good start for older teens just getting into the genre since its not too intense for newcomers.

The Project by Cortney Summers is a compelling look at what drives people to join a cult and stay even after they realize what it is.

What I Liked

I liked the many relevant themes that wound their way throughout the story providing an authentic feel. They all work together to tell the tale of two sisters whose lives drastically change the day a devastating accident occurred - themes of sacrifice, grief, loss, forgiveness, and love, as well as the all-important theme of the need to belong to something much bigger than ourselves. The story is rich with emotion, devastating in its truths, and insightful with its look into the human mind.

The crafting of the characters is so divine that their vulnerability and need shine through in a way that makes them sympathetic, even when you want to shake reality back into their minds. The complexities and the layers upon layers of those complexities are just mind-blowing. Lo and Bea share the spotlight though Lo is the one telling us the tale, and she does so in such a stark, matter-of-fact manner that it is easy to forget this is a fictional story.

The story Lo tells was in 2018, and the rest of the story in this dual timeline tale is set between the accident and a year prior. The dual timeline is essential to the story but could be discombobulating to read, especially at first. Yet, it's hard to fault it as it allows the telling of the complete tale.

To Read or Not to Read

If you love exploring how the mind works and why people join cults, this is the perfect book for you and will draw you in from the first page and keep you there well after the last page.

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the cult storyline (it reminded me quite a bit of some of the cults I've been binge-watching documentaries about - particularly NXIVM). The vibe was definitely reminiscent of Sadie, which I liked, though I think I preferred Sadie just the tiniest bit more because I listened to the audiobook, which is amazing. This was very close to five stars, but I found the ending kind of unsatisfying. It's not open-ended, but it also wrapped up in a way that I didn't particularly love. But, overall, a great book!

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Content warning for emotional, physical, and sexual violence, including child abuse and rape, as well as suicide. Caution: there are some vague spoilers ahead.)

Having a sister, Mom says, is a place only the two of them will share, made of secrets they never have to say aloud—but if they did, it would be in a language only the two of them could speak. 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.

***

Bea closes her eyes. She wants Lo to understand that night in the hospital, what was supposed to be Lo’s last night on earth. How it brought Bea to her knees and how it split her heart in half and how its break called forth a miracle. She wants Lo to understand how it felt to be there, to feel death so imminent, a palpable rot, and then to have Lev stand over Lo’s prone body and take it all away. To see him lay his hands on her, to feel the electricity that filled the small space. It was an electricity that traveled through all of them but none more than Lo.

***

The Unity Project was so burned into her there was no other place for that stranger but here. And if that stranger isn’t here, and my sister still isn’t with me— Who is she now?

***

When she was thirteen years old, Gloria "Lo" Denham was in a devastating car accident. Lo was pulled from the wreck, barely clinging to existence, with the jaws of life; her parents, also in the car, were not as fortunate. In one catastrophically unlucky moment, fate claimed most of Lo's small family - everyone except her older sister Bea(trice).

Only six years her senior, Bea was ill-equipped to deal with the tragedy, let alone the toll it took on her sister. When it looked like Lo might die, Bea prostrated herself on the floor of the church chapel, begging for the intervention of a god she didn't entirely believe in. What she got was Lev Warren, founder of The Unity Project, who purportedly brought Lo back from the dead by laying hands on her.

Grieving, lost, and feeling indebted to Lev, once it became clear that Lo would survive, Bea ran off to join The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great-aunt Patty, whom neither of them had ever met before. Lo hasn't seen her sister since, though it's not for lack of trying: all of Lo's calls to The Project's HQ are rebuffed, allegedly at Bea's request. Eventually Lo gives up, though she finds the moving on much more difficult.

As Warren's congregation continues to grow, rumors swirl around The Unity Project: namely, that it's a cult, on a par with the People's Temple or Heaven's Gate. Could something more sinister be lurking behind The Project's social justice outreach and good works, or are those in power just threatened by Lev's?

Fast-forward six years. It's now 2017, and a chance encounter with a suicidal young man at the subway station pulls Lo back into the orbit of The Unity Project. Now working at SVO as the assistant to acclaimed journalist Paul Tindale, and desperately eager to prove herself, Lo starts digging into The Unity Project with renewed vigor. What she finds is earth shattering: her sister left The Project several months before - and without Emmy, the three-year-old niece Lo is just discovering she has. Most bonkers of all, media-shy Lev Warren wants Lo to profile the group for SVO - after all, what better publicity than a glowing piece by a longtime skeptic?

THE PROJECT is exactly what I expected from Courtney Summers - and also not! (It's a weird, disquieting feeling.) There was more than one moment when I wanted to throw my Kindle into the snow drifts outside, but I'm glad I stuck it out: THE PROJECT is a twisty thriller about a cult (or is it?); Jim Jones given the Courtney Summers treatment.

The suspense angle of the story is pretty great, and there are plenty of smaller mysteries that all tie into the larger one (is Lev the Big Bad or the next best thing to JC?). Summers manages to keep it going right to the very end, even after the big question mark has mostly been wrapped up. It's a satisfying story, if frustrating at times.

I know that, at its core, this is supposed to be a book about sisters - but honestly, I felt like the relationship between Bea and Lo mostly takes a backseat to the culty stuff (and at least in part because their relationship is so colored by Bea's involvement in The Project).

I'm kind of obsessed with cults (a plot line involving a cult is an insta-read for me) - but even those with just a passing interest will easily recognize all the neon pink warning signs Summers throws up here: being cut off from your friends, your family, all remnants of your previous life. The social isolation. Giving all your earthly possessions to the church. The taped confessions, public shamings, and "spiritual audits." And, of course, the psychological manipulation and physical and emotional abuse.

The fact that Summers had me doubting even for a moment? Impressive, but also kind of scary.

Bonus points for Lev's prediction of Donald T****(*chef's kiss*).

Lord have mercy. The Project will take you on the ride of your life and while you might be a little emotionally bloody at the end, you’ll be happy you did it.

Characters (and a little bit of structure)

Lo is me. She is the skeptic, the one who’s been hurt and left behind, and the one trying to save the people she loves from being hurt. Which is why the way Lo is drawn into The Unity Project is all the more scary. Because she is us all. She is the person you’d never expect to “fall for it.”

But when she discovers what the head of The Unity Project, Lev Warren, did for her when she was in the hospital as a kid, it’s easier to understand how she comes to accept it.

That’s not to say she comes to it easily. For most of the book, Lo is fighting against The Unity Project and trying to find out where the fuck her sister is. That fight is who she is for so long. She lost her sister because of this thing and she’d rather die trying to get her back then give up.

The third option, the becoming part of The Unity Project for real, doesn’t even enter her mind until it does. And again, that’s what makes it all the more scary.

Now to Bea. Damn, I love her too. She cares for Lo so much, but there’s only so much someone can do when they’re are young, scared, and hurting. And that’s when Lev strikes. For her, he’s someone to talk to, someone who undestands, and someone who helps her sister.

We get Bea’s point of view through flashbacks of her time in the hospital with Lo, her time first meeting Lev, and her days, months, and years in The Unity Project.

Y’all know I LOVE a book with multiple POVs and Courtney Summers is an expert at it as she’s shown in both Sadie and The Project.

The Writing

I don’t know how Courtney Summers does it but she takes a topic that you might be scared of or worried about and she makes it so you can read it. I don’t know how else to put it.

I had plenty of emotions while reading The Project (many of them included me shouting “holy shit!”), but I never felt so overwhelmed that I needed to stop reading. Her writing never becomes so graphic or gratuitous that it’s unbearable. It feels like she fully respects the topics she writes about, her characters, and her readers that she doesn’t want to cause any real harm.

I was pulled in from the first chapter and didn’t want to stop (but apparently sleep is something I need. ugh lol)

Trigger Warning: physical violence/abuse, drowning, cults (obviously), mentions of child abuse, car accident, manipulated sexual consent, manipulation in general, blackmail, panic attack, suicide (there’s a train involved), grooming, branding and burning

Overall

Overall, The Project is amazing in that it will make you feel all the things and shockingly…there is kind of a happy ending???? If you know Courtney Summers’ books, you know this is like a rarity. Or maybe it’s not happy but just like…not the most sad thing ever. Either way, READ THIS BOOK!! (if you can, obviously. take care of you first)

Oh and I’m giving this 5 out of 5 stars if you couldn’t tell already.

The Project comes out February 2, 2021

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is fabulous!! I am obsessed with cults and I really was fascinated by this look inside a fictional cult. This story switches between two sisters points and view and it was really difficult to put this one down.

grief pours from this book like an open wound. i feel, quite frankly, emotionally flayed by the project.

my main takeaway is this: sometime between when i read sadie last year and now, i have come to deeply appreciate courtney summers’ prose.

despite all the hype, i was lukewarm about sadie. i was interested in its subject matter but somehow left wanting with the execution. in the case of the project, things were exactly reversed. i'm no fan of cult-related storylines; they frustrate and enrage and terrify me a bit too much for my liking.

yet i can't deny that the writing in this novel absolutely sucked me in.

there’s something to be said about how deftly it captures a story that inspired such visceral feelings in me. summers, through lev, through the unity project, through the project touches on some of the softest, most vulnerable parts of a person—unresolved trauma and profound insecurity; the humiliation of rejection; seeking someone (writer, sister) and someplace (acceptance; a place free of pain) that you believe you will never be good enough for.

◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️

before i cracked open this book, i came across a post by the author on her instagram. in it she writes:
Beyond an emotional thriller, [THE PROJECT is] a very human story honoring the experiences of victims and survivors. It is not a spectacle. And though a certain type of response might challenge me, it also reaffirms my need to keep writing books in opposition of the idea that victims and survivors have to react and cope with trauma in palatable, easily understood ways to deserve empathy.⁠

i am glad i saw this before i started the project, because i needed to know to brace myself for the worst.

and it does come, eventually—the worst. it is not easy watching a girl, a 19-year-old woman, being taken advantage of by a man and his fevered congregants under guise of we are doing you the greatest kindness. it is even harder to watch history repeat itself with her sister, years later.

like many cults, the unity project is made up of people who, vulnerable in their hopelessness, mistake condescension for comprehension. whose veneration feeds lethal self-righteousness—to the point of abuse. and it is painful to see lo and bea ensnared in their machinations, their deception, their struggle to cope with their own horrors. at its worst moments, i had to turn away from this novel.

but summers’ prose is just so. damn. good that you can’t help but turn back.

the lyrical dexterity of this novel is relentless in its rawness, its power to make you see, hear, feel every single thing the characters themselves undergo. at different points: you are a father grieving the son who took his own life; you are the three-year-old whose innocence makes you want to laugh and cry in equal measure; you are the fledgling writer who’s got everything to prove and nothing to lose; you are the girl who, overcome with fear, broke the promise she made to a sister long ago.

at several points, the intensity got to where i felt myself on the verge of calling it quits on this book. each time, however courtney summers brought me back.

the past/present flashbacks, alternating between bea’s third-person and lo’s first person, worked really well to draw the reader in—just as i felt myself getting overwhelmed with one storyline, we jumped to another. the vividness of this book never fell into, never relied on, cliché, and i think this is what made the project so compulsively readable.

bottom line: it goes without saying that this is an incredibly difficult read; after all, it tells the story of people who exploit rock bottom. as someone who feels very strongly about cults (i.e., can’t usually stomach any discussion of them), i nonetheless found myself drawn in. summers parses the nuances of emotion so skilfully—invoking outrage but also sympathy, fear but also understanding—that the project remains, above all, painfully believable and ringing true.




Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Project” was an interesting read for me. Having not read anything from Courtney Summers in the past, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. This book is being billed as YA, but it never fully felt that way to me. It feels like Summers is getting ready to jump into adult fiction and I kind of really wish she’d gone there. The writing was great and the speed of the storytelling was impeccable, but pieces of it felt somewhat far fetched. It was, however, a new twist on cult fiction and I did find myself enjoying it. I’m going to go back and read “Sadie” by Summers, as it seems to be a book suggested by a lot of people in other reviews. Three and a half stars.

4.5 Stars

The Project by Courtney Summers is pretty far out of my comfort zone, but I always seem to love how Summers writes a thriller. This is a dark read, one about emotional manipulation and how cults prey on vulnerability. The characters are incredibly complex, and the writing style provides an immersive reading experience. This one truly drew me in and had me questioning what I should believe about The Unity Project.

This is not your typical cult story–one about sacrifices in the woods. This is a story of emotional manipulation and how a cult lures in even the most skeptical. Throughout the book, we follow Lo, a woman who was in an accident and miraculously survives. Her sister believes Lev, the leader of a group called The Unity Project, is responsible for Lo’s recovery and leaves everything behind to join him. Now writing an article investigating The Unity Project, Lo is dubious of everything the group claims to be. But then she meets Lev and gets caught up in it herself.

❀ COMPLEX CHARACTERS

Courtney Summers always writes such complex characters, and this book is no different. At first, Lo investigates The Unity Project, hoping to find her sister and expose the group for what it really is: a cult. Her loneliness makes her an easy target, and her experience with The Unity Project will make you question what you believe to be true about the group. One of the most compelling characters is Lev. He seems so charming, but he is also incredibly manipulative. As a reader, I could feel myself being drawn in by his words along with Lo, which made the reading experience even more chilling.

❀ MASTERFULLY WRITTEN

As I have probably already made clear, this book is masterfully written. Courtney Summers does an excellent job creating an immersive reading experience and making the reader question what initially seems obvious. The focus on how one might be drawn into a cult makes for a seductive yet spine-chilling story, and the use of dual timelines is effective. This is a complex story that truly demands your attention.

❀ DARK AND COMPLEX

The Project by Courtney Summers is a dark and complex read that provides a fresh take on cults. The characters are dynamic, and I cannot stress enough how skilled the writing is. This may not be a book for everyone, but I would definitely recommend it to those looking for a suspenseful thriller.

Most of the books I read lean towards the rom-com variety that leave me with happy feels. Every now and then I will read something out of my comfort zone, whether it be a drama, a mystery or a thriller. When I read about Courtney Summers’ new book, The Project (out February 2nd), I was intrigued. I have read some of her prior books, and while I enjoyed them, they did deal with heavy subject matter. This time around we are dealing with cults. Trying to find a sister, while exposing the cult for what it is.

WHAT I ENJOYED

Like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, I think many are intrigued by the inner workings of cults. No? Just me? The book fluctuates between Lo’s POV and Bea’s POV. Lo is in the present, and Bea is in the past, which is how we learn how Bea joined the cult, and events that happened to her once she joined the cult. Bea’s parts kept me intrigued and turning the pages. What happened to her? Where was she now? For some reason, I couldn’t get the idea of Lev Warren (the cult leader) looking like Steven Weber (look him up!). I don’t know if I will ever watch a movie or TV show with him the same again.

While the pace of the book is very slow, Summers’ writing style keeps you from putting the book down. From the few books I read of hers, my reviews always say “I couldn’t put it down” or “I read it in a day!” The same applies here, which really says something when I also say it’s a slow burn of a book.

WHAT MAKES ME WANT TO RUN – BUT NOT TO A CULT

As I mentioned above, this book had a good setup of a story, then the middle dragged. The action picks up again at the end, and then that’s it.

There is a side storyline that helps propel the story forward about Lo’s career. She’s an assistant at a magazine and wants to be promoted to a writer. She has no prior experience, but has dreams where she has a byline and is this amazing writer. She’s going to expose the cult through an amazing story and find her sister! What felt awkward to me was that the want of being a famous writer felt more real than her wanting to find her sister. There was just no connection between them. The set up left it where the family put Bea at odds with Lo, then she jets off to a cult and Lo grows up without her. Makes sense that there is no connection, but if you want me to buy into a storyline of “I must find my sister!” then I need to feel something. Instead, I only felt like writing was what was important.

WHAT WILL STICK WITH ME FOREVER

There’s a part of the book where one of the cult members is telling Lo why they joined. They said that the cult was the first person to tell them that they mattered. That they were worth something. Having read that line after having a rough day with my kids, I immediately panicked and had to stop myself from waking them up just to tell them they were worth it.

Dear kids of mine. You are worth it! YOU ARE WORTH IT! I may never sleep again.

The twists are abundant in this tale. Every time I thought I had things figured out, I was shaken up again. Loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Project was a gripping and extremely interesting read, and I’m sure it’s one which will stay with me and many other readers long after finishing it. It was beautifully written and I was kept on the edge of my seat throughout. The book did start out fairly slowly, and at the beginning I was slightly confused by the dual POVs and time leaps but by the end I came to love that element of the novel, as well as the two sisters, Bea and Lo, who the story follows.

Reminiscent of Will Hill’s After the Fire, The Project explores a religious cult called the Unity Project, and while reading we learn about it and the impact it has had on various members, Bea and Lo included. Learning about the two sisters and their journeys throughout life was fascinating, as was the rest of this book. The Unity Project in itself was also extraordinary interesting, and the mystery-like element of this book relating to it had me struggling to put the book down.

I won’t lie, when I started this book I wasn’t quite sure what I would be getting into, and one thing that I was not happy about while reading is that nowhere in the book are there content warnings. Yes, The Project is an extremely powerful novel, but with that comes a fair share of content that readers could find upsetting or triggering. I have included a list of content warnings at the bottom of my review, and advise potential readers to look after themselves first and foremost, and read this book with caution.

Content warnings: death of a parent, death, suicide (on page and mentioned), rape (mentioned), injury, injury detail/gore, abuse of a child by a parent (physical), self harm (mentioned), physical abuse, torture.

I was so excited for this title! The idea behind the cult and the mystery/frightening events leading around it brought my attention rather quickly.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the actual execution of the novel. The writing style was just NOT hitting with me, and I get how the chaotic nature of the character was probably a drive behind the sporadic writing style, but I just felt like the dialogue was so choppy and all over the place that it became hard for me to focus on the intriguing plot.

I ended up DNFing about 15% of the way through.. which I was quite bummed about..