This is a difficult review to write because I am torn on my opinion. It has taken me some time to realize that I am simply just not a fan of Courtney Summers' books and that is ok. They just aren't for me. She has a great ability to make you almost immediately invested in her main characters, but for me the supporting roles didn't feel as developed. I was instantly intrigued by the cult story, but I think my expectations were set a little high and I felt a little disappointed. I didn't think this was a thriller or suspenseful novel. There are great things in this story and I'm sure people are going to love it, unfortunately I won't be one, and it took me a long time to be ok with that.

I REALLY enjoyed this one. I didn't like "Sadie" as much as everyone else but I thought this book was engaging and exciting. Would definitely recommend.

I was lucky enough to be one of the first 500 NetGalley reviewers to receive a copy of Courtney Summer's new book The Project.

You may be thinking, "Courtney Summers, I know that name."
You definitely do, she wrote one of my all time favorite YA novels, Sadie.

Excuse my language, but holy shit this book took me on a trip.

The Project follows sister, Bea and Lo.
The book starts with their parents getting killed in a car accident; Lo is on the brink of death, and Bea just can't handle a world without her in it. Six years have passed since The Unity Project Leader, Lev, performed a miracle. Bea believes wholeheartedly that Lev brought her sister back from the dead, which begins her love affair with the cult.

Lo has never been the same since the accident. She's been trying to find a way to live through her words, that's why she wants to be a writer. She wants to leave a legacy. But more importantly, she wants her sister back. The Unity Project isolates members from their families, cuts them off from the outside world, and believes they have all been chosen by God, and handpicked by Lev.
This book was pure insanity because I felt myself becoming attached to the members of The Unity Project. There were times were I literally had to set my Kindle down and ask myself who the good guys really were. I had to digest that maybe The Project wasn't all bad, maybe Bea really did abandon her sister for a good cause. Maybe Lo understood that her regular life would never amount to a life within The Project. Maybe the bad guys are the good guys and the good guys are the bad guys. To read a story that really flipped the narrative was amazing.

Mark your calendars, The Project hits shelves February 2, 2021!

I devoured this book! It was for sure a page-turner, read in one sitting kinda book!

I enjoyed the twists and turns and not knowing who was to be trusted. While the ending was somewhat vague I think it worked for the story and made me go back through and re-read some details!

i can see this book being enjoyed by our library's customers :)

Courtney Summers has crafted a novel that brings you in so that you feel you are living it alongside the characters she has created. Lo takes on the task of trying to prove The Unity Project- the “group” her sister Bea joined is a cult. A cult that is easy to get in to, but impossible to get out of. Can the sisterly bond that Lo has with her big sister be enough to save Bea... after The Project saved Lo?

Lo has been through so much and is so alone. Bea was so afraid after the accident that she was seeking solace. Is Lev the answer to both of their prayers?

I’ve always found anything about cults to be absolutely fascinating and this book didn’t disappoint. It didn’t totally blow me away. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

Courtney Summers is an author who succeeds in destroying you as a reader every time, but keeps you coming back for more as a result of her ability to transport you into the intensity of the circumstances, standing along characters you know well enough to be friends .

The Project introduces us to sisters Lo and Bea, who have experienced their share of tragedy, starting with the death of their parents in a car accident. From there, the sisters find themselves directly intertwined with The Unity Project at varying, but rarely simultaneous, times in their lives. Some say The Unity Project, or more aptly, the leader, Lev Warren, is their saving grace, where others tell a more horrific tale just before tragedy befalls them. Readers will feel the intense cult-like vibes right from the get-go, and have every right to be suspicious of the all-too-omnipotent, Lev Warren.

It's another knock-out! #WelcometotheProject

Thank you to @Netgalley and @WednesdayBooks for the ARC! I'm one happy librarian!

When Bea and her sister Lo lost their parents in a car accident, they also lost each other. Lo was in the car, almost died, and sustained life-changing injuries. Bea meets a man in the hospital chapel who promises her that everything will work out fine. Bea believes him and leaves Lo behind to join The Unity Project.
The story is told in two timelines from both Bea and Lo's perspectives. When a member of The Unity Project commits suicide, Lo is determined to make contact with her sister. She finds that her long-held beliefs may not be correct, about her sister and this organization. Lev Warren, the charismatic leader might just hold the key to her salvation. Lev was one of the most intriguing characters I have read in a long time. Hero or villain, savior or devil, I hung on his every word and all of his actions trying to decide.
We then follow Bea from her introduction to The Unity Project's members. She believes in the good work they do, and doesn't hesitate in her commitment to Lev, after all, he saved Lo's life. While she misses her sister, she knows that the day will come when they are together again.
I took a peek at my Kindle at the 40% read mark, and I was pretty sure I knew how this would end. In some ways I was correct, and in others, I was not even close. The biggest question is whether or not The Unity Project is a place where good things happen or a cult. No spoilers here, so for that answer, you will need to read The Project.
I enjoyed almost all of this fast-paced and tragic story. A lot is revealed by both Bea and Lo as the book wraps up, and to me, it felt a little bit rushed. Then as I was considering what I read, I realized that the most important parts were covered in not knowing what the truth was. It was the journeys of both sisters, their pain, their losses, and how it changed their lives. Granted, I wouldn't have been happy without resolution, but I don't think the ending could have been expanded without sacrificing the tension that builds during The Project. Kudos to that cover! 4.5 stars.

I'd have given 3.5 stars if that was possible because I did eventually get sucked in to the story, but it was very challenging to get into it at first. I appreciate a story that switches perspectives, and one that switches timelines, but in this book it was too much. There were too many timelines to keep track of, and I felt very confused about the order of events until at least midway through the book.

That being said, I eventually got past it & enjoyed the overall progression of the story. I also appreciated that it had a solid resolution at the end. If you are into cult fiction or thrillers, you'll enjoy this story.

4.5

I found this an absorbing read full of graceful, emotion-evocative prose, even though I was pretty sure I knew where it was going, and indeed it followed the usual trajectory of books whose marketing screams CULT!

At the center are two sisters, some years apart. We're introduced to them in glimpses before we discover that the elder has vanished inside The Unity Project, a group that claims to be open to all as it works very hard for the underprivileged and disenfranchised in poor areas of cities.

I am not fond of novels that jump back and forth in time, and I found that narrative choice distracting in this one, but the central drive was strong enough to keep me reading as broken (physically and emotionally) Lo Denham, a budding journalist, butts up hard against The Project as she tries to communicate with her sister, who vanished into the cult years ago.

Lo finally gains access, and the pacing picks up exponentially, introducing complex characters about whom I began to care deeply. Another thing I appreciated is that Summers avoided driving straight into the self-righteous (and bigoted) swamp of "all religious people are cultists/idiots/bigots" that is The Message of too many cult novels. Summers writes with grace and sympathy for skeptics and believers of all varieties, as Lo slowly begins to close in on her sister.

The book left me in admiration, as well as emotionally gut-punched.

I'm a huge fan of Courtney Summers in general and I enjoyed this new title as well. Summers is keeping the sisterhood theme from Sadie going here in the Project, but with a cult-y twist. Other elements reminded me of another of her books, Fall for Anything. The pacing is fairly strong, the twists surprising and the writing is excellent. My main issue fall with the shifts in time frame within chapter sections. It's a bit confusing as there are clearly chapter breaks for other time/narrator shifts, but not others. In one paragraph, a character will be in one location and then in the next it's hours later in another location with no indication that there's a jump. I'm sure it's a stylistic choice, but it's a little jarring as a reader when you feel like you're missing something and have to reread to discover that no, you didn't miss anything, the narrative simply jumped from one paragraph to the next without warning. I suspect a lot of younger readers will find it frustrating and/or confusing. Otherwise, a very compelling read.

This was my third Courtney Summers book, and after Sadie was one of my favorite books of 2018, I had high expectations for this one. It did not disappoint. It was interesting, different, dark, well-written, and intense in ways I wasn't expecting. I also liked that this was more new adult than YA, which made it a little bit faster-paced for me (I read it in a day).

I'm really looking forward to what she writes next.

With having read Sadie last year and absolutely LOVED.... I knew I had to move this to the top of my list quickly.


This review is difficult for me to write in many ways. On one hand Courtney Summers screams talent with how beautifully her words flow so easily across the pages of her books and the metaphors and descriptions she uses it just takes you inside the minds of her stories and characters. Her writing is just powerful period. The Project is nothing short of her talent in writing once again.

Unfortunately, this in my opinion is nowhere near the amazing and talent she did for Sadie. The story started off very very slow for me and it never took off. Were taken into the life of Lo Denhman and the life she lived apart from her sister Bea who joined an organization/cult who called themselves The Unity Project. Lo is a writer herself and she is dramatically taken by a man who approaches her claiming that his son who was killed by The Unity Project.

Soon, where diving into the depths of this organization with Lo and she can't figure out what's real/true and what's not.

What I loved about this one? Summers definitely takes you down a dark corner of the reality of how dark and manipulating and scary a cult can be when you're sucked in.

I just felt that I never really connected with the story as much as I was mesmerized with Sadie. It just was extremely slow and felt like nothing was happening until the 80 percent mark and then BAM it all went too fast and felt extremely rushed.

I am still a HUGE fan of Summers and look forward to her next novel.

Overall, 3/5 stars

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 2/2/21
Published to GR: 9/20/20

I wish I'd taken more literature classes in college, or paid better attention to the ones I did take (all plays), so I would be a more skilled/attuned reader. I sensed that The Project has literary devices galore, but all I caught was a possible allusion to The Crucible and/or life in the Divided States of Trump. Two narratives, told in the third person by Bea Denham and in the first by Bea's six-years-younger sister Lo, alternate, going back and forth in time.

The girls were orphaned in a car accident when Bea was a teen and Lo (Gloria) a tween. Lo was in the car with their parents and still bears a scar on her face. Without any close relatives, Lo ended up with an elderly aunt (great aunt?), and Bea got sucked into a Christian community called the Unity Project. Now 19, Lo, who hasn't spoken to Bea in six years, thinks the project is a cult and wants to take it down. She works for a journalist known for breaking that kind of story, so she's primed to dig.

Lo is a tenacious and possibly ill-mannered person who is accused of "living in her accident," but she is also strong and resilient in the way of people who have nothing left to lose. Bea, on the other hand, has less of a sense of self or more of a selflessness and becomes a central figure in The Project. What happens as the sisters try to find each other is unexpected, believable, and tragic. They remind us that everyone is broken, but some people can be saved.

I've had Courtney Summers' Sadie on my to-read list for eons - along with a thousand other books - so when I received an arc of her upcoming novel, I moved it to the top of my list.

The premise drew me in - Lo's sister, Bea, abandoned her for The Unity Project - an organization run by a charismatic leader Lev Warren and often labeled a cult - when Lo was just 13 and recovering from a terrible car accident that killed both their parents. Several years later, Lo has the opportunity to interview Lev for an independent newspaper. Seeking answers for herself and yearning to find Bea, Lo dives right in.

The book seemed to be told from afar, holding the reader at arm's length. Some of Bea's motivations were explained and there was a look at Lo's current life, but I never felt I got close to either character. Nor did I really get to know Lev Warren, and was unable to see what drew so many to him. This was the man who charmed both sisters and a flock of other followers - how? Why?

There were hints as to the secrets behind The Unity Project's wall throughout the book, but the true horrors were revealed at breakneck speed. The aftermath was also too rushed - what exactly happened to Lev and was did anyone claim responsibility - or in this case, credit?

With all the stories about NXIVM in the news, I was excited to get an inside - if fictional - look at a cult and it's inner workings. Instead, I felt we got a glossed-over peek, a missed opportunity.

The last Courtney Summers book I read was Sadie, so I was expecting a certain intensity here, and this book certainly delivered on that front. It’s a story of two sisters, orphaned as teens after a car accident that also seriously injured the youngest. The older sister, seeking a spiritual connection, gets involved with the Unity Project and leaves her younger sister behind. The book skips around in time a bit but mostly focuses on the younger sister, Lo, at 19 or 20, working for a news site and taking it on herself to investigate the project and find her sister. The narrative includes many traumatic events, from a witnessed suicide to the memories of the car accident and more, but Summers crafts these scenes carefully so that they don’t feel voyeuristic. A tense, well-paced read that packs a lot of sadness and loss into a story about a quest for the truth.

This was an interesting and unusual story. The Project by Courtney Summers began with the voices of two sisters as they went through their young lives separated from each other despite a strong connection and love for one another. I saw this as a sad story and the ending, though probably positive, was painful and lonely, much like the lives of the sisters had been. The leader of The Project, was someone that I truly detested and never once for a moment did I have good feelings for him or sympathy. I found it hard to believe that others adored and obeyed him. I do recommend the book but with reservations, as it should probably be read at a time that is more positive and upbeat than 2020 has been.

THE PROJECT BY COURTNEY SUMMERS REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS 2/2/2021
thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

my brain is kind of still spinning right now from this book.

courtney summers has been a force to reckoned with since she released her first novel, cracked up to be. since i read that first book, i’ve been searching for the next book that will mess me up as emotionally and fully as that one did. i think some girls are is the one that was my full on “oh my gosh, this freaking hurts but i don’t want it to stop” book. like, it was one of those books that i had trouble rating because i was like “should this really be one of my favorite books with all the stars after i hated that i loved how it made me feel completely torn up inside?” i’m still grappling with this feeling after i read it close to ten years ago. but it’s definitely one of my favorites.

the project is another book that’s going to make you feel all the things and you’re going to hate that you love it so much. this book, somehow felt like a fever dream that pulsed until the end. i believe it’s being marketed as young adult, but it’s unlike any young adult book i’ve ever read. every word written feels so raw and provocative that it’s truly hard to stop reading. i literally held my breath during several scenes because they were just so real that they HURT.

also, the premise and characters are amazing. a girl wakes up to find her sister gone after losing both their parents to a car accident? and a cult? and different timelines. heck yes!

if you haven’t jumped on the courtney summers train, now is the time. it doesn’t look like she’s slowing down or shying away from anything any time soon.

tw: religion, graphic abuse, cults, sex, suicide, graphic violence, mental health, death, manipulation,

As soon as I saw this cover, I knew I had to request The Project. I find cult narratives fascinating and couldn't wait to get started.

Lo works as an assistant to a high(er) profile reporter and desperately wants her own byline. Scarred by a childhood accident both physically and emotionally, a chance encounter thrusts her back into the middle of a cult-like organization called The Unity Project, where her older sister Bea has been cut off from her for years. She wants the story. She wants to write. But getting involved with The Project, even peripherally, threatens to unearth long-buried secrets and open wounds.

How far will Lo go inside The Project?

There was a lot I loved about this book. Lo, as an MC, was wonderfully developed and authentic. I loved her interactions with her boss, the desperate sadness she fights to suppress as she transitions from one stage of her life to the next. Indeed, Summers created a heart-wrenching voice and took us on a journey from skepticism to curiosity, exemplifying the way cult leaders will prey on those who are lost--specifically in times of transition. Here, Lo is trying to spread her wings and taking off the rose-colored lenses where people have her best interest at heart. Cult narratives can be difficult to pull off. There's been a resurgence of the genre lately, from The Sinner to several other Netflix series, and while this isn't an in-your-face action read, there's plenty of disturbing events and to keep this plot moving.

I will say that when I came back to write my review, I had forgotten this was categorized as Teens/YA because some of the subject matter is edgier and the voices were more sophisticated than I typically associate with the genre. However, that's not to say I didn't love Lo, and I think many younger readers will definitely relate to this inner turmoil and gray-area fear she emanates.

In terms of suspense, I would say there's a general uneasiness Summers captures well in the tone, but there are points that read a little dense. I also wasn't surprised at the trajectory, especially after the coverage of NXIVM. As a native of Upstate NY, it was impossible to miss the news and articles about the charismatic cult leader and the dealings that paralleled this narrative in many ways. I don't foresee this being an issue for readers, however, as Summers' writing is sharp and insightful, focusing on tragedy, grief, and the power of sibling love.

Overall, The Project is a taut, quiet thriller that examines many relevant issues and will be one to add to your 2021 TBRs.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.