Totally absorbing and unputdownable.

I haven't read anything by Courtney Summers before, but that is something I intend on changing asap. The intrigue was built well and the story had be gripped from the very beginning.

The transitions between past and present could have been clearer, but overall it took nothing from the story.

In The Project, Courtney Summers tells the story of two sisters, Bea and Lo, whose lives are irrevocably changed after an accident kills their parents and critically injures thirteen-year-old Lo. Overcome with grief, Bea leaves to find solace in a devout religious group called The Unity Project. Six years later, Lo is completely on her own and all of her attempts to contact her sister have failed. When she suddenly gets the chance to look deeper into The Unity Project, she begins to wonder if the group is actually an elusive group of zealous do-gooders or something more sinister? As she gets closer to uncovering the truth, Lo is forced to face hard facts about not only her sister but also herself.

There were many things to appreciate about The Project. I thought the quality of the writing was quite good, and as a person with several siblings of my own, I liked reading a story about the strong bond that can exist between sisters. Many of the characters were well thought out with interesting complexities, particularly The Unity Project’s charismatic leader, Lev, and I enjoyed peeling back all the layers of his personality over the course of the book. I also thought the descriptions of the picturesque, yet occasionally claustrophobic, farm/compound added to the suspense of the mystery, and most of my favorite parts took place at that location.

Although many elements of the book were well done, in my opinion the execution was somewhat lacking. As the story unfolds, the narrative shifts back and forth between Lo in the present day and Bea in the past. Because distinguishable breaks between the two shifting perspectives were not generally included, it sometimes took me a few sentences before I realized the story had switched timelines again. As with most dual perspective stories, I often found myself wishing more of the book had been spent fleshing out Bea’s story, including the motivations that drove her actions. I also found the pacing of the story to be too slow, for most of the action did not take place until about three-fourths of the way through the book. Because of this, the climax of the story was far too rushed, so much so that I actually backtracked to ensure I had not accidentally skipped over some of the details of the ending. Overall, while I enjoyed several aspects of The Project, this one left me feeling a little disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books, and Courtney Summers for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve never been disappointed with a Courtney Summers book. Amazing work. Spooky. Well told.

She really knows how to build worlds, characters, and stories

“You wanted the truth. Or are you afraid of it?”
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Lo Denham lives a very solitary life. She’s been on her own since her parents died and her sister, Bea, joined the Unity Project, leaving her behind. The Project is known for its charitable contributions to society in upstate New York. But Lo has never believed what lies Lev Warren, the leader, tells his followers. When Lo decides to write an op-ed piece about The Project, trying to get closer to the sister she hasn’t seen in six years, she uncovers a darkness she never thought possible…and wonders if this isn’t the life for her as well.
🤫
The Project is the much-anticipated release after Sadie and I saw so many parallels between the two stories, despite them not being connected: the bond of sisterhood and family, the strength of those searching for loved ones, tenacity of spirit, the different levels of abuse. Summers’ books tend to hit you in the gut and stay with you long after you’ve finished them. I’ve always been fascinated by cults and how they work. This YA book took the reader into the mind of cult leader and the long lasting effects their members suffer. I highly recommend the audiobook as well.

I think after Sadie I had such high hopes for this one and while I did like it, I saw the twist coming and the beginning was slightly confusing until we really got into Lo’s story. 3.5

The Project by Courtney Summers Was a 3 star book for me. It had an interesting concept of a family being divided by a cult. It was definitely not as good as Sadie, but I don't know if any other thriller can be.There could have been more at the end even if in flashbacks. It seemed like a lot of the story involving Bea's death was more telling than showing., I'm glad that it took a twist at the end, I was afraid it was going to end with Lo and Lev becoming a couple only because so much happened in the very end of the book. The characters were interesting, I just think the end should have started more towards the middle so we could delve into it more.

The thought of seeing inside of a cult and trying to figure out why people are attracted to them intrigued me. I grew up in a very strict Christian home and then went into the field of science. So I could see/understand both sisters view points to an extent.
It was a good story and after a somewhat slow start kept me reading.

The ending left me unsatisfied...I kinda get it but again I wanted more, too many details were left out or to be implied.

Not a bad sophomore attempt, but Sadie was better.

A page turning thriller! This book was slow to start, but once it picked up speed, I was hooked! Well written and thought provoking! I will definitely recommend this to others.

I think I went into this book expecting the wrong thing. I love finding twists and turns in the mysteries and thrillers that I pick up. This book is way more hard-hitting than I had anticipated. It’s beautifully written, the characters felt really genuine, and the desperation to find her sister that Lo experiences is so heartfelt. The overall ending was something I did anticipate from the start and I think I was expecting more twists and intrigue, but that’s just not what this book was doing and I think that’s fine too. I just came in with the wrong expectations. There are also a lot of trigger warnings for this book and for me, it was a really tough read and took me a long time to get through.

Even though this one wasn’t my favorite, I’ll definitely be picking up more of Courtney Summers’ books! I really enjoyed Sadie, I loved the writing of The Project, and Courtney Summers’ characters always feel so well-developed and people the reader can sympathize with.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am...disappointed. I loved Sadie SOOOOO much, I had high expectations for Courtney Summers next book and sadly, this one let me down.

Honestly? I was bored. Cults can be fascinating if told correctly but this story wasn't presented as such to me. I never felt connected or cared about any of the characters (except for one we meet later on, I adore her but it seems everyone does!) The plot was predictable. The cult aspect was predictable. The ending....well there wasn't even a twist, I saw the ending coming from a mile away. Nothing about this felt like a thriller. I was never on the edge of my seat.

This book wasn't terrible, but it just didn't click with me and I'm sad, as I wanted to like it!

This book has be at a lost for words. It terrifying how summers write this villin and makes the reader as well as the Main Charcter think he the good guy. When this book first started I was confused over how this book is a thriller but by the end I understood. Summers show the readers how easy it is to fall in to a cult. The leaders are very convincing and even the smartest person can fall for the charm. Summers also so how contoraling and abusive cult leaders can be. This is another amazing story by Summers if you loved sadie i think you'll love this book.

Lo was in a car accident when she was young that killed her parents. Shortly after, her older sister leaves and joins a religious group. Now the group's good name is being questioned and Lo wants to use her position as an intern at an investigative magazine to infiltrate the group. It was really hard to connect with the main characters and the world of cults lives far beyond my experience. I was disappointed that this wasn't more of mystery. I think Summers' fans will be disappointed in her foray into the world of cults.

Listened to a finished audiobook from the library.
My Rating: 4.5 stars

The project is told in dual perspective from the two sisters and is told in two different time periods depending on which sister's point of view your reading from. I liked both sisters equally and they both had interesting storylines that kept the story going and I loved how everything pieced together.

Lo and Bea are sisters that are very different from each other you have Bea who was adventurous and then you have Lo who was more cautious about everything. After the death of their parents that also left Lo with a scar across her face, we see Bea change a little bit and give everything up to join the unity project. Now Lo does not know for a very long time why exactly Bea joined the unity project but she does learn that throughout this story as well as what kept her in it for so long without contacting Lo.
Lo of course feels abandoned because she was just left with this great aunt that they knew next to nothing about. Because of this over the years she does everything she can to try and get her sister back. Throughout her journey of trying to get her sister back, we see her at times get close to the cult and learn more about it slowly from those still in the cult, and those who had lost family to the cult, and even from someone who left the cult.
With all that Lo was learning as well as getting to see things from Bea's perspectives you really learn a lot about the cult and the lengths that people will go to to be close to someone they think is spiritually powerful and to try and keep that person happy.

Overall I really loved and enjoyed this book which is weird to say about a book that is set in a cult setting for part of it. I found it fascinating how the cult worked and how it changed over time as we saw through the different timelines. The Project went into the good and bad sides of the cult and showed why and how it was easy to get sucked into this world and want and think you are doing good because some of what the cult was doing was good.
This book was just really fascinating to me and I love how Summers wrote this book to show us the different perspectives as she had in the book Sadie as well as focusing on something that is another serious subject. I have no idea how they do it, but I will continue to read Summers books because the subjects they cover are important and not talked about a lot in fiction in the way Summers does it.

I'm looking forward to the next book Courtney Summers writes and in the meantime, I'll be going back and reading older books by them.

review coming out on May 31st, 2021

The Project was not at all what I expected, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven't read any of Summers' other thriller novels, but I know how popular they are, and so I jumped at the chance to read their newest release. I found the relationship between the sisters fascinating and the cult plot-line compelling, however, the pacing was slower than I'd anticipated. I do think it worked really well in this book though, and definitely recommend this to fans of Courtney Summers' other thrillers.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

A deviation from Summers thriller novels, The Project is the story of a cult and how two sisters lives become tangled within. The story unravels through non-chronological chapters, with both sisters POV, but never revelling everything you need to know at that moment. I read the whole novel, somewhat interested, somewhat trying to decide if I liked the book. Overall, The Project is fine, but I prefer her thrillers, with twists and turns and I think her regular audience will feel that way too.

Courtney Summers is an author who has always meant a lot to me and her stories always impact me more than I have words to write in a review. I truly believe no other author writes about the sibling experience and feelings that I personally have better than her, even though I always am left feeling grateful and thankful that I am not a main protagonist in her stories. And The Project is no different; it is hard hitting, filled with twists and turns that make you constantly question what is real, it is lyrically written, emotional, and fully a heart-wrenching story about the things you are willing to do for someone you unconditionally love, even when you feel isolated and confused and so very scared. Oh, and it’s about cults and how they prey on people who are isolated and confused and so very scared, too.

Lo was only thirteen-years-old she was in a car accident that left her parents dead and with everyone believing that she wouldn’t be alive much longer. Bea was only nineteen-years-old when she watched her world fall apart when she walked into the hospital to maybe say goodbye to her little sister. Desperate for hope that Bea wouldn’t lose Lo too, she went looking for something to believe in inside the hospital, and found Lev Warren. And when Lo ends up making a huge leap to recovery that very night, Bea realizes there is nothing she wouldn’t pay to ensure her sister will live.
"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 breaking called forth a miracle."

Six years later, Lo is alone again and hasn’t spoken to Bea in many years. She feels hurt and abandoned and just misses her sister so much, and she directs all that pain in to the Unity Project, that Lev Warren runs and where Bea is a member. And then one morning, Lo’s world gets touched again by the Unity Project when she witnesses someone take their own life, but before they do they recognize her because of Bea. And this death touches even closer when it impacts her job, and she gets the opportunity to finally do a story for the magazine she is working for. And she decides she will finally contact her sister again and make her see the corruptness of the Unity Project, and she won’t let anyone stop her, especially Lev Warren.
"All I wanted was to claw my way back to my sister, but the whole time she was surrounded by new love, she buried her old family and built a new one on top of its bones."

This story is mostly told in Lo’s perspective, but we get little glimpses of Bea’s throughout and every time I could feel my stomach and heart just drop lower and lower. The things that both of these sisters were willing to do for one another renders me utterly speechless. Truly, I feel like no one can write vulnerability and sacrifice, unconditional sibling love, earth-shattering desperation, and pure heartbreaking hope like Courtney Summers. All while also making her characters feel so real, and their journeys feel like you are right beside them experiencing everything alongside them. Yet, also make you question everything at every twist and turn.

Lev is written in a way that is scarier than any monster in any fantasy book, because monsters like him are living and dwelling and thriving in our world today. They prey upon people who are isolated from their families, people from lower incomes, people who are unable to get help from broken American health care systems, people who very rarely will realize that what they are experiencing is manipulation, gaslighting, and abuse. And if they are able to realize it, they are unable to seek help because men like Lev are gaining more and more power, more and more followers, and more and more resources to keep you trapped every single day. This is a hard book, and it is so very dark at times. The range in which Lev is able to manipulate people into believing his cult is a community is actually harrowing. And seeing Lev lead people into believing that he is a vessel for God, chosen to do His wants, is truly some of the scariest literature I’ve ever read and it really will leave me feeling haunted forever.
"The hard part is this: the small broken girl inside me clawing against the wall I’ve built to keep us separated. The one who still wants so much for certain things, despite all she knows."

Overall, I really did love this and I very much believe Courtney Summers was born to write and impact so many people with their stories. Her way of crafting and telling stories leaves me in awe, and I’m always completely blown away reading all her last lines. The reason I am giving it four stars is because I didn’t love the ending. I mean, this wouldn’t be a Courtney Summers’ book without a bit of a mysterious ending, but this one was just a little too mysterious for me and left the book at a little bit of a weird note when you look back at everything that was endured. But the last line? Perfection. Speechless. Masterpiece. Everything. Courtney Summers and her stories truly are something special and I’ll carry them within my heart always, despite how heavy they are.

I loved Sadie and assumed that I would be equally captivated by The Project. Unfortunately, I found it slow and lacking engaging characters and plot. I purchased it for my library so that my students who are fans of Summers' work will be able to read it, but I was not able to give a positive review, so I opted not to post it to my blog. Thank you for allowing me to review this.

My feelings are a little mixed with this book. I thought it was okay but I was never really hooked by the story. At one point I actually considered not finishing the book but decided to stick with it in hopes I would start enjoying it more. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t dislike the books but I didn’t really like it all that much either.

This story is told from two points of view. Lo survived an accident that killed both of her parents as a teenager. She stayed with her Aunt for a while but she has mostly been on her own. She wants to get noticed as a journalist and thinks that the story to get her noticed is The Unity Project, which happens to be the mystery she wants to unravel for herself. Lo’s sister joined The Unity Project Years ago and she wants to know what happened to her. The second point of view is Lo’s sister, Bea. Bea joined The Unity Project right after the accident that killed her parents and left her sister clinging to life. She was completely taken in with Lev, the leader of The Unity Project. It was interesting to see her life inside the cult and look at the decisions that she made.

The timeline does jump around a bit so I found that I really had to pay attention to keep up. I never connected with any of the characters in this book so I never felt invested in the story. I honestly didn’t care what happened to any of them which is why I considered not finishing the book. There were a couple of twists in the story but none of them really grabbed me. There was nothing bad about this book but it just never clicked for me.

Therese Plummer and Emily Schaffer did a great job with the narration. I thought that they added a lot to the story and the quality of their narration was one of the reasons that I decided to stick with the book. I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to more of their work in the future.

I think that a lot of readers will enjoy this one more than I did. While I don’t see myself recommending it to others, I would still encourage others to give it a try if it sounds interesting.

I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

I have read every single book by Courtney Summers. Her books are always on my auto-buy list because I typically love them so much. She is an amazing writer.

Now that I got the gushing out of the way, I want to say that unfortunately, I was not blown away by this one. I was very intrigued by the premise of a cult and a relationship between two sisters. The book starts with a very bad accident Lo was in as a child the killed her parents. She was near death when Lev (founder of The Project) "finds" her and supposedly brings Lo back from the dead and sucks Bea (Lo's sister) into their web. We get the present, where Lo is determined to investigate The Project, and we get Bea's past and her decision to join them. The story was interesting and I loved seeing the dynamic of how people got sucked into The Project. The problem was that I never really found the story engaging or gripping and I was bored throughout some of it. I thought it was a little too long for the action that was there. I wish I liked this one more, but I just didn't.

Sadie wrecked me, so I knew immediately when I saw that Courtney Summers was releasing another book that I'd have to get it. I love reading about cults in fiction - they're so creepy, and it's always wild to read about the sort of mindscrewing that happens from the cult leaders, and how/why the people led into that sort of way of life got there. Summers focuses a lot on that in The Project - not just the idea of the cult itself, but the how/why behind it, from how it runs to how its members get involved in it.

Sibling relationships are another favorite thing, and I wasn't surprised after Sadie to find that she'd nailed it yet again. I LOVED IT!!

The Project was a surprise acceptance on Netgalley - with the kind of hype and love surrounding the author’s previous book - Sadie - which I read and loved, though I still need to update my review of it - but it was an intriguing read.

And I wasn’t expecting anything less than that from The Project as well - two sisters; whose lives take diverging roads after an accident that kills their parents and horrifically traumatises the younger sister.

Lo, is trying very hard to go beyond her job as a secretary to the owner and founder of an independent news paper - she wants to be a writer, one who makes an impact with her words. She took this job, because, for her it was supposed to be just a stepping stone.

And she was trying very hard to be content with it; until one day a man steps into their office to claim that his son was killed by The Unity Project.

“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.”

The Unity Project is a “cult” that took away her sister, Bea when they lost their parent’s in a car accident and Lo was in the hospital, trying to recover.

And I swear, I would like to tell you more - but it would definitely spoil the intrigue and the actual knowledge of going through the book to understand that the vulnerability of a woman/man; who definitely feels that nothing in their life is under their control.

The Project is an emotional manipulation seated within its pages - it was easy to fall for the words written; even if there was a part of me that understood that it was all lies, but I still could feel being pulled right into those enigmatic words.

In case, you were wondering if this would be a worthy read to put on your TBRs for 2021.