I had mixed feelings about The Project by Courtney Summers. On the one hand, it was very well written and the characters well developed. On the other hand, I found it easy to put down, with a plot lacking in believability and without much of a payoff at the end.

Lo is seriously injured in the hospital, having just been in the same car accident that killed her parents. Her sister, Bea, keeps vigil, and then suddenly disappears to join The Unity Project. She leaves Lo in the care of their great aunt, but Lo is determined to find her sister and expose The Unity Project for the cult it is.

The Project is told in alternate timelines between Lo and Bea, and Summers does a nice job of paralleling the characters. But it just didn't keep my attention the way I was hoping it to.

MY RATING - 2.5

Whew. I have to admit, it took me a while to actually start this one. I must have been feeling brave when I chose it, because cult-thriller is not my go-to choice.

I’m having a hard time with this one. I know it’s good at what it is. But I don’t know if I liked it. I’m also not really feeling like I’m supposed to like it. I guess in the end, I’m rating based on the following:

- The book focuses on two main things— family division, and the ways we will seek to fill the gaps left from the divide. And it does this in ways that I’m noticing even more as I think on it now.
- The characters are not very likeable, but you don’t necessarily dislike them for it.
- I felt uneasy reading it; which is pretty much how you should feel.
- There is a good dog. (Yes this was the deciding factor between star ratings.)

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a few days to let this book sink in and decide how I want to review it.

This was a very low and slow burn, that ended in a small explosion. I wanted more. I wanted more action, more character development that gave me more “why”. I found it too hard to relate to the characters and their motivations which made the story extremely unbelievable.

I’m a Courtney summers fan so I’m assuming this book just wasn’t for me.

This was devastating. While not my usual subject matter, Summers drew me in and would not let me go. As the reader, I, at times, could not tell who was right and who was wrong. My terror for Lo was a real, palpable thing that kept the pages turning. I am always stunned by how masterful Summers is with manipulating the reader right along with the narrator--and how each time I think she's hit the pinnacle of her craft, she takes it up another notch. Incredible writing and plotting. I can't wait to see what she writes next.

I am so bummed, because I was expecting something more from this and unfortunately The Project did not deliver. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset? Maybe I am a natural skeptic and non-believer so it wasn't easy for me to go along on Bea and Lo's journey with The Unity Project? I don't know. But Summers Sadie is a book that wrecked me and stayed with me and The Project just left me wanting more.

The Project follows two storylines and two timelines: 2012/2013 with Bea Denham right after her parents are killed in a car accident and her sister Lo is critically ill from the crash; 2017/2018 with Lo Denham as she is trying to investigate The Unity Project and find her sister. I really loved Bea's sections - she is just at her lowest point and it is easy to see how Lev becomes a beacon for her. There were many things that frustrated me, and it's hard to share without spoilers, but I think I am just a skeptical person so not many of the twists felt surprising. Overall, I am bummed but I think folx should read it and decide for themselves.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Mystery Book Club for my ARC to review

I'm not sure where to start with this review. I will say that I couldn't put the book down. It was one of those reads where you need to know what happens. Trying to figure out what happened and piecing the story together was crazy and uncomfortable. This book deals with cults and I find cults to be really creepy. The manipulation that you find in cults is definitely present in this book. It's what makes this book sometimes hard to read because you're not sure what's real. It's a compelling read, but I hated that I wasn't sure of reality. I enjoy Courtney Summers writing style and look forward to reading more from her. Yes, I read Sadie, so I kind of knew what I was getting into with this book.

Bea and Glory "Lo" Denham lose their parents at an early age. Over the years, Bea finds herself involved in a cult, The Unity Project, while Lo works hare to make a life for herself. Lo has always wanted to be a writer and works at a magazine where she eventually comes in contact with a gentleman who's son was a member of the cult. Having witnessed the suicide of a cult member and the knowledge her sister is a part of The Unity Project, Lo fights to investigate the group and reunite with her sister.

The story is intriguing and interesting. While I went into the book thinking it would focus on the inner workings of the cult, I discovered the story is more about family and the effect the cult has on relationships. I addition, readers are led on a journey as Lo discovers and questions her life and everything she knows.

I really enjoyed Summers writing style. It's very engaging. The narrative does jump between Lo and Bea. I think by doing so it really brought insight to the characters and their experiences. I did have some difficulty with how the story jumps back and forth in the timelines. At times, the transition is a little abrupt. As someone who prefers a more linear story, I found this was not my favorite. Of course, this is more my personal preference.

Overall, it was a good read. The plot offers more than just the cult story line and Summers does a great job of creating characters that are realistic and complicated.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy and the opportunity to read and review The Project by Courtney Summers.

Lo Denham is a 19-year old girl who has been through a lot. When she was younger, she was in a car crash and she lost both of her parents. After fighting for her life at the hospital, her elder sister Bea leaves her to join a group that calls themselves “the Unity Project”. Lo has never seen her sister again and when she contacts the Project, they tell her Bea doesn't want to talk to her.

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees this as the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea. She decides to investigate the Unity Project.

The story is told by two different narratives. The first storyline is told by Lo in the present day. The second storyline is from Bea's point of view and takes place a few years prior. Bea's narrative tells how she came in contact with and joined the Unity Project.

I think stories about cults are fascinating. This book was one of the most anticipated reads. I loved Sadie by Courtney Summers and I couldn't wait to read her new novel.

The Project starts of strong. I was immediately engrossed in the story and I couldn't put the book down. I had to know what happened to the Bea, what was going on inside of the Unity Project and what Lo was about to uncover. I really wanted to love this book. But, unfortunately, I had some issues with it.. The story feels rushed. I didn't get the choices Lo made and I wish her character development was a bit more put together at some points. I didn't understand her motives and actions. Also, the ending wasn't what I hoped it would be. There are a lot of open questions.

Canadian author Courtney Summers leaves behind her young adult track record to launch into a nail-biting thriller in THE PROJECT, laying out terrain that at the same time feels deeply familiar. As
"Lo"—Gloria Denham—insists that her office position for a revelatory news magazine should give her a chance to try her own hand at exposing something (would a religious cult do?), the levels of internal and external threat pile up in this hotly paced and frightening thriller. (See the link for the rest of the review -- Feb. 2 release.)

The Project. You had me at cults. Lo and Bea are two sisters torn apart after a tragedy hits home. While one is recovering, another is saved by The Unity Project.

I really enjoyed Lo and Bea’s perspectives as they were able to be understood who was who. Cults truly drive families apart, and it’s amazing how easily this was crafted. I enjoyed the shocking twists and turns of the story and was able to really understand how they played out eventually.


The part that fell flat for me was the transitioning. One moment we were talking to Lev, the next she’s in the office at her work? I was really confused if I missed a transition or if something was missing from the ebook version. I felt like Lo changed so quickly, I definitely missed something. One day she wants justice, now she’s sleeping with her sisters lover? Is that not fishy that she would leave her daughter? I thought maybe she was in a dream or a coma from the car accident, but I was wrong. I think maybe if this was a physical ARC I may have been able to follow along better?

Overall, The Project was just okay. It wasn’t jump for this ASAP like everyone’s notion of Sadie was. The complex relationship between the sisters was wonderfully written and held the plot together. Thank you St. Martin’s and NetGalley for the gifted copy. This is out Feb. 2nd.

As soon as I heard that Courtney Summers was writing a book about a sister trying to get her sister out of a cult, I knew I needed to read it. The Project did not disappoint. It was the perfect mixture of a creeping suspense and mystery.
This book gives you the sensation like you are part of the cult, because you aren't sure whether it is a cult or whether it's truly bad until the end of the book. I did not want to put this book down because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next to all of the characters.

This book revolves around a cult, which means that I am there. But even more than that this book features the relationship (or lack of) between two sisters. One sister is a journalist and the other has been with the cult for years. When a man comes forward claiming the cult killed his son, Lo sees this as a way to get in and find out what happened with her own sister. But it turns out there is much more than meets the eye.

This book was very interesting, so much so that I wish that it was longer. I wanted to know even more about their relationship, the cult, everything and was so surprised when it was already wrapping up. But the story is so intriguing and one that had me racing through every page.

Oh my. I don't know where to start because I am afraid I will spoilerize. I just want you to know if you love thriller/suspense books, stories about cults and having your heart ripped out and handed to you, then this is the book for you! Okay, maybe that last part doesn't quite sell it but really, this is a phenomenal book. I finished it last weekend and have been thinking about it since then. Just like with Sadie, Courtney Summers again has a way of making you feel all the emotions and making you think about the story. I had to tell myself with this one when I was getting mad and emotional about some of the characters that it's a book. However, knowing that Ms. Summers researched and used actual cult activity in her book didn't help me in the long run. I know it's only January but this is by far my favorite book of the year and while I have many anticipated reads coming, I have a feeling it will not be surpassed.

This book just didn't work for me because of the format. There were no quotation marks or chapters. It was really confusing. I think the content was good but the organization was too off for me.

I am not sure if the full release will be any different, but I doubt they are going to add chapters. Maybe they will add some kind of separate though. That would be helpful. Even if it is just a space or dots.

So, I picked up the The Project because I had read the author’s Sadie a couple of years ago and thought it was one of the best thrillers I’d ever read - so the author’s follow up garnered big expectations for me. I know what this author is capable of, and I was really excited by the premise, and that’s why I felt so let down by The Project.

Mostly, this whole book just felt under baked. I could totally see what Summer’s was trying to do here, but it just seemed to all be executed with a lack of skill or nuance. When I know this author has the ability to write something as incredible as Sadie, this just didn’t hold up.

I found a lot of this book to be really dull. There were probably 100-200 pages worth of irrelevant ‘religious’ jargon that I honestly ended up just skimming over because it got so difficult to slog through and lent nothing to the story.

There was a very prominent element to this book of romanticising and abuser. I think Summers was attempting to give us an unreliable narrator style of writing, where we see the story unfold through the eyes of someone who does romanticise an abuser, and therefore that is why the characters portrayed the way the are - but this just wasn’t done well enough to pull it off, and therefore so many elements of the plot and characters felt icky.

I felt that there was no element of empowerment to the females in the story. Our main character doesn’t let herself be pushed around by men throughout the story, but then just ends up giving in and ending back where she started. This wasn’t at all satisfying to read. The MC also had a lot of past trauma that was prominent in her character, but it wasn’t dealt with at all. Overall, I just felt like Lo didn’t get any real character arc or development, which was really disappointing for a character with such potential.

There are many specifics I could bring up, and I’ve got a lot I could critique about the ending, but I do want to keep this spoiler free. So, I’ll just say that whilst the ending was pretty decent and had a lot of potential, it was just like the rest of the story - it felt like it was executed without any nuance. Just all round wanted a lot more from this book than I got!

"I am redeemed. My life has purpose. I live with hope. I am complete. The Unity Project now offers that same opportunity to you."

The Project tells the story of Lo Denham, a young woman with a traumatic past who dreams of becoming a journalist. She thinks she's found her opportunity to start writing when she discovers that a local religious cult ("The Unity Project") may be to blame for a recent death that looked like a suicide, so Lo launches an independent investigation. The issue is personal for her, because her sister, Bea, has been a member of The Unity Project for 6 years, and Lo hasn't seen or heard from Bea since she joined.

"I think you're poison. I think the world needs to know... There is more to The Unity Project, and Jeremy's death, than meets the eye. I will not rest until I find out what it is."

Permeated with themes of trauma, loss, faith, belief, credibility, and the search for truth, The Project explores complex issues and raises good questions about what it means to belong to a family, to have authentic faith, and the extent to which we are responsible for how our lives turn out.

"Where is the line between what circumstances have turned you into and who you choose to be?"

The Project is a hard book for me to rate. It's beautifully written - Courtney Summers is truly a master of poetic storytelling. The timeline & perspective shift often enough to keep things interesting, but not so frequently that you get lost in the narrative. But the story and the telling of it are two different things, and while I loved Summers' prose and writing style, the story itself left a few things to be desired.

"If you tell a story - something real, something true - you get to be alive in other people."

I found the inner workings & relationships within the cult to be fascinating, yet infuriating. I absolutely could not relate at all to anyone who would fall for Lev Warrren, the cult leader, and his manipulative behavior, and it disgusted me to see Lo herself being duped by the insanity of The Unity Project. As an aspiring journalist, I wanted her to have better judgment, more maturity, less bias, and, frankly, a sound mind. Alas, she had none of this. I wanted to pat her boss, Paul, on the back, for not giving her the writing job she wanted, early in the story. She's clearly not ready for that much professional responsibility! Good call, Paul. But I digress.

"There has to be something after the hurt and the anger. These things cannot sustain you."

I also felt let down by the ending. The entire book exists on the premise that Lo is going to write this big investigative exposé, and show the world what The Unity Project really is. In the end, the reader doesn't get to experience the payoff of her work. We don't see the article get published; we don't see the journalism world have an "aha!" moment as the truth is uncovered; we don't even get the satisfaction of seeing the scales fall from the cult members' collective eyes as they accept the reality that they've built their lives on a false narrative. The lens is so narrowly focused on Lo, and I would have loved a broader view of how her discovery makes a bigger impact.

"All good stories serve a purpose."

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Thank you to Courtney Summers, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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I wish I could say "Courtney Summers did it again," but I felt like The Project lacked the emotional punch of Sadie. I know the story is supposed to be all about how cults "get" you, but I felt like Lo's sudden acceptance of Lev Warren's teachings was unrealistic; and I say this as an ex-cult member. I know how cults recruit; I've experienced it and I've done a lot of research on it since then. This seemed like a fantastical and unrealistic depiction, which is really too bad from an author like Summers.

The Project is a story about cults, sisters, and trauma all wrapped into one. The Unity Project seems like a cult in everything but name yet no one has been able to prove it. Enter Lo Denham, whose sister left her for the Unity Project after an accident that left Lo hospitalized and their parents dead. Years after the accident, Lo works for a newspaper and has a chance to make a name for herself investigating the cult.

As someone who is absolutely fascinated by everything cults, I was super excited for this. I enjoyed parts and dragged myself through others but overall, it was just ok. It had a few twists I wasn’t expecting, and the last 20% redeemed the book from being 1 or 2 stars. The beginning of the book felt slow and overly preachy which made me struggle getting through it.

I also read Sadie by Courtney Summers and just as her previous book, she does a fantastic job of weaving in emotional connections into her mysteries. You truly feel Lo’s hurt as her sister’s abandonment and her desire to reconnect.

If you enjoy Courtney Summers other books, I’m sure this one will be a hit as well.

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay this is going to kill me to write because I have been interacting with Courtney Summers on Instagram and she’s a doll! Let’s start off with the good.
The cover.. perfection. The actual writing is very well done.
The bad... the slow burn of the story. Literally the first half of the book was very boring and nothing was happening. A lot of god talk which always bores me and makes me uncomfortable. Also so many reviews were talking about all these twists... literally maybe half a twist and it wasn’t even a good one. Like I could see this stuff coming from 10 miles away.
The characters were fine but I didn’t really connect with any of them.
I think if you liked Sadie, skip this one. And if you haven’t read Sadie just read Sadie instead.

Wednesday Books is killing it this year! I feel so blessed, as a blogger, to get to read 2021's biggest releases before they're out to the world. It's so thrilling for me to get to scream about these wonderful novels and have mine be one of few voices in the air. Among these books is Courtney Summers' newest release, The Project.

This book is so twisty and filled with intense revelations as Lo investigates The Unity Project. Summers weaves in two timelines, so that we see Bea and Lo's relationships with Lev and The Project unfold in real time. Nothing about this book is predictable, and I read it over a feverish two days in an attempt to live inside the magic forever.

The real core to The Project is how it made me, as a reader, honestly question the objective truth I thought I knew going in. By the middle of the book, I wasn't sure if The Unity Project qualified as a cult or not, despite the book overtly being about that. Your awareness of truth and lies, manipulation and earnest helpfulness gets challenged at every turn. This book messes with you, but also offers real characters to ground yourself throughout it.

Lo has been dealt one of the worst hands in life. Orphaned by a car accident, abandoned by her sister, and working what she views as a dead-end job at a magazine, but she's still searching for meaning (and for Bea). She carries this story with how she engages with her community and the loss of her sister so actively. As much as The Project holds cult intrigue, it's also about grief and how we deal with being left behind.

If you've read Sadie, you know sisterhood is a big theme in Summers' work, and that continues in The Project. Bea isn't in Lo's world, but we get to know her through the alternate timeline. Both of them have such complicated feelings about each other and the meaning of family. I was aching for them to get to see each other again, even though it seems like the whole universe was conspiring against that. Even through all the missed chances, pain, and sorrow, Lo and Bea clearly still love each other, which honestly just makes some of the stuff that happens to them all the more tragic. I don't want to spoil this book for you! Or turn you against it. I guess... if you like getting your heart ripped to shreds (as many readers do) then The Project is for you!

I'd recommend The Project to any thriller/mystery fan, especially if you liked Summers' previous novels. 4.5/5 stars.