Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book! Release date - February 2, 2021

I struggled with how to rate this book. Ultimately I liked both the concept and the characters, and there were moments in the storyline that I was very invested. But overall I don't think I loved the execution. I think it was a great idea for a story but ultimately fell short of what I was wanting. I felt like the beginning dragged...but then the end felt extremely rushed. I would have liked to linger more in the end and less in the beginning.

It was definitely a slow burn story - not a lot actually happens but I was always wondering what was going to happen. I was very interested in Bea and Lo's story and them as characters. I wanted to know about their relationship and where it all went wrong. I liked seeing the past of them as close sisters and then it slowly being revealed how the Project sucked them both in. But honestly I was never surprised. <SPOILER> I never trusted the project or Lev. Lev always seemed like a creep and a predator to me, so I was never fooled by his lies and the way everything was revealed in the end was exactly what I expected. I also feel like Lo made a complete 180 about her feelings 2/3 into the book..."I hate the Project, I hate the Project, I hate the Project, ok I'm joining the Project." I guess because I was never entranced by Lev I don't understand why both sisters were.

There were some really well written tragic moments that pull on your heart strings. And its scary to think that cults like this do exist and suck people in. I feel like this was almost a great story but fell short in pacing and character motivation, although the main characters were very likable and realistic and I wanted to root for them. I still really like Courtney Summers and will continue to read her books, but this one fell short for me.

As expected, The Project packs a heavy punch to readers expecting a Courtney Summers' ending. This was a thrilling journey through the mind of Lo Denham as she sought to find answers to The Unity Project and what made it such an alluring organization. Lo seeks to find how The Unity Project and its leader Lev could have possibly lured away her sister Bea. A skeptic to the core, Lo gets closer and closer to the answers while also feeling the pull of the Project and the community it offers her in the wake of her parents' death and her sister's abandonment.

The story, plot, and characters are solidly developed. This one will keep you reading long past your bedtime and will leave you wondering what the heck happened to the part of you it captivates.

Special thanks to #NetGalley and #St.Martin'sPress for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

***5 STARS***
REVIEW GOES LIVE ON LAIROFBOOKS ON 3/5/2020 @ 8am EST

THE 411...

“𝑊ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡“

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠 is the story of two sisters who experience the tragic death of their parents in a car accident at a very early age. Lo almost lost her life alongside her parents that same night. Her sister Bea was left praying for a miracle when a mysterious man presents himself to her at the hospital. Bea believes him to have healed her sister and so she decides to follow him back to the Unity Project, cutting off ties with her loved ones as is required from all of their members. The Unity Project is widely known and loved in most of the Upstate New York region for its charitable endeavors and shelters they’ve opened for women and children. Years pass by and Lo goes in search of her sister, she isn’t convinced the Unity Project is all that it portrays. When a man accuses the Project of killing his son, Lo takes that and runs with it determined to get her sister back. The Project is a medium paced character driven story that chronicles the inner workings of a cult from recruitment to the inception of its members and later the psychological effects on those who have left the cult.

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS...

MIND BLOWN at the amount of research that had to have gone into cults and their inner workings. From how you’re targeted, to isolation, brainwashing and eventually the feeling that you’re indebted to a greater cause. All the while following someone who believes himself to be God. Is it suitable for Young Adult readers? I believe it to be if viewed as a cautionary tale of sorts since cults do exist and many fall victim because they lack the knowledge on how they work. It is a very emotionally heavy read that does a fine job of tackling tougher topics such as religion, faith and those in positions of power within religious groups. This absolutely reads on the more mature end of the Young Adult scale with its dark tones in manipulation and abuse. Personally, I couldn't stop reading this book and I'm glad I have a copy of Sadie by this author to hold me over until their next published book. There are a slew of content warnings that I encourage you to review, I'm adding those provided by the lovely Melanie from Meltotheany down below:

Content and Trigger Warnings: abandonment, loss of loved ones, sleep paralysis, grief, depression, panic attacks, hospitalization, talk of death of child in past, physical abuse, torture, emotional abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, blood depiction, complications with childbirth, murder, child abuse, captivity, and cults.

This worthy follow up to Sadie focuses on a young woman who is convinced that the charity organization that her estranged sister is involved with is actually a cult. The investigation is chilling, dangerous, and fast paced.

I was SOOOOOO excited to get this ARC as Courtney Summers last novel, Sadie, was a strong 5-star review for me. I loved the description of The Project and the cover.

What I loved about Sadie was that despite the flaws of the characters, Summers portrayed female strength beautifully. In The Project, I felt like she did the opposite. She created characters with the same potential, but WOW, they failed to rise to the occasion.

I realize that there are trends in fiction and that right now Cults are a big one. I am learning that I am not a fan of this subject matter. I inevitably find them unrelatable and unbelievable. That said, I do realize that there are clearly a lot of people in the world who do blindly let others lead them while abandoning all critical thinking themselves.

In this book, Lo is a character who lost her parents to a car wreck, then almost immediately lost her older sister to a cult. I found that Lo was not just hard and unlikeable, but that I couldn't really understand the trajectory that caused her to become the way she was....isolated, friendless, angry, etc. She was twelve when the wreck happened. Up to that point she seemed to have a loving family and a good relationship with her sister. After their death, she seemed to have a fairly decent relationship with the aunt who raised her. Her sister, Bea, was almost an adult at the point at which she joined The Project, a normal time for leaving the close-knittedness of the birth family.

The book was a bit bizarre in how it goes back and forth in time to tell Lo's current story and Bea's back story. It felt disjointed, which, to be fair, might have added to the feeling Summers wanted readers to have when reading the story....slightly off balance, always. Where The Project lost me was in how Lo seemingly went from skeptic to true believer in the span of time it took her to walk in on one disappointing situation involving coworkers. Completely out of left field. Completely unbelievable from what we had read about Lo up to that point. I cannot imagine how anyone can be taken in by Lev or not have questioned some of his more extreme comments. Someone with even a basic knowledge of most religions would never believe Lev's claims of being God's Redeemer. Some of the bombastic claims he made about his own importance were actually laughable. How could anyone fall for that. And toward the end of the novel when Lo and the reader learn more about the hidden insidious side of The Project, one wonders why more members didn't escape when they were out in public recruiting.

It took me more than a month to get through this book because it was so dark, depressing, and disappointing. I loved this author's writing in Sadie, so hopefully this one was just a glitch and I will love her next, but I am sad to say if I am rating this honestly, two stars is all I can give it.

Einer der besten YA Thrillern! Ich liebe die Atmosphäre, die die Autorin in ihren Werken schafft. Courtney Summers hat einen ganz eigenen Stil. Es war ein ständiges Auf und Ab an Spannung, die Charaktere waren toll gezeichnet. Große Empfehlung!

Let me start this off by saying I think Courtney Summers is a fantastic writer. That being said, I expected more out of this novel. I normally love a good cult story, but this one fell a little flat for me. I enjoyed the characters and the setting but I needed more. The ending was satisfying in one way, but completely unsatisfying in every other way. I was left wanting an explanation for why any of this happened, but didn’t get one. 3.5 stars.

This novel would do better with the adult reader population. Situations and plot points would be less appealing to the author's traditional YA readers. I wanted to learn more about the cult and the occurrences within it, but it this novel seemed to spend time scattered throughout different plot points.

THE PROJECT is a gripping, mind-twisting look into the inner workings of a religious cult, with compelling characters and a riveting plot. I read the back half in pretty much a single sitting, courtesy of Summers' gift for suspenseful storytelling. I was a little let down by the climactic scene - after all the tension build and detailed depictions of events, it felt a little too vague and enigmatic for the rest of the story. I was intrigued by the ending, but I kind of wish it had been explored more. Overall, a solid, thrilling read that is sure to satisfy readers and make them think.

“The Project” is a twisted YA mystery thriller that shows how easy it is to fall into Cults.

Firstly, “The Project” turned out to be different than what I expected. Initially, I expected this story to be a typical mystery revolving around a cult. But, the story turned out to be one of those books that slowly unnerves you and psychologically disturbs you. The author writes the tale in a gripping manner where you wonder what happened to Bea. I loved the slow-burn feeling during the first half and how it continues to an intense climax towards the end. The author also writes the story alternating between Lo and Bea’s perspective between the past and the present, which somehow blend beautifully towards the end.

Similarly, the author also did an excellent job with the characters. I liked Lo in the lead. She goes through a lot in the story, from investigating Bea to her conflicting dynamic with Paul at work and the strange phone calls she receives. However, more than Lo, I thought Lev was the highlight. Lev is probably one of the most disturbing villains I have read recently. He is charming, charismatic, and knows just what to say to make people take notice. What surprised me was how he compelled her towards the Project by convincing her that she survived because of him. Similarly, I also found the moments where Lo meets Emmy and Bea’s history with the Project memorable.

While I enjoyed this overall, I thought the timelines’ shuffling became too frequent in the second half, and I had a hard time following the events between them. Apart from that, I enjoyed “The Project.” I have not read any of the author’s previous books, but I enjoyed this and would like to see how.

This book hooked me within the first few pages. I wanted to know what happened to Bea immediately and how she was drawn into The Project. I admired Lo’s tenacity as she investigates her sister’s role in The Project and determination to reunite with her. There was definitely a point where I was frustrated with something that happened towards the end of the book but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment overall. This was definitely a page turner and I flew threw it!

YA suspense novelist Courtney Summers returns after her 2018 hit, Sadie, with a new novel about sisters and the lengths they will go to protect one another.

Lo's older sister Bea has disappeared from her life to join a cult ... or rather The "Unity Project" (no one in The Unity Project will actually call it a cult.) The Unity Project views themselves as a Christian organization designed to help the world's unfortunate and downtrodden, but Lo suspects there is more to The Unity Project than what meets the eye. Just what is the motive behind their charitable acts? What's their leader Lev Warren's real story? And most importantly, where is Bea and why hasn't she contacted Lo?

Lo takes advantage of her position at a magazine to infiltrate The Unity Project and write an exclusive story on what goes on behind the cult's doors. Will Lo discover what she is expecting to find? Or will her eyes be opened to a far greater truth about The Project and its intentions?

I had high expectations going into The Project and hoped that the bad reviews I had read about the book were untrue. I enjoyed Summers' Sadie for its dark, sinister vibes, and appreciated Summers for writing a story that felt uniquely different from everything else on the YA market. Unfortunately, The Project does not live up to Sadie and fails to capture everything that made its predecessor so great.

The Project has a slow start, which may be its greatest downfall. Nothing much happens for the first half of this book. Page after page is filled with conversations between Lo and her coworkers, Unity Project Members, and herself, to no end. The narrative spirals through the same topics again and again without ever really going anywhere or revealing information that pulls readers into the story. This is the perfect set-up for making readers apathetic about the characters and plot, which may explain the growing number of readers who gave up on The Project before it gets better. And it does get better, by the way, but it does falls short of achieving greatness.

The best parts of this book are the flashbacks to Bea's life in The Unity Project. I wish that this novel had told her actual story firsthand, as opposed to revealing Bea's truth through Lo's eyes. And speaking of Lo, I honestly couldn't stand her character, and was rather turned off by the abrupt and nonsensical changes in her personality as the book progresses. There are some plot twists in The Project that happen too quickly without much build-up or development. Readers are blind-sided, but not in a good way. It's just not believable, which makes The Project feel unpolished and incomplete.

In all, The Project is a mixed bag. If you are a fan of Courtney Summers, you should give this book a try; but if you have never read one of her novels, do yourself a favor and pick up Sadie first.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Libro.fm for a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

This was one twisty hell of a ride. Courtney Summers does it again with a story that easily follows up to Sadie and her other books. I love how Summers doesn't hesitate to dive into the swirling depths of human emotion. And as always, the writing draws you in from page one, refusing to let go until you collapse in a heap of feelings and thoughts at the end. This book is going to haunt me for awhile, in the best way.

The Project is an emotional read about the bond between two sisters. The story takes us on a journey into a cult as one sister tries to find the other. It is a compelling read that will have you turning the pages and trying to understand until you get to the end.

Bea is in her sister’s room at the hospital with Lo dying. Bea cannot believe that she has lost her parents in th car accident. The car was hit by a diesel. Lo was with her parents in the car. As Bea is standing in Lo’s room, a man offers to heal Lo if she will join the Unity Project. She agrees to do it as she can’t stand to lose her sister. When Lo is well, she gets a job as an assistant to the boss of SVO newspaper. She wants to be a journalist not an assistant. When a man comes into the office, he tells them that the Unity Project killed his son. Lo is determined to write a “big” story about the Unity Project to show her boss her journalistic skills and to see Bea. She misses Bea as they were so close to each other until the accident. Lo doesn’t understand why Bea won’t talk to her much less visit. Will Bea and Lo finally get together?

The story is told with Lo’s story being in the present tiiime and Bea’s in the past. This amazing novel held my attention from the first to the last page., It is about so much more than the cult. The story shows the downtrodden, the vulnerable and the earnest people. It is about sisterhood, into and belonging. It’s. Heartbreaking at times and very suspenseful throughout the novel makes it one I won’t forget.

DNF @ 38%

I was really excited for this book since I really loved Sadie from the same author but I could not get past the writing style. The writing to me was very confusing as to the perspective I was reading from and the incredibly long chapters left me bored. There wasn’t much intrigue either, I didn’t care what happened to Bea or Lo. I’m not going to force myself through a book I have no interest in.

I think my overall rating is closer to a 3.5. I think I set my expectations a little high after LOVING Sadie. I did enjoy this a lot, but I think it also fell short in some aspects. I never felt completely invested in the storyline or either of the main characters. There were parts that were confusing and not clear to me, but other parts that were fast paced and interesting. I definitely enjoyed it, and there was a twist that really shocked me, but I think going in with such high expectations did impact my overall enjoyment.

I had high hopes for this one since I loved Sadie so much. This missed the Mark for me. The end left me confused as it felt rushed. I even went back to see if I missed something.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced e-reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I think my expectations were set a little to high for this one. There was so much hype around it, and while I did like it, I enjoyed some of her other books more. Which isn't fair to compare them, but this one just wasn't my favourite. I just had a really hard time staying interested in this one.

After Sadie, I had some overly high expectations. I was looking more for the twists, turns, the suspense. Cults and religion are just something that I can't get 100% in to. Not to say that others won't love it, and I am sure they will. Summers' writing is phenomenal regardless and she can carry you through a story that you even aren't fully in to. I will suggest it to others and then discuss and maybe reread at one day to fully digest all of the contents.