"I try to shed the questions I really want to ask for ones that will arouse less suspicion. I'm also curious; I want to hear what answers could tempt sisters away from sisters, tempt lost boys in front of oncoming trains."

Bea almost lost her sister Lo twice - once when she was born prematurely, and then in 2011, when Lo was badly injured in the car crash that killed her parents. But for the past several years, Bea has been lost to Lo. In the aftermath of the crash, Bea joined The Unity Project, and Lo hasn't heard from her since. The facts known about The Project are positive - they work to do good in the world, providing various services, support groups, programs, shelter and food, legal aid, and so on. But a charismatic force sits at its center - Lev Warren, their leader. Lev positions himself as God's redeemer, and claims that the good works of The Project will atone for the sins of the world. One of his sermons seemed to predict the outcome of the 2016 election, and there are even rumors that he's raised the dead. A piece written after an interview with him pointed out cult potential in the group, but there's no evidence to prove this.

Now in 2017, Lo works at a magazine - she's dreamed of writing, but for now she's the secretary. The Project is never far from her mind because of Bea, who she hasn't heard from for more than five years now. But her interest grows after she discovers that Jeremy, a boy who stepped onto the train tracks one morning after speaking with her, was a member. His father believes that The Unity Project is responsible for his death. Lo wants the truth - about The Unity Project and Lev Warren, about Jeremy, and about Bea (and maybe she can get her byline while she's at it).

I feel like this might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn't love this. It felt slow to me at times, and motivation for joining The Project just didn't seem strong enough. Part of the ending was left unexplained in a way I didn't find satisfying. There were some twists, but nothing I found too surprising. I was interested to see how things unspooled, even though I found the plot points mostly predictable. A couple things reminded me of a particular true crime podcast series. I haven't read any of Courtney Summers' other books yet, but I would guess that her fans will enjoy this one; it looks like Those Who Prey by Jennifer Moffett might be a good read-alike as well.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC. The Project will be published February 2 2021.

I hate to be negative, but this book was unfortunately not what I was hoping for. I listened to Sadie last year, and while it was very dark, it was the most amazing audio experience I have ever heard (if you enjoy dark mystery stories dealing with hard subjects like child abuse and murder and love podcasts I 100% recommend you listen to Sadie). I went into The Project expecting a similar vibe, a dark mystery surrounding a cult and sisters, and I was so excited. And sure, that was here, but it was so slow and dragged on, I kept putting the book down and not really wanting to pick it up. The creepy cult vibe I was expecting was more a political stance and the story jumped around with little to no transitions so it was hard for me to get invested (also I don’t feel like I really got to know the sisters at all as people, just as victims of this situation which didn’t help with my lack of enthusiasm in the story, and I felt pretty ambivalent towards Lo the main character). Side note, I also would not categorize this as YA at all- the main characters are 19 and older and the story itself reads as an adult fiction.

All that being said, I know that a lot of people will probably really enjoy this book; it was just not for me, but I will keep my eyes out for the next story (which I am sure will be equally twisty and dark) from this author in the future.

I went into this book completely blind and was immediately enticed when I realized "The Project" in question is a cult. Honestly, I really wanted to love it but there were a few things I couldn't get past:

1) SPOILER ALERT- I don't believe that Lo would very suddenly buy into the cult after years of trying to take them down. There was no transition period where we could see her become sympathetic to Lev; she was just like: Okay, I'm in.

2) The last 6% of the book (I read the ebook) had all of the things lacking in the other 94%. There was tension and an actual reason to dislike Lev. Until this point I had considered DNFing, and I've only done that a few times in my life.

3) WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT VAGUE RESOLUTION?

All in all, it had potential but it wasn't for me.

4.5*

“If she’s no sister, no daughter, no writer—no more than her accident—who is she? What’s left?”

The Project is a story that I think you should try to read relatively blind. I knew it was a book about a teen girl named Lo, who wants to save her older sister from The Unity Project. They label themselves as a charity and community outreach group, but in Lo’s eyes, they are a cult and the people who stole her sister from her. When she starts digging into the inner workings of TUP and it’s leader, Lev Warren, she finds an alternative story. It’s interesting to read along as Lo learns more about TUP, her sister, and herself. The story sort of jumps around in time a bit as we are given Lo’s POV, and some of Bea’s as she embraces the cult life. I appreciated this form of storytelling, because it made it very easy to see how just about anyone could fall into a cult like situation if they are in that low and lonely place in life. Like sometimes believing anything is better than feeling like you have nothing.

I just. Yeah, I sort of feel like I was slowly indoctrinated into a cult while reading this book. The cult of needing to read all of Courtney Summers’ books, because this was so good. The Project is incredibly well written and took me on a journey I honestly was not fully expecting. I’m still at a loss how easily this author directed my feelings as I read. It’s like she was changing my mind about characters and happenings, before I even realized it. I realize it’s part of an author’s job to attempt to make you feel certain things without you noticing, and I believe Courtney Summers nailed it.

If you enjoy suspenseful mystery reads, where the lead character truly takes you on a ride, then you need to pick up The Project, ASAP!

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

I read Sadie two years ago and it broke me in so many ways that I knew I had to pick up this one, 'cause Courtney Summers knows exactly how to affect me.
Lo's investigation and how she begins to be closer to The Project had me on the edge of my seat. I loved the characters and the story, and the pacing was perfect for me. I wanted to know more about the inner workings of The Project, but it didn't bother me too much.
Overall I really loved this book. It touched on difficult matters, as so did Sadie, and it was well done.

At the beginning of The Project, we see things through Bea’s eyes. We see how scared she was when at the age of six, her newborn sister, Lo, almost didn’t make it. Then we flash forward twelve years to another time when she didn’t think her sister would make it. This reminded me a bit of If I Stay, with the girl who is in a horrific crash and her entire family has passed except for her. So traumatic!

Then we switch to Lo, who did in fact survive. And she lived with her Aunt for 5 years until she recently passed away. Because as much as Bea loved Lo, she left and joined a cult instead of sticking around to hep raise her in the absence of their parents who died in the crash.

Lo has been dealing with a lot. She’s lost her parents, she has a huge scar on her face, and she is left to wonder everyday, why her sister left. She wants to write and has secured a job as an assistant at a magazine she would love to write for. After she witnesses a horrific suicide, her boss really wants to find out more about the cult that Bea has joined. Reeling from what she saw, and wanting to find out why Bea left her, while also seeing it as her chance to get her foot in the door and write an article, Lo starts digging.

I can’t give much away, but it’s pretty standard cult fair. And by that, I mean amazing. What is the allure of these types of stories? I think its’ the unknown and the fact that people join for no good reason. So they must really hate the alternative, their normal lives.

The Project is a great read, you definitely won’t regret picking this one up. Yes, it’s technically YA, but it’s one of the YA books with amazing crossover adult potential. Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced e-galley in exhange for my honest review. This one is out…wait for it…TODAY!! Hurray! Get your copy:

The Project by Courtney Summers

I give this book all the stars. I fell into this book and almost didn’t want it to end. Lo is on a mission to find her sister Bea while also trying to write her first piece as a journalist. The Unity Project is where she starts. This book is so well written. I am not a super religious person but this book makes me see how people can be. Without giving much away, I will say I didn’t see any of what happens before it happened. The emotions I felt and still feel finishing this one... I can’t put them into words. Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. And so many thanks to Courtney Summers for writing this.

I came into this book with high expectations, after loving Summers' previous work, Sadie, so much. This book did not meet the same expectations. However, it was still an enjoyable read that I could not put down. I would recommend it for anyone who wants a quick, suspenseful read that will keep you engaged.

for a book about a sisterly relationship through a cult, this was painfully boring. i will say that there's a lot of very good quotes scattered throughout.

it's a shame that the project and sadie have both failed to hold my attention, because i do like courtney summers' writing style and the stories she chooses to write. i just wish there was more.

the ending was rushed, i wish there was more of a conclusion regarding lev and lo. like, there is one, but we don't get to see it. i understand that the story is about the sisters so when you reach the plot twist (i hesitate to call it that), the story abruptly kind of just ends. it's weird.

i haven't read a lot of cult stories, but i definitely want to. i'm a sucker for religious imagery and larger than life conversations about faith and meaning. the project kind of delivers, but i was left wanting.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing my review copy

Astounding. Riveting. Chilling. Everything I want from a Courtney Summers book. Lo fights for what she wants, even in the face of strong fear and setbacks. Lev is terrifying, and yet it's so easy to imagine being swayed by him, caught up in his celebrity of personality and selling your soul to him. As the reader, I absolutely believed that the people in the cult believed in the cause of the cult, and with Lo, I ached for them to be set free.

While I was able to finish this book quickly in just a few sittings because it’s easy to read and a compelling enough plot, I was disappointed in the quality of the writing and depth of the story.

I enjoy stories with multiple POV’s, especially where the storyline goes back and forth in time, so that was the strongest aspect of this story. Summers did a good job in creating suspense by shifting back and forth between Bea and Lo’s perspective, and the jump from past to present kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next.

But Summer’s writing is bare bones and to the point. If you don’t like flowery writing and if descriptive prose is not your jam, then this might not bother you as much. But the sparse description and simple writing style make it hard to immerse myself in the setting.

Also, I had a really hard time understanding the choices Lo and sometimes Bea made throughout the story. They made some rather impulsive, off-the-wall choices that almost came out of no where. I felt there needed to be much more depth and fleshing out with the characters and their motivations.

The villain of the story was so bland and two dimensional! I couldn’t understand why the members of the cult were so drawn into his lies. For a cult book, I was expecting more suspense and dread and a more intimate look into its inner workings instead of just a surface level view.

I did enjoy Sadie quite a bit more than The Project, so I would pick up another book from Summers in the future. Unfortunately, The Project just didn’t do it for me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Courtney Summers is a masterful storyteller and an incredible writer of character. I cared so much about the characters that I was almost afraid to keep reading at some points. I loved it so much and have been recommending it nonstop to friends.

Almost exactly a year ago, I read Sadie and it completely enthralled me. I've been keeping my eye out for more from Summers so I was ecstatic when I was approved for an early copy of this one - another tragic sister story. Bea and Lo are sisters; Bea, the older, remembers precisely when she first saw her younger sister and felt a fierce love for her. At 19 now, Lo hasn't seen her sister in six years - not since a tragic accident. She still desperately misses her sister while feeling adrift in the world as the same accident claimed her parents' lives. The accident that destroyed their family also brought Bea to the Unity Project - a good works group that emphatically denies being a cult, but acts like one with its "Redeemer" leader, Lev.

The book unfolds between the stories of both sisters, with the timelines moving towards one another. The upstate New York setting compliments the plot and it's a definite page turner that I had to pry myself away from in order to get some sleep! I suppose it reminded me a bit of that Sweet Valley High so creatively titled, Kidnapped By The Cult - though to a much, much darker level. This one slowly builds up to reveal how horrible the group really is - a dark current in stark opposition to the flowery and accepting rhetoric and supposed good deeds. Summers especially builds Lo's character arc well. I do wish that there had been a bit more to the ending - there is some aftermath revealed, but I just wanted a bit less to be left hanging. Still, it's a wonderfully written book and I am looking forward to seeing what Summers will write next!

Rating: 3.5 rounded down

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my review

tw: abuse, death of a parent

The Project is a YA cult novel. The story is narrated by two sisters, Bea and Lo, in dual timelines. The girls are six years apart in age, and when Lo is 13 and Bea is 19, their parents are killed in a car accident that leaves Lo in the hospital with a large scar on her face. Despite Lo's condition, Bea leaves her to join the Unity Project, a collective that runs homeless shelters in NYC and around the country and is led by a man named Lev, who claims to have a direct connection to God.

Fast forward six years and Bea is 19 and working for an investigative journalist and hasn't heard from her sister in years. When the journalist's friend claims that The Unity Project murdered his son, Bea is determined to prove the leader Lev is evil and that the Project is a cult.

I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word for how I felt about this book, but it was definitely suspenseful and kept me intrigued throughout. The story is tragic and engaging and I appreciated the tie to the current political situation. I thought the way the sisters' stories were told in dual timelines was executed really well; Summers did a fantastic job of letting information come to the reader slowly and showcasing the moments' in the sisters' lives that mirrored one another.

This is a tough review to write because I really wanted to love this. I'm all for books about cults because cults are fascinating but to me this one just fell flat. There wasn't anything about the cult aspects that were new to me. It's all about using sex and religion as weapons against those who are vulnerable. I wanted more mystery and suspense and thrill but I never felt that. To be honest it was a bit boring for me.

The beginning was confusing and you aren't really sure if Lo died or Bea died or if anyone died at all. Once I got into it and the story got going it was interesting but then I shortly lost interest. I don't understand Lo's complete 180 from investigating The Project to being a member. Her motives for doing so didn't make sense to me. Why didn't the fact that her sister "left" The Project raise any red flags for her? How is Lev's cringy personality not cringy to her. I didn't really connect with Lo at any point in the book which made it hard for me to really be invested in her.

I understood more of why Bea fell for what Lev had to offer. She was much more vulnerable when he preyed on her and over time she realized that things weren't what they seemed. Her story was much more interesting and I felt bad for her in the end. She didn't ever find the happiness she was really looking for.

Overall I could see the potential but by the end it just fell flat for me and the most interesting parts were the beginning (which was still a bit confusing) and the ending but even then the information felt like it just took too long to reveal itself. I loved Sadie and was so excited for this one so I'm honestly bummed it didn't do it for me.

At the very core of this story is the tight bond between sisters. All they want is to help each other the best they know how after becoming orphans as teens. Lo is 19, working as an assistant at a magazine, itching to be writing stories of her own. When a man makes his way into her office claiming The Unity Project murdered his son, Lo takes it upon herself to throw herself into investigating the cult that she lost her sister to five years earlier.

Lev Warren preys upon the weak and the vulnerable. Like any other cult, he deliberately finds the people who are in need of guidance and are so lonely that they will take help from anyone. He and The Unity Project wiggles their way into the lives of the people of upstate New York through acts of service and community outreach. What's the harm in that? However, there is sinister ideals within this group that Lo needs to investigate in order to get to her sister. As Lo infiltrates the group and learns more from their members, The Unity Project starts to completely unravel.

I don't even know what to say about this book. I finished it a few weeks ago and I can't stop thinking about it. Where to even start! There are so many levels to this book that don't really notice until you are close to finishing. It is an extremely complex and layered story that Courtney Summers wrote so expertly. I don't want to say too much as to give anything away and honestly, It's hard to put into words how much of a gut punch this book is. Although it is a tough read, I couldn't stop.

I definitely don't consider this a YA book, but that's where it's being placed. I wonder if Summers planned to write this as an Adult book, how much she could have expanded. I really hope the fact that it's being marketed as YA doesn't turn people away from reading it.

I hope this was coherent. You know when you really excited about something and you just can't put it into words? Yeah, that's where I'm at.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of The Project. I didn't always know how it would end and I couldn't put it down. It was a tad bit too religious for my taste.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read this ARC of "The Project."

I loved the author's other book, "Sadie," which was fast-paced, thrilling, and suspenseful, so I was excited to see there was a new book coming out. However, I confess I had some trouble getting into this one. I loved the premise, but found it hard to follow the alternating timelines, and while I was very interested in the complexity of the relationship between the two sisters, pacing-wise, the story was a little too slow of a burn for me. I'm sure this is just a matter of preference, and I loved "Sadie" so much that I will be sure to give this author another shot with her next book.

The Unity Project stands for helping others and family values or is there something more sinister behind the smiles. Lo Denham knows the Project took her sister from her, and she will do everything in her power to get her back. The Project is a deep dive into what makes us vulnerable and who we place our faith in. As always Summers execution of a sister's love is concrete and pulls at the heartstrings. The narrative is split into two, with Lo in the present and Bea in the past, both adding to the context as in formation is given. This narrative of one sister chasing the other mimics the narratives in Sadie. Giving a sense of strangers passing in the darkness, give the plot a eerie feel when the Project set as the background. The reader's heart will break for both Lo and Bea, w3anting then to move toward each other. Through their narratives you meet other side characters that add to the dimension of how a cult is seen. The most interesting narratives are the ones from current members, yet their narratives are the most shrouded in darkness and not as elaborate. Causing the plot to falter a little bit, due to the fact that Los whole mission is to unearth all the Projects secrets. To be honest, I expected more from Summers. Wanting her to crack the cult image wide open and shock the reader more. The ending was anticlimactic, leaving a disappointed feeling for the reader.

I swear Courtney Summers does a great job evoking so many thing out of you when it comes to her book. I felt happiness, anger, and sadness all throughout the story. The Project follows Lo whose entire family is gone. Everyone but her sister Bea. Bea is apart of The Unity Project and Lo hasn't heard from her since after their parents died. But when a man comes into her line of work claiming that the unity project killed his son, Lo has to investigate. This brings so many emotions towards Lo and how she really misses her sister.
I loved getting to read through Lo's perspective but boy did she make me mad in this book. She does something that is so stupid despite that she's a really smart girl with a level head. But she also made me proud of her too. She stands up for herself and what she's not willing to take. More women need to learn how to do this and realize that it really is okay to stand up for yourself.
The Project has quickly become one of my favorite cult books!