This book is so very hard to review because, I loved it. I hated it. I couldn't read it fast enough and I wanted to make it last forever.

I was horrified by it. I was fascinated. Disgusted and yet, hopeful. So many emotions. Summers seems to be a master lately at bringing out all the feels and, you can't go wrong with that now can you?

This book though. It will definitely mess with you in all the worst ways possible. It will also mess with you in all the best ways as well.

Again, you are going to hate it. And also love it.

Truly a master at manipulation, Summers has done it again with a breakout book that will keep you on your toes, turning the pages and completely engrossed in what will happen next.

This book will grip you and you will see just how easy it is to be led into a cult
Fascinating and disturbing ,great writing and story telling
I have to admit to overlooking this was a YA but that didn’t matter,the story is for all!

The Project doesn't shy away from dark places or shimmering bits of false hope—like that the cult leader in the book offers. It isn't for the faint of heart, but the unique storytelling kept me turning the pages late at night.

This book examines family, trauma, loss, and love so eloquently.

Lo Denham is a survivor, but she doesn't care for people to know that detail about her.

After surviving a horrific car accident that killed both her parents, Lo was left fighting for her life and branded with a very large and visible scar on her face. She not only lost her parents that day, but her sister, Bea, seemingly abandoned her to join a strange organization with a cult-like following called The Unity Project. For years Lo has tried to get in touch with Bea, but she's met with opposition and barriers each and every time. Searching for the truth behind The Unity Project and it's charismatic and magnetic leader, Lev Warren, Lo is convinced that the Project is a front for dark and nefarious things. However, when she's given the opportunity to get an insider's look into The Project, she finds herself being pulled in to Lev's orbit.

What is The Unity Project? Who is Lev Warren? Where is Bea? Lo is determined to find answers to these questions... but what is she willing to do and how far will she go to get them?

This is my #1 book of 2020 thus far. I doubt there will be any others that can take that spot.

Excellent book for fans of Courtney Summers. She continues her intense and emotional writing, but manages to still tell a story different from all her others. Anyone who enjoyed Sadie, Cracked Up To Be, or any dark stories that examine relationships are bound to find something in this book. Also a great title for people as they age out of YA.

After a bit of a slow start, this book hooked me immediately, and putting it down wasn’t an option. I had to see what happened next. Parts of it are very emotional and ripped my heart out, so be prepared. It’s a compelling, addictive read you’ll still be thinking about days after finishing.
This book is filled with grief but bound together by determination and hope, by mere grit and love. The characters are vivid, authentic, and real.

I never got around to reading this, but I did order it for my students. I honestly forgot that I requested access to this title and just discovered it today. My students enjoyed Sadie, so I have high hopes for the circulation of this title.

This is a great follow-up to Sadie!. The story is interesting and accessible for YA readers. There is a lot of interest about cults, and I think this book does a great job showing how a cult leader can influence followers. I have a lot of students who will really enjoy this book. We have already pre-ordered a copy for our classroom library.

This book was, in a word, subtle (in the best way possible).
Somehow, without me noticing, it wormed its way into my brain and wouldn't let go. I dreamt about it while I was reading it. I thought about it whenever I had to stop reading it.

The subtlety of this book is what I loved most about it. The suspense was clever-I kept catching myself thinking "Something isn't right here" and then changing my mind, thinking I made it all up. I felt like I went on the journey with Lo as she believed that the Unity Project was a cult, and then slowly began to learn about it in ways that made her question her own beliefs.

Speaking of Lo, I loved her as a main character. I loved that she was feisty and angry and hurting, and still somehow surviving despite the odds stacked against her. I loved how Summers wrote of the complicated relationship between Lo and Bea (even beginning the book on this note of the nuances of the nature of sisterhood). The little glimpses into Bea's story and past in between Lo's present gave me insights into both sisters-and the plot as a whole-that made the story deeper and richer.

Knowing both sides of the story as they happened for each sister also upped the subtle suspense in the book. We see Lo's beliefs about the Unity Project and then get transported into the past seeing Bea discover Lev and God and the Project for herself in ways that made me question if Lo was a reliable narrator. (Was she? Guess you'll just have to read and find out for yourself!)

The ending was the culmination of a book's worth of suspense, of not wholly knowing the truth until the last second. While the rest of the book was more subtle in its machinations, the ending was a gut punch that left me stunned.

The main thing that kept this from being a five star read was that it wasn't exactly fast-paced. I think the way it was written was exactly what the story needed, but there is a lot of backstory and dialogue -and not as much action as you would think for a book touted as a "pull-no-punches thriller." I would like to clarify, though, that the lack of action in the middle of the book by no means detracts from it. You need the dialogue and backstory. It keeps you from knowing what to believe, what's right or wrong about the Unity Project and Lev. It builds the suspense for the action of the climax, which then becomes that much more compelling because of what came before it.

All in all, this book was a great read. It examines the complicated relationships between family and faith, and how each person can view the same thing so differently. It examines the notion of truth and how it changes depending on the angle.

The Unity Project is a cult....or is it?

Courtney Summers has done it again. She is undeniably the queen of raw, gritty, dark contemporary YA. In The Project, Summers introduces us to sisters Bea and Lo Denham.

After a car accident claimed their parents and left Lo hospitalized, Bea was drawn into the comforting embrace of The Unity Project. At the head of The Unity Project is the enigmatic Lev, a man who many believe is the walking embodiment of God. Drawn to Lev and all he offers, Bea makes the ultimate sacrifice and says goodbye to her life and her little sister.

Years later, a grown up Lo is still trying to contact Bea only to be blocked by members of the project at every turn. But suddenly Lev changes course and offers Lo unprecedented access to the project and its members. This is the opportunity Lo has hoped for, not only as a means of finding her sister, but as a way to advance at her job at a magazine.

But in the world behind the shiny veneer of The Unity Project are mysterious deaths, unexplained disappearances, and a following so loyal to its leader that Lo begins to doubt her own perception. Is The Unity Project a dangerous cult or an enlightened community dedicated to service? And does anyone ever really leave the project?

The Project is an enthralling, engaging thriller that pulls you into its dark, mysterious depths and doesn’t let go until the very end. Told from the alternating perspectives of Lo and Bea, Summers has a haunting voice and unique narrative style that kept me engaged the entire time. Courtney Summers has quickly become one of those authors that never disappoints me and whose books I’ll buy without question.

The Project will be available everywhere on 2/2/21

*I received a copy of The Project from NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review*

Lo is supposedly the miracle child who was saved from death itself by Lev, head of Unity project which is a cult basically. She is now working for a news outlet and her focus is on proving The Unity project for truly what it is. In her childhood after she survived the fatal accident, her sister, Bea left her in their aunt’s care and joined the Unity project making Lo all alone.

Her investigation starts off when she witnesses the death of one of the members right in front of her. Then she sets off to find more and but as she unravels, she finds things might not what they seem to be and ends up joining it in fact. But why does she join? Does she have a secret agenda yet to be unraveled? Will she get out alive?

The whole cult part and the investigation was really intriguing and it kept me engaged in this bizarre world. It was completely insane and so different that I found it refreshing. Very mysterious and very vulnerable/flawed characters that you will feel they might do literally anything. This is a very fast paced and weirdly interesting thriller.

This book is right up my alley. Give me all the cult thrillers! MC Lo has nothing. Nothing but the opportunity to expose an accused cult known as The Project and launch her journalism career into epic success. Oh, and also the opportunity to reunite with her sister who The Project claimed as one of their own years ago. Nobody would be able to convince one sister to abandon the other sister on her deathbed unless that group is seeded in pure evil….right? But The Project appears squeaky clean and the abundance of good deeds dispersed throughout multiple communities makes it increasingly harder for Lo to uncover the truth. Especially when she starts to feel the pull of The Project herself. This book hardcore manipulated my feelings but in all the best ways. There were definitely brief moments when the author had ME convinced The Project wasn’t so bad. BRIEF. I found Lo’s lack of emotion and ease of betrayal a bit disbelieving at certain points but overall I was fully invested in her success. Be warned that the timeline and POVs jump around ALOT but not to the point you can’t comprehend what’s going on. A fascinating read that should be added to the TBRs of all thriller fans.


Thank you @netgalley an @stmartinspress for the gifted copy of this book in exchange for a review!

*3.5⭐️

EXCUSE ME I’m not okay with that ending 🙃🙃🙃 Honestly I couldn’t stop reading this but I also wasn’t fully into it?! I cared for the characters but I also kinda wanted more from the book? There’s so much left unexplained I feel like dammit 🙈🙈 If you like open endings and feel like binge reading a book, this is definitely one for you though!!

Lo Denham has lost her parents in a car accident in which she herself was also seriously injured and which marked her with a scar for life. Her sister Bea, six years her senior, is the last bit of family she has, but she has not been able to contact her for months. It must be The Unity Project’s fault, the sect Bea joined when she couldn’t make sense of the loss she experienced anymore. When a man claims that The Unity Project killed his son, Lo decides to take a closer look and to get nearer to the charismatic leader Lev Warren with the aim to expose the group’s doings in the magazine she works for. However, Lo is not prepared for the experiences she makes there.

Courtney Summers narrates the story from different points of view at different points in time, thus we get both sisters’ perspective on the highly emotional events in their lives. This also creates a lot of suspense since from the beginning, there are gaps which need to be filled to make sense. It also underlines the different characters of Lo and Bea which, nevertheless, does not hinder them from being fascinated by the same man.

The crucial point is most definitely the psychological impact a major tragic event such as the loss of the parents can have on young persons. Coming to grips with such a stroke of fate which does not make sense and is hard to understand is not only very hard but also makes people fragile and prone to others who are eager to exploit their situation. The leader of the group is surely an interesting character, it is easy to see how he manages to win people for his project and how he can make them follow him blindly. In this way, the novel also cleverly portrays the mechanism which work behind sects and which make it difficult to immediately see through them and more importantly to leave them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel due to the multifaceted characters and the message beyond the suspenseful and entertaining plot.

This book was not quite what I expected. Just like in Sadie, Courtney Summer's writing is captivating, but I felt a distance from the characters in this novel, whereas in Sadie I felt connected and more invested in the story. While reading this, I felt like I was constantly waiting for something more to happen - something to make it more creepy, more upsetting, and more harrowing than what it was. Of course, the themes and events that happened in this book were upsetting, but maybe it was the distance I talked about that just did not make this novel as impactful as I expected it to be. But, the idea was very good, and Courtney Summers definitely knows the mystery/thriller genre, and I would still gladly read more of her works in the future.

When I read Summers’ other books, I knew I was going to pick up anything else she put out. As soon as I read the sypnosis for The Project, I was hooked. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and I literally could not stop thinking about it.

This is the first Courtney Summers book I have read, and it was an absolute pleasure. This book was gripping and 100% unputdownable. I fully admit that I am a sucker for a cult story, and in the young adult genre I have not found many. This book is going to blow up, much like her novel Sadie did, and for good reason. It is amazing.

The writing style was kind of choppy, but I think this really added to the atmosphere and the suspense of the story. I really liked that the story jumps around a bit in terms of point of view and timeline, it kept things interesting and really made the pages turn themselves. I could not tell where the plot of this book was going. Every time I thought I had something figured out, another twist would come out of nowhere and blindside me. It is extremely refreshing to read a novel that is not super predictable.

Lo is an awesome female lead. She is determined, and brave, and seemingly independent. Yet at the same time, we get to see Lo's flaws. I think Lo was a very well rounded character considering the things she experiences were all-consuming and could have made her appear one dimensional.

There are many other things that I would love to applaud the author for, however I don't want to reveal spoilers. Overall, I highly recommend this book to thriller lovers.

The Project has all the makings to be a straightforward cult book - sister gets wrapped up in a charismatic leader and must be rescued. Enter Lo - the baby sister of Bea, who has entered The Unity Project and has been unable to escape its clutches.

Instead, The Project is a deep look at humanity and how cults prey on it. Any one of us could be Lo, if the right traumas are exposed to the worst people. I related to Lo on a bazillion levels and left the book wondering how I never got swept up in a cult.

Lo is perfectly imperfect. She is the prime Courtney Summers protagonist. She’s going to do things that make you want to scream and yet you still want to be her best friend. Her deep love for her sister is tangible and jumps off the page - as does the trauma she’s experienced in her short 19 years. She’s been through some shit and damn, it’s going to take a lot of therapy. The journey to find Bea is a wild one so strap the fuck in.

The world of The Unity Project mirrors so many of the cults children of the 90s will be familiar with. Charismatic leader seeks the vulnerable and takes full advantage. Don’t get sucked in Lev Warren’s void - you might not make it out alive. It’s brutal and real and visceral.

I flew through the back half of this book because it was unputdownable. I was horrified, terrified, and cheering one page while wanting to throw the book across the room in the next. Courtney draws you in slowly and before you know it, you’re signing on. Just like a cult. Yikes.

All hail queen of the best unlikeable family protagonists! Good lord, Courtney Summers, how do you DO IT? Every time! I somehow managed to read a bunch of cult books back to back, which I am pretty sure I have Courtney to thank for. Am I now in the cult that is Courtney Summers? If so, I don’t want to be rescued.

Two sisters who are everything to each other lose everything in a horrific accident that claims the lives of their parents. As they try to heal (both mentally and physically) they find themselves entangled with the leader of a Christian group (cult?) that does good works. At a time when they should be coming together, they find the leader of The Project coming between them. What is faith? What is love? What is truth? All questions to be answered in the latest thriller by the brilliant Courtney Summers.

Sometimes when I don't like cult books as much as I hope to, I wonder if I really like cult books??? This book did not pull me in the way I wanted to it, I felt like it had a chilly distance to it with rather impenetrable characters. The chronological hopping was more frustrating than propulsive to my reading experience. I thought the pacing crammed too much into the end of the book instead of spooling things out. That said, I still needed to finish the book and know what happened.

This is very clearly inspired by the NXIVM cult, so people with familiarity with it won't be very surprised by the turns. What I felt like it lacked is some fundamental human weirdness to the endeavor of the cult. The NXIVM guy was really into volleyball. Rajneesh had his car collection. I felt like I was missing the absurd element of what cult leaders are like. Or maybe what interests me about cults just isn't what interests novelists who write about cults?