The Project is a book about cults, but one that I haven’t encountered before. Lo and Bea Denham are sisters whose parents were killed in a car accident. Bea is inherited by a cult called The Unity Project, and Lo, after struggling to survive the car accident, is raised by their aunt, Patty.

This story focuses on the sisterly bond, loss, grief, and learning about yourself. The story jumps between the perspectives of Lo in the present day, and Bea in the past. The characters are raw and flawed which felt real. There’s anger and grief behind these characters and their actions that I truly appreciated. The cult aspect of this story is super nuanced and subtle. I appreciated that it wasn’t just an up in your face cult. The story is chilling and well-written. If you loved Sadie, you will likely love this one.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Title/Cover Draw:
This cover is gorgeous! I can’t stop staring at it. After reading Sadie earlier this year, I knew I just had to read the next thing Courtney Summers came out with. Very excited to receive this for review ahead of time!
What I liked:
The writing sucked me in immediately. Even though this is not a speculative book, there were moments that I would wonder if there was something otherworldly going on. But even though this is a book about a cult, it is important and unique. Today, we are searching for meaning, love, a purpose...and being told many things. It’s easy to be led astray. This book is important.
What I didn’t like:
Just like other people who read this book, there is a certain scene that is (to me) completely out of character for our heroine. It made me a little angry and disheartened. I understand the motive and why it was included, but it really jarred me out of the story.
The Characters:
Lo is innocent and abandoned most of her life in one way or another. But she is sympathetic and you just want her to find love.
The Ending:
Bittersweet but real.
Consider if:
You like darker stories about love.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.

It's probably my fault for expecting THE PROJECT to be another SADIE but.. I expected another SADIE.

That said, the way that Summers actually utilized this concept, and your preconceived notions about how exactly that looks like, might end up being different from the reality. Or so was the case for me. And that was definitely to its benefit, I think.

<i>Having a sister is a promise no one ubt the two of you can make -- and no one but the two of you can break.</i>

This was definitely on the tamer end of a story featuring a cult, or an organization that looks like one (but is it?), so I would encourage those who are interested but afraid of the potential darkness to not despair. I think you could handle this. That doesn't mean it's pure easy going, of course, but it's far less brutal than I thought it would be. Though not without an edge.

<i>There's no forgiveness in me, I don't think. Just a brutal acceptance of all that has been lost and a resigned march forward in the face of no other options.</i>

The plot is what kept me reading for this one. Not the characters. Unfortunately I just couldn't quite connect to anyone. There was loss and heartbreak and abandonment that I could definitely sympathize with at times but I eventually did hit a wall where I couldn't go further or parts I was just reading, not really living, if that makes sense. I'm kind of bummed because I definitely wanted an experience like SADIE (which wrecked me) and I didn't get anywhere near that. But it's okay.

While I wanted something from this that I didn't get, though the plot hooked me and kept me going, it didn't quite follow that expected path, which is definitely in its favour. It'll be memorable for that.. but not much else.

A good read, and not one that felt very long, with a lot of meat for you to chew but unfortunately, at least for me, not one that left me feeling totally satisfied.

This was a fascinating, thought-provoking novel set within the world of a modern day cult.

I have to say, I didn't quite know what to expect going into this - I have yet to read Summers' "Sadie" (I know I'm one of the very few), so I wasn't familiar with her writing style. Having finished "The Project", I completely understand the hype around how she crafts her stories - this was riveting from beginning to end! This was a strong, character-driven mystery that thoroughly examined the impacts cult-like mentality can have on those who often feel lost. Lo was such a complex heroine, it was fascinating seeing her progression throughout, particularly once she becomes more involved with The Unity Project. The dual timelines also worked extremely well here, adding to the overall mystery.

I really enjoyed "The Project" & am curious to see the discussions it strikes up once it's released - I've got to go add "Sadie" to my list! Thank you so much to Courtney Summers, NetGalley, Macmillan, & Wednesday Books for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

The Project is brillantly written, Courtney Summers Writing style really sucks you in.
Things I like were the idea of researching and trying to find answers from a cult.
The need for family and the importance. It really had that feeling of a charismatic cult leader that loves his people and doing the work of God.
Unfortunately I felt nothing really happened until the last 20% and by the point I just wasn't as interested in what Lo did.

Thank you to Wednesday Books, St. Martins Press and Netgalley for you my copy for review.

When I first started this book I felt there were similarities to the Hulu original The Path but this book goes much deeper. Lo is a struggling 19 year old trying to make her way in the world. She aspires to be a writer. She also aspires to take down the Unity Project, the group some are calling a cult that her sister has been involved in since Lo and her parents were in a car accident. For years Lo has had no contact with her sister as the Unity Project asks all member to sever ties to people and things in their past. The leader of the Project, Lev never grants interviews but out of the blue he contacts Lo and tells her he will give her an exclusive. Lo jumps at the chance hoping to finally reconnect with her sister.

The story goes back and forth between Lo and Bea's experiences. We find out why Bea joined the Unity Project and lots of other secrets. This is a fast paced book from the beginning and shines light on what so many people go through when they are looking for a better way. It also reminds me of the recent documentary I saw on NXIVM cult that lead so many into what they thought was a more meaningful way to life but ultimately was run by a misogynistic egomaniac who wanted to create a society where men owned women and they were subservient to him.

This is an easy read since it is a YA book but does deal with some difficult issues such as death, child abuse, physical abuse, and brainwashing in the name of "religion". It shows how easy it is to get sucked down a dark path and accept some very bad things when you believe. This is a brilliant book. I look forward to more from this author. Thank you netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 46%
I really wanted to like this book. I loved Sadie and was ecstatic to read about cults, which are right up my true crime alley. However, The Project felt choppy. In one moment, there's an interview going on at the Unity Project and suddenly Lo, the main character is back at work talking to her boss. It also felt like too slow of a buildup. The suspense isn't there, like it was with Sadie. Not a lot is going on.

Another absolutely incredible book by Courtney Summers. The definition of "unputdownable". Loved, tore through, devoured.

A tangled web of faith, deceit, unknowns, and family. The Project is a story of two sisters that caught in a trauma filled world. Unable to navigate it on her own, big sister Bea finds refuge in a stranger. This leads her to a life without her sister.
Many twists and turns throughout this story. Some made hard to follow with the abrupt change of time and topic, sometimes in the middle of a storyline.
5-star story but gave it 4 because of the hard to follow changes.

Unfortunately anything I read from Summers will always be compared to Sadie, which was excellent, and this didn't quite measure up. I'd also argue this isn't technically YA, as the main character is 19, her sister is 25, everyone else is an adult. Wonder why this isn't marketed as New Adult, other than that designation doesn't seem to be taking off. This book is about cults & religion & their intersection and finding a sense of belonging with a (less than compelling) through line about sibling bonds, but I didn't feel like this story had anything new or fresh to say about any of these topics. Like in Sadie, the story is told in 2 timelines - Bea's sections, which are used to give background to Lo's main story, are told in 3rd person about a year before Lo's sections, which are in first person and present day. The sections for each sister are labled by time, but the transitions within the sections were really jarring with no textual separation, though hopefully that is a fault just in the eARC (read thanks to Netgalley!) text and won't be true in the print edition. I think the main problem was this story hinges on your ability as the reader to be really emotionally invested in Lo and Bea's story and it's outcome as they fall into and out of (maybe) The Unity Project, but I was never emotionally invested and never felt compelled to find out what was happening, because it all seemed inevitable or too convenient/unrealistic. I read through to the end to finish the eARC and not because I was invested in the story, and that's not how I want to feel about a Summers book. I'll will still booktalk this, because I'm very interested to hear teen reactions.

This book is stunning. It’s really well written, and the story is compelling. It’s perfect for older teens and anyone who is interested in true crime kinds of stories. I highly recommend it!

Courtney Summers has done it once again with another fantastic book. Much like Sadie, it is told from two points of view and switching timelines. I really like the set up of it because it gives us insight into both sides of this story and how both sisters could possible get involved with The Project. Summers also does a fantastic job of making the "bad" characters likable so that you can almost understand how people could get drawn in. If you enjoy a good mystery/thriller and especially if you like cult related fiction, then this is definitely the book for you!

The Project is a nuanced exploration of how and why people fall for charismatic leaders. Like Sadie, the book focuses on two sisters dealing with trauma and attempting to find their way back to one another. Lo, the younger sister, narrates the bulk of the book and is a compelling and multifaceted main character. In the second half of the book, however, there is a major shift in her character that I didn’t quite buy; I think Summers needed to do more to lay the groundwork for such a drastic change. For me, the book didn’t have the propulsive energy or emotional resonance of Sadie. Still, it’s an engaging and entertaining read, and I think teen readers will enjoy it.

I feel a little broken after finishing this book. Like this book borrowed a piece from me and didn’t put it back in the right way.

The Project from Courtney Summers was a devastating dive into cult life and a demonstration of how far a sister will go for the only family she has left.

Lo is an aspiring journalist and she knows that she can secure her roll in the company she works for if she write a compelling story about The Unity Project, the cult group who took her sister in and made Bea want to forget her.

Lev Warren, self proclaimed ear to God and leader of The Unity Project, has agreed to allow Lo entry to do her interview. But, why does everyone know who she is? And where is Bea? What happens if Lo finds herself feeling at home in The Unity Project?

There was so much to this story. So many layers. There were many times when I was second guessing my own opinions about where the story was going. There are things that aren’t explained, but in a way that doesn’t need to be explained. Because of the implication, you just “know.” As in your face as the subject matter of this book is, the book itself is very subtle. And that made it so incredible!

This is definitely the kind of book that if you were to read it a second or third time you would pick up on more little clues with each new read. And I definitely intend to.

3.5 stars. I’m really not sure how I feel about this book, so this rating is subject to change. I really liked the fact that The Project makes you question your own thinking repeatedly and it begs the question, “Are you likely to get caught up in a cult”. I liked the way it was done and I think it was quite genius. However, this was pretty much the only thing I liked. The pacing was weird, the POV changes were unnecessary and confusing most times, the characters didn’t have much depth, and there were plot points left off in ways I couldn’t understand.
The surge of emotions The Project made me feel can’t go uncredited, though, hence the rating.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for an ARC copy of The Project by Courtney Summers in exchange for an honest review.

Bea loses her parents to an awful car accident at the same time her sister is Lo is seriously hurt in that accident. Bea sends her sister to live with an aunt while Bea joins a cult called The Unity Project. Lo does everything in her power to find her sister in this cult. Even faking that she is going to join just to see her sister again.

I felt this book had an interesting story. I was really intrigued by the different members of this cult and their rules they must follow. Kept my interest.

Despite having 'Sadie' on my wish list since forever, The Project is my first read of Courtney Summers. The cover and synopsis caught my eye on Netgalley late last year. Did I see the word CULT? I'm in!

Summers' writing style flows wonderfully. Within the first few pages of The Project I was already invested in both sisters Bea and Lo and only a page later the intrigue began.

The story is told in two timelines, present first person by Lo and third person past tense through Bea. Pay attention to the dates on each chapter as there's a lot of jumping back and forth. Through these two opposing views we come to learn of The Unity Project run by Lev Warren. Is it a cult or are they just good people striving for a better world?

The Project is very much about Lo's character development, Summers puts the reader right there in her mind. Her grief, loneliness and confusion screams from the pages as she searches for a way to reconnect with Bea.
I was as lost as Lo when trying to ascertain the truth behind The Unity Project.
The characters in this novel are so convincing, they will twist your opinions back and forth throughout.

Lev was especially fascinating, Summers did a fantastic job creating the many facets of his persona. His dialogue was constant charisma throwing the reader off balance.

Whilst the plot itself was nothing too intricate and many readers will probably predict the end to The Project, the characters, their choices and the beautiful setting are what makes it so enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Project is one of my anticipated release of 2021. Summer’s books have been hit or miss for me, but the premise of this one had me very intrigued.
The way this story was told was very interesting. There are a few different points of view that tell the story. The first is Bea, told in third person, as her younger sister (Lo) is born. Then it flashes forward twelve years, still in Bea’s perspective, then forward again six more years, where the story changes to a first-person narrative, but now it’s Lo telling the story. This was a little bit confusing at first. The change from this person to first was abrupt and the jumps forward in time left me wondering who the story was following now and what had happened in the last six years. As the story went on, I ended up really enjoying the fact that the story was told this way. It continued to go back and forth between Lo’s present perspective and Bea’s perspective in the past. The way their stories ended up so similar, with one big difference, was absolutely fascinating.
I think both Bea and Lo were such compelling characters. Lo has so much anger in her, but still ends up on a similar path as Bea. Bea on the other hand, was filled with gratitude that led her to her downfall.
Overall, I don’t know that I would say I liked this book. It was an absolutely riveting story. One that I had to read in one sitting, staying up way past when I should have gone to bed of course. But it was filled with things that made me uncomfortable. There’s relationships with large age differences, not that this itself is bad, but the dynamics of the two relationships were gross (as was the intention, I think). I went into this book unsure what to expect and ended up sucked into the story and left with one question: What the fuck?

I would like to thank NetGalley, Courtney Summers, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review The Project as an e-arc. Unfortunately for me, I really struggled with this one and couldn't get through it for the life of me. This book took me a solid two months to get through, and it was a real shame. I found the premise really interesting, but there was not enough of a reward for reading and continuing this book for me. I do think there's definitely an audience for it, but I'm not a part of it.

Courtney Summers follow up to her masterpiece 'Sadie' with another complex story about sisters driven apart by traumatic and heartbreaking circumstances. When Lo was a child she was in a car crash with her parents that killed them and left her in a coma and with a large facial scar. During this time her older sister Bea meets a man named Lev, the leader of a religious organisation known as The Unity Project. He gives her love, support, and a new family. Bea ends up leaving her sister and aunt behind to join him. Years later Lo is nineteen and working as an editor's assistant when' she witnesses the suicide of Jeremy Lewis, the son of her boss Arthur Lewis. He believes that The Unity Project is what ultimately killed him and this leads Lo down a road where she and The Project become entwined more deeper than she could have ever imagined.

Her search for her sister evolves into a story of how certain groups, or cults, pull people into their spaces and create situations that make it almost impossible to leave, physically and psychologically. Summers demonstrates how the most lonely, vulnerable and discarded are the most susceptible to the manipulations of charismatic and abusive figures. Through Bea's point of view the reader understands how beautiful the calling of loving community can be and how destructive it can be when it all falls apart.

Ultimately, it is The Unity Project that drives the sisters apart and brings them back together in unexpected ways. While not as emotionally heartbreaking as Sadie, The Project still carries the emotional weight to devastate.