Love reading about cults so I knew this would be right up my alley! Also ended up being a really gripping story about the bond of sisters and what they will do for each other. There were parts that felt really slow for me the ending was great, overall happy with it!

A little bit of a predictable story, but well written and was able to keep my attention throughout the book.

The Quick Cut: A younger sister looks for her long missing older sister, who left her behind for a religious group thought to be a cult. Drama happens when it turns out to be a much more complex situation than she thought.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Family can be complicated. Although they are the people you don't choose in your life, they are the ones who can have the greatest impact. So what do you do when the only family you have left suddenly abandons you? This is the reality for Lo, in her search for her sister Bea.

After Lo's parents died, her older sister Bea left her to their Aunt and joined the Unity Project. Now that her Aunt is dead, Lol finds herself alone and still trying to contact Bea. The Unity Project claims it's due to her sister wanting no communication with her until she gets an unexpected offer: be given unfettered access to the project in order to write an op-ed. Will she find that what she knows is true? Or will she discover there's far more to the story?

This book is an interesting combination of themes. While the description makes it sound like the focus is on the Unity Project and their status as a cult like organization, it also discusses for a significant portion the relationship between the sisters.

Bea is clearly troubled and running away from her problems, which makes you wonder why Lo feels so strongly that she wants her back. Lo upends her entire life to try to make it happen and it's sad to see that play out.

Lev is the leader of the Unity Project and a bit too predictable. He tries to justify his choices and say it's best for troubled people, but he isn't enigmatic enough to truly make it work. I guess I expected too much of the character going into it.

A story about cults and how it impacts relationships.

My rating: 4 out of 5

After reading and loving Sadie by Courtney Summers, I couldn’t wait to read The Project. This book starts off slow and due to the dual timelines, it was difficult for me to get invested in the story. While the premise of this novel is intriguing (investigating a mysterious cult and its charismatic leader), I found the execution lacking. I wanted to like Lo as a character but I continued to question her actions throughout the novel. Sadly, this one missed the mark for me.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Summers book and I've been hearing about this author for quite some time now - especially re her novel, Sadie (which I have, but haven't read yet like so many other books that will one day kill me ). I'm going to be absolutely candid here - I struggled through the first quarter of this book... but y'all... give me cults and I'M GONNA READ IT.

The first chapter with Bea finding about how she's going to be a big sister to not wanting to have ANYTHING to do with that and then to naming her little sister, Lo.... they have a little bit of a struggle bus of a relationship but like with (most) siblings, are bonded... so when Bea joins The Unity Project and cuts off all communication... well, what's Lo to do when given an opportunity?!

There's some alternate POVs and we go back and forth in time, but I never found any of this confusing and quite liked the way the story unfolded. I was intrigued but this doesn't play like what your typical thriller read would. However, the thriller aspect most definitely is there. It just slowly creeps up on you as you find out more and more and all your little hairs start to stand on end. This contemporary, new adult thriller gives us a bit of a less shocking cult but with so much impact. Is Lev really that intuitive? Hell, for a moment I was even questioning everything.

Look, I was probably still unsure how I felt about this read even at the 75% mark.. yet I coudln't stop reading and then I found my visceral reactions to certain moments towards the end telling me that, "Yep Chandra, you are fully invested." I truly appreciated the little nuances that still kept you going "hmmmm"... stick with this one my fellow readers. Just have some faith. 😉❤

The Project follows Lo as she tries to expose the cult that stole her older sister away from her so many years ago. The Project’s premise is what drew me to the novel. Also, Summer’s writing is always lyrical (i.e. Sadie and All the Rage). Unfortunately, the execution of this intriguing premise and Summer’s writing is lacking.

The Project is slow and boring. For most of the novel, readers are subjected to pages upon pages of religious babble as Lo interviews the leader. These moments are pivotal in a novel like this since readers are supposed feel compelled or, at least, understand why people who fall prey to these types of groups. Unfortunately, these conversations are dull at best. There wasn’t a moment I felt compelled or slight swayed.

The novel thrusts readers into Lo’s life in a way that makes it difficult to keep up. There are flash backs and the perspectives switch making it confusing.

A novel like The Project relies heavily on its main character. Lo is an average woman looking to make something more out of her life. Unfortunately, she didn’t come off as particularly smart or resourceful. Instead, readers watch as she flounders when confronted by the charismatic leaders.

I think The Project would have been a more compelling story had it been told from Lo’s sister’s perspective, Bea. Readers get a glimpse of how she was introduced to The Unity Project at the beginning of the novel and that’s it. Had Summers continued with Bea’s story line, The Project would have been a deeper and darker dive into the cult.

Overall, The Project was a disappointment after how much I loved Sadie. I was expecting The Project to be a darker toned mystery, but, instead it’s a slow moving novel that never really amounts to anything.


I originally rated the novel three stars after completing it, but after having written my review I changed it to two stars.

A warning. Every time you read a Courtney Summers book, a piece of your heart and soul will go with it. What can I say about The Project other than..... it's a Courtney Summers book. It emotionally devastates you. If you enjoy books that do that, well this one is for you. I'm terrible at descriptions so for a summary of the book, read the summary. I will just say that I loved this book and loved (and hated) its characters. Yes I will probably read this book again because I am a glutton for punishment.

Trigger warnings for death, emotional and physical abuse, torture, child abuse.

Holy cow. When I saw that Courtney Summers was publishing a new book, I knew I had to read it. The fact that it explored the relationship between two wayward sisters, one that has been part of a cult for six years and the other who has been left to live on her own after her caretaker died, was the first thing that appealed to me. I love reading about sibling relationships because I am close with my own siblings.
Mystery isn’t my genre of choice, but I thought, why not? I did have one significant disappointment: I guessed what would happen before the “big reveal.” I wanted more of a mystery element. I knew that the culprit was the culprit.
Overall, an excellent book that explores cults and sister relationships in a way I haven’t seen before.
Overall Rating: 4 Stars
TW: suicide, flashback of car crash, death of family members

goddamn it Courtney Summers. I can't even put my feelings and thoughts into words about this book tbh. there's a lot here I could try to unpack, but it's hard because it got personal. let's just say, the author knows how to pluck at the deepest parts of people's hearts and souls and is so good at weaving them into stories that stay with you.

This was an intriguing and engaging book. It was fascinating to see how Lo could be pulled into the Unity Project despite everything she believed. I also liked the chapters from Bea's point of view to give perspective on her story as well. This book did a great job showing how a group like the Unity Project can reel people in. There were a few surprises to the story that I did not expect. Overall, this was well written and engaging. Similar to the other book by Summers that I read, Sadie, this was hard on the emotions. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy.

Having always been interested in cults I was excited to read this book. Even though it didn't approach anything new, at least not in my eyes, it was well written and I did enjoy the story.

This is the second Summers book I read, and I can not say that I am disappointed. The writing style, the storyline, the different povs and timelines, the well-crafted characters all of these elements contribute in the making of a riveting psychological thriller/cult fiction.
Throughout the book, I kept getting Inside The Criminal Mind vibes, which has giving me goosebumps reading it. I felt entranced, hooked, and awed by the author's talent and ability to portrayal such a nuanced and sensitive topic.

Her characterisation is meticulous and multi-dimensional; she sketches her characters perfectly to demonstrate the cult system and its hierarchy. I find Lev 's character fascinating. The strong grip he has on his followers, and the way he brainwashes them into embracing his role as their redeemer and savior, the sadistic tactics he practices to alienate them from their loved ones, and bend their well are all a part of his scheme to break them. He's a predator who seeks vulnerable individuals who are mentally ill or broken. He makes them feel special and loved and creates an enmeshed relationship with them where they become co-dependent on him, and adulate him. Casey, Foster, Bea, in fact, all of his followers are eager for his approval and validation. It's obvious that the writer has done her fair share of research concerning the topic cos Lev's psychological profiling is on point. It goes without saying that he's a classic case of a narcissist/sociopath who manipulates and abuses others emotionally, mentally, and physically to exert power over them.

The author, accurately, portrays such features through his relationship with Bea and Lo (The main characters). He exploits Bea's desperation and pain when her little sister is facing death, convinces her of his "message", and that he saved her from the clutches of death. He then demands that she leaves her past life behind and start anew in The Project where he takes advantage of her sexually and molds her the way he sees fit. As for Lo, He uses her PTSD against her, and pushes her to surrender to his charm and fall for his love bombing act. He appeals to her ego, and makes her feel special cos she's "The Chosen One"; the girl he brought back to life, and everyone in his "family" knows her.

Personally, I am too invested in Lev's character to talk about anything or anyone else, but notably, Summers incorporates sisterhood, motherhood, Family dynamics, trauma and parental abuse, and how it shapes individuals as main themes.

All in all, The project is a books that would keep you on your toes, break your heart, and then make you sigh in relief cos the bad guy got what he deserves.

I was really looking forward to this book, as I loved her book Sadie and I enjoy reading about cults and that mindset. However, I could not get into this book.
The character of Lo is searching for her sister who left to join a cult after their parents died in a car crash which almost killed Lo as well. She works as a receptionist for a magazine and wants to write, so after a chance meeting with someone who knows her and her sister, she begins to investigate the cult.
My problem with the story is that Lo is not a likeable character. In fact the book is filled with unlikeable characters. She is 19 with no job experience and argues with her boss for not letting her write the article for his magazine (she was not hired as a writer, so I never understood why she had such an attitude).
The leader of the cult is an interesting character and you really do wonder throughout the book if he and the cult are good or bad. But there are multiple time jumps and back and forth character perspectives to the point that I would sometimes have to go back and reread sections to find out how was talking.
It was too confusing to really get hooked on the book and the characters kept making me cringe. I am not sure I would recommend this book, and I really don't think I would recommend it to teens.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this eARC.

Whew. If you liked <i>Sadie</i>, I think you will like this one also. This is a fascinating look at the Unity Project, a religious group with a charismatic leader, and two sisters, Bea and Lo, who suffered a tragedy as children and later became involved with this group. Cults are fascinating for a reason, and this cult is no exception.

I will say, I sometimes found the out-of-order storytelling a little choppy and frustrating and the end of this one is very abrupt. I think it could have been paced differently. Those quibbles aside, this was incredibly engaging and interesting, but I think this is a title for older teens or adults because some of the content is genuinely harrowing.

A girl searches for her missing sister who got swept up with a strange organization and soon finds herself falling under the spell of its charasmatic leader. Lo has been estranged from sister, Bea, since their parents' death, when Bea took off with The Unity Project, leaving her with their great-aunt. Bea was pulled into the proportedly charitable organization thanks to its enigmatic leader, Lev Warren. Now Lo is pulled into the Unity Project's range once again thanks to a man claiming his son was killed by them, wanting the magazine she works for to expose them. Lo thinks she can use this as a story to prove her worth at work, so she goes into investigation mode - and is soon seduced by Lev himself. Now that she's in, will she figure out what happened to her sister. Will she be able to get out? Will she want to?

A story of cults and their charismatic leaders, this is a story with an interesting premise. I sometimes had trouble following the rapid POV (and time!) changes, but overall it was a perfectly good way to spend an evening.

I've loved Courtney Summers' work in the past especially Sadie. I may have gone into "The Project" with my expectations way too high because I LOVE CULTS. I did like Bea and Lo a lot and the darkness of their relationship compelling. The book was just missing plot and intruigue in my opinion. It was a little predictable. I enjoyed it, but would be less likely to recommend than Sadie.

Courtney Summers writes beautifully, but something about this didn’t work for me. Where Sadie has a forceful drive to a dreaded end, The Project is achingly slow, forcing you to experience the creeping dread in slow motion. It wasn’t a pleasant read, and it’s not meant to be. Maybe the problem was me - it just wasn’t the thing I wanted to read at the end of 2020.

The characters couldn’t have been teens for the plot to work, but why wasn’t this published/marketed as adult? The protagonists are in their late teens and early twenties. There is some teen appeal for the right reader, but I suspect not enough for me to want to buy for my library collection.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced review copy.

Thank you to Wednesday Books (via NetGalley) for the ARC!

Content warnings: physical abuse (hot water burns, burn with cautery pen), emotional manipulation, death, car accident, murder, drowning, significant age difference in an abusive relationship

Anyone who's read Courtney Summers before knows that her books are going to hurt. The Project is no different.

The Project follows two POVs and two timelines: It begins with Bea as a young girl, upset that she will have to share her parents' affection with a sister that has just been born. The baby sister, Lo, is in the ICU after having been born prematurely. Something their mother says to Bea becomes the thread that follows this story to its conclusion: being a sister is a promise that only Bea and Lo can make, and that only they can break.

We fast-forward to early 2018, when Lo is 19 years old. Her parents have died in a car accident that left Lo fighting for her life at 13, and has now left her with a prominent scar on her face. Her sister Bea has found something called The Unity Project and has seemingly left Lo to her own devices. Lo has an okay job and an apartment of her own, but she's not content just being someone's assistant. She wants to be a journalist. She wants to write about the man who stole her sister from her; Lev Warren is the the man who began The Unity Project and Lo wants to expose him as a cult leader she knows he is, rather than the man of God he claims to be.

The action really begins when Lo sees a young man at the train station. He knows who she is, thought she is sure she's never seen him in her life. And then he jumps in front of an oncoming train and Lo is thrown into the world of The Unity Project, even more desperate to find the sister who has abandoned her.

Though The Unity Project claims it is not a cult, that's exactly what it turns out to be. One of my favorite things about this book is that Summers addresses just how insidious and subtly manipulative cults can be. People on the outside always say things like, oh I would never fall for that. I am smart enough to realize that's a cult and I wouldn't be tricked like that. And that's exactly what Lo thinks at the beginning. She knows it's a cult, but after going in with the idea to write a profile that exposes all the terrible things The Unity Project does, Lo somehow finds herself on Lev's side, believing and defending him. Summers does this masterfully. It's so subtle that you hardly notice it. One moment Lo is arguing with Lev and sure she's going to expose his lies, and the next she is a believer of everything he touts.

Lev Warren is an abusive man. There are small things in his behavior that show this, but neither Bea nor Lo realize it until they are already in his grasp. We see his behavior from both of their perspectives: he makes both of them feel special. He makes them both feel unique and loved and wanted. But seeing that he does the exact same thing to both of them really sheds light on the fact that he is using these young girls for his own motives.

It is not explicitly stated in the context of their relationships, but there is a huge age difference between Lev and both the girls. He is around 33 when he first has sex with an 18-year-old Bea, and he is 38 when Lo, just 19 years old, sleeps with him for the first time (both times it could be argued that he manipulated them into sleeping with him, but I'm not going to delve too deep into that). It is fascinating to see how, when this is seen from the perspective of Bea and Lo, it doesn't seem wrong. They seem to really enjoy their time with Lev and the don't think anything of the age difference. But that is part of Lev's abusive behavior. He is grooming these young girls and manipulating them to believe that he is the only good thing they have in the world. Summers does this really well without ever saying "Lev is abusing these girls and manipulating them." She just shows us what it's like to see that from Bea and Lo's perspectives and leaves the reader to figure out what's actually going on.

The Project is so well-written and affecting. It very deftly illustrates what it's like to be in an abusive relationship and how hard it is to get out once you're in. Summers shows that subtle shift from thinking you're in control of everything to realizing that you have no control at all. She shows how manipulative abusers can be and how they position themselves as the only good thing in your life. I think the fact that Lev thinks he can talk to God is a great metaphor for how an abuser feels in a relationship. Lev is the only one who really knows what God wants, so who are you to question him? The same in an abusive relationship: what right do you have to question the person who loves you more than anything and claims to want only the best for you?

Like Summers' other books, this one is not easy to read. It tackles tough subjects and hurts already-broken characters even more. But it is so worth reading

I am having more revelations about this book as I'm writing this review, and I could go on for a long time, but I think I'll stop here. If you've read this far, definitely check this book out! It releases February 2nd and is definitely worth a pre-order.

This is a story about a girl in search of the truth after a life of confusion.

I enjoyed aspects of this book. The cult was appropriately unsettling, and the hold it had on its members felt authentic and unnerving. The MC was clever and tenacious, and the dual perspectives were well done and didn’t feel blurry the way that mode of story telling sometimes can... but this book just didn’t really come together for me personally. There’s a twist that felt like it came out of nowhere that really took me out of it- so although I liked 70% of the book, I ended feeling so/so. I will definitely read other things by the author!

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley & St, Martin’s Press for this eARC!

I was so excited when I saw this was a Thriller about a cult!

The Project was a slow slow burn and hard to get into because in my e- ARC the story would just abruptly end and then resume and it'd be a different perspective and that was confusing. I assume the finished copy will have a smoother transition, so I'm not taking that into account.

Anyways,I love a story about a sisterly bond that's not perfect (hi, hello I have two sisters) and I found Bea and Lo's relationship very realistic and well written. Weirdly, Lo seemed to undergo a quick personality change towards the end and go against her beliefs that were built up so much in the story...that was strange to me. I did find the end predictable as well.

I liked how the story wasn't 100% focused on the cult, but more about it's impact on Lo's life. I do wish there was even more detail about it though. I didn't like the abrupt change in Lo's personality or the way the story took a bit to get interesting and make sense.

I'm still glad I read this, but I am a little confused still.