Wow, this was so good. This is my second book by Courtney Summers (I gave three stars to Sadie) and I have to say I loved this one.

I ended up caring so much for these two sisters who after a tragic car accident, lost both of their parents. Lo is in the hospital, dying when a man shows up. His name is Lev and when Bea is at the bottom, he comes in and brings Lo back from the dead... at least that's what Bea believes. She quickly gets wrapped up in The Project. Some people thinks it's a cult, others thinks it's the best thing that ever happened to them. After years of not being able to hear from her sister, Lo is determined to find out the truth.

Overall, this was a really solid read. I feel like the first half of the book was slower-paced but the second half made up for it and you couldn't have taken my kindle out of my hands even if you tried. Now I can't wait to read more from this author and see what she publishes next!


(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

This fast-paced thriller pulls the reader along through various twists and turns as the protagonist, Lo, goes on a quest to find her sister and expose the cult she was a part of.

I thought that the depiction of the relationship between the sisters was the strongest part of the book, the author conveying the intense feelings of love, protectiveness, and resentment that can all co-exist. The intensity of Lev's presence comes across vividly, making him into a convincingly unnerving character. Lo is a difficult character to root for, particularly as we see Bea's point of view and reasons for acting why she did, but she's not meant to be likeable.

The plot is surprising at moments, with some twists at the end I did not anticipate. I found some developments in Lo's character very sudden and not too convincing. Although this book wasn't quite to my taste, I think that fans of thrillers involving cults and twisted dynamics will enjoy it.

There are so many aspects I enjoyed about THE PROJECT: from its complicated sibling relationship, to how cults groom people who are lost, how people can rationalize their abuser’s behavior, and so much more.

3.5/5 stars

If you don’t like slow books with atmospheric horror then you probably won’t like THE PROJECT.

While I enjoyed the writing style and liked how we saw Lo’s mental health begin to spiral to the point where she was perfect to groom for a cult, all in all no part of the plot surprised me. I guessed every single major plot point and probably 95% of the minor ones too. Do I just know too much about cults? Is that why nothing of the book shocked me?

This book has so many well written lines especially around Lo’s identity: What it’s like to have something horrible define you. What it’s like to have memory gaps. Who are you if you don’t remember, cant be remembered?

All in all I enjoyed the book. I loved the “dual” perspective/timeline. We follow Lo present day and Bea in the past joining The Project. I have no idea why the book is spliced into five parts though when we jumped over timelines and POVs with no true ‘chapters’...if there were thematic changes between the five parts I couldn’t tell 😅

I enjoyed the book but overall found it to be slow and predictable. The writing style and atmospheric horror made up for it though!

Recommend to people who like books with cults, atmospheric horror, psychological horror, dual trauma, and character driven works!

(Not going to lie I actually teared up on the very last page.)

Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings: suicide, recollections of parental abuse, car accident, parental death, grooming, cults, mentions of self-harm, allusions to sexual abuse by father, panic attack, memory gaps, branding, mereky consent stuff, eugenic-y thoughts by certain characters, gaslighting, physical abuse, violence

closer to 3.5

This was my first Courtney Summers and wow. The Project is a story about two sisters who get involved with a questionable group which changes both of their lives.

What I adored about this book is how much Summers captivates you. From the beginning, you know something is up with The Project but they remain out of the public eye. Lo is a young journalist trying to connect with her sister while also trying to bring to light the horror of The Project.

We are told the story through both Bea and Lo's eyes.

Overall, I found this to be a really fun book. I mean, as fun as a book about trauma & cults can be.

5 blown away stars.

Courtney Summers has done it again with The Project, and I feel so lucky to have been able to read this early. This book was phenomenal! Seriously a must read

After their parents death, Be a left her sister Lo to join The Unity Project. While the Project markets itself as charitable, Lo knows there is more to the story. Her boss won’t let her write for the company, so Lo takes things into her own hands while also trying to reconnect with her sister.

Unpopular opinion alert. I really enjoyed Sadie so I was stoked to start reading this book! I’ve read and enjoyed books about cults before but this one just did not do it for me. Way too much God talk throughout the entire book. I know that shouldn’t be a surprise being that it’s a book about a cult but it was too much for me. I also just didn’t buy into Lo and everything she went through in this book. I don’t want to give anything away, but the second half had me questioning who this character even was compared to the Lo from the first half. There is no doubt that Summers is an amazingly talented writer, and I look forward to what she writes in the future, unfortunatly this one just didn’t work for me.

I love the premise of this book, and Summers crafts quite the cult. But the slow burn is a little too slow this time and then everything amps up by 1000 towards the end. While the events of the conclusion are satisfying they seemed VERY abrupt. I definitely wanted more. Still, I was interested throughout and the time shifts were an effective way to tell the story.

This book was a bit of an emotional filled rollercoaster.

Trauma is not something easy to deal with. This book starts with a traumatic experience and continues to have the such experiences continue throughout the book. All the trauma is with cause and reason, it is not just there to fill space or add shock.

What is a cult? What makes a cult member join? What makes them stay and believe even after bad things happen?

This book offers a view on the answers to all those questions and more.

I love everything I’ve read by Courtney Summers. While The Project was certainly different than her other stories, it was compelling and fascinating. Some parts were tedious and a bit predictable, but overall it was a great read!

I had to read the blurb. Rarely do I do that until I've turned the final page of a book, but at about the 10% mark of "The Project" I found myself needing a roadmap for the narrative I was trying to navigate.

In short, this is a story about a (very) young woman trying to investigate and expose an alleged cult called The Unity Project that has alienated her from her older sister. Is it truly just an organization that brings lost souls together to help the greater humanity through charitable works, or is there something more sinister behind the intent of its founder?

As luck would have it, our main character, Lo, has landed herself a job as an assistant at an online magazine ("SVO"). About a year into her role, she's insulted that her boss won't yet allow her to do her own investigative story. And herein lies one of my primary problems. I just didn't like her, and I'm pretty sure readers are supposed to. To me Lo came across as whiny and entitled, rather than ambitious and sympathetic. After she does some moonlighting to dig into The Project, she laments, "Between this and SVO, it feels like I never get a day off." Uh yeah, paying your dues comes at a cost. This is just one example, and it could be a generational issue. As a more (cough, cough) mature reader, my dues have looooonnnnng since been paid. YA readers who are still young adults themselves may cheer her on for her defiant drive.

Beyond a lack of connection with Lo, I never could grab hold of the storyline after we got off to such a rocky and confused start. I felt like I was the claw in one of those toy-grabbing arcade machines, trying to latch on to anything that would pull me into the story. The jumping around from present to past through different perspectives didn't help, although that non-linear technique is quite common. I just don't think it worked here. I didn't want to pick the book back up after I'd stepped away from it, and I lost interest in the plot's resolution.

I went into The Project rooting for its success. That striking cover! This young phenom author! Despite my tepid experience with this release, I won't be surprised if my point of view is an unpopular one. It just wasn't the book for me.

“Having a sister is a promise no one but the two of you can make--and no one but the two of you can break.”

Lo Denham has had a miserable life since her parents were killed in a car accident and, although she survived, she still has the scars. Then her sister, Bea, leaves her in the care of their Aunt, and joins what Lo believes is a cult, The Unity Project, headed up by charismatic leader Lev, with a fascinating backstory of his own. The story goes back and forth between time periods, and we find Lo working for a newspaper, where she decides to investigate the Unity Project with the hope that she can get Bea out and back with her. It is a well-researched story of cults and examines the way people are attracted to its principles. This group does a lot for the community, can they really be a cult?? As Lo starts looking into it, she also gets drawn in by Lev and his young daughter Emmy. The characters in this novel are so well-written, you will swear you know them all! I was up late into the evening finishing this one. I recommend this book highly!

A powerful story of grief and belief, of family and the extent we can go to in our loss to believe in something that isn't love but promises it. Lo and Bea are strong and interesting characters. Though very different the author makes both of their paths seem not just believable but realistic and understandable.

After reading Sadie, I had very high expectations for this book. The pacing was a bit slow at first, but when the story started to really unfold, it was very engrossing. The characters feel real and though it's easy to understand their motives, it's occasionally difficult as an outsider to watch them make their choices. Just like Sadie, this is not a happy book, but it is a worthwhile emotional journey.

VERY unpopular opinion here but I DNF’d this one at 50%, and it was quite an effort just getting there. I read Sadie by Courtney Summers last year and I really liked it. And that COVER. 😍 I had high hopes for this one.

This book centers around two sisters, one of which is in a cult called The Unity Project. I read 50% of this book and I still didn’t really know the sisters, Lo and Bea. The author merely skims the surface of their characters so much so that I has no attachment to them or desire to continue with their story. By the halfway point I still didn’t know much about the cult, or its members, either. Nothing. Was. Happening. This one, unfortunately, was just too slow for me.

Thank you to @netgalley for the complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review. Publication date February 2, 2021.

I love the two C’s: Courtney and Cults. After catching wind of Courtney Summer’s Sadie, I knew I had to take a ride into the world of cults she created. Therefore, I requested this book and read it many, many months before its official release date. And I regret nothing! Except the fact I didn’t write this review when it was fresh in the top of my dome. So I am keeping this short and sweet.

Cult stories are sadly and eerily familiar. Summer’s clearly recognized this before writing this novel because she does something that I’ve not experienced before. On the many journey’s that I’ve been on, I’ve not witnessed a character make such a transition. We begin this story with our narrator vehemently hating The Unity Project for taking her sister. But it all changes. And oddly, it was magic in a perverse way. I loved getting insight into how a mind set against certain groups and thinking can alter so drastically. This is what made the story so unique.

Additionally, I like dark stories. And Summer’s does nothing but deliver dark, broken, sad, and tragic telling’s. But I am here for it. Keep bringing on the doom girl. It is working for you.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the read. This story very well might trump Sadie.

Man, I’m still emotional from reading this. Courtney Summers does it again, somehow!!

I fell in love with Lo and Bea and I’m so sad to say goodbye to them. This was a quick read, like way too quick and I enjoyed all of it. It really took me on a ride. Whenever I thought I was sure of something, it turned out I was wrong and then wrong again. It really made me question what I thought I knew about myself and faith.

This book was a serious mind-twister, start to finish! The jumping back and forth between years confused me at first, but then about a third in, made perfect sense. It’s a helluva ride, and I was definitely here for it! Lev seemed so real that I could imagine him all over the newspapers. I could easily imagine being friends with Lo and wondering if Bea was really in the trouble that it seemed. I wasn’t sure about this story at first, but the best advice I’ve ever gotten as a reader came from my very favorite author, Stephen King. He stated that a book is like a hand pump for a well, you have to prime it to get the water out. A sleeper of a story is the exact same. This was a sleeper and blew my mind in the greatest way! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my free arc in exchange for my honest opinion. I love it and highly recommend!

My biggest complaint with this book is that the transitions were hard to follow. There were a few times where I wasn't sure which character was narrating and I had to keep figuring out the timeline when it jumped years.


Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having recently watched the HBO documentary series on NXIVM, this story felt familiar. The author did a good job of presenting the story in such a way that the reader is able to understand how a "normal" intelligent person could unwittingly become part of a cult. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC for review.

This was my first Courtney Summers book so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised! Her writing in this book is very well crafted and you can tell that every thought and detail is put in the right place. I was impressed that this book kept me guessing and I enjoyed how the mystery unfolded which you get to dive into with the main character Lo.

The most impressive thing to me about this book is that, while the premise of this book is about a supposed cult, The Unity Project, through Lo Denham’s personal investigation, you suddenly find yourself questioning the premise of this whole group, I completely expected to go into this book with it being blatantly clear that this was a not a good group of people, and yet I kept wondering what if these people were telling the truth and we’re trying to do good in the world? While I will admit, I felt like I caught on to the suspicious behavior way faster than Lo, I felt for her and her struggles of wanting to have a found family in the way she thought her sister had with these people. This became obvious to me as she felt as though she wasn’t being fully appreciated at her job and after seeing something she doesn’t want to, she tries to find that appreciation and self-worth somewhere else, with The Unity Project.

Like any good thriller book, things pick up pace towards the end of the story and I just kept turning the pages as fast as my heartbeat was racing. I typically enjoy mystery/thriller books and thus was no exception. The puzzle of a world Courtney Summers builds is masterful and this book will take you for a ride. I would recommend this to any muster/thriller lover who is looking for something that will put questions into their minds.