ARC Review: The Project by Courtney Summers

Title: The Project

Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: Wednesday Books

Rating: 5/5 Stars
Hardcover, 352 Pages
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021

Summary: "The Unity Project saved my life." Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there's more to the group than meets the eye. She's spent the last six years of her life trying--and failing--to prove it. "The Unity Project murdered my son." When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its charismatic and mysterious leader, Lev Warren, he proposes a deal: if she can prove the worst of her suspicions about The Unity Project, she may expose them. If she can't, she must finally leave them alone. But as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members, and spends more time with Lev, it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her--to the point she can no longer tell what's real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren . . . but now she doesn't know if she can afford not to. Welcome to The Unity Project.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of THE PROJECT in exchange for an honest review, and I'm so glad that I did, because I absolutely was hooked on this book and couldn't put it down. I read SADIE a few years ago, and it was one of the best thrillers I've ever picked up, with so many twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. (You can read my review by clicking here!) I was expecting just as amazing of a book when I picked up THE PROJECT, and that was absolutely what was delivered. So without further ado, let's get into my review!

As the summary explains, Lo comes to after a violent car accident that kills her parents, and she finds out that the last member of her family -- her older sister, Bea -- has run off to join The Unity Project, which is believed to be a cult. Years later, it's been forever since she's heard from Bea, and all she wants is her sister back. Plus, The Unity Project is making waves in the media for some mysterious deaths and practices, all of which they deny, but Lo knows something is up, and she's determined to prove it. No matter what it takes.

I absolutely loved this book! I read over 100 pages in a single sitting because I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. The timeline was a bit confusing to get used to at first, since it jumps around a little bit, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly and then I was so hooked that I couldn't put the book down. I ended up nearly skipping dinner because I wanted to know what Lev Warren and Lo and Casey and Bea were up to -- and watching the story unfold, with all of its shocking plot twists, kept me on. the edge of my seat the entire time.

I am also super fascinated with cults and how they begin, especially since I have always been curious about what makes people join them -- and stay in them -- even when the signs are glaring right there. Lo sees this from the very beginning and is so desperate to show The Unity Project's true colors, but it seems like the public is so enamored by all of their charity work and all of Lev Warren's words that Lo feels isolated and alone in having something against them. But through it all, she's determined to prove it. And above all, she's determined to find her sister. And what she gets up to in order to find the truth will truly blow your mind, that's for sure.

(MAJOR spoilers in this paragraph, so please skip to the next paragraph to avoid them!) The ending of this book absolutely blew me away as well, just like it did with SADIE. I thought things were up with Lo's brakes failing, and when Lev slowly starts to disarm her and she even ends up wanting to join The Project, I was getting major bad vibes and I knew that things were heading south. I didn't trust Lev from the start, especially since as a reader we get to see both how Lev treated Bea and how he treated Lo, and how some of the things that he said and did were exactly the same. Definitely the attitude of a cult leader. And the fact that they did what they did to Bea...I had a bad feeling that something like that happened to her, but it was a gut punch to see it happen on the page. 

But even though I was emotionally gutted, I still loved every second of reading this book.

Overall, I absolutely loved reading THE PROJECT and I would 100% recommend it to anyone looking for another great thriller read to keep them hooked and staying up reading through all hours of the night. Courtney Summers displayed her expert writing skills yet again with this incredible story. I'll definitely be talking about it for a long time!