Thank you to Wednesday Books for sharing a copy in exchange for my honest review.
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. 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 leader, Lev Warren and as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members 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. Wednesday Books is killing it this year! I feel so blessed, as a blogger, to get to read 2021's biggest releases before they're out to the world. It's so thrilling for me to get to scream about these wonderful novels and have mine be one of few voices in the air. Among these books is Courtney Summers' newest release, The Project. This book is so twisty and filled with intense revelations as Lo investigates The Unity Project. Summers weaves in two timelines, so that we see Bea and Lo's relationships with Lev and The Project unfold in real time. Nothing about this book is predictable, and I read it over a feverish two days in an attempt to live inside the magic forever. The real core to The Project is how it made me, as a reader, honestly question the objective truth I thought I knew going in. By the middle of the book, I wasn't sure if The Unity Project qualified as a cult or not, despite the book overtly being about that. Your awareness of truth and lies, manipulation and earnest helpfulness gets challenged at every turn. This book messes with you, but also offers real characters to ground yourself throughout it. Lo has been dealt one of the worst hands in life. Orphaned by a car accident, abandoned by her sister, and working what she views as a dead-end job at a magazine, but she's still searching for meaning (and for Bea). She carries this story with how she engages with her community and the loss of her sister so actively. As much as The Project holds cult intrigue, it's also about grief and how we deal with being left behind. If you've read Sadie, you know sisterhood is a big theme in Summers' work, and that continues in The Project. Bea isn't in Lo's world, but we get to know her through the alternate timeline. Both of them have such complicated feelings about each other and the meaning of family. I was aching for them to get to see each other again, even though it seems like the whole universe was conspiring against that. Even through all the missed chances, pain, and sorrow, Lo and Bea clearly still love each other, which honestly just makes some of the stuff that happens to them all the more tragic. I don't want to spoil this book for you! Or turn you against it. I guess... if you like getting your heart ripped to shreds (as many readers do) then The Project is for you! I'd recommend The Project to any thriller/mystery fan, especially if you liked Summers' previous novels. 4.5/5 stars
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The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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