Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Project by Courtney Summers

54 reviews

lou_o_donnell's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Car accident, Suicide, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Confinement, Grief, Gaslighting, and Fire/Fire injury

lilacs's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Courtney Summers may be one of my favourite authors, but she can also be kind of hit-or-miss. I was all but ready to abandon this book half way through, bored out of my mind, but because it was Courtney I kept reading. It's actually a shame that the book gets good near the end, because it makes you think of what it could have been all the way through. In the end I'm glad I made it to the climax but I am also disappointed because I know that the author is capable of much more, and she's always showing it in her worst books even (here, and Fall for Anything) but sometimes just fails to take it all the way home.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Car accident

rhguerrero's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Miscarriage and Infidelity

sunsetcity's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, and Toxic relationship

melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Told from dual-POVs and dual-timelines, this story explores what happened to two sisters after one was in a tragic accident that killed her parents, and the other joined the mysterious religious group, the Unity Project.

This was a very high-intensity thriller.  This deals with some really tricky subjects, and does a good job expressing the feelings of loss, grief, and loneliness that are preyed upon by Lev and his cult. Though I can't really say I liked the characters, I did enjoy reading about them, and I was on the metaphorical edge of my seat while racing through this book! I really enjoyed the way this ended, as well.   I'm definitely scoping out this author's other books to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy

bookish_owl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Confinement, and Car accident

Minor: Death of parent

rotatinglibrary's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Grief, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

RELIGION

princessgonchar's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

There's a point at the end of the novel where Lo says

"I was barely there" in response to the cult to which I respond "yeah! you were BARELY there!"

I'm frustrated by this book because there were so many ways that this book could have gone, and this was the least exciting version of the book. Some examples:

- The story told entirely from Bea's perspective/someone else from within the cult
- Lo trusting the cult at least a little in the beginning
- Lo never trusting the cult at all
- Some of Lo's "enemies"

specifically Paul and Lauren

having more to do with the whole story (wouldn't that have been so cool???)

Etc. etc. I just feel like the story was very bland,

Lo fell for the cult out of practically nowhere

, and none of the things that I think we're supposed to be surprising were actually surprising. It just could have done so much more and been so much more surprising.

It's not terrible; I'm just disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Murder, Kidnapping, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

hestapleton's review

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SADIE gripped me and wrecked me and Summers’s latest followed in the same vein. I’m a sucker for a good cult story and I love how well Summers can put together a believable and yet, unresolved, ending. She’s officially an auto buy author for me. I can’t remember the last time I devoured a book like this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #netgalley

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Torture, Suicide, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Car accident, and Blood

travelseatsreads's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I really enjoyed reading Sadie so was looking forward to this. Also the idea of cults and how they operate is always something that intrigues me. This was a mixed bag for me. The beginning and ending were nicely paced but I found the middle dragged somewhat and took me a bit longer to get through. 
I enjoyed the change of POV from Lo to Bea and also the change in timeline kept it interesting however a few aspects of the story line did fall a bit short and were almost predictable. 
Overall, it was an enjoyable read but didn't set my world alight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Torture, and Toxic relationship