Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Project by Courtney Summers

24 reviews

morganperks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide, Grief, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Blood, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Rape

lisacanteven's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

This is my first Courtney Summers book. I know a lot of people read Sadie before and this book did not measure up. For me, I do not have that book to compare to. I still was left wanting so much more from this book that she gave us. I felt as if so much happened off the pages that we were hardly given enough of the story for it to make its impact. I've never read a book that left so much unsaid before, and let me say that I did not like that at all. 

The cult vibes were great though, so I rated it higher than I would have normally I think. I wanted a cult book, and I got one. It was pretty predictable the whole time, even without as much context as we deserved as readers. I didn't love it, but I didn't dislike it as much as I was expecting based on other reviews. I'm not sure I would read another book by this author though.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

lilythebibliophile's review

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-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? Yes

1.5

This book ended up being nothing like I expected. I find cults fascinating, and I enjoyed Sadie, so I thought this book would be right up my alley. Instead it was simply boring. 

A majority of the book is conversations between several people. One of them is constantly preaching, which just ended up being annoying after awhile. The multiple timeline ended up not giving as much insight as I hoped either, so it just never really felt like anything was happening. Lo, the sister trying to find the one who joined the cult, goes to the Unity Project, yells at someone, goes to work, and repeat. That's it, that's the book. 

I thought there would be some surprise, or intrigue, but it just ended up being a stereotypical cult story. The climax of the story even happens off screen, and since the MC doesn't even know what happened we never get any answers. Unfortunately for me there weren't any likable characters to make up for the plot either, so this one is a disappointment in the end.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy and Murder

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

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

noelanig'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Car accident

Minor: Suicide