Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Project

Dark, unsettling. As with all her novels, Summer is great at making you feel like you’re with the narrator in the story. Felt sick at certain points in the novel because of the abuse. The main con about this book is that it’s so far, the most predictable one she’s written in terms of plot—not much suspense or mystery; everything happens exactly how you’d predict.

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kbergsten's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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gbyd's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

2.0

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maiagaia's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I loved the relationship between the sisters. It was complicated, and I think it really captured the tensions that can arise when you feel you have to choose between helping someone you love and helping yourself. I felt for Bea because she was so young and so emotionally traumatized but was expected to be the support system for her even more traumatized younger sister. The author did an excellent job of showing that internal struggle.

The final chapter was absolutely stunning. A total gut punch. Tragic and hopeful at the same time: a deadly combination.

I loved Lo as a character. I understood her. I got where she was coming from. Until I didn't. To be more specific, once Lo starts palling around with the cult, I intellectually understood what the author was trying to do, but I don't think the execution was successful. Lo went from being supremely distrustful of every member to trusting them so quickly it gave me whiplash. It started out as the members slowly wearing her down and winning her over and then BLAM she's convinced her sister was a manipulative liar the whole time. The groundwork was there for another 50 or so pages of her struggling with herself and
being manipulated into the position she ended up in, but it moved too quickly and ultimately felt cheap and rushed.

The climax was simply not good. I'm not sure if you can even call it deus ex machina because the character doesn't even remember how they got out of their situation. It is textually written off as god intervening? Which I guess means it literally is deus ex machina...... Which is to say: lame. And this is coming from someone who LOVES a Greek tragedy.

Ultimately, I didn't realize this was YA, and I don't think I would have picked it up if I had. I only mention this because I think many of the issues I had could have been fixed by adding more pages and diving more into the characters' internal worlds, neither of which are fair expectations for a YA book, imo. The adult and YA markets have different expectations, and when expectations don't match reality, it's tough for the book to make up that ground.

The audiobook was good. The narrators were distinct enough for me even when I cranked it up to 2x speed for the last quarter or so.

Overall, I enjoyed this read (mostly) and don't regret picking it up. It was a quick listen that I got through in a single work day, so I can't complain.

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melinthestacks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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amandamreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

5.0

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martinaaaa's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

2.0

Sadie is one of my favorite books ever so any book that Courtney Summers publishes will always be put in my to-read list. Sadly, this book was incredibly disappointing, I keep reading it to find some part of the story that would stay with me but it was very forgettable.
I am not one to read about cults, but I knew what i was looking for. None of the characters had the depth that would have made them memorable. Lo was a character who was supposed to be a writer and i was supposed to be a big part of her personality, but it didn’t feel like it had much importance to her. There were some events, like Jeremy’s death, that were not fully explained and it left me so unsatisfied. The whole cult aspect of the story was very two dimensional, and as a reader, i never felt like i sympathized with how the characters were manipulated into being part of it, which is what Courtney wanted by writing this story.

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rheagoveas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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