meghin's reviews
107 reviews

This book was so good! I was expecting it to be perfectly acceptable, but I really enjoyed it and went through it a lot quicker than I thought I would. Perfect for spooky season. I solved the mystery ahead of time but that didn't make me want to stop reading - even though I knew what was going on I was still excited to see it through to the end which is rare for me. 

So we all know that this book didn't need to exist, that it's mostly here to bridge the gap between the book universe and the movie/Victor universe, but Becky's wonderful for giving her entire advance to The Trevor Project so who am I to complain?

Also, please remember these characters are 18/19 and with adult glasses on you can see some relationship red flags for sure but idk, when I was 18/19 it felt exactly like this. 

I did not expect this book. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC, sorry it took me forever to review!

I don't even really know what to say here except that this is like... The most casually diverse book I've ever read. I also went into it like "fun middle grade!" and like the last 50 pages had me DISTRESSED. I wish there had been an adult to tell me all of the things that Hazel gets told in this book. There's no right or wrong way to be a person and you are valid. I bought this for my collection at the library and I'll definitely be heavily pushing it on 6-8th graders. 

This was... an absolutely wild ride. I have a hard time believing that it's 100% exactly what happened but also I can believe that it's 100% exactly how she remembers it happening - the brain is wild. If anyone were to ask me what the definition of gaslighting is I would simply present them with this book. Saying I enjoyed this book would be incorrect since I spent most of it screaming in horror, but it was definitely engaging and I get why it's so popular.

Also the part about a major essential oil company trying to buy out her mom? Young Living is shaking. 

This book was fine. The writing was good but the book just wasn't for me. While I had never read a book set in the 1950s south that was about white Christian people being shitty to groups other than Black people, I kind of kept forgetting that that's what the book was supposed to be focused on. Ruth was so good at pretending that was wasn't Jewish that I kept forgetting she was, whoops. The first 80% of the book felt like it was mostly just her running around looking at pretty dresses with her new friends and trying to impress her boring white bread boyfriend and disappointing her mother and nothing much was really happening. I would have much rather read about her mother as a teen leaving this world and discovering what life is like outside of debutante balls and sweet tea and falling in love with a Jewish man who probably challenged her world view pretty severely when she met him.

I did really like the last ~20%, but there was so little time left in the book after The Big Event that I didn't feel satisfied. I would have liked The Big Event to happen earlier and to have the chance to see more of how it influenced Ruth's life choices.

I would read this author again, because like I said the writing was good, but, to dip into my profession's lingo, I would classify the book itself as "an additional purchase". 

what a fucking nightmare (/pos).

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC and unexpected trauma!

Every book Courtney Summers writes is more horrifying than the last one, and I mean that in a positive way. The Project gives you a deeply unsettled feeling right from the start and you can't quite figure out why until about half way though the book when Events Happen. The first half was honestly a bit slow for me, and if I hadn't had wonderful experiences with the author in the past I might have even DNFed it because of how slow the build was, but the unease that's built up through Lo's POV and drive to get her sister back is needed and you're repaid for your patience in the second half.

If you'll excuse me I need to go cut off all of my skin to get away from the feeling this book left me with.