I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Color Project by Sierra Abrams
Genres: Contemporary (YA), Romance (YA)
Pages: 464
Goodreads
Bernice Aurora Wescott has one thing she doesn't want anyone to know: her name. That is, until Bee meets Levi, the local golden boy who runs a charity organization called The Color Project.
Levi is not at all shy about attempting to guess Bee’s real name; his persistence is one of the many reasons why Bee falls for him. But while Levi is everything she never knew she needed, giving up her name would feel like a stamp on forever. And that terrifies her.
When unexpected news of an illness in the family drains Bee's summer of everything bright, she is pushed to the breaking point. Losing herself in The Color Project—a world of weddings, funerals, cancer patients, and hopeful families that the charity funds—is no longer enough. Bee must hold up the weight of her family, but to do that, she needs Levi. She’ll have to give up her name and let him in completely or lose the best thing that’s ever happened to her.
For fans of Stephanie Perkins and Morgan Matson, THE COLOR PROJECT is a story about the three great loves of life—family, friendship, and romance—and the bonds that withstand tragedy.
This book is adorable and swoon-worthy with aspects I enjoyed and some that I didn’t but one thing is for sure, it will hit you in the feels.
The story follows Bee. She’s not my favorite main character. It’s not that she’s a bad one, I just did not understand a lot of her motives. Most of the novel is spent reading about Bee’s thoughts on Levi and how amazing Levi is that when it comes time for the tension or major plot point, I was left a little confused on why she felt like that. I can’t give too much away because of spoilers. The best way to explain it is that I don’t feel like Bee’s internal struggles were developed enough to convince me of her major conflicts later on in the story.
However, I did enjoy the other characters and how healthy all the relationships are. Bee is surrounded by a lot of amazing secondary characters. She has a perfect relationship with her family, her best friend is the kind every girl should have – supportive, understanding, and encouraging – she gets along with her boss, and literally everyone else (I think there was one person she didn’t like and was only present for a few pages, if that). They’re almost too perfect, but I didn’t mind that.
The romance was also a major positive. It’s a very healthy YA romance and Levi is one of the calmest and understanding love interests I’ve ever read in YA contemporary. Even when something is supposed to be ‘wrong’, he’s still calm and listens. I appreciate that so much for a YA novel – Abrams didn’t create this sulking bad boy that the MC maybe shouldn’t be talking to, instead, it’s a slow-burn, healthy, and admirable relationship.
The story itself takes a little longer to develop. The majority of the novel is spent developing their relationship before it gets to any major climax. While I do think it could have been shortened in the first half, the pacing wasn’t a bother since the romance was actually really well written. Also, when it does get to the main point of the story, it will definitely hit you in the feels (and maybe make you cry, fair warning).
Overall, I enjoyed The Color Project. While I wanted more character development of Bee, it was a great read especially if you want a romance. It’s cute, but also has emotion to it. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a healthy, clean, YA romance but can tolerate a sort of confusing main character.
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| Overall: | 3.5 / 5 |
12 Comments
I send my review few days ago and I agree! I loved this book <3
Plus Levi is just pure perfection!
Yay! Glad you liked it 🙂
Because of the pretty cover and title, I’m curious about this one! But haven’t picked it up. Love the way it sounds though, so I’ll have to add it to my Amazon list. 🙂
Hope you like it if you get a chance to read it!
I’d not heard of this book and it sounds a little angsty but it also sounds good. Bee sounds like a character I will either love or feel totally disconnected from but the premise is solid and I do love me a contemporary read. I will have to add to my TBR. Great review.
It is a little angsty. There is a good tension towards the end, but most of the beginning is teen angst and young love haha. Also, yeah, you’ll either love her or hate her. I wasn’t her biggest fan, but she wasn’t terrible.
I’m looking forward to giving this a go. Nice review!
Thanks! I hope you like it 🙂
Nice review! I’ve been looking for a good, healthy romance to read so this is definitely adding this to my list!
I hope you enjoy it if you get to read it!
Hi Molly! I’m so glad that I can FINALLY comment on this post – I seemed to have trouble to a couple of days ago so I saved it up. ANYWAY, I’m really happy to hear you enjoyed this book. I got lucky enough to read it early as well and I loved it so much – even more than you did. I’m sorry to hear you had some issues with it, especially with Bea, though. I think that Sierra is a promising writer though and I’ll be looking forward to more from her 🙂
Lovely review 🙂
Yes, I’ll definitely be reading her future novels. I liked her writing and the story was super cute. Just a few issues with the MC, but that’s okay 🙂 That’s all subjective anyways.