The Project, Annie Lord (Review by Stacey Lorenson)

Rating: 3.0/5 Stars

In this contemporary fiction novel, twenty-six-year-old Daisy is struggling with transitioning from the frivolity of college to adulthood. After psychoanalyzing the pitfalls of loneliness, trust issues, and broken heart syndrome with her best friend Maya, the two devise a plan to rehabilitate one man and rerelease him back to the dating quagmire, endowed with skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the next woman he dates. What could go wrong?

Daisy’s world revolves around her job, and a close group of university friends. She has an internal riot of insecurities that translates to a fatalistic mentality she applies to the smallest blunders. Imposter syndrome is depleting the quality of her life. Maya is Daisy’s emotional support person, who slow-walks Daisy through all her traumatic liaisons while simultaneously prepping her, like a boxing manager, for the next round of romantic disappointments. James is friends with both girls. He has a reputation as a perpetual fool and womanizer, but Daisy and Maya agree, he has potential.

The Project is a microscopic view of Gen Z and their challenges in attaining authentic connection in the age of pretense, filters, and influencers. The author makes astute observations on current dating culture and the complexities in sexual connections. Lord examines a wide range of issues: double standards, defining consent, intimacy scarcity, unresolved childhood trauma, and a desperate need to be distinguished from the herd as a valid individual.

This novel made me grateful I’m no longer dating. Dating has always been an avalanche of romantic idealism, complicated by naivete and an unhealthy dose of narcissism. Gen Z appears to face some added obstacles to the existing dating hellscape. Daisy is up for the challenge and learns some valuable lessons about herself in her journey towards emotional maturity.