Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

14 reviews

tinkithesquirelll's review against another edition

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

2.0

Felt like reading a wattpad book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Violence

bookdeviant86's review

dark sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Alcoholism, Grief, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Child death, Violence, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Gore, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Gun violence, Incest, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Medical content

marleens's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

This one was very dark and gruesome and I liked almost everything about it. The only thing that didn’t really work for me was Kaiser’s POV, and I think I would have liked this book better with only Geo’s POV. Honestly, he didn’t add that much, the story wouldn’t have had to suffer much for it. But overall some excellent dark fiction!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Vomit, Gore, and Child death

Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

juliaclark's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Murder, Rape, Emotional abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

starklinqs's review against another edition

3.0

It’s not a bad book at all, but I was very unprepared for how rough this book was going to be. It felt a bit like tragedy/trauma porn for me and there were a lot of sexual assault/rape scenes that were a lot to get through. I also didn’t love the final act; it felt kind of far fetched and just wasn’t for me. 

Again, not a bad or poorly written book which is why I’ve given it a 3 but honestly personal enjoyment wise it was a 2 for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Pedophilia

jolikestoread's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, Fatphobia, Addiction, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

katybugggg's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Bullying, Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Gaslighting, Blood, Body shaming, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Car accident, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Abandonment

neverlandpages4's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

You know you’ve read a good book when it makes you immediately look for more books by the same author and has you contemplating on breaking your book buying ban. It’s been a while since I’ve read a good thriller, and I absolutely loved this. 

I’ve been seeing this all over bookstagram & booktube and every single review of it had either been 4 or 5 stars, so naturally, I had high hopes and I was not let down!! 

I read this when I was in a really bad slump and it got me out of it instantly. It’s gripping from the first few pages alone, and the suspense only escalates as you go on.

I absolutely loved the writing and it’s made me want to read this author’s entire backlist. There’s just something so easy and relatable about it. And despite it being told in third person, I still felt like I was a part of the story and I loved the narration. We mostly follow Geo, save for a few chapters following Kaiser which added more to the story. 

I also loved how balanced the past and present POVs were. It wasn’t repetitive and it didn’t drag on just for the sake of building suspense, both present and past chapters were really intriguing. 

This had everything I love in a thriller; good writing, suspense, lots of mystery, shocking and unexpected twists and turns, and unpredictable outcomes.

It was also a lot more graphic than I expected. I kind of put the book down for a while when I first started it because it made me really uncomfortable. So definitely check trigger warnings if you’re reading it. 

I rated it a 4 even though I absolutely loved this book because of last 100 pages. After the big reveal, it wasn’t as action-packed and thrilling as the rest of the book. Some things also seemed a bit ridiculous. Some of the smaller twists were easy to guess because they were foreshadowed. I had higher hopes for the ending but this was still one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Abandonment, Abortion, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gore, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia and Alcoholism

chronicreader96's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

What a wild ride this book was! 

Jar of Hearts tells the story of three high school friends. Angela disappeared at sixteen, Geo knows the truth about what happened, and Kaiser (now a detective) works to find out the truth. But, will the secrets Geo shares with her first love, Calvin, come to the surface?

This was one rollercoaster of a book! It actually managed to truly shock me during the first half. I had to put the book down to really wrap my head around what was going on. Although I found the second half a bit more predictable it was still able to surprise me a bit too! I loved that it used multiple POV’s and jumped back and forth between the present day and the past, it didn’t take me long to catch up with what timeline or perspective was being used. I particularly liked the scenes within the prison, they felt so vivid and really came to life. 

As a warning, this book got dark very quickly. During one scene I felt really nauseous, I can honestly say I’ve never read a book that mentioned this topic before and it was a tough one to take in. Please be very cautious of trigger warnings with this book. Not a single character was particularly likeable, all of them are deeply flawed. Which gave me a detached feeling, but I still found the story absolutely riveting and did not want to stop reading. I actually really liked some of the subtle messages thrown into this book too. It has definitely left me wanting to read more by this author! 

I would recommend this to fans of dark thrillers, but please be extremely cautious of potential triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Abortion, Rape, Child death, Incest, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

lindavs22's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual content, Cursing, Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, Confinement, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Vomit, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Car accident, Child abuse, Abortion, Blood, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts