Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

65 reviews

cady_sass's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Well, I started this in an attempt to get out of a reading slump and it most definitely did the job. Nearly every twist had my jaw on the floor. This is a tough read, lots of really heavy topics and grisly imagery, but that ending takes the cake. I feel more than a bit torn by the final conclusion, not sure how I feel about it or how I *should* feel. There are some highly problematic assumptions and implications here… i so badly wanted to give this 4 stars but i just CAN’T because of that ending. The story as a whole, though, very well done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, Child death, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Infertility, Infidelity, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Car accident, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

jnl00700's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Child death, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Rape, and Sexual violence

readingwithtrey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book gave me the ICK. And it’s a very hard one to rate because of said ick. But when I think about the things that I look for in a thriller, this checks a lot of the boxes. 

I binged this over the weekend because I just couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened and only figured out a twist like 5 minutes before it was revealed. If it’s one thing about me, I LOVE thrillers and mysteries that I can’t figure out. 

What I didn’t enjoy so much was that it was a lot more gruesome than I prefer, and it included 2 particular subjects that I try to avoid. Having said that, it was definitely a solid thriller, and I couldn’t find any plot holes. 

I highly recommend this one, but definitely check content warnings before diving in!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Grief, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Outing, Miscarriage, Infertility, Infidelity, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Murder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing and Cancer

elmewhy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest, Body horror, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment and Death of parent

sourpatch409's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Rape, and Pregnancy

shaleereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death

uppercasenoises's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I was hooked within minutes of starting this book. I'll read anything JH writes. Time jumps. Dual perspective, third person limited.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Violence, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Cancer, Alcohol, and Stalking

Spice: 2/5 relatively explicit sexual content, although only mentioned twice.

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I think this was a great thriller, there's really no doubt about that. Jennifer Hillier is a great storyteller with a gripping writing style and throughout this book she uses a dual timeline in a really effective and creative way. I thought the story in general was original and horrifying and I enjoyed the use of symbolism throughout. I also liked the twist, even though I did guess it, because I think that me being able to figure out a twist means that the groundwork in the thriller has been laid properly. I find that often when twists come out of left field, they are the twists that don't make sense. This one definitely did.

WARNING: HELLA SPOILERS AHEAD

I did have issues with this one though, which what holds me back from giving it a perfect rating. I don't know if this is something that runs through all of JH's work, but there was so much fatphobia. Now, if the characters were just fatphobic, that would be one thing. Characters aren't perfect and they shouldn't be. Things like Angela saying "your thighs are getting fat" did not bother me because that felt like something that character would say - she's a teenage girl in the year 2000 when diet culture is thriving, of course she would say that. What I had a problem with was when characters in the narrative were endlessly described as these fat, disgusting creatures. There is a character in the beginning of the book, Bernadette/Bernie who is in prison with Georgina (Geo) our protagonist, she is framed as an antagonist and does undeniably terrible things to Geo, including literally raping her, and instead of her horrible traits being focused on...the narrative chooses to focus on how fat the character is. It's....gross. It was really distracting for me.

This leads me into my next problem - queer characters or characters who might be queer are framed in such a negative light throughout this whole book. There is Bernie, who is predatory and a prison rapist (which is not to say that lgbt+ people can't be rapists, but this isn't the kind of representation I want to see, there are enough people calling this community rapists, thanks). There is also another character who goes to high school with Geo and Angela who is a football player. I can't remember his name, but anyway, he might be gay, and in order to keep himself from being suspected as gay, he says really disgusting stuff about having sex with Angela after she disappears, framing the one gay character who could possibly have a decent arc into a pretty terrible person...?

So, while I did really enjoy this, I believe that I have valid criticisms here and I really hope that these things aren't a common theme throughout JH's work because I really do like her writing. I'll give her another chance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Fatphobia, Murder, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Violence, Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, Cancer, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Gun violence

Moderate: Racism and Classism

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

The story starts without much prefacing, Geo is testifying against Calvin (the serial killer and her high school boyfriend) before she’s off to prison herself for five years. We get a bit about Geo’s time in prison in the beginning of her sentence and right before she’s released. Then the story is about Geo’s time after prison and what is happening in the town. 

The book does skip around a bit in the timeline without clear context of when it shifted (which I can’t stand) but it was done well. I didn’t love it but it didn’t take me out of the story like it normally does for me. 

I didn’t know anything about this book before reading it. Normally I read books that have been recommended or I’ve seen often, but I just randomly saw this one at the library and thought it seemed interesting. I was right, but there’s a lot of heavy material (which is coming from someone who regularly reads dark books). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Blood, Murder, Rape, and Terminal illness

Minor: Addiction, Miscarriage, and Body shaming