Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

30 reviews

middleagedbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. That was messed up. Some deeply disturbing stuff, but dang, was it entertaining!! I love the way Jennifer Hillier writes. She writes in that way that makes you want to keep reading and not stop. She weaves the past and the present timelines seamlessly and she brings attention to some debatable topics, the main one being nature vs nurture. This was such a great thriller and I will definitely be reading her entire backlist. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Rape, Physical abuse, Cancer, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Murder, Abortion, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Infidelity

fanchera's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child death, Blood, Stalking, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion and Alcohol

maryrhg's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

TW: rape (happens multiple times through out the story basically the big hitter of the entire book)

Maybe I’m the weird one but I seriously have no idea why people rate this book so highly. There is so many rape scenes in this book most of which seem to be there just to make the reader uncomfortable and don’t really ad anything to the story? (If you know, you know I’m talking about the last one). The ending is rushed, the romance is rushed and unbelievable. You could remove kai from the story and it would have basically been exactly the same. I didn’t find it thrilling or suspenseful at all just icky to read. If you’re looking for something to disturb you this might work for you, but for me this was definitely not it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Sexual content, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Cancer, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Body shaming

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.

---

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

jalynd5630's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

by_the_moonlight's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Sexual content, Body horror, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

evallier's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

wolfrosereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I HIGHLY recommend checking the content warnings before reading or listening to this book.

This was out of my comfort zone, but I found it too interesting to give up. The audiobook kept me hooked, which is usually difficult as my mind tends to wander, and I honestly couldn't predict all the twists Hillier had in store. If you're a fan of true crime podcasts, this is the read for you!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

ggcd1981's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Indo direto ao ponto este livro não era para mim. Eu suspeitei disso desde que li o resumo, mas após assistir alguns booktubers elogiando o livro, mais estava incluso na minha assinatura do Audiobooks.com a minha curiosidade foi despertada. Infelizmente do começo ao fim a história foi por caminhos que não me agradaram. Deixo claro que o livro não é ruim, ele é bem escrito e tenho certeza que muitas pessoas se surpreenderam com os plot twists. Mas para mim a obra foi “mais uma” sobre relacionamento abusivo, “mais uma” em que a protagonista feminina foi vitimada de todas as formas possíveis, inclusive da pior delas: a personagem Geo sofreu 3 tentativas de estupro (uma delas concretizadas). Não apenas isso mas houveram outros estupros e cenas de sexo altamente desconfortáveis. Como mulher sei que no mundo real mulheres são vítimas de várias violências, inclusive sexuais. Sei que é válido representar essas histórias na ficção. Porém não significa que eu quero ler sobre mulheres sendo vítimas, e não, eu não quero. É parte da vida real, mas eu não tenho interesse nesse aspecto retratado na ficção. Uma coincidência que não ajudou minha experiência com Jar of hearts foi que ele foi o segundo livro em um curto espaço do tempo em que uma das revelações é que o culpado é o filho do Serial killer original. Na verdade, não achei nenhum dos plot twists realmente inesperados e mais ou menos sabia o que estava vindo antes das revelações. Ou seja, as razões pelas quais eu não gostei estão relacionadas diretamente ao meu gosto pessoal e ao fato de que os temas abordados na obra não me interessam ou não realmente surpreenderam. Apesar disso uma crítica que tenho a história em si é durante todo o livro Geo foi vitimada, apesar de Hillier mostrar que ela tinha força interior, apenas para no final revelar que Geo não apenas deu a ideia de esquartejar Angela, mas ela fez isso ela mesma...qualquer simpatia minha por Geo foi jogada pela janela. Para completar depois de tudo que a personagem fez ela teve um final feliz com Kaiser, seu melhor amigo de adolescência e detetive do caso de Calvin, e um bebê a caminho. A mulher teve a ideia e esquartejou a melhor amiga, nunca disse a verdade a ninguém, nem mesmo a Kaiser, seu companheiro e pai do seu bebê, e ainda assim teve final feliz. Suponho que na vida real as vezes criminosos também tem finais felizes, então pelo menos é realista. Mesmo que Jar of hearts não tenha agradado o meu gosto pessoal ainda tenho que reconhecer que o livro foi bem escrito. Apesar de não gostar dos temas a leitura foi rápida e fluida e isso foi devido a escrita de Jennifer Hillier. Valeu a experiência e para mim o livro merece pelo menos 3 estrelas.

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Grief, Incest, Pregnancy, and Child death

Minor: Child abuse

restinglitface's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence