Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

38 reviews

lindavs22's review against another edition

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

cathuluu's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gore, Rape, Violence, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Infertility, Vomit, Fatphobia, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

ashleypalazzo's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Murder, Grief, 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

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.

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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

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.

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

whitneyonline's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Sometimes books are so good and make me feel so many things I can't even begin to explain why I like it or why it's a 5 star favorite. This is one of those books. I will say this much though: this is my first book by Jennifer Hillier and it is abundantly clear that she is an incredibly gifted writer. Jar of Hearts is complex and nuanced, with a heartbreaking, thrilling story at the center of it all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Murder

julienicole1106's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Abandonment, Cursing, Rape, and Sexual assault