Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

63 reviews

kim_ng's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Very well written, dark, graphic, messed up.
I didn't want to put it down until I finished this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

paulineerika's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

This one was hard for me to rate. I think I expected a different story, based on the first half of the book. I enjoyed the first half and Geo's no-nonsense survival personality. I was at least engaged and interested about where the story might go.

It lost me, though,

when we discovered how Angela was raped and murdered.

While the story felt at least somewhat fresh before then, that particular chapter felt recycled and stale.

The same happened for me when Calvin came back and raped Geo, when we read about her teen pregnancy, and then when Dominic confronted Geo.

I'm not really sure what I expected, but these parts seemed to fall into the more predictable thriller tropes for me. Nor did I find the characters particularly "morally gray."

The chapter with Geo directing Calvin on how to dismember and bury Angela felt like a complete left turn for both characters and I wasn't buying it. It seemed contrived.

Geo and Calvin were probably the most interesting characters to me, but even they couldn't save the novel. And I just did not like Kai, honestly. 

Rating also downgraded because of

the early commentary about the "wicked human beings" in prison, the author's unnecessary disparagement of public defenders (and totally unrealistic portrayal of a baby PD being assigned to represent an alleged serial killer), and Kai's creepy stalking of Geo in prison. $6000 to spy on her? JFC.

Finally, while I'm not particularly queasy about what I read, the multiple instances of rape/sexual assault/attempted rape felt borderline gratuitous.

Overall, I like Hillier's writing, but this particular story and plot had problems for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

astoriareader's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

SYNOPSIS

• Georgina (Geo), Angela, & Kaiser are best friends in high school. When Geo starts dating an older guy named Calvin, the dynamics in the group change. One day, Angela disappears.
• After fourteen years, Geo is a successful executive at a pharmaceutical company & engaged to a rich dude. When Angela’s body is found, Geo is arrested on murder charges by Kaiser, who is now a detective. 
• Geo ends up doing time in prison, and more murders start happening.
• What happened in the past & how is it connected to the present?

MY THOUGHTS

• Multiple POVs - Geo & Kaiser.
• Set in Seattle area.
• Different timelines - alternating between what happened in past versus present.
• Third Hillier book I’ve read, and she’s quickly become one of my favorite authors of the genre.
• Intense & hard to put down.
• Complex characters.
• Tough topics covered in book. Check trigger warnings.
• Well written. Easy to read & hard to put down.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️another gripping thriller by Hillier 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

allycat5498's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

0.75

I wish I could unread this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

thejulyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Absolutely brilliant, read in less than 24 hours! A great plot and it kept me gripped throughout, definitely one for thriller fans.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Toxic relationship and Death of parent

ashley_elizabeth's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

2.0

I don't tend to read your run-of-the-mill contemporary thrillers much, and this book reminded me why. Shitty people doing shitty things, making terrible choices that you feel pretty confident any sane-minded person wouldn't make, and then add a super weird kind of happy ending.... Yeah, no.

I give two stars for the suspense, which was well-built, and for a readable thriller that I'm sure would be great for someone who likes this genre. I don't, however, think it didn't anything particularly new or interesting, and I hate hate hate

using rape and adoption

as plot devices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, and Vomit

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

theinstabookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

3.0

I picked this book up and soft DNFed it a while ago when I wasn't in the right mood. This book alternates between Geo's POV, the FMC, and Kaiser's POV, the detective with the Seattle PD and a friend and former classmate of Geo's. This story wasn't what I was expecting, in a good way.

Part One of the book is Geo in prison for the murder of her high school best friend, Angela. I liked that because it felt like I was watching a season of Orange Is The New Black. Part Two also intrigued me because it focuses on the serial killer, and I like serial killer thrillers. However, Part Two takes place five years after Geo is sent to prison, but that isn't indicated at the beginning of part two. You have to start reading the first chapter in part two to find that out, which threw me off a bit. I would have preferred the time jump to be plainly stated. This is also a slow-burn even though the book is very short. I found that this threw the pacing off and meant that things were dragged out much more than they needed to be. The writing wasn't my favourite and my copy could have used at least another round of edits because there were SO many spelling errors. This is written in third person POV and I much prefer books written in first person. The big reveal and plot twist was saved for the very end of the book, but by that point the reveal wasn't shocking enough to pull me back into the story. 

I loved LITTLE SECRETS by the author and look forward to reading her other books. This one just didn't quite work for me. Be mindful of trigger warnings, as there are a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent

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

bookdeviant86's review against another edition

dark sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

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: Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Gore, and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Death of parent