Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

163 reviews

meganm1587's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Infertility, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol

khaleesigrace's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Murder

swimmer120x's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.75

This book was decent/good, but it was difficult to read because of how graphic the descriptions were of the multiple r*pes that occurred. There was also a lot of graphic dismemberment descriptions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, and Vomit

Minor: Gun violence and Pregnancy

Very graphic details of r*pe and dismemberment

beckyc123's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

mander1921's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Wow. Wow. Wow. 
I have no word for this book. It was amazing from start to finish. 
I did figure the end out but definitely was not expecting it. 
What a wild story!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

amirahazhar's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

4.0

Extremely well-written, plot dense and intense. From the get-go, this was already heavy and dark. It's more graphic than other thrillers I've read so far and the grape parts were disturbing. Hillier did not skimp on the details. It's a story that doesn't leave your mind and I catch myself now thinking about how fucked up it was sometimes. 

This was my first glimpse of Hilier who is a fantastic writer, so I'll definitely be reading more of her work. I will however be bracing myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

gvsurn0207's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Murder

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

wordybear's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Triggering 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Murder