Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

18 reviews

katybugggg's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

neverlandpages4's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

You know you’ve read a good book when it makes you immediately look for more books by the same author and has you contemplating on breaking your book buying ban. It’s been a while since I’ve read a good thriller, and I absolutely loved this. 

I’ve been seeing this all over bookstagram & booktube and every single review of it had either been 4 or 5 stars, so naturally, I had high hopes and I was not let down!! 

I read this when I was in a really bad slump and it got me out of it instantly. It’s gripping from the first few pages alone, and the suspense only escalates as you go on.

I absolutely loved the writing and it’s made me want to read this author’s entire backlist. There’s just something so easy and relatable about it. And despite it being told in third person, I still felt like I was a part of the story and I loved the narration. We mostly follow Geo, save for a few chapters following Kaiser which added more to the story. 

I also loved how balanced the past and present POVs were. It wasn’t repetitive and it didn’t drag on just for the sake of building suspense, both present and past chapters were really intriguing. 

This had everything I love in a thriller; good writing, suspense, lots of mystery, shocking and unexpected twists and turns, and unpredictable outcomes.

It was also a lot more graphic than I expected. I kind of put the book down for a while when I first started it because it made me really uncomfortable. So definitely check trigger warnings if you’re reading it. 

I rated it a 4 even though I absolutely loved this book because of last 100 pages. After the big reveal, it wasn’t as action-packed and thrilling as the rest of the book. Some things also seemed a bit ridiculous. Some of the smaller twists were easy to guess because they were foreshadowed. I had higher hopes for the ending but this was still one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Homophobia

chronicreader96's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

What a wild ride this book was! 

Jar of Hearts tells the story of three high school friends. Angela disappeared at sixteen, Geo knows the truth about what happened, and Kaiser (now a detective) works to find out the truth. But, will the secrets Geo shares with her first love, Calvin, come to the surface?

This was one rollercoaster of a book! It actually managed to truly shock me during the first half. I had to put the book down to really wrap my head around what was going on. Although I found the second half a bit more predictable it was still able to surprise me a bit too! I loved that it used multiple POV’s and jumped back and forth between the present day and the past, it didn’t take me long to catch up with what timeline or perspective was being used. I particularly liked the scenes within the prison, they felt so vivid and really came to life. 

As a warning, this book got dark very quickly. During one scene I felt really nauseous, I can honestly say I’ve never read a book that mentioned this topic before and it was a tough one to take in. Please be very cautious of trigger warnings with this book. Not a single character was particularly likeable, all of them are deeply flawed. Which gave me a detached feeling, but I still found the story absolutely riveting and did not want to stop reading. I actually really liked some of the subtle messages thrown into this book too. It has definitely left me wanting to read more by this author! 

I would recommend this to fans of dark thrillers, but please be extremely cautious of potential triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Rape, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol

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: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

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

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

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

michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

⚠️ TW: rape, sexual assault, grooming, serial murders with multiple being children, mutilation, graphic content, mentions of child pornography, abuse and paedophilia, domestic violence, toxic relationships, drug/alcohol addiction ⚠️ Wow this book broke me and definitely isn't for the faint hearted because it is a whole new level of dark. This book is so hard to review without giving spoilers but it follows three friends, Angela, Geo and Kaiser, who are best friends throughout high school until one ends up brutally murdered, one ends up in prison and one spends their life searching for answers. Honestly this book is darkly intense, fast paced and disturbing and even when some chapters make you want to put it down you simply can't stop reading. Jennifer Hillier hands down blew my mind with her writing style! She pulled off a flawless thriller filled with jaw dropping chapters as well as explosive twists, turns and a crazy ending. However, my main issue was the extensive amount of rapes and sexual assaults. In my opinion, some of the rapes and SA's that took place were in no way necessary to further the plot or the dislike toward any characters and I'm not a fan of them being dropped into books purely for the shock factor (and I lost count of how many there were). Overall though, this is mind blowing thriller and if it sounds like something you'd be able to read then I highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Blood

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abortion

lisacanteven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I have been searching for a book that would keep me creeped out and hooked until the very end. This book accomplished that. I sort of figured out the twist, but I think I figured it out when I was supposed to if that makes sense. 

I feel a bit twisted giving this book 5 stars because the story itself is very graphically twisted. But it was just such a wild ride that I couldn't give it any less. I could have lived without the epilogue, but it wasn't enough to knock it down a star, maybe a half star instead (still rounds up to 5 stars).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Grief