Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier
So, this is my second book that I've picked up by Jennifer Hillier and after reading Little Secerts (published April 2020) I was super excited to read another one of her works.
"How far will someone go to bury their secerts?"
Ohh...doesn't that sound interesting. I've always loved thrillers so I was super ready to dig into this one. I literally read it in a day and a half.
MY RATING :
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️π« / 5
The book starts off intense. We are in the courtroom , listening to Georgina Shaw's (Geo) testomiy against her high school boyfriend Calvin James, 14 years after he murdered her best friend, Angela Wong. What's really intense is that she HELPED Calvin dispose of the body. Angela's mother weeps in the courtroom and I found myself literally crying within the first 10 pages of this book.
After her testimony, Geo has to serve her sentence, too. 5 years for helping dispose of Angela's body. She has a hard time in prison, but gets through the sentence in one piece, due to her business skills from her professional world that she was able to incorporate on her time behind bars.
When she finally gets out, she comes home to her fathers house to vandalism on the garage door. Weeks of side eyes and neighbors talking about her are coming, but what is unexpected is the sudden murders victims that begin showing up. Almost identical to how Angela was murdered 19 years ago.
An old friend from the past turned detective, Kaiser, informs her that her ex-lover Calvin has escaped prison and with her recently being released from prison, he has reason to believe that he is back and looking for her.
Now, I don't want to give away any spoilers because what comes next and the shocking ending had me seriously mind blown. I literally was not expecting that. Like, I seriously was like WTTTTFFF so I decided to google some discussion questions and just answer a few of those.
I found this list a question right from the source, Jennifer Hillier. I , at this point, am so in love with Jennifer. I love her writing. This is the second book of her I've read and I can honestly say that I have not been disappointed. I have to go back and order any of her previous books and just read anything she has ever written. I can say that anytime I see that she is going to come out with something, I will be preordering it!
Anyways, back to the questions (which I found HERE)
WARNING : the questions do have a bit of spoilers. I'm not going to answer all of them.
1. Given that Geo was a fairly mature, level headed and independent 16 year old, were you surprised that she allowed herself to be in such a controlling, abusive relationship with Calvin in high school?
πI think that given the background of Geo, with her mother dying young and being raised solely by her father, who was a doctor and was hardly ever around, it is not surprising at all that she swayed this kind of relationship. She unknowingly was seeking that validation from an adult presence since she did not have it at home. I went through a similar controlling relationship at 15/16 years old and coming from a broken home with no father figure around, I've learned that allowing yourself to have a relationship like that at such a young age is a coping mechanism and not a healthy one.
2. When Calvin approached Angela's car for the first time at the 7-Eleven, why do you think it was Geo he was attracted to , and not Angela?
πHe was attracted to Geo because right away he knew that she would be easier to control. He knew what his easy prey would be. Angela was used to getting all the attention because she was known as the "prettier" one. Those girls are usually very loud spoken and are not easy to control. An abuser know what he can get away with and with who and he knew right away that the shy one would be his prey.
3. In prison, Geo has her rapist, known as the Mammoth, murdered. She then creates a business partnership with fellow inmate, Ella Frank. Do you think she does both of these things simply because she's trying to survive, or do you think she's a natural criminal, whether she admits it to herself or not?
π At first, I did not think she was a natural criminal. She was just trying to survive prison, but as the story goes on and we finally learn what happened the night of Angela's death, I thought, "Ohhh, this b***h has no remorse!!" I really can't say for sure if I thinks she's a natural criminal , but I can say for sure that I think that she was just trying to survive prison with allies and Ella Frank provided that safety and alliance that she needed.
4. Kaiser kept tabs on Geo for the entire five years she was in prison, paying a prison guard for information about her. He tells himself that he did it in case Calvin contacts her, but beyond that, what do you think his reasons were?
π He was in love with her. He was always in love with her since he first laid on her in high school. True love means sticking by that person through think and thin. And even though the love was just him in the beginning and for many years after that, even though he never wanted to admit it because she was involved in this murder of one of their closest friends, he was never going to abandon her.
5. Do you agree with Geo's decision to have Dominic buried in the family plot at the local cemetery?
π Who is Dominic, you may ask? That's something that you will have to read the entire book to find out because he is a crazy character that gets added in at the end that I did not see coming. Now, I'm a little mad at Jennifer because at the end, I did not like Dominic's character and the reason I'm mad is because Dominic is MY son's name. π But for real though, that twist with him at the end is both heartbreaking and disturbing.
In the end, I read this book in a day and half. I couldn't put it down and I loved it. I just love suspenseful books like this. It makes for a great book and I can get lost in and leave me mind blown. I can't wait to read more from Jennifer Hillier and am officially a forever fan. Thank you
Next Book:
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
The book starts off intense. We are in the courtroom , listening to Georgina Shaw's (Geo) testomiy against her high school boyfriend Calvin James, 14 years after he murdered her best friend, Angela Wong. What's really intense is that she HELPED Calvin dispose of the body. Angela's mother weeps in the courtroom and I found myself literally crying within the first 10 pages of this book.
After her testimony, Geo has to serve her sentence, too. 5 years for helping dispose of Angela's body. She has a hard time in prison, but gets through the sentence in one piece, due to her business skills from her professional world that she was able to incorporate on her time behind bars.
When she finally gets out, she comes home to her fathers house to vandalism on the garage door. Weeks of side eyes and neighbors talking about her are coming, but what is unexpected is the sudden murders victims that begin showing up. Almost identical to how Angela was murdered 19 years ago.
An old friend from the past turned detective, Kaiser, informs her that her ex-lover Calvin has escaped prison and with her recently being released from prison, he has reason to believe that he is back and looking for her.
Now, I don't want to give away any spoilers because what comes next and the shocking ending had me seriously mind blown. I literally was not expecting that. Like, I seriously was like WTTTTFFF so I decided to google some discussion questions and just answer a few of those.
I found this list a question right from the source, Jennifer Hillier. I , at this point, am so in love with Jennifer. I love her writing. This is the second book of her I've read and I can honestly say that I have not been disappointed. I have to go back and order any of her previous books and just read anything she has ever written. I can say that anytime I see that she is going to come out with something, I will be preordering it!
Anyways, back to the questions (which I found HERE)
WARNING : the questions do have a bit of spoilers. I'm not going to answer all of them.
1. Given that Geo was a fairly mature, level headed and independent 16 year old, were you surprised that she allowed herself to be in such a controlling, abusive relationship with Calvin in high school?
πI think that given the background of Geo, with her mother dying young and being raised solely by her father, who was a doctor and was hardly ever around, it is not surprising at all that she swayed this kind of relationship. She unknowingly was seeking that validation from an adult presence since she did not have it at home. I went through a similar controlling relationship at 15/16 years old and coming from a broken home with no father figure around, I've learned that allowing yourself to have a relationship like that at such a young age is a coping mechanism and not a healthy one.
2. When Calvin approached Angela's car for the first time at the 7-Eleven, why do you think it was Geo he was attracted to , and not Angela?
πHe was attracted to Geo because right away he knew that she would be easier to control. He knew what his easy prey would be. Angela was used to getting all the attention because she was known as the "prettier" one. Those girls are usually very loud spoken and are not easy to control. An abuser know what he can get away with and with who and he knew right away that the shy one would be his prey.
3. In prison, Geo has her rapist, known as the Mammoth, murdered. She then creates a business partnership with fellow inmate, Ella Frank. Do you think she does both of these things simply because she's trying to survive, or do you think she's a natural criminal, whether she admits it to herself or not?
π At first, I did not think she was a natural criminal. She was just trying to survive prison, but as the story goes on and we finally learn what happened the night of Angela's death, I thought, "Ohhh, this b***h has no remorse!!" I really can't say for sure if I thinks she's a natural criminal , but I can say for sure that I think that she was just trying to survive prison with allies and Ella Frank provided that safety and alliance that she needed.
4. Kaiser kept tabs on Geo for the entire five years she was in prison, paying a prison guard for information about her. He tells himself that he did it in case Calvin contacts her, but beyond that, what do you think his reasons were?
π He was in love with her. He was always in love with her since he first laid on her in high school. True love means sticking by that person through think and thin. And even though the love was just him in the beginning and for many years after that, even though he never wanted to admit it because she was involved in this murder of one of their closest friends, he was never going to abandon her.
5. Do you agree with Geo's decision to have Dominic buried in the family plot at the local cemetery?
π Who is Dominic, you may ask? That's something that you will have to read the entire book to find out because he is a crazy character that gets added in at the end that I did not see coming. Now, I'm a little mad at Jennifer because at the end, I did not like Dominic's character and the reason I'm mad is because Dominic is MY son's name. π But for real though, that twist with him at the end is both heartbreaking and disturbing.
In the end, I read this book in a day and half. I couldn't put it down and I loved it. I just love suspenseful books like this. It makes for a great book and I can get lost in and leave me mind blown. I can't wait to read more from Jennifer Hillier and am officially a forever fan. Thank you
Until next time..... ☮
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
I really like the sound of this! I haven’t read the questions after the slight spoiler alert but thrillers have really captured my reading heart currently so I’ll definitely check this out x
ReplyDeleteWow! I don't typically read murder mysteries or thrillers of any sort because I get spooked far too easily, but this sounds like such an intriguing book. I loved reading your synopsis and the questions!
ReplyDelete