WOW! Jar of Hearts is the first book I have read by Jennifer Hillier, and it won’t be my last. She has an amazing ability to wind a story up, piece by piece, in a way that grasps the reader as details of the characters and events are revealed. Chapter by chapter the story unfolds, skipping from the current to the past spanning a period of 20 years. Each event being revealed and then thoroughly detailed in a later chapter in a methodical, suspenseful tale of murder, love, and deceit. I highly recommend this thriller to anyone who doesn’t mind a bit of foul language and can accept explicit descriptions of gory events.

I received a free advance copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I have never read anything by Jennifer Hillier previously, so I was unsure what to expect. It was a little difficult in the beginning to get interested in the characters because it seemed that we were at the end of the novel. After finishing it I see the reasoning behind the background information. Geo testified against her former boyfriend Calvin, who is accused of killing Geo’s best friend Angela when the girls are 16. Geo goes to prison for 5 years and tries to reinvent herself on the outside. Dead bodies begin appearing in the area where Angela’s body was found, and it seems Calvin has returned for Geo. I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

This is my first Jennifer Hillier book and I don't think it will be my last. Jar of Hearts is a very fast paced crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages until you have no more to turn. It is written in 5 parts and if jumps from past to present and filled with lots of twists. Geo (Georgina) is someone you'll mostly love feel sorry for her time. She hasn't made the best choices in life. I wish there more to some parts of the story but overall it was great. I haven't read anything like this in a long time.

Jennifer Hillier's "Jar of Hearts" opens with Georgina (Geo) Shaw testifying in the murder case against Calvin James, who is charged with killing Geo's best friend, Angela Wong, 14 years earlier. In those intervening years, Angela has finished college, beauty school, and an MBA, and risen to become a prominent VP at Schipp Pharmaceuticals. In exchange for her testimony, she'll receive a reduced sentence of 5 years for her role in covering up Angela's murder. The novel starts with the trial, and follows her incarceration, with plenty of flashbacks to fill in details of her friendship with Angela, affair with Calvin, and the crime itself and it's aftermath in their High School and beyond. When more victims connected to Calvin start to appear, both before and after Angela's release, the heart of the thriller becomes most interesting.

Solid read, though some of the foreshadowing was a little heavy handed and came a little to late in the flashbacks. Recommend for fans of Jonathan Kellerman, Lisa Gardner, Lisa Scottoline and similar psychological, relationship-driven thrillers. With thanks to the author, Hillier, the publisher, St. Martin's Press, and netgalley.com for the advanced reader copy.

http://stephnoelpeterson.blogspot.com/2018/04/jar-of-hearts.html

April has been an amazing month for domestic thrillers and me. I have loved them for ages, but they don't always love me back, and I am oftentimes leery to try, having been burnt so many times by authors who fancy themselves the next Gillian Flynn. I am so glad that I took a chance on Jar of Hearts, though - and as someone who primarily reads YA fiction and has to be in a very particular mood to appreciate the nuances of adult fiction, I promise this one is worth it.

How I'd Describe This Book to a Friend
Georgina - "Geo" to those close to her - and Angela are the very best of friends. Cheerleaders and confidants, they do everything together, along with their third wheel best friend Kaiser who acts as part body guard, part droopy-eyed puppy dog. Together, the three of them have a happy, carefree high school experience, until one day they stop at a gas station and meet Calvin.

Calvin is older. Calvin is the cool, unobtainable guy. And he fancies Geo - second fiddle to Angela, always the bridesmaid Geo. This creates a lot of friction in their otherwise happy friendship, but the girls eventually rally and buoy past it, until one fateful night when suddenly nothing can buoy anywhere any more. One night, backlit by alcohol and stale pizza, Angela is murdered by Calvin. Geo knows this, because Geo was there, too.

24 years later, Geo is 30 years old, engaged to a high-profile businessman - and a very successful businesswoman herself. So it's with a mix of trepidation and relief when she is arrested for the death of her best friend, all these years ago. Geo is taken to help prosecute her ex boyfriend Calvin, and then escorted to prison herself to serve a five year sentence. But right as Geo is released from prison, murders begin to happen again. And they're taking a very familiar shape ...

Told from Geo's perspective in two timelines (16 year old Geo and 30-35 year old Geo), we learn the inner machinations of a very complicated young woman, one you set out to hate and wind up in love with by the conclusion of the book. Geo is nuanced and has had a rough life. We feel for her at 16, dating a terribly abusive young man that she can't seem to get out from underneath, and again at 30, finally imprisoned for a crime she committed so long ago and tried to put behind her as best she could, and again at 35, released from prison and trying to put behind her a past that just won't stop rising from the ashes.

It took me until the end of the book to "get" the twist, and the only ding I have against this book is the epilogue - it ranks up there with the Harry Potter-level epilogues I've read, in the league of "what just happened to this plot?!" endings wrapped up with a shiny red bow where it's just not realistic for there to be any sort of bow, much less the giant "I just bought this brand new car" sort of bow that you see in these epilogues.

The Bottom Line
Jar of Hearts is a thrill ride from start to finish. Geo is flawed, but ultimately likable as our main character, and I think we can all see at least a small part of ourselves in her. It doesn't take a lot of work to remember what it's like to be 16 years old and jealous - of your best friend's love life, of her clothes, her other friends, of anything at all - and Geo really puts you back in those awkward, ungainly shoes again. If this book were a perfume, it would smell of cinnamon and wood smoke, and it would cling to your clothes long after you've finished turning the pages. Look for Jar of Hearts on shelves on June 12, 2018, and remember: it's never too late for the past to haunt you.

I love books that are told in different prospectives. It lets the reader form their own opinion about the book. This book has everything. It kept my interest until the very end. The author wove a tale and give POV from all sides.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Georgina, Geo, is a young executive, engaged to be married and living a relatively happy and successful life. Until the day she is arrested for her part in the murder of her high school best friend, Angela. Geo is soon serving five years in jail for her friends’ gruesome murder and her boyfriend from that time, Calvin, is serving a life sentence. When Geo is released, bodies start turning up in the same location (and in the same gruesome way) as her best friend from all those years ago and conveniently, Calvin has also escaped from prison. Could he be responsible for these murders too? Will Calvin come after Geo next?
Jennifer Hillier is back with her newest novel, “Jar of Hearts”. This powerful, suspenseful, edge-of-your seat novel is exactly what you’d expect from Hillier, and more. The addictive, compulsive storyline combined with honest characters and a completely unpredictable ending earns this novel a well-deserved five stars.
“Jar of Hearts” starts off strong and the momentum continues. This story teeter-totters back and forth across time, as Geo narrates, both from present day and from when she was a teenager and her best friend is murdered. Although not normally my preferred format, the way Hillier does it is spectacular. Writing from two periods in time contribute to the suspense and drama of the novel as a whole and it could not be done better any other way.
All my speculations as to how this novel would end did not do justice to the actual ending of this novel. Completely satisfying while still being totally unpredictable, “Jar of Hearts” will completely take a reader by surprise. Hillier’s creativity resonates in this novel, and it is definitely her best novel yet.
This gripping novel makes me eager to see what Hiller does next. Each novel she writes is better than the last, and I am grateful to see she is not slowing down. Her creativity and talent seems to be endless, and I was immediately drawn into this novel from page one.

I loved it! This is the third novel I’ve read by Jennifer Hillier, and I am definitely a super fan. Jar of Hearts is the story of three high school friends – Georgina ‘Geo’ Shaw, Angela Wong, and Kaiser ‘Kai’ Brody. When they were 16, Angela went missing. The novel opens with a trial of a serial killer in Seattle, who is charged with Angela’s murder after her bones are discovered in the woods behind Geo’s family home. The defendant, Calvin James aka The Sweetbay Strangler, also happens to have been Geo’s boyfriend at the time of Angela’s disappearance. Geo is a witness for the prosecution and is heading to prison for the next five years for aiding Calvin in hiding Angela’s body. Kai was the arresting officer. The bulk of the novel takes place following Geo’s time in prison. The point of view alternates between Geo and Kaiser as they recall the past, while becoming embroiled in a new set of murders.

I loved all of it. The characters came to life, and the storyline was compelling. I particularly liked the Kai character and the inner turmoil he feels for the Geo he knew back in the day despite finally learning what had happened to Angela. Hillier knows how to weave a fast-paced thriller, and I have to admit the ending was a huge surprise to me, which doesn’t happen often.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for providing me with an advance copy of Jar of Hearts in return for an honest review. I highly recommend it as a must-read!

After receiving an advance reading copy of this book, I dove right in and was held captive to the very end. It jumps back and forth-from the tragic deeds of the past to the tragic results in the present. I really liked the characters and aside from getting a bit soap opera-ish at times, (especially toward the end), it was an exciting, satisfying read.

Jar of Hearts is the latest book by Jennifer Hillier, and it is a page turner. Ms Hillier does an excellent job of taking the reader back and forth in time. Some edge of your seat moments, but from the very first pages it is a compelling page turner,with the reader wanting to know our "heroine" better. I was given an early copy to review.

Wow! This one really does grab you by the throat and does not let go until the very end! This book is not for the squeamish. The details are grisly and lurid but the writing is simply superb. One of the main characters, Georgina, called Geo, spent five years in prison for being an accomplice to the murder of her best friend, Angie, when they were just sixteen. The murderer, Calvin, was her boyfriend and she was obsessed by him as a teenager. The remains of Angie were found 14 years later and Calvin and Geo were arrested, tried and found guilty. Calvin, in the meantime, escaped from prison. Geo was released after serving her sentence to start life again. I tried to hate Geo but I could not. She was obsessed by Calvin and controlled by him but yet trying to live her own life after prison. Things are further complicated by her teenage friend, Kaiser, who was also close to Angie and is now a cop and was the one to arrest Geo. This story is fast paced, thrilling, riveting and thought-provoking. The ending was simply amazing and one I never saw coming! I had not read anything by Jennifer HIllier before but just today bought her other books.

Right from the beginning the characters grab you. There are so many twists and turns that you’re kept wondering. This book is a good read and I really liked the ending.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book I read by Jennifer Hillier but it won’t be the last. Great story line. I loved how the history leading up to present day was revealed. I would highly recommend this book.

I was riveted by this book and its facinating characters for about 90 percent of its length. Unfortunately, it resolves into something of a deus ex machina ending that really ruined it for me. I'm giving it three stars for the first quite excellent two and a half acts. Someone was asleep at the wheel when the conclusion loomed.

Cover

I loved the cover and I was very curious about the name of the book as well.

The Back Story

Thanks for NetGalley for providing me an advanced free copy of this book. It has been a wild ride! This book was very dark and gripping, and I couldn’t tear myself away from it till I was done. Definitely a fast read with some chilling details!

Personal Thoughts (Spoilers?)

Multiple POVs - the story is told by two opposite characters, one is innocent, Kaiser the detective, and the other one is guilty, Geo, the friend who found is convicted for murder. We go back and forth between these two, in addition to glimpses back to the past, where the murder had occurred. I really enjoyed the slow revelations that crept and unfolded as the chapters went by.

Character development - unfortunately, except from Geo, all the other characters in the book seemed flat. This resulted in me not emphasizing with any of them, even with Angela, the girl that was murdered, I didn’t feel sorry for her at all...
We get to see the characters throughout Geo’s memories, and this is where you can sense a solid story going on. I felt like the present day in the story was just a setup, till things started happening.

Prison Life - I have to say that this section of the book was my least favorite one. I dislike ‘prison drama’ and I couldn’t stand the show “Orange is the new Black”. We get a glimpse of the life behind bars, some of the events are hard to swallow, just as you would expect in all women’s prison. In addition, we get to see the way that society treats women who went to prison and try to reintroduce themselves back in real life and it’s not all butterflies and roses afterwards as well.

Gruesome parts - some parts of the book were slightly disturbing. I usually stay away from ‘pure’ thrillers, but I just couldn’t stop reading, even through the disturbing bits!

Rushed ending - I couldn’t guess the ending, which I was pleased about, but it felt very rushed and ‘easy’. The author might have taken a few shortcuts to get there. I would have loved to get more explanations and tie loose ends, which wasn’t really done.

Overall, I enjoyed the book immensely. It’s a chilling page turner that will keep you torn between loving the characters and hating them, just like often happens in real life, where there is no black and white, but it’s always something in between.

Debut date: August 2, 2018

This review first appeared here: https://svetareads.wordpress.com/2018/04/14/jar-of-hearts-book-review/

This thriller was written as if the author was anticipating it being made into a movie. The juxtaposition of time and the gruesomeness of the details are attracting to individuals desiring to have their pulse quicken and heart race - this the novel does admirably. I had trouble with the motivation of the characters and connecting with them. I could watch them on a surface level like a video but not any deeper.

This is a thriller you need for these nice weather days at the park coming up. It kept me on he edge of my seat as we flash back and forth from past to present to find out what really happened. The end will leave you stunned.

Not with the majority on this one, a little too gruesome for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book very much.
This was the 1st book that I read from this author and I would love to read other books by her.
I thought it was a dark, intriguing and suspenseful thiller with a lot of jaw dropping twists in it.
I would highly recommend this book to others.