I like a good mystery. I also like a good suspense. I have found it hard to find a book that can keep the suspense up while unraveling a mystery. So, I have become very picky about what I read. When the publisher approached me to review Jar of Hearts, the blurb caught my attention. I was very interested in a mystery about what happened after the murder and trial. I thought that it made for an interesting storyline. So I accepted. I am glad I did. Not only did this book keep the suspense high but the mystery was fantastic.

When I started reading Jar of Hearts, I had no pity for Geo. She showed little to no remorse for her part in Angela’s death. She was more worried about what was going to happen to her in prison and that made me not like her. But, as the book went on, her remorse and sadness started to show. I started to pity her when it was revealed what happened that night. The trauma she endured that night shaped her into the woman that she was 14 years later.

I liked how the author kept what happened the night Angela died under wraps until almost the end of the book. I wasn’t surprised at what happened. I was surprised at Geo’s role in it when it was revealed. What happened afterward took me by surprise also.

Geo’s relationship with Calvin was complicated. He was her first love but she also hated and feared him. He wanted to own Geo completely and wasn’t afraid to use physical violence or mind games to get her to stay with him. I had no issue seeing him turning into a serial killer. His transformation started the night that Angela was killed.

I thought that second storyline of the other serial killer was pretty good. I thought I had it figured out until Geo last flashback. Looking back, there were hints but I didn’t see them. I was surprised at who it was and who that person was to Geo. I was also surprised at who came to Geo’s rescue.

The storyline with Kaiser didn’t make sense to me at first. I didn’t need to know that he was sleeping with his partner. That was unneeded information. But his relationship with Geo and Angela was. I do think that his relationship with Geo after jail was complicated. I was not expecting what happened to them to happen. Now that came out of left field.

I know that the book stressed that Geo and Angela were besties and had been besties for years. But I didn’t see that. I saw a spoiled girl used to getting her own way ruling her friends. The whole cheerleader practice fiasco was what made me feel that.

The end of Jar of Hearts was one shock after another. All I can say about it is “Wow“. The epilogue got me too. I guess some people deserve their happily ever after. I wasn’t expecting who Geo was experiencing hers with.

What I liked about Jar of Hearts:

A) The suspense was kept high throughout the book

B) Everything was kept under wraps until the end of the book.

C) Interesting storyline

What I didn’t like about Jar of Hearts:

A) Geo showing little to no remorse in the first half of the book

B) Kaiser’s storyline. Didn’t need the sexcapades with his partner. Him doing the police work was fine.

C) Geo and Angela’s friendship. Screamed friendemies to me. Also Geo and Calvin’s relationship. Super creepy

I would give Jar of Hearts an Adult rating. I would suggest that no one under the age of 21 read this book. There is explicit violence. There is language. There is sex with a few rape scenes thrown in (F/F, M/F). There is also a brutal scene of a body being dismembered.

There are trigger warnings with Jar of Hearts. They would be: rape, attempted rape, domestic violence, and assault.

I would recommend Jar of Hearts to family and friends. I would give a heads up about the triggers. This is a book that I can see myself rereading.

I would like to thank Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Jar of Hearts.

All opinions stated in this review of Jar of Hearts are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I honestly did not think I would like this book at first. It starts kinda slow, but once it picks up: get ready to be hooked! I loved the alternating povs. I especially enjoyed Kai and Geo’s chapters. I liked that the author showed us the present and the past- this was a smooth transition- I was never confused. I enjoyed that there was retribution for things that were done and that most ends were tied up by the end. As a high school teacher, the girl drama and high school setting is one which I am all too familiar and I thought this was realistic and well done. I enjoyed this book and will absolutely recommend it to others. Thanks for letting me read it!

Wow wow Wow! If i could give this book 10 Stars I would. It is the best book I've read for a long time. There were so many twists and turns I wanted to finish it but I didn't want it to end. I have serious book hangover now. Highly highly recommend this book.

Angela Wong’s remains are discovered after fourteen years. For fourteen years, Geo has buried the secret. For fourteen years, she has been waiting for the truth of what happened to her best friend to come out. When it did, the only surprise was the arresting officer—Detective Kaiser Brody. Geo, Kaiser, and Angela were the best of friends, until the events of that night forever changed the future.

Geo leads us on a fourteen-year ride, resulting in the knowledge that there are things worse than death.

This story starts out in the murder trial of serial killer Calvin James. From there it takes to on many twists and turns from that fateful night fourteen years ago through years following the trial, when Geo is finally released from prison.

The detailed glimpses inside prison walls and inside Geo’s soul are riveting. Is a person simply bad or good? Or is there a little good in the worst of us—a bit of evil in the best? Do we just see what we want to see?

Jar of Hearts is a fast-paced thriller filled with surprises. It’s also filled with a lot of foul language, some sex scenes, and graphic violence. Even though I prefer not to read those things, I was reeled in by the synopsis of this story. It held me captive to the very end. If you are sensitive to these details, do not read this book. Otherwise, grab it! If you’re looking for an intense thriller with strong characters, a terrific plot, and action from start to finish, don’t pass up Jar of Hearts.

I give this book five stars with an asterisk for language and content. If Hillier published a “cleaner” version, I would give it seven stars! It’s that good.

Available for pre-buy now, Jar of Hearts releases on June 12, 2018.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and contains my own thoughts and opinions.

Thank you netgalley, the author, & publisher for the advance copy of this book. It is hard to figure out where to begin, as this book is polarizing. I found myself stopping to read at different points throughout the day., wanting to know what happened & why. No doubt this book is intriguing. It delves into the teenage girl best friend dynamic wonderfully. It makes you remember how you were closer to your friends at that age than you will ever be as an adult. Yet, it also explains how all it takes is one boy to wreck all that best friends build. There are many twists & turns in this book. It is hard to put down & you will rush to the end!

Great book. This is my first from this author. I received an advance copy from Netgalley and I'm so happy I did! I started reading it yesterday morning in the waiting room at the doctor's office and finished last night in bed. It's hard to put down.
There are some graphic parts, and I'm not even referring to the murders. So be aware: there are multiple rape scenes.
I think the only thing holding me back from giving this 5 stars is that I couldn't relate to the main character. I didn't dislike her, but she did have a part in this horrible event and kept it a secret for many years. She is now remorseful and the book takes you through her 5 year sentence in prison where she serves her time. So she isn't a horrible character, but again, I couldn't really connect to her. Sometimes in the present tense, she still had the voice of her 16 year old self, so it was hard to grasp her as being this high level executive in big Pharma.
But those are nitpicky things. I really, really enjoyed the book. There are some great characters. Kaiser and Georgina's father are my favorites.

I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for a review. Wow, I really enjoyed this book a lot! It kept my attention from the first page and I was able to read it within a day. I enjoyed that it was from a few different character's viewpoints during the book to get a different side of the story. There were a few elements of the story that surprised me, though I did have the main plot twist figured out I still enjoyed reading it and liked how it was all revealed in the end. The main female character is initially unlikable due to her past actions but I ended up caring what happened to her by the end and wanting it to end in a certain way. I have read another book, The Butcher, by this author which I also really enjoyed and I defiantly plan on reading her others soon

Wow. I did not want to put this book down. It grabbed ahold and didn't let go until the last page.

When Geo's best friend Angela disappeared one night during their junior year of high school, everything changed, but eventually Geo moved on and built a new life. But secrets don't always stay buried, and 14 years later the world finds out that Angela is dead, has been since that night she disappeared, and Geo had something to do with it.

And that's just the beginning. There were surprises in every chapter. The book moves seamlessly between the present and the past and slips effortlessly between current happenings and memory until we finally find out the whole truth.

The book is scheduled for publication in June, and I'd definitely recommend it. I received an Advance Copy which still needed a lot of editing, and picky as I am, I loved it anyway. It will be even better once those errors are fixed. (they didn't affect the story)

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier was EXCELLENT! 4.5 gripping, terrifying, titillating stars! I definitely see this being the book of the summer! I started this boarding a flight and read the first 40% while in the air. I didn’t even notice we were descending- fastest 3 hours of my life!

Georgina Shaw is the youngest VP at Shipp Pharmaceuticals; she is bright and beautiful and engaged to a very rich man- she has it all! But it is all about to fall out from under her when a very dark and buried secret is exposed. Geo is arrested in the conference room of her company and is hauled in for questioning. Everyone is shocked, except for Geo; she has been waiting for this day to come for the last 14 years, since the night her very best friend went missing, gone without a trace. “Because buried things can, and do, come back.”

“The past is always with you, whether you choose to think about it or not, whether you take responsibility for it or not. You carry the past with you because it transforms you. You can try to bury it and pretend it never happened, but that doesn’t work.”

“You see what you want to see, not what’s there.”

I really enjoyed this compelling and shocking thriller and cannot wait to see what other adventures Jennifer Hillier will take me on- I am so glad I have some catching up to do!

***Warning for some it’s a little detailed in sex scenes but maybe I am just a wimp.

*** Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books an imprint of St. Martin’s Press for letting me devour, Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier for my honest review.

Review will be posted to Goodreads on 5/12/2018 in preparation for release date of 6/12/2018 and will submit review to Amazon and Barnes and Noble on release date.

Short Take: Way more than I bargained for. In a good way.


*Note: I received a free advance copy of this book for review.*


When is a punishment enough? Like, say you steal a bag of Doritos from the local convenience store, because you’ve had a few adult beverages and you forgot your wallet when you walked over and you had REALLY bad munchies and it was snowing so you didn’t want to walk back home and get your wallet, so you managed to smuggle them out under your coat without being caught.

But then when you get home and start to chow down on some delicious, illicit, chemical dusted fried corn product, you find that you just can’t do it. Oh you still have the munchies, all right, but you feel bad for having taken them, and you just don’t want them the way you thought you would.

Is that punishment enough? Or should there be fines, jail, public humiliation?

It’s an interesting question on a much larger scale in Jar of Hearts, which opens with Georgina Shaw (Geo to her friends), age 30, testifying in court about the role she played in the murder of her best friend Angela when the girls were 16. You see, Geo’s first love was none other than Calvin James, a serial killer who began his career with Angela, and then skipped town and went on to murder three other women, while Geo helped to hide the body and lied to protect them both.

Angela’s remains stay buried, and Geo goes on with her life as best she can, until 14 years later, when both Angela’s bones and the truth about that night come to light. Geo admits to her role in the crime, and is sentenced to five years in prison. Calvin is sentenced to prison for life, but escapes almost immediately.

And shortly before Geo’s release, new victims start turning up, practically in her backyard. It looks like Calvin never forgot his first love either, and is coming back for her.

So…. punishment. Although Geo doesn’t go to prison for well over a decade after Angela’s murder, her life in that time isn’t exactly unicorns and rainbows. Her time in prison is about as bad as you’d imagine. (Worse, if your imagination isn’t as messed up as mine). And when she gets out, well, some pretty awful things continue to happen. Her father’s home is vandalized repeatedly, and mistakes from her past continue to rise up and torment her, plus there’s that whole “being stalked by a serial killer” thing, which doesn’t sound like much fun at all.

I wanted to feel sympathetic towards Geo. Surely, I imagine, this poor girl has suffered for like 20 years for something she did when she was 16. I was an IDIOT at 16, and every day, I’m grateful that there was no internet back then or digital cameras or anything else that would serve as a record of my idiocy. Hell, EVERYONE is an idiot at 16. How long should she be punished for what she did (and just as importantly didn’t) do? The court decided that 5 years in prison was punishment enough. The residents of her small town decided that heaping scorn on her after that was necessary.

And there’s a terrifying man who wants to punish her more than anyone for [spoiler].

Is it enough? Does Geo deserve to have a life with love and happiness and whatever else comes to people who weren’t involved in murder?

The truth is, I don’t know. Jar of Hearts surprised me with how thought-provoking a sexy, twisty, violent little thriller could be. My feelings for Geo whiplashed between pity and disgust, between admiration and contempt.

There’s obviously more to any book than the main character, of course, and although the other characters weren’t fleshed out to nearly the same degree, the pacing was exceptional, and the writing itself was smart and engaging. It says something that although I was able to figure out what was happening about two thirds of the way through, I still couldn’t put it down, and I’m so glad I kept going - the ending is seriously WHOA.

Jar of Hearts is my first book by Jennifer Hillier, but I can safely say that it won’t be my last.

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and some cinnamon candy. Bring the heat!)

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.