Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

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💔 Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Some secrets stay buried. Others dig themselves out.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5 out of 5 stars)

⚠️ SPOILER WARNING!
This review contains major spoilers (and major WTF moments), so if you haven’t read Jar of Hearts yet, go grab it now and come back later. Because we’re about to dig up every creepy secret from this twisty thriller.

Buy it on Amazon | Buy it on Audible

👯‍♀️ Best Friends. First Loves. Serial Killers.

Jar of Hearts opens with three high school friends:

  • Geo Shaw — smart, beautiful, and extremely good at keeping secrets

  • Angela Wong — Geo’s best friend who mysteriously vanished at 16

  • Kaiser Brody — their other bestie, now a cop, and always a little in love with Geo

Fast forward 14 years later: Angela’s remains are found. And guess what?
Her killer is Calvin James, also known as the Sweetbay Strangler — and also Geo’s high school boyfriend.

YUP. Geo was dating a serial killer in high school.
And it gets worse: she helped cover up Angela’s murder.

🧃 A Jar Full of WHAT Now?

Here’s what we know:

  • Geo takes a plea deal and gets 5 years in prison for accessory to murder.

  • Calvin is convicted of killing Angela + 3 more women.

  • In the courtroom, Calvin passes Geo a note that says “You’re welcome” inside a heart.

  • Geo swallows the note. (Who does that??)

At this point, you're like:
Wait. Why would Calvin thank Geo? Or vice versa? Who really killed Angela?

Welcome to the mind games of Jar of Hearts.

🔐 Prison Politics & Lipstick Messages

In prison, Geo:

  • Becomes tight with prison queenpin Ella Frank, doing her dirty money-laundering work

  • Befriends fellow inmate Cat Bonaducci, who tragically dies of cancer

  • Seduces guards for privileges, because Geo’s got skills

  • Starts receiving mysterious letters from “superhero-named kids”

Kaiser, now a detective, investigates the letters and realizes they're from a foster care kid named Dominic doing a school project. At least… that’s what it seems like.

Meanwhile, Calvin escapes prison, and everyone’s like “he’s definitely coming for Geo.” But no dice… yet.

🪦 Bodies Start Showing Up

As Geo nears her release date, things escalate fast:

  • Two bodies are found behind Geo’s childhood home:

    • Claire Toliver, and

    • Her 2-year-old son, Henry Bowen

  • Henry has a lipstick heart drawn on his chest and the words “SEE ME” — just like Angela

  • Claire’s body is dismembered, same as Angela’s

  • Surprise! Calvin is Henry’s biological dad

So someone is going around killing Calvin’s secret children and their mothers. Super dark, super twisted.

🎥 Flashbacks: What Really Happened

We flash back to high school:

  • On a drunken night, Geo wakes up to find Calvin raping Angela

  • Angela threatens to go to the cops

  • Calvin strangles her to death

  • Geo, terrified and manipulated, helps bury the body

  • Calvin vanishes

Geo lives with the guilt for 14 years, until it all comes out.

🔥 Released… and Back to Trouble

Once Geo is out of prison:

  • She moves in with her dad

  • Reconnects with Kaiser, and they ahem get close

  • Finds out about two more bodies:

    • Sasha Robinson and

    • Her 4-year-old daughter Emily

  • Same lipstick heart. Same message. SAME killer?

Turns out Calvin fathered those children too. This man needs a vasectomy, like, yesterday.

And here's the kicker:
Geo also had Calvin’s child in high school.
She gave the baby up for adoption.

🧩 Who’s Killing the Kids?

That baby Geo gave up?
His name is Dominic.

  • He ended up in the foster care system

  • He’s the one writing those superhero letters

  • And… he’s not okay

Geo invites Dominic over to warn him. And then — BAM — the final twist slaps us in the face.

🧨 THE TWIST: This Jar Just Shattered

Dominic isn’t scared.
He’s furious.

And he’s the one killing Calvin’s children.
Because they were raised in “better” homes, while he was neglected.

He tries to rape and kill Geo (yes, his own mother — seriously dark), but luckily he… fails to perform.

Then Calvin bursts in (after escaping from prison), dramatically trying to rescue Geo — but she’s OVER IT.

She grabs a gun and kills them both.

YES. Geo kills her rapist ex-boyfriend and her vengeful biological son.

She wins the Most Traumatic Mother’s Day award.

🪦 The Final Chapter

Months later:

  • Geo visits Angela’s grave and Dominic’s

  • She’s now in a relationship with Kaiser

  • She’s pregnant with his child

  • And for the first time since she was 16, she says she’s finally happy

💭 Final Thoughts

This book is dark, violent, emotionally intense, and completely addictive. Jennifer Hillier isn’t afraid to go THERE — and believe me, she goes all the way there.

✅ Complex characters
✅ Unforgettable twists
✅ Morally gray EVERYTHING
✅ A pace that never lets up

If you love thrillers that get under your skin, Jar of Hearts will mess you up in the best way.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.5 stars.
Docked half a star because I will never emotionally recover from the ending.

📚 If You Liked Jar of Hearts, Try These:

  • Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris – Twisty domestic thriller with chilling secrets

  • Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier – Another banger from the same author. Seriously disturbing and so good

  • Verity by Colleen Hoover – If you want “wait WHAT” energy with a side of emotional chaos

  • The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry – Because creepy kids are their own genre

🛒 Buy the Book:

📖 Amazon (Paperback, Kindle, or Audible)

🧠 TL;DR

  • Your boyfriend is a serial killer.

  • Your son is also a murderer.

  • You bury one. You shoot the other.

  • Congrats! You’re finally free to have a normal life… maybe.

Jar of Hearts is like a horror story wrapped in a murder mystery dipped in emotional trauma. And I loved every minute of it.

Want more spoiler-filled, plot-heavy, tell-it-like-it-is book recaps?
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