I received a copy of this through Book Club Girls in exchange for my honest review.
Pieces of Me was a pretty good book. I think it was equally happy and sad and at times I felt bad for all the characters. It wrapped up nicely and was a pretty quick read. Probably ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 but I’ll round up.

This was such a remarkable, and on some levels, heartbreaking story, told in a dual timeline format. I listened to the noteworthy audiobook version, which really brought the entire story to life. I love the puns, the fact that Paige was a daddy’s girl, the newly flourishing relationships between Paige and her sister Frannie. I too lost my dad, and I can’t imagine going through the process of grieving with the extra strain of an identity crisis to really make things unbearably difficult. I had a very difficult time relating Betsy with the cool and distant Elizabeth, and I didn’t really respect the decisions she made back in the day. I’m sure she did what she felt was best considering the circumstances, but it’s further proof that the decisions we make don’t just affect us.

Little Pieces of Me is a captivating story that had me from the very beginning. An emotional, thought provoking look at love, life and friendship. Mix that in with secrets and you have an amazing story.

This is the first book I have read by the author and can't wait to read more by her.

What a timely book in a world of DNA tests. I actually was very surprised by mine. I found this very well written and a moving story. Thank you to Netgalley for this copy.

How would you react if you found out your dad who raised you turns out to not be your DNA dad? Two years after her father’s death Paige gets an email alert from a DNA test taken a while back that she has a new connection, a parent-child relationship. The shock of this information would be significant. Paige feels like she doesn’t know who she is anymore.

The novel also shows us what happened back when Paige was conceived, with her mother Betsy and her relationship with both men. We get to know the mother in ways that Paige never did while growing up. This dual timeline works well.

Combined in the mix is Paige’s upcoming wedding, although it seems to take a back seat to the paternity issue and trying to find out what happened and who knew what. We also have Paige’s younger twin sisters, who seem to be turning 20 instead of 30.

Parts of the novel seemed to drag somewhat as there is a lot of Paige running away, or at least leaving the immediate area, when confronted with her Mom or her biological dad. There were times of frustration when reading as this just seemed to extend out the book in a way that didn’t seem realistic for the character. It made me want to know more about her life leading up being 40 and soon to be married, what happened
in the past twenty years? Why is her relationship so broken with her mother they never did try to repair it?

What brought this book down was the last chapter of the book. It ruined part of the story line and would’ve be a stronger book with that left out.

I love books about relationships and Pieces of Me takes on family, identity, and buried secrets. It was super interesting and also made for a quick and easy read after I had read a few heavier non-fiction books in a row.

I really enjoyed author Alison Hammer's easy and engaging writing style and her ability to engage (my semi-distracted reading mind) right from the start. I recommend this one and can't wait to read what Hammer shares next.

Thank you to William Morrow for my gifted copy. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this book. I felt that I was right there, part of what was happening, a friend waiting to offer support. I felt like I could fit right in with this wonderful group of people.

Paige Meyers, in the aftermath of her father’s death, decides to submit her DNA to FamilyTree, in the hope of finding some unknown relatives who look more like her than do the family she grew up with. The result brings a big surprise. I thought this book provided a realistic look at what happens when a person learns that what they believed their life was isn’t necessarily true.

This is a book about secrets, secrets, and more secrets, and how they always come back to bite you, even when your intentions were for the best. It’s heartwarming and heartrending at the same time. It shows how children can sense things as they grow up, and how they can remember those things as adults. Those things that can then alter relationships. When Betsy Kaplan went a little too far at a fraternity party, she never gave a thought to what might happen. When it happened, she then did everything in her power to cover up the result. She didn’t realize that it could come back to haunt her more than forty years later, and that the one who would suffer the most was her first born daughter.

The characters are wonderful. I’d love to have Paige, Andy, Maks, and Margeaux as friends. (On my part, I could see Debra Messing as Paige. should a movie be made.) I did wonder why Andy did the DNA test. I don’t recall that it was ever mentioned why. As much as I enjoyed all the characters, Andy was my favorite.

This is the best book involving DNA testing that I’ve read, and I’ve read several. It’s the most certainly the most believable. And nothing earthshaking happens when Paige learns the truth. She finds herself reevaluating her life and who she is, but she’s still Paige, and her family is still her family. It was refreshing to not find her in the middle of a kidnapping, plot to kill her, or meeting weird relatives who don’t fit. No one tried to make the life she lived as she grew up into something odd and foreign, something she didn’t deserve. No one tried to tell her that she wasn’t worthy of the memories she’d created. Once she knows the truth, she can move on to creating new wonderful memories.

I thought this was a wonderful, feel-good book that looks at the difficulties a person must deal with when secrets are suddenly revealed.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

Page Meyer sends off her DNA test as many peoeple do these days, presumably to do geneology or find extended family members. Instead what she gets is a response she was never expecting, yet deep down always knew. Paige always felt a little out of place in her family. She never felt her mother fully accepted her, and maybe even resented her. When Paige finds out that her biological father is someone else, she sets out to try to make sense of her mother, her place in her family, and her identity in general.

I enjoyed this novel. I would say its a solid 4 stars...a very contemporary issue. The story concept is great, and something we hear about more and more these days. However, the character development could have been better especially the characters in the present day storyline. A lot of things were handled very superficially or glossed over.

Thanks for NetGalley for an ARC

I really really liked this one! It is probably my favorite women's fiction read this year. I will definitely be on the lookout for more from Alison Hammer!

I just could not get into this book! I didn't like the main character and didn't care what happened to her, and the writing was not compelling enough to make up for it. DNF.

I thought this book had a really great flow when I was reading it. It was easy to follow and very easy to like and become invited in the characters of this story. It was a story of self realization when Paige finds out from an online genealogy website that her real father is not the father who raised her. This whole book revolves around Paige trying to figure out the right thing to do. She wants to honor her father's legacy, but knowing there's a man out there that has her DNA is more than she can ignore. The chapters switch between current day and then go back to the time when Paige's mom Betsy is in college dating her dad and also meeting Andrew (here DNA dad, as she calls him). Good story of self discovery and also of realizing that things aren't always what you may think.

Little Pieces of Me, by Alison Hammer, is a story of about looking to your past to better understand yourself.

When Paige Meyer gets an unexpected email from a DNA testing website states that her father is not who she thinks he is, she thinks it’s a huge mistake. With this now in the back of her mind, she starts thinking about her own feelings of not exactly fitting in when she was younger. Paige decides to dig into her mother’s past and question everything she thought she knew. What does this mean for the memories of her father, whom she adores, misses, and grieves since his recent death. Is this the reason her mother Elizabeth has always been so distant with Paige? Refusing to answer any questions of her past, her mother Elizabeth continues to be reserved and cold towards Paige.

Betsy Kaplan, Paige's mom, is at the University of Kansas in 1975 and focused on school and doing the right thing. However, when her boyfriend lets her down by being boring and gives her a disappointing gift, it’s the last straw! Betsy decides she wants passion in her life and breaks up with her boyfriend. Betsy has one wild night that ends in an unexpected outcome.

Beautifully written in dual timelines, this book examines our identity, what defines us and what makes us who we are. I loved this book. I felt like I understood the characters and had empathy for them and their journey. This book will stay with me for a while. And I’m happy about that.

Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow and Custom House, and Alison Hammer for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. ❤️️

I had no idea what I was getting into this book, someone should have warned me that I would need an entire box of tissues to get through it. This book is gosh darn BEAUTIFUL. Heartbreaking, deep, hard, and beautiful. A story of identity, family, and self-love, Little Pieces of Me by Alison Hammer is one of those books that sits inside you.

Paige took a free DNA test as part of a previous job campaign, she never expected the email that came in telling her a new match had been found and not just any match, a parent match. A parent match after the father she loved so dearly had passed. The email upends Paige's already frail life path, the only thing holding together is her two best friends and her fiance. What follows is a journey of discovery, both in the past and the present. Told from multiple perspectives and dual timelines, Alison Hammer weaves a compelling story of friendship, secrets, and truth, by taking readers into the past of Paige's mom, her best friend, and the man who just might be her father.

I cannot say enough good things about Little Pieces of Me, honestly I could ramble about it forever, but I would give way too much away. The DNA test may have turned her life upside down, but it gives Paige a chance to get to know the unflappable mother she believes she's never had a connection to. It gives her a chance to get to know who her parents and who she really is. This is a complex family drama with relatable characters and so much emotional depth that yes, you do need to be prepared with tissues.

Paige Meyer is a 43 year old unemployed bride to be whose life is upended when she receives a match on an Ancestory site suggesting that her dad may not really be her birth dad. Paige always felt like a outsider in her family, envious of the relationship her mom has with her 30 year old twin sisters, and felt closer to her dad who was always her champion, but had died two years ago. She now questions everything she thought she knew to be true. She tries to discuss the situation with her mom who wants to avoid the past at all costs. The story takes place in present day, and in the 1970's, where we meet Paige's mom, Betsy,a student at University of Kansas, and learn the events that lead to the current question of paternity. I enjoyed this story, and loved the relationships Paige had with her fiancé, Jeff, and two best friends, Maks and Margaux. A story of family and acceptance that I would reccommend.

Alllll the emotions! Gah Alison Hammer has a way of making me cry while reading and that just never happens! I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t get enough. The characters were fun and complex and I truly enjoyed the plot. I only wish we knew a little more at the end, but hey... you can’t have it all. Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for my review copy!

I really liked this book! It is a book with big heart. Paige’s father dies, she had previously submitted a DNA sample through one of those online companies, and discovers her dad isn’t her bio dad. I thought the dual timeline was executed well. It allowed us to get to know Betsy and better understand her choices as Paige struggled with Elizabeth. I also liked the relationships in the book: the best friend trio, the love shared between Jeff and Paige, the love between Paige and Mark, and at the end, the love, forgiveness, and understanding between Paige and her mom. Maks was great for comedic relief. And I just kept thinking Jeff was such a good man, like she felt about her dad. I loved how Paige described Jeff: “He is all the kinds of love rolled into one.” Overall, a nice piece of contemporary/women’s fiction and I highly recommend this novel to fans of the genre. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this advanced reader’s eBook.

I’ll be completely honest with you, I started reading Little Pieces of Me and I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure if I was connecting with the characters, understanding them, and I was ready to say that this book was... good. Just good.

But then I found myself thinking about Paige, Betsy, and Adam when I wasn’t reading LOL — I realized I was invested—invested in their lives, their decisions, and I was rooting for them.

Between the friendships, family dynamics, && hidden secrets, Alison did a great job integrating all of that and it made for an amazing book.

@thishammer has officially become an auto-buy author for me.

In this 2nd novel by Alison Hammer, she explores what happens when your world is turned upside down by one email about your DNA? Does it really change who you are or it’s merely a just genetic information? This is what our heroine Paige has to navigate through when it happens to her. Luckily for her she’s got a fantastic group of friends who do have her best interest at heart, the even if she’s not sure at the time.

I throughly enjoyed this one!

Almost forty years old Paige Meyer is finally planning the wedding her mother always dreamed of. As the festivities approach Paige is shocked to receive an email from a DNA search site notifying her of a parent match. At first, as she is quite certain she has never had children, Paige decides it must be a mistake and dismisses the message. But the notifications keep arriving. After further research
she is horrified to learn that she has a near perfect match with a man her parents age. In fact, with a little googling, she learns Andy went to the same college where her parents met, married and had her. It appears that back in 1975, her mother Betsy must have had a secret she never revealed. Still mourning the loss of her husband Mark she refuses to discuss Paige’s ridiculous accusations. Never having felt completely accepted by her extremely controlling mother, Paige is determined to find out the truth about her life and at the same time manages to discover her way back home. This book had many good threads but unfortunately these weak, unlikeable characters left me hanging. With the answers clearly revealed at the beginning I found myself waiting for something more that never arrived.

Loved this one - the pages flew by as I wanted to read more about both timelines. Present day Paige finds out from a DNA match website that a man is supposedly her father and we follow her journey as well as going back in time to read about her mother's story. This story is about mothers and daughters, long kept secrets and what identity means. There were parts that were so moving that it brought tears to my eyes. I think we often think of our parents so narrowly and forget that they were once young people with lives before we even entered the picture and this really illustrates that point well. The dual timelines were done well in this book and I found myself equally invested in both stories and how they come together was exactly what I needed. Highly recommend!