I don’t know why I put off reading this book, but let me just say it was excellent! The characters are wonderful and relatable. As the story unfolded it became more and more difficult to put it down. Watching the characters and their relationships develop definitely tugged at my heart strings. This is a great story about family, friends, and love. The love between family and the love between friends that are family. As Paige discovers the truth about her biological father, she is working on discovering who she is. The love and support she has from her friends and fiancé help guide her to that rediscovery. This is definitely a must read, and is one I will be recommending to friends when asked for book suggestions.

Little Pieces of Me’s plot is 100% one of the reasons why I won’t do a DNA test - I don’t need to know some long buried secret. Paige always had a great relationship with her Dad, Mark, and is still coming to terms with his death. She gets an email from a DNA company of a paternal match and she begins to question who she is and where she came from.

What I liked: I really liked Little Pieces of Me. The story was engaging and timely. I liked both present-day Paige and the duel timeline of flashbacks with her mother, Elizabeth/Betsy, Mark and Andy. While I didn’t agree with some of the mother’s choices, they felt real and I understood her motivations.

Paige’s struggle felt true to life and Hammer does a good job of getting the reader into Paige’s head. You can feel her inner turmoil – does she want a relationship with Andy, what does it mean in regards to her dad, and can she repair her relationship with her mother.

I think this would make a good discussion book – it’s easy to read but the issues are timely.

What didn’t work for me: I wished we got more family background growing up – we scratch the surface in the novel – but more background into Paige’s relationship with her mom and sisters would have shed more light on their present day relationships.

Finally, there was a little redundancy in Paige coming to terms with what is happening, as the reader is taken through the same thoughts over and over.

Who should read it: Contemporary fiction fans and book clubs.

What would you do if you found out that the man you thought was your biological father wasn't? How would that impact your identity? How would that impact your view of your past? Your relationships with your family?

43 year old Paige Meyer gets a notification from the company where she has a DNA test on file. They've identified a close male contact- a parent, in fact. Except Paige's beloved father died a couple of years ago, so it must be a mistake. Paige reaches out to the company to tell them of their error, and is politely told that it's not a mistake.

This books chronicles Paige's journey as she determines ho to handle this news and what actions to take (should she investigate? Does she want to know more about her newly discovered biological father? Why has her mom kept this a secret? . Interspersed between chapters is Paige's mom's story. Betsy Kaplan was in college and ... you'll have to read the book to hear her story, and how this discovery impacts Paige and her mom's relationship.

I love this book. It felt real and relatable and will stick with me. It really made me question how I would handle this scenario, and, to tell you the truth, I can't imagine making a DNA test public for matches because I'd be nervous about what might happen!

I enjoyed this book immensely. The topics were interesting and it made me think. It’s not the usual style of book I read but I found it to be entertaining. To read a book about a character who finds out that her whole life might be not what she thought. At the same time there is a story from thEpast being told as well. The intersection of th ethos stories makes this a wonderful thought provoking read.

Thank you Net Galley and William Morrow/Harper Collins for access to the Advanced Reader eBook in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book when I started, but I was pleasantly surprised at the extreme enjoyment I got from reading this story.

The main focus is on the fact that Paige Meyer receives a notice from a genetic testing company that she has been matched with a parent profile, her father. But her dad passed away 2 years prior, so this seems impossible. Until she learns that it is actually true and there are so many questions she has about her origin.

On the surface the book is clearly about this shocking revelation, but as you get deeper into the story of how Paige came to be, you realize this is a story about family. A mother's love for her child and the decision to give that child the best possible life. Paige misunderstands her mom and her mom, Elizabeth Meyer, unnecessarily punishes herself through Paige's life as she believes she forever owes some type of penance.

The supporting characters are not all that fleshed out, but they are colorful, fun, and unflinchingly devoted to Paige. All in all this is a feel good story with some sad moments sprinkled throughout. I would recommend it as a light, uplifting read.

I received an ARC copy of Little Pieces of Me by Alison Hammer from Net Galley. This book tells the story of Paige, who receives unexpected news from a DNA test. What makes this book so compelling are the dual timelines in which both Paige's and her mother's stories are told. I feel like both characters were well-developed and believable, and I really came to care about both. This would be a great book for a book club!! I have so many things I would love to talk about, but I can't do it here because of spoilers. I highly recommend this book! It is scheduled to be released on April 13.

Thank you to @williammorrowbooks, @goodreads and @thishammer for my gifted copy of Little Pieces of Me! I had the pleasure of buddy reading this wonderful book with @lovearctually. The synopsis is in the comments.

While I initially had a tough time starting this book, I couldn’t put it down after the first third. The book was told in two timelines: present day, and during Paige‘s parents time at the University of Kansas. The transitions between the two time periods were seamless, and happened at the perfect times within the plot. Both timelines built towards climaxes at the perfect times as well and with good pacing. The two timelines really helped us learn more about Paige‘s parents as well, and how certain events unfolded as they did.

The journey Paige went on after she got her DNA test results was so emotional, and Alison Hammer did a wonderful job of conveying it through her words. I was moved to tears several times, and Hammer became an autobuy author for me. I loved Paige’s friends as well, they were a fabulous support system for her, and had just the right amount of coverage in the book.

This book was just okay for me. All the suspense had petered out by the 60% mark and the rest was just denouement. The last section didn’t go along with the rest of the book and in fact negated some of the earlier bits.

I loved this book! Between this book and her last book, Alison Hammer has become an auto-buy for me. I will read whatever she writes! This story was very intriguing to me. I was so engrossed with finding out what was happening, I really liked the duel storylines and it hopping back and forth to tell the story. Highly recommended!

Little Pieces of Me was definitely a sleeper book for me. I began the book thinking I would maybe just like it, and ended up loving the characters and the concept of the book. This was told in dual time lines, Paige’s and her mother, Betsy’s. I know dual timelines are often done (and overdone now) but this one worked out perfectly for the concept of the storyline. Paige is an unemployed woman, who is getting married. Her world is turned upside down when she gets a message from a genealogical website that a new familial match has been made. At first, Paige thinks (knows?) it is a mistake, since the match is for her father. Paige’s father died two years prior, so she didn’t understand how she could have a match for her father on the website. This book explores that, the relationship Paige has with her mother, and the complicated relationships that Betsy had in her youth, which led to Paige’s existence. This book is so different than others I’ve read lately, in the best possible way. I’d highly recommend to those interested in families, drama, and women’s fiction.

The premise of this story intrigued me because I love researching genealogy and love hearing stories about something unexpected people find when they do their DNA. Usually it is not as striking as finding out your parents are not who you expect, but it makes for an exciting story. I liked the format of the story so we learned what happened from her mom's perspective as well as it's impact in present day.

What if two years after your father's passing, you find out he wasn't your biological father, courtesy of an online DNA testing company?

That's the premise behind Little Pieces of Me, a dual-timeline story where you follow the Then & Now. I really enjoyed the look back at Paige's mother's side of the story, because it humanizes her in a way that you don't get from Paige's point-of-view.

The character development throughout this book is fantastic. Alison Hammer gives depth to Paige, her Mom, her "DNA Dad," her amazing friends and even her Dad comes alive again on the pages.

I almost didn't pick this one up because I'm extra sensitive to "loss of a Dad" stories, but I'm glad I did because this was really moving.

Thank you to The Book Club Girls Early Reads Program, William Morrow, Custom House and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings: deceased family member, grief, homophobia, unplanned pregnancy & abortion considerations

This is another story told in two timelines, current day is Paige, an engaged woman in her 40s who’s always been a Daddy’s girl and he recently passed away and now she’s trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life when an email comes in from a DNA testing company that she sent in as a result of a free trial from her former job, and it changes her whole life.
Then we have Betsy’s timeline, who is Paige’s mom, and it covers her college life and how Paige came to be. Paige and Betsy’s relationship is rocky and strained. When Betsy was in college, she dates Mark until he gives her a gift for her birthday that shows he doesn’t really know her at all, so they take a break and she meets up with Andy, who is a frat brother of Mark’s and they comfort each other in the wake of both their break ups. Andy has secrets he’s keeping from everyone and Betsy vows to keep his if he will keep hers.
I really enjoyed learning more about these cases of people who found out that they weren’t who they thought they were. I didn’t realize there were so many until Paige talked about joining a Facebook group for it and lost hours and hours reading similar stories. And I loved Andy! I just wanted to hold him and make things better for him!
Thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my review.

I thought the book was interesting and delved into some great ethical/moral/identity conundrums of Paige finding out that her dad isn’t really her biological dad, while her mother kept it hidden for her entire life, and feeling like she didn’t know who she was anymore, especially after the grief of losing her known-dad recently.

While the story was compelling and the writing good, I gave it a lower rating mostly because I felt that there was so much baggage and dysfunction between Paige and her mom, and then Betsy/Elizabeth and Andy, and it all wrapped itself relatively quickly into a nice bow at the end. With 43+ years of secrets, lies and resentment, it just seemed way too quick and easy to resolve like that in a 3 month span. Usually a family with that much of a past needs therapy and a whole lot of conversation and *maybe* it can find a sense of closeness and moving forward. And maybe I’m wrong, but it seemed to allude in the end that maybe there was an inkling that Andy knew which sours it for me since he told Paige he had no clue. I also felt like Jeff was a little too perfect.

All in all I like the story and the potential what-if, but was a little too perfect after a whole lot of mess, and therefore disappointing for me in the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alison Hammer is such a skillful writer. Similar to the thrill of opening a book by Kristin Hannah, the opening pages of an Alison Hammer novel promise you’ll embark on a sweeping, immersive, emotional journey that will give you all the feels.

Paige Meyer is having a down moment; she’s lost her job, and although she dearly loves her fiancé and has close friends, she’s struggling with planning for her wedding just two years after losing her father. Plus, her lifelong strained relationship with her mother and siblings is weighing on her, especially during this time.

The last thing she expects is to discover from a DNA test that the Dad she’s still grieving is not her genetic father. A scenario guaranteed to worsen Paige’s relationship with her mother, Elizabeth. Could she have lied to both Paige and her Dad?

The author cleverly interweaves a dual timeline narrative from two points of view. We gradually learn what happened forty-plus years ago to turn Elizabeth, Paige’s mother, into the woman she became. Along the way, we gain empathy for Elizabeth’s decisions, and the situation they are now in, but will Paige her daughter be able to forgive her?

As recent revelations open doors for Paige; she struggles with whether a change in her DNA is a change in her core identity and needs to decide whether she will she step through the new doors that open for her because of her new genetic heritage.

At its heart, Little Pieces of Me is a story about what makes for our identity, and the fears we all hold of who we really are inside. It’s about finding belonging and self-acceptance. Little Pieces of Me is an uplifting read, glowing with warmth and love.

You know when you read a book, it stirs up all the emotions, and you know you are a better, more empathetic person for having read it? That’s what Alison Hammer’s novels do for me.

This week @lovearctually is reading 𝗟𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗲 by @thishammer and I read this book in two days so I could join in on the chat! I was so into this story; I had to know what happened next.⁣
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Paige Meyer had recently been laid off when she receives an email from FamilyTree, a family DNA website. She’s intrigued and clicks in to find she has a new parental link- to a man who is not her recently diseased father. She sits on this info for a few days before calling her slightly estranged mother who vehemently denies this. Paige confides in her fiancé, Jeff, but can’t stop thinking about who this man is or what her life would be like if she was Paige Abrams. The book also has flashbacks of Paige’s mother, Betsy, when she was a sophomore at the University of Kansas, and this shows the story who Paige’s father is and how this happened.⁣
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I absolutely felt for Paige- she has never really connected with her mother and her father was her person. He passed suddenly and she feels so separated by her mother and twin sisters. Luckily, now she has Jeff to help her. This book was just so absolutely genuine and heartfelt. I loved how supportive her friends and Jeff were and especially Maks speech about needing to push her sometimes. I love how she reconnected with one of her twin sisters when she was away from the other. ⁣
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As someone who waited until 35 to get married, I loved to see an older bride! Paige is 43 and has some thoughts about weddings that I just loved to see. Thank you to @williammorrowbooks, @netgalley, @lovearctually, and @thishammer for the advanced reader copy. Little Pieces of Me is on sale April 13! ⁣
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4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫⁣

Beautifully written! It is hard to put the book down once you start reading it. What would you do if you found out the man you knew as your father had no biological link to you? Paige grows up in a Jewish family with a devoted father that she shares a birthday who recently passed away. Paige discovers through a DNA site that the man she always thought of as her father is not. When reaching out to her mother, her mother vehemently denies what Paige tells her and shuts Paige down. Paige turns to the internet and her support system of friends and her fiancée to help her understand the shocking revelation that some unknown man shares her DNA.

Alison Hammer has crafted a then and now story that keep you turning the page to find out how things resolve. Through flashbacks to 1970s college life to discover what really happened and their position in the story timely in explaining where Paige came from, you realize how much you are rooting for Paige’s mom and biological dad. Not cheering in hopes that they end up together, but being hopeful that they find their happiness apart to live a fulfilled life.

You will keep reading to see if her mom ever opens up about what really happens, if she ever meets her “DNA dad,” and how/if she allows it to change her life. This book is a refreshing breath of fresh air.

#netgalley #littlepiecesofme

This book felt very very close to home. I had a very similar DNA experience to Paige. I really enjoyed seeing how her experience with uncovering secrets played out. I also gained a few insights into how I could navigate my unexpected discoveries as well.

Hammer handled this topic with such grace. I appreciated how she created the Then and Now timelime to really help us see the entire picture of events.

This was a fantastic read. Trigger warnings: parental death, DNA discoveries.

Paige is a 43 year old woman, planning her wedding to Jeffrey. She and her mom, Elizabeth (Betsy), are both learning to adapt after the death of her dad two years previously. And then Paige receives an email from the company that ran her DNA alerting her to a new leaf on her family tree.

The story is told in dual timelines, alternating between the Now of Piage's life and the Then of a younger Betsy. In many ways, this book focuses on Paige and her mom. However, the book also provides insight into Betsy's childhood and relationship with her mother, reminding us that every mother was first a daughter.

I loved that Paige was 43. It works well for the story that her parents were born in the 1950's, and the math of her age flows from that. But more than that, seeing a focus on a woman who is in her forties and planning a first wedding was so refreshing. And seeing her navigate her identity as an adult felt relatable.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was phenomenal! I love that it touched on subjects that aren’t in many books like finding a parent later in life, losing your job later in life and being an older bride. I really disliked Betsy most of the book but I understood her more by the end. I related to Paige in a way I haven’t with any other character and I appreciate that! But this book on April 13th!!
TW: loss of a parent