Thank you to William Morrow and Net Galley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.
I knew I'd love this story of a surprise uncovered by a DNA test because my husband found a surprise in his family tree, though it wasn’t quite as dramatic as the one Paige Meyer discovers in Little Pieces of Me.

Paige, a woman in her forties, feels like she doesn’t belong in her family. Her relationship with her mother is prickly, and her father, who loved her unconditionally, has passed away. After Paige receives an email from a DNA testing website that reveals her late father isn’t her DNA father, she is devastated and questions her identity, her relationship with her father, and her mother’s honesty and love. With help from her two best friends, Paige begins the process of discovering who she really is. Eventually she learns the truth about herself, the man who raised her, her mother, and the relationship between her mother and her DNA dad, but it's a rocky road she travels to understand the meaning of love and forgiveness.

The story is told in dual timelines: the present called “Now” in Paige’s point of view, and “Then,” in 1975 which follows Betsy’s and Andy’s college years and shows us who Paige’s mother and DNA dad were before they conceived Paige. This organizational setup must have been complicated to pull off, but it reveals the motivations and secrets of each character in the story at the exact moment I wanted and needed to know them. Even thought the characters of Elizabeth and Betsy were the same person, this before and after timeline revealed the changes wrought by time and circumstance on all the characters. Elizabeth was Betsy before life and circumstances intervened, and Andrew was Andy.

I particularly liked stepping back in time in Betsy’s and Andy’s chapters. I think we sometimes forget our parents are and were as fully human as we are, so it was eye-opening to read those chapters and think of them as the background to Paige’s story and growth as a character and also how much our past influences our present. Their chapters brought back memories of my own college years and the secrets I keep. They also made me think of my parents in a new way. Good books make us think in a new way about ourselves and the world, and this book is one that has resonated with me on many levels.

As I read, these questions kept running through my mind. How well do we truly know our parents? How many people keep secrets this big? At what age do we view ourselves as individuals rather than as our parents’ children, or do we ever do that? I could not put this book down and highly recommend it!

Another DNA shocker novel! I am not surprised because it is a deep vein to mine. I liked the switching back and forth between timelines. At first, I thought it would be clunky but it actually added to the telling of the story. It was really well thought out despite the topic which could easily have run into over top, ripped from the headlines territory. You really do get to know all of the characters involved.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because the title alone suggests there might be growth and "feelings" involved while reading it... and I was right. Paige has always been a Daddy's girl, right up to his death. Her relationship with her mother, however has never been great and has become even more strained after his death. One day Paige gets an email that changes her life forever, right down to her very core. She finds out that her dad isn't really her biological dad...which leads her on a journey to understand her mother, why she kept it a secret, and if she wants to get to know this new "dad". The story is told in a now and then format and we learn her mother's story and how it intersects with Paige and the strain between them and what led to a dad she never knew about. Personally I loved the story line and where it went...I would 100% recommend it to anyone who has ever thought about doing a DNA test or wondered what life would be like they weren't who they thought they were.

I can't wait to share this book with friends when it comes out in April! Thank you to Allison Hammer for creating such rich characters. Thank you to #netgalley @WmMorrowBooks and @customhousebooks for an advanced reader copy for my honest opinion of this book. This book is about family secrets and complicated mother daughter relationships. I really felt for the main character, Paige Meyer, who truly doubted her mother's love and wondered if her mom regretted the things she lost when she got pregnant with her during her sophmore year of college. Did her mom regret having her and/or marrying so young? Paige is at a turning point in her life when she finds out through an e-mail that a DNA ancestry site has found a parent-child match for her. The e-mail bluntly alerts her to the fact that the father she has known all her life, who has recently deceased, is not her biological father. The book is about her coming to grips with this news and making decisions about whether or not she wants to learn more about this new "DNA Dad" that she has discovered. What DNA traits do they share? What role does this person play in her identity? Does she want him to be a part of her life now? It doesn't help that the news comes when Paige is already feeling lost and unsettled from being unemployed and trying to prepare for her upcoming marriage. I credit her fiance, Jeff, and her best friends Maks and Margeaux, for holding her up when she gets this devastating news. I like the way the author chose a dual storyline to include Paige's reactions in present time (now) and to take us back to her mother's time in college (then) so we better understand the events that led to Paige's conception. Hearing her mother's story helps the reader better understand the choices her mom makes to try and make a happy and secure future for her and baby. I would love to debate whether her mom did the right thing in burying the secrets from her husband and Paige. The book is tender at times and funny at other points due to the crazy antics with her best friends, Maks & Margeaux. Everyone needs someone to truly listen to them and to give them a little push when they need it. I agree with the author that friends are sometimes as important as family in shaping our identify and happiness. Spoiler alert - I was so happy that Paige choose to build a relationship with her DNA dad. I do not feel like this relationship in any way tarnished her relationship with the dad she loved. I hope the author will continue stories about these characters including mom's second chance at love. #littlepiecesofme

In Pieces of Me, Hammer expertly weaves past and present, capturing the threads that bind one family. A story of hidden truths, identity, and parent-child relationships, readers will be drawn to these memorable characters and their journey toward understanding. Be prepared to laugh and cry along the way. Brava, Alison Hammer for another fabulous read.

I received this book "Little Pieces of Me" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. Paige is trying to find out who her bio father is because she got an email from a DNA testing website. This book was okay. I didn't really look forward to reading everyday. The book was set in the past and the present. Overall okay story line.

In a world where everyone is paying to have their DNA traced and tracked, it isn't surprising that a few family secrets get exposed in the process. Paige Meyers, a 43 year old woman who is mourning her father (who passed away 2 years ago) on their shared birthday, discovers that her favorite person in the world isn't actually her father.

Paige and her mother do not have the easiest relationship, and as she unravels the truth about her parentage, she begins to find out why their relationship is so strained. This also shakes her sense of identity to the core. As someone who never felt she fit in with her family, Paige begins to wonder how much of our DNA determines who we really are.

This novel plays with a dual narrative. The now/present is Paige's POV, discovering the truth of her father. The then/past shuffles between Betsy (Paige's mother) and Andy (Paige's biological father).

I found myself really enjoying the "Then" sections with Betsy and Andy. They were loads more interesting and entertaining to me. The "Now" sections are decent, but they are also the reason the book didn't hit all the right points for me. I feel as though too much time was spent of Paige being redundant in her thinking and emotions. I know that discovering your father isn't really your father is quite the shock, but I think more time could've been spent with the other things that get mentioned with the side characters that could have really fleshed this book out for me. The stuff with Jeff's coworker, Ross, seemed like a much bigger deal than it was. Paige's budding relationship with one of her younger sisters could have been better explored, plus the relationship between the younger twin sisters themselves could have been explained more.

Although there are things I think the novel is lacking, it was a decent story that I found myself enjoying more than I thought I would. If you read the description and found your interest piqued, I would recommend picking this up.

Happy reading!

Family drama and ancestory.com as the catapult to this story. The main character was hard to like. I also felt that a lot of side stories were just left up in the air. Overall just okay book.

Great women's fiction. Highly recommend this one. Thank you to Alison Hammer, the publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC.

I really got caught up in this book.
It is very well written and thought out.

Elizabeth and Paige have a strained mother- daughter relationship, exacerbated by the death of Paige's dad. He always watched over his daughter.
Paige has never been able to understand why her mom has always been so cold and distant towards her.

The clues begin to open when a DNA test that Paige took and a follow-up email with results insists that there is a man who has a very close genetic match to Paige.
Could it possibly be true?
Could her mother have a secret that she has never shared? Wait and see!
This novel sheds answers to the mystery in dual timelines as we go back to Betsy's (Elizabeth) early life and college years and then fast forward to Paige and her life.
Really a wonderful read!

I wasn't as wowed by this title as I was with Hammer's first novel. The plot is fine and moves at a good pace, but emotionally the story just wasn't hitting the right notes.

Little Pieces of Me is told in dual storylines: Paige in the present trying to figure out who she is once receiving the DNA results, and Betsy in the past during her college years. Both timelines converge to tell the story of Paige’s parentage. I thought this was very well done, and kept the pages turning quickly. Usually, in dual timeline books, I’m more interested in one POV than the other, but this wasn’t the case with Little Pieces of Me.

The dual timelines also helped paint a picture of how Betsy, Mark, and Andy had changed between college and adulthood. At some points, I forgot that innocent, kind Betsy was the same cold, distant person that was Paige’s mother. Even her descriptions of her loving dad didn’t match the descriptions of boring Mark from college. No adult is the same person as they were in college, so I thought this was very well done.

I was shocked to realize that Paige was in her 40s. I thought she acted much younger, maybe my age at mid-twenties. I don’t think this detracted from the story at all, I just didn’t think she acted like a 40-year-old woman in her interactions with her mother and her friends.

I really enjoyed this book - it was a unique take on a chick-flick while incorporating the Ancestry.com component of finding bonus family members. Characters were well developed, and I enjoyed reading it.

This book hit home for me on many levels, ones I am unable to speak about. I never highlight anything in my e-books, but I found myself highlighting tons of things that spoke to me. This story will hit home for any person finding themselves in the same shoes as the main character Paige Meyers. Being an NPE is a difficult journey, each one different for everyone. I'm glad this story had a happy ending, but that isn't always the case for NPEs. The characters were likeable, and the story flowed nicely. I read this book in six hours, I couldn't put it down.

Thank you NetGalley, Alison Hammer and William Morrow Books for allowing me to read this story.

Shortly after her 43rd birthday, Paige Meyer receives an e-mail from a DNA testing website, alerting her about the existence of Andrew Abrams, accomplished artist living in Naples, Fl., and more importantly, her father. The problem is, Paige's father, Mark Meyer, died nearly two years ago, so who could this mysterious stranger really be? She slowly begins to look into her mother's past in hopes of learning the truth about what really happened two decades ago. The story is told via three points-of-view: Paige in the present day and alternating points-of-view from Andrew and Paige's mother, Betsy, in 1975.

While I liked this novel - I cried at one point! - there are so many things that you have to look past in order to enjoy it. First, there was never any inkling on the part of Paige's father that Paige wasn't his own? Even when she arrived healthy two months early? Second, Betsy never felt guilty about the lies and the deceit? She admitted as much but it was slightly appalling to hear that she had no remorse for her actions. Third, Paige's relationship with her younger sisters. At one point, there is a subplot about her and one of the girls getting to know each other better but it doesn't really go anywhere. There's no explanation about why one of the twins would want to keep it from the other one either. I also expected Ross' character to go somewhere given how Paige spoke about him with such distaste but there was no drama there.

I'm also not sure about Paige's character. She seemed like the type of person to just let things happen to her. She is fired at the beginning of the novel and about halfway through, it is clear she gives up the job search. What does she plan to do for money? She also delegated all of the wedding planning to her mother, who picks the date and the wedding venue. The date is a month away! Her fiance, Jeff, goes along with it. She doesn't even invite Andrew to the wedding because she wants him there. I felt like she largely invited him to spite her mother.

The friendships in the novel were rather sweet and it was evident how much her friends cared about her but even Paige made reference to the fact about how often she complained about her friend, Maks, but I never understood why. I did think it was rude she would mention how English wasn't his first language so he wouldn't always say the right thing. I didn't understand the need for it. I'm sure there was more too.

What particularly grated me about the end of the novel was a conversation that took place between Elizabeth and Andrew off the page from the viewer and ended with, "no hard feelings." Andrew had no hard feelings about a daughter being kept from him for 43 years?

Even though I enjoyed and finished this novel, the issues I had with the novel were enough for me to give it a 3-star rating. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the opportunity to read this e-arc, scheduled for release April 2021.

How many of us felt out of place? Like we were the odd one in our family, like we didn't match. Imagine waking up and receiving an email validating those feelings? That's what happened to Paige. After receiving an email saying she was a definite match from a DNA testing site, she goes on an emotional journey to find the truth. Paige confronts her mother. Is it true? Is she the biological daughter of another man? What other secrets is her mother hiding? I like that it is told in dual timelines. We follow Paige's journey of self discovery and experience Betsy"s (Paige's mother) life and what led her to make life changing decisions. I loved this book. Very well written.

was blown away by Alison Hammer's debut novel You and Me and Us so I jumped at the chance to read an advance copy of her upcoming book Little Pieces of Me, and I was not disappointed.

Paige Meyer's life it turned upside down as a result of a single email from a DNA testing site alerting her that a paternal match has been made with another user. Initially, Paige feels that there must have been a mistake since her father passed away two years earlier. She eventually becomes determined to uncover the truth; however, her mother - the one person who can provide the answers she's looking for - is unwilling to address the matter.

Told with story lines alternating between present day and her parent's college years, Little Pieces of Me explores the emotional journey Paige takes to determine who she really is as well as the complex relationships within families.

This is a fantastic family drama with complex, relatable characters that I would definitely recommend.

This is a timely story given the current popularity of DNA testing. Test results help us to confirm who we are and where we come from by connecting our ancestors through DNA matches. But what if what you have known your entire life to be true reveals that a man you’ve grown up knowing and loving as your Dad is not your biological father? This is an emotional story that explores the undeniably accurate results of a DNA test that will upend lives and change family history.

Thank you so much #Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.
I'm not surprised, given how popular DNA testing has become, that there are so many books taking on the topic. Although most of the ones I have read, handled the DNA as more of a mystery/thriller storyline, this was the first one that really focused on the emotional aspect of how a DNA test can change your life as you know it.

Paige and her father were extremely close, much closer than her and her mother. But a simple DNA test made everything she knew about her life to be a lie. Her father, the man who raised her, loved her and cherished her, was not her biological father. Its a touching story told in a then and now fashion. I was really surprised at how much I loved the story. Paige has to come to turns with everything and figure out how to accept. This story is just as much Paige's mother as it is hers.

Keep a box of tissues by you!

The advent of DNA testing has created an entirely new set of plots for writers. Some have used them well, others have not. Alison Hammer has used it extremely well. Paige receives a new leaf which upends her entire identity. Could a total stranger be her DNA dad?

Paige begins to question her relationships, especially with her emotionally aloof mother. All this is happening when Paige is planning her wedding. The author moves gracefully between THEN and NOW. The reader is brought into the series of events that came to a final denouement 43 years later.

I am really enjoyed this, loved the main character and the way the story unfolded. Of course, my own hesitation in taking a DNA test has been confirmed. So, no hidden siblings or mysterious cousins are likely to appear.

Thank you Netgalley for for this very engaging novel. I think that book groups will mine this novel for many rich discussions.