Review for Little Pieces of Me by Alison Hammer

 

Little Pieces of Me by  Alison Hammer 

Paperback, 400 pages

publication: April 13th 2021 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Genre:  Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Adult

When Paige Meyer gets an email from a DNA testing website announcing that her father is a man she never met, she is convinced there must be a mistake. But as she digs deeper into her mother's past and her own feelings of being the odd child out growing up, Paige begins to question everything she thought she knew. Could this be why Paige never felt like she fit in her family, and why her mother always seemed to keep her at an arm's length? And what does it mean for Paige's memories of her father, a man she idolized and whose death she is still grieving? Back in 1975, Betsy Kaplan, Paige's mom, is a straightlaced sophomore at the University of Kansas. When her sweet but boring boyfriend disappoints her, Betsy decides she wants more out of life, and is tired of playing it safe. Enter Andy Abrams, the golden boy on campus with a potentially devastating secret. After their night together has unexpected consequences, Betsy is determined to bury the truth and rebuild a stable life for her unborn child, whatever the cost.

When Paige can't get answers from her mother, she goes looking for the only other person who was there that night. The more she learns about what happened, the more she sees her unflappable, distant mother as a real person faced with an impossible choice. But will it be enough to mend their broken relationship?

Told in dual timelines, Little Pieces of Me examines identity and how the way we define ourselves changes (or not) through our life experiences. 

 

My Thoughts…Dual timelines are wonderful when done right.  Alison Hammer did a great job of writing two timelines, one in the present and one in the past, and bringing it all together perfectly.   I loved learning about Paige’s struggle with the results of a DNA test and learning how the results of that DNA test came to be. 

 The story of Paige’s mom was interesting.  Of course, I did not love the way she treated Alison, but I did understand why it was hard talking about her past.  The story of her college years, her being pregnant, and her raising her family gave me an insight into how she became the women she is today.  

Paige’s story tore at my heart.  Learning that the man she loved and thought she was her father was not.   Her mother would not tell her about her father, and she questioned everything she thought she was.   I could not imagine what she was going through but through Alison Hammer’s amazing work I felt like I was invested in Paige finding her place in the world.   I needed her to get her answers and to accept them and be okay.  

Little Pieces of Me is a story of being true to yourself, finding yourself, and acceptance. 

 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads