I enjoyed this teen read. I liked it more than the oh-so-popular "Fault in Our Stars" to which I would compare it. It is more about the kids--with enough romance (for me anyway)--and their various reactions to being sick, getting "help" (by what means--i.e. another youth's death), etc.

If this wasn't a book club book, I wouldn't have finished it. Cliches and teenage angst, with medical drama thrown in. Oh, and a tethered ghost to boot.

Nope, don't recommend. Only reason I'm giving it two stars instead of one is for it bringing attention to the amazing things that can be done with organ donation. Of course, some potential donors may get scared they are stuck on earth with their recipients, but eh, bad plots don't change good science.

Teens will like this. Appropriate for MS or HS. I will hand sell this to lots of kids!

This book hit too close to home dealing with death and organ donation, but I am completely in awe of how this made me feel. I am looking at transplants from another side. Well written with great character development.

I loved this book! It took my breath away at parts and after finishing it I know this book will stay with me! It's extremely well written and thought provoking. I learned so much about organ donation and how it feels to be a recipient of a 2nd chance at life! Highly recommend!

When Jessica Chai dies in a car accident, her overachieving mother decides that the only way to make sure her daughter's death doesn't go to waste is to donate her organs to those who desperately need them to survive. Jessica's body is dismembered, pieces of her are taken and transported miles away. Not ready to move on, Jessica's spirit lingers, watching those who received her organs, observing their lives. She becomes a silent witness to their recoveries and she begins to realize that her seemingly unimportant life affected others deeply, and her tragic death miraculously helped save numerous lives.

Pieces of Me is a very emotional novel full of thought-provoking observations and poignancy. It's a story that offers an unusual and highly original take on death and afterlife - one full of hope and positive energy. Jessica's death brings pain, emptiness and the feeling of unfairness, but it's never deemed meaningless or a complete waste. Her death, as unexpected and heartbreaking as it was, is not the end of Jessica's existance. Her soul (or something close to it) lives on in the pieces of her donated to others.

While Jessica's death is a very important event of the plot and it's through her eyes that we get to know all the characters, it's the organs' recipients that are the main focus of the story. It's their lives, their every-day struggles, problems, hopes, dreams and plans for the future that we get to explore. Each of them received an incredible gift - a gift of life and a chance at the future - and they're all trying to live up to the expectations and make the most of it. Not all the characters were terminally ill prior to receiving Jessica's organs, but they're all profoundly affected by the donation. And we get to see just how much their lives change. They all go through difficult times and their journeys are very emotional and affecting, not to mention eye-opening.

To me, Pieces of Me is a very important book. Organ donation and all the bioethical issues surrounding it is a subject of ongoing debates. Different groups have different views on whether it's a beneficial, morally acceptable practice or not. Issues surrounding patient's autonomy or religious beliefs are just two of many things taken into consideration. It's a complicated, often controversial, and very emotional (for all parties involved) subject, and I myself am not entirely sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I am all for saving lives and giving people second chances, but on the other.. if someone close to me, say family member, died in an accident.. would I be able to make the decision for them? Should I be able to do that?

In her novel, Kizer explores many different aspects of organ donation, as well as the consequences and benefits of it. And she does it with remarkable sensitivity and thoughtfulness. She shows us how being able to receive Jessica's organs affected the lives of many teenagers who otherwise wouldn't have survived. She gives Jessica's death a new meaning, almost as if saying that, even though Jess is no longer around and she won't be able to make her own dreams come true, she will still live in the hearts and memories of all the people she helped save, connecting them with an invisible thread; and her tragically short life will not be a waste. It's a difficult subject to tackle, but I think Kizer really nailed it.

Pieces of Me is a brilliant, powerful and profoundly touching novel that explored themes of death, loss, grief, hope and destiny. It's a bitter-sweet story, full of pain and sadness, but also happiness and new beginnings. It shows the importance of organ donation and how sometimes even the most tragic and heartbreaking of events can lead to something good in the end.

A 2016-2017 Missouri Truman Readers Award nominee (grades 6-8).

2.5 stars.

This book about organ donation was better than I thought it would be, but since my expectations were pretty low, that isn't saying much. In the novel, high school student Jessica Chai is killed in a car accident, but her consciousness stays linked to her organs which go to several other teens, including a teen with cystic fibrosis and a high school football star. Jessica watches over them, but has no ability to communicate with them. Anyway, read it if that sounds appealing.

It isn’t until Jessica Chai dies that she truly learns what it means to live. Jessica spent the majority of her short life invisible to her parents and peers. It isn’t until the final days of her life that anything remotely notable happens to Jessica, when her long, beautiful hair is hacked off by a posse of mean girls in the short span between classes. Jessica’s hair, a shield to hide behind and an integral part of her identity is suddenly gone, leaving her with unexpected, but not completely unwelcome clean slate. But, before Jessica can unveil her reinvention to her peers she’s in a fatal car accident. She doesn’t see a tunnel of light calling away from her old life, she doesn’t simply blink out of existence, she simply stays, as invisible as before. When her parents decide to donate her organs, giving four teens a second chance, Jessica is angry; she knows her mother is manipulating Jessica’s legacy for their own gain. She lingers somewhere between life and death, following the daily lives of the four recipients. Time soothes Jessica’s bitterness about her life and untimely death; what she first considers a betrayal by her parents, becomes the very act that gives Jessica life and allows Jessica, finally, to be seen. Amber Kizer’s PIECES OF ME is a raw, inspiring story of life after death and the enduring legacy of a girl whose untimely death grants the gift of life.

PIECES OF ME is a departure from what I’ve come to expect from Amber Kizer, but it carried the intensity and directness that I’ve come to associate with her writing. Kizer doesn’t do fluffy, she does real. I was so affected by the topic of organ donation that, immediately after I finished PIECES OF ME, I went online and registered to be an organ donor.

The four recipients Jessica follows are so much more than their illness or medical issue. They face complicated home lives, financial hardships, and bullying. But, at the same time, they experience first love, connection, spirituality, freedom, happiness, and best of all, the chance at a future.

The only aspects of the novel that I felt off to me were the romantic elements. Maybe it was that I wasn’t expecting any romance or simply that I was focused on other plot lines, but I found the romance distracting.