Book Review- 34 Pieces of You

I just finished reading 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

A dark and moving novel—reminiscent of Thirteen Reasons Why—about the mystery surrounding a teenage girl’s fatal overdose.

There was something about Ellie... Something dangerous. Charismatic. Broken. Jake looked out for her. Sarah followed her lead. And Jess kept her distance, and kept watch.

Now Ellie’s dead, and Jake, Sarah, and Jess are left to pick up the pieces. All they have are 34 clues she left behind. 34 strips of paper hidden in a box beneath her bed. 34 secrets of a brief and painful life.

Jake, Sarah, and Jess all feel responsible for what happened to Ellie, and all three have secrets of their own. As they begin to confront the darkest truths about themselves, they will also find out what Ellie herself had been hiding all along....

I saw that many were comparing this book to Thirteen Reasons Why. And while I knew many loved that book, I didn't.  I didn't find myself caring about Hannah (the girl who committed suicide) in that book and so I was hoping that this book would be different since suicide is such a tragic and important topic.  Unfortunately, I pretty much felt the same way about Ellie as I did about Hannah.

Yes, I get that Ellie had an extremely hard life and went through things that no person should ever have to go through.  But I wanted to FEEL for her.  And to feel for her, I had to like her.  And I just didn't.  I didn't like her personality at all.  There was nothing that made me care for her.

And at the beginning, I felt that way about the other narrators in the story, the people that were closest to her.  But as the book went on, I felt myself feeling sorry for those people.  I never changed my mind about Ellie, but Sarah and Jake and Jessie started to grow on me.  Especially Jessie (although I won't give away why).  By the end, I actually cared about them.

I wish I could have cared more about Ellie.  It's unfortunate that she was written in a way that I just didn't.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 72
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 59
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 62
Completely Contemp Challenge 2012: 2012-16
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 17
2012 Sophomore Reading Challenge: 6

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.