The Parts I Remember by A.K. Mills | New Adult Traumatic Life Event Story

The Parts I Remember
A.K. Mills
Genres: Chick-lit, Romance, Traumatic Life Event/Experience
Age Group: New Adult (Adult Themed Content)
Publication Date: 1st March 2013
Number of Pages: 246
Source: Author

Add to your TBR shelf:	Grab yourself a copy now:
	Amazon UK Amazon US

Act first. Think never. Remember nothing. 

Welcome to Kelly Rockport’s existence at Haysville University, where responsibility is just an elective. After all, fake IDs, alter egos, and one-night stands are all part of the college experience, right? So what if she blacks out from time to time? Memory is overrated. 

When freshman year lasts about as long as a one-night stand and is quickly followed by the Year of the Blackout, Kelly projects junior year to be nothing shy of amazing. But as shots, beer, cocaine and men mesh together in an intoxicating haze, Kelly’s reckless ways get her into serious trouble. The only problem is, she can’t remember what happened. 

As she hovers along the edge of consciousness, Kelly forces herself to think past her pain to piece together the shards of her life. This is her story, told in her words: The Parts I Remember.

The Parts I Remember was one of the first New Adult books I’ve read. I didn’t quite know what to expect but I’d been warned that the majority were similar to Young Adult books but with explicit language and behaviour. However, although this is true of The Parts I Remember, this story is also much more. The story is thought provoking and it’s recollection basis from Kelly’s perspective focuses on her learning a ‘lesson’ and learning the error of her ways.

The Parts I Remember begins when Kelly awakes from a car accident she was been involved in. She is severely injured and has no recollection of how or why she was in the car in the first place. The story then evolves into Kelly retelling the events of her life leading up to the accident which include hints as to what may have happened.

The alternate time periods in this book were enjoyable and easily distinguishable at the start of each chapter. As the story evolves more and more I was constantly trying to guess who may have also been in the car with Kelly and how the accident could have happened. Being a recent graduate myself, made Kelly’s character understandably and she certainly knows how to party! I don’t think I’d ever have kept up with her! Kelly’s character at times was also frustrating though and her complete selfishness had me yelling out loud at the book so many times. This however is not a comment on a poor character because I believe that these were all important traits to Kelly and they blended with the story well and added to the learning the error of her ways aspect.

Overall, The Parts I Remember was a thoroughly enjoyable read and something I would recommend to anyone looking for a New Adult read with a twist. I’ll certainly be exploring more New Adults books in the future and I hope to discover that more are similar to The Parts I Remember rather than just all about the explicit behaviour.