For Keeps

For Keeps

By: Natasha Friend

For sixteen years, Josie Gardner and her mom, Kate, have been a team. It’s been the Gardner Girls against the world, and that’s how Josie likes it. Until one day, in the pet food aisle of Shop-Co, they run into the parents of Paul Tucci, Kate’s high school boyfriend—the father Josie has never met. If Mr. and Mrs. Tucci are back in town, it’s only a matter of time until Paul shows up. 

Suddenly Josie’s mature, capable mother regresses to the heartbroken teenager she was when Paul moved away. Meanwhile, Josie’s on the verge of having her first real boyfriend, while her free-loving best friend, Liv, begins yet another no-strings-attached fling. When Josie learns some surprising truths about Paul Tucci, she finds herself questioning what she’s always believed about her parents—and about herself.

In For Keeps, Natasha Friend tells a fresh, funny, smart story about what happens when a girl gets the guy she always wanted and the dad she never knew she needed

summary from book

My Rating: 4.5/5

I have to say that For Keeps is one of the sweetest books that I've read in a very long time. It made me smile and laugh and held my interest from start to finish. The characters are lovable and their stories grab a hold of you and don't let go. Every chance I had, I picked this novel up and devoured it page by page always anxious to find out what was to come.

I love novels that place large emphasis on family and in For Keeps, that happens to be one of the major plot elements. I've read novels where parents are absent for whatever reason but never do they come back into the picture. I was itching for Paul Tucci to make a reappearance that when he did, I think I was just as on edge and experiencing the same amount of disbelief as Josie. I love when you're so transfixed by a novel that the feelings in which the characters are experiencing basically leap off of the page and take a hold of you. That's one of the best feelings and For Keeps definitely allowed for that to happen.

Aside from plot, the character's are really great as well and I have to say that I have a respect and appreciation for each and every one of them. They were all charming and sincere and helped shape the story and make it what it is. There's also an abundance of humor in this novel that will have you chuckling to yourself page after page. Another aspect I really admired and thought was great happens to be the relationship between Josie and her mother Kate. It's always interesting to read about characters that share conflict between them (conflict is after all a large part of what drives a novel) but for me, it's also just as gratifying to read a story where two characters share this incredibly transcendent bond. It was wonderful to read the scenes that Kate and Josie shared. Even when they had their problems you could not deny their connection to one another.

Overall: For Keeps is an endearing, heartwarming story that will keep you engaged and will have you laughing and smiling all the way through.