For Keeps by Natasha Friend is a realistic fiction book. It is about the main character, Josie, who has never met her dad before. And how she meets him when his parents move back into town. She goes through all of this with her best friends Liv and her mom. I really enjoyed the unique plot of the story. I think the characters where very distinguished, like Bob who's a germaphobe. The small details like the letters and Livs not so real surprise really make the boo great. I would recommend this to More...

good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More...

Josie Gardner and her mother, Kate, are best friends. Kate had Josie when she was only sixteen years old, after her boyfriend, Paul Tucci, moved away to Arizona and left her to raise the baby alone. Josie works for an OCD ice cream shop owner who dreams of one day opening a coffeeshop, plays soccer on the girls’ team with her other best friend Liv, and worries through her complicated relationship with Matt Rigby, while her mom, who owns a bookstore, starts dating a jazz musician. But one day, Ka More...

Imagine if everything you thought you knew about the parent you’ve never met turned out not to be true.

In Natasha Friend’s young adult novel ‘For Keeps,’ 16-year-old Josie is just about to enter her junior year of high school when the grandparents she’s never met—the parents of the man whom Josie’s mother says did not want any part of their lives after Josie was born—move back to Josie’s hometown after 17 years.

Josie’s mother, Kate, and her high school boyfriend, Paul Tucci—who moved to another More...

Not a bad story with many subtopics to think about. Josie is a well developed character.

A follow up story about what happens in the next couple of years would be great. There is still a lot of issues to be worked through. Like how is Lauren really going to like it when she has to deal with a 16 year old potential step daughter. Even though Josie is a wonderful girl, it would still be a shock. Plus the paying of back child support and future support that she wasn't planning on. That issue will im More...

Josie’s mom got pregnant at sixteen. When Paul Tucci, the father, left her, she dropped out of school to raise the baby alone. Now Josie’s all grown up and the unthinkable has happened: the Tucci’s are back.

While Friend started with a very familiar storyline (teen-life-turned-upside-down-when- missing-parent-returns) there are a number of interesting subplots. To be honest, I find most of the subplots more interesting than the main plot, and I wish Friend had privileged them. One subplot is a pr More...

While I agree with others that For Keeps has a big similarity with the fun mother-daughter relationship between the young teen mother and quirky daughter in Gilmore Girls, the similarities stop there. Josie is a stronger character than Rorie--the daughter in Gilmore Girls, she is also more outgoing. I can say the opposite goes for Katie, Josie's mother. She likes to shy away from things more, however, she still makes people feel better about themselves when she feels like crap. When the parent's More...

It’s always been just Josie and her mom Kate, and that’s the way Josie likes it. For the most part, Kate is the best mom and friend a girl could ever want. But the second anyone from Kath’s high school years shows up, she loses control, still stinging from the embarrassment of being a pregnant teen. So when Josie and Kate run into the parents of Paul Tucci when shopping, Kate predictably freaks out, even more so more so usual because Paul Tucci was Kate’s high school boyfriend, the guy who knock More...

For Keeps is a realistic book with an angsty plot that is delivered in a dramatic light hearted manner. Now is that a bad thing? Not really, but neither is it that up the par. I mean I think having a whole other estranged family who to your knowledge never accepted you would be a jot more serious.

I was expecting a lot more mature emotional output from the main character Josie, then what she has shown. I found her to be immature, bratty and self absorbed.

The blurb of the book is very misleading. More...

Okay, so after reading this book, for some reason, I keep picturing the Gilmore Girl chacters in my head. Especially Paul Tucci--I keep seeing him as Christopher from the TV shower. I see a lot of similarities in the way that the mother-daughter bond is in both the tv show and the book.**

This was a pretty good book for me. Nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it. I felt that the characters and the story line seemed very real. I think that having a mom dating again is an ordeal (not sure if this is More...

At First Sight: Josie and her single mother Kate have been a dynamic duo for all of Josie's 16 years of life. But Josie's junior year of high school is shaping up to being something else entirely. First, they run into Paul Tucci's parents at a store - which sends the otherwise capable Kate into panic, crouching behind cans of cat food trying to stay out of sight. Who is Paul Tucci? Well, he's Kate's once boyfriend and the father Josie never knew.

The Tuccis are back in town and deep down, Josie More...

To see full review click here: http://yalbookbriefs.blogspot.com/201...

This is such a sweet book. It's not that memorable. But I did enjoy reading it. I thought Friend did a good job telling the overall story.

The plot itself is pretty simplistic, but there were a lot of emotions that came from it and for that matter subplots. And honestly, the subplots took over for a lot of the story. This was both good and bad. While I enjoyed how the minor characters had a more prominent role in the story, I More...

The opening of this novel is a pitch-perfect young adult start. Josie has a hilarious teenage sensibility and voice. Her mother, long-wrecked by the departure of her high-school boyfriend (and Josie's father), is a treat. Best friend Liv is well-developed. The only issue I have with the characters are Liv's gay dads, who come across slightly as cariactures, but delightfully so. That's just who they are.

Josie and Liv face the usual drama of normal upper-middle class girls until Josie discovers th More...

I like how in the end, Paul, Josie’s father told the truth of what happened and found proofs that he didn’t betray them; it was Kate’s mother and father that blocked their paths of connection. I think the ending came too quickly; the “happily ever after” came too quickly. The story ended when Paul came back and Rigsy came back. This book is full of love and relationships. It didn’t fascinate me much. Though, I like the characters in the story and how they acted.
When Kate started to go out with J More...

This is one of the most funny books I have ever read. There were a lot of humorous dialogues throughout that will help readers be hooked.

What else is there?
1. A mother who was suffering from panic attacks every time she met someone from high school
2. A cynical girl who thinks every guy is like her father who left her mom when she was pregnant,.
3. Meddling parents
4. OC boss
5. An awesome best friend
6. Hot boyfriend

What I have learned so from this:
1. Like the present, not the past because it's neve More...

The author sums it up best toward the end of the novel as her protagonists makes a keen observation. We all have faults, peccadilloes if you will, that challenge and shape us and can become so much bigger than we ever imagined. This is a story chock full of such characters and Natasha Friend has used them all to beautifully illustrate a story about self-discovery and personal growth.

There are a number of subplots in this novel, all of which weave together perfectly to tell the story of a young g More...

There are four words that come to mind when I finished reading this book. Sweet, cute, witty, and incomplete.

I don't really have much to complain about when it comes to this book. It was excellently paced and interesting enough to keep me reading. I'm the type of person that won't continue to read a book if it seems like a waste of time when there are so many other books that I could be reading instead.
The characters were entertaining to read - and to a certain extent - relatable. I loved read More...

I wasn't a fan of this book as I was reading it, but the more I reflect back, my opinion is changing.

At first, I thought this was a wacky, confused story. But now....I feel like this story is really just like life. It starts our simple and clear, but gets more and more confusing and muddy. What looks like a straight-forward set of events quickly spins out of control. We meet Josie, who has never seen her dad and doesn't care to. She's heard the horror stories from her mom, Kate, and is OK with More...

For Keeps was a cute, albeit slightly predictable read. Josie and her mother had that awesome mother-daughter dynamic that always makes me smile (think Gilmore Girls here). Unfortunately, the book as a whole did let me down some. I don't know what I expected, but as the book and the plot developed, I just couldn't hold on to the connections I had with the characters. Ultimately, they were all a bit forgettable, and some of the relationships in the book didn't quite work as nicely as they should More...

For Keeps is a wonderful novel and Josie Gardner is a fantastic narrator. While I was reading, I felt as if I was spending time with good friends in a world where everything is going to be okay. Josie's best friend Liz was my favorite character in the book - confident and quirky and not at all worried about what people think. She was a great friend with her own personal life. Loved Liz's two Dads and Liz's younger brother Wyatt because they made up that cool family you always wished your family More...

For Keeps delivers a tale about Josie, her mother Kate, and all of the relationships that touch their lives. For Josie, Kate is the only parent she's ever known, and she wants it to stay that way. Josie is and she has this hilarious teenage sensibility and voice and it's pretty hard not to like her from the start. I love how Josie and Liv are different - while Josie is girl who is serious and mature enough, Liv brings the hilarious aspect with her crazy antics that made her one of my favorite ch More...

I thought this book was boring. The characters annoyed me. It was a young adult book and I feel that the author figured if she put in all those 'exciting' teenage rebellion type moments (sex, alcohol, etc) it would make up for the story. I try out young adult books thinking I will find a good story without all the adult garbage but this still had some of that in it. Again, I just get annoyed at the assumption of these authors that all the teens are involved in sex and partying so they have to pu More...

For 16 years, it's been just Josie and her mom. Kate got pregnant fall of her junior year & dropped out to have the baby. The father and his family moved away, so Josie has never had any contact with them. Then, one day Josie & her mom spot the Tuccis in the grocery store -- they have moved back! Factor in new boyfriends for both Josie & Kate and an interfering best friend, you have a great story. I couldn't put it down.

Both Josie & Kate seem true-to-life. Their reactions to the More...

For Keeps was not a badly written book. But I can't say I particularly liked it. Natasha Friend's story of a girl meeting her long-lost father just didn't spark for me. It wasn't what I would call original, it wasn't funny enough to hold my attention. I'm simply not into this genre. The whole, modern teenager worried about their latest parent and boy issue doesn't sit well with me. I see it too much, it makes me restless. But if you like this genre and plot type I'd say go for it. The writings n More...

I don't love the reality fiction so much unless it's true, and even then I prefer history. Modern, everyday life for teens is too depressing. I mean, the loving, monogamous, moral, responsible role models in this story were gay. Which, nice for kids who have two dads, but . . .

It did make me think, though, about what it's like for my kids to go to school every day and face an endless barrage of kids thinking and talking about sex, drinking, and drugs, and how much that affects them. It makes me More...

Josie and her mother, Kate, are just fine on their own. Pregnant at 16, Kate raised her son by herself while her boyfriend, Paul, abandoned her, moving to Arizona and getting a new girlfriend. At least, that's what Josie has always been told.

Now Paul's parents are back in town and Josie is forced to serve them their cookies and cappuccinos, suppressing the urge to say anything. It seems that nothing will change until the grandfather she never knew collapses on the floor one morning. And nothing More...

Yay! My mother finally let me buy a book, and this is the one I bought! (It was two dollars cheaper, lol.)

Okay. LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS. (to defeat the Huns ...) The characters weren't totally described. Like Matt; his character was hard to understand. I mean, why did he just start being a creeper randomly? AH. :( And the whole shebang with Paul Tucci didn't really play a huge role until the middle of the book.

The plot was also kinda cut off at parts. Eh. :\

Overall, it's a pretty good book, b More...

I liked the story but it was a little sad. It is a story of a young girl Josie who's mom got pregnant with her at the age of 16. With the young boy (Josie's dad) whom her mom loved moves away. As Kate her mom raises her and have a remarkable relationship she still longs to know her dad. When his parents move back to town she starts discovering things about her father and soon secrets both her and her mom were unaware of become known. There is more profanity in the book than I would prefer but it More...

My Rating: 4.5

For Keeps is definitely a keeper! I loved it from start to finish. The voice of all the characters were very distinct and relatable. I especially was satisfied with Josie's personality because her mind and attitude represented exactly how teenagers act. The bond between Josie and her mom reminded me of The Gilmore Girls. They both shared everything with each other, well almost everything. Some things were kept in the dark concerning her father. She never met him and only knew what More...