What do you think?
Rate this book
For Keeps: A Novel
Kate's lover has left her. The television movie based on her script has been placed on hold. And now she is on a chaotic path that leads her to the enigmatic Hilary, to the delicious Micky, to the dazzling and frightening Lauren. — FOR KEEPS is an erotic rollercoaster ride through the emotional aftermath of a broken relationship in which a woman has invested everything. Witty and insightful, FOR KEEPS is also a poignant portrayal of a woman searching for reason and order amid the pieces of her life. FOR KEEPS is a story that could happen to any of us.
144 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1985
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 1, 2016
Wow, I have been "reading" this book for forever. Basically, I would read the first 15 pages, then read something else. This was the first novel that Nonas wrote and it showed a little bit. Well, a lot sometimes, but it was an interesting idea that felt very personal, to the point of autobiographical. Kate is a television screenwriter (the same as Nonas) who was originally born in New York and moved to Los Angeles (the same as Nonas). She also has an interest in gay politics (same as Nonas). There were so many names, especially during the first part of the book. Also, some of the phrasing didn't feel too natural or clear.
Anyway, Kate’s partner of two years, Anne, had an affair with another woman when their relationship was becoming strained (though we never actually find out why it got strained). The woman, Jane, offered Anne a job in New York and she left Kate. Now, Kate has been doing nothing for the past 6 months. Her screenplay has been put on hold, so she isn’t working. I have no idea how Kate keeps her up her standard of living; throughout this whole novel, she doesn’t go back to work until the end of the book.
This book was written in 1985, and Kate went to college in the 60s. She is very sexually free with herself and that appears to be what most of her relationships are based upon. She also objectifies her partners, often saying she didn’t hear a thing they said because she was looking and fantasizing about them.
Her friends Emily, Jennifer, Claire, and Eve all encourage her to begin dating again. She dates a woman named Hilary who really has no point in the story. They have a "friends with benefits" relationship, but Hilary isn’t really a friend either, so I guess its a long-term "booty call" sort of relationship. So she dumps Hilary after she starts going out with a girl who is almost ten years younger than her, Nicky. During this time, Kate develops a lustful conscience she names True Love (though the casual sex True Love encourages her to do is probably the opposite of true love. It was awkward and reminded me of Anastasia Steele's Inner Goddess from Fifty Shades of Grey. I was glad when Nonas stopped writing about it). Kate and Nicky have no emotional connection, just one based on sex, which suits Kate fine, since she is still upset over Anne. Nicky is also sad about her girlfriend, Sandy, who left her. They know they need to talk, but….
Kate’s father calls, telling her that her great aunt Alice’s cancer has come back. He has known for months, but Alice has asked him not to say anything. Now he is going to the Bahamas with his second wife, Helen, and needs Kate to come back to New York to go with Alice to her hospital visits. This reminds Kate of her mother, who also died of cancer.
This whole thing should have been a sad moment, except that we weren’t really told that Kate lost her mother or that she even had a great aunt named Alice. This all happens well into the middle of the book, by the way. So she leaves and goes to take care of Alice, for about a week. They seem to have a legitimate relationship and it feels very sad. (This whole book really does feel like it was heavily based off the author’s life and seemed very genuine). But I was confused; they said Alice was going to die, but they kept giving her chemotherapy, which causes her pain. Seemed rather odd.
Anyway, Kate leaves before things get tough as Alice deteriorates (though she stated that “she had followed to [Alice’s] end and beyond,” which really isn’t even possible) and Alice asked her to come back. Before she goes, she visits Anne, and realizes that she is getting over her.
She heads back to Los Angeles, constantly telling us how inferior LA is to NYC (as a native Southern Californian this irritates me). Nicky moves to San Francisco and gets back together with Sandy. So she meets Lauren and this appears to be the relationship that Kate has been waiting for. However, when Alice dies, Kate shuts Lauren out and tries to get Lauren to break up with her.
A weird and irrational choice, Kate says that everyone who she has loved has left her, which was rather cliche. Kate goes to the beach and lets her grief towards her mother, Anne, and Alice go. She makes up with Lauren and they decide to get married, definitely a strange ending, since they haven’t known each other for more than a couple of weeks or months at the most. The book was split up into three parts, the first was about Hilary and Nicky, the second was about Alice and New York, and the third was about Lauren. The whole book was rather short, only running at 133 pages long. It was strange that the main theme of the book was established well into the middle, and not beforehand. Well, it was established by the loss of Anne, but then switched to focus more on to the grief of Alice and her mother's deaths. Then the ending just combined all three of those losses. So it felt like a piece of someone's life, disjointed and heartfelt (kind of like the tone and narrative voice).
This book was strange, but not bad for a first try. It felt real though, like it was a snapshot of Nonas’ life, so I will give it four stars, though it probably deserves only three. I got it for free and it wasn’t published by a major publisher, so I wasn’t expecting too much.
The book was published by The Naiad Press Inc., which was the oldest (est. 1973) and largest company that published solely lesbian literature. The owners retired in 2003 and gave all the rights to Bella Books. It was a different time back then, and you couldn’t buy books that had blatantly homosexual themes in a bookstore, so they did a mail order service. Some of the names of the books in the back that could be ordered made me laugh a bit. Here are the best ones:
Lesbian Nuns: Breaking the Silence, A Hot-Eyed Moderate, Old Dyke Tales, Lovers in the Present Afternoon, Yantras of Womanlove, A World without Men, Return to Lebos, and my personal favorite: Labiaflowers.
Anyway, Kate’s partner of two years, Anne, had an affair with another woman when their relationship was becoming strained (though we never actually find out why it got strained). The woman, Jane, offered Anne a job in New York and she left Kate. Now, Kate has been doing nothing for the past 6 months. Her screenplay has been put on hold, so she isn’t working. I have no idea how Kate keeps her up her standard of living; throughout this whole novel, she doesn’t go back to work until the end of the book.
This book was written in 1985, and Kate went to college in the 60s. She is very sexually free with herself and that appears to be what most of her relationships are based upon. She also objectifies her partners, often saying she didn’t hear a thing they said because she was looking and fantasizing about them.
Her friends Emily, Jennifer, Claire, and Eve all encourage her to begin dating again. She dates a woman named Hilary who really has no point in the story. They have a "friends with benefits" relationship, but Hilary isn’t really a friend either, so I guess its a long-term "booty call" sort of relationship. So she dumps Hilary after she starts going out with a girl who is almost ten years younger than her, Nicky. During this time, Kate develops a lustful conscience she names True Love (though the casual sex True Love encourages her to do is probably the opposite of true love. It was awkward and reminded me of Anastasia Steele's Inner Goddess from Fifty Shades of Grey. I was glad when Nonas stopped writing about it). Kate and Nicky have no emotional connection, just one based on sex, which suits Kate fine, since she is still upset over Anne. Nicky is also sad about her girlfriend, Sandy, who left her. They know they need to talk, but….
Kate’s father calls, telling her that her great aunt Alice’s cancer has come back. He has known for months, but Alice has asked him not to say anything. Now he is going to the Bahamas with his second wife, Helen, and needs Kate to come back to New York to go with Alice to her hospital visits. This reminds Kate of her mother, who also died of cancer.
This whole thing should have been a sad moment, except that we weren’t really told that Kate lost her mother or that she even had a great aunt named Alice. This all happens well into the middle of the book, by the way. So she leaves and goes to take care of Alice, for about a week. They seem to have a legitimate relationship and it feels very sad. (This whole book really does feel like it was heavily based off the author’s life and seemed very genuine). But I was confused; they said Alice was going to die, but they kept giving her chemotherapy, which causes her pain. Seemed rather odd.
Anyway, Kate leaves before things get tough as Alice deteriorates (though she stated that “she had followed to [Alice’s] end and beyond,” which really isn’t even possible) and Alice asked her to come back. Before she goes, she visits Anne, and realizes that she is getting over her.
She heads back to Los Angeles, constantly telling us how inferior LA is to NYC (as a native Southern Californian this irritates me). Nicky moves to San Francisco and gets back together with Sandy. So she meets Lauren and this appears to be the relationship that Kate has been waiting for. However, when Alice dies, Kate shuts Lauren out and tries to get Lauren to break up with her.
A weird and irrational choice, Kate says that everyone who she has loved has left her, which was rather cliche. Kate goes to the beach and lets her grief towards her mother, Anne, and Alice go. She makes up with Lauren and they decide to get married, definitely a strange ending, since they haven’t known each other for more than a couple of weeks or months at the most. The book was split up into three parts, the first was about Hilary and Nicky, the second was about Alice and New York, and the third was about Lauren. The whole book was rather short, only running at 133 pages long. It was strange that the main theme of the book was established well into the middle, and not beforehand. Well, it was established by the loss of Anne, but then switched to focus more on to the grief of Alice and her mother's deaths. Then the ending just combined all three of those losses. So it felt like a piece of someone's life, disjointed and heartfelt (kind of like the tone and narrative voice).
This book was strange, but not bad for a first try. It felt real though, like it was a snapshot of Nonas’ life, so I will give it four stars, though it probably deserves only three. I got it for free and it wasn’t published by a major publisher, so I wasn’t expecting too much.
The book was published by The Naiad Press Inc., which was the oldest (est. 1973) and largest company that published solely lesbian literature. The owners retired in 2003 and gave all the rights to Bella Books. It was a different time back then, and you couldn’t buy books that had blatantly homosexual themes in a bookstore, so they did a mail order service. Some of the names of the books in the back that could be ordered made me laugh a bit. Here are the best ones:
Lesbian Nuns: Breaking the Silence, A Hot-Eyed Moderate, Old Dyke Tales, Lovers in the Present Afternoon, Yantras of Womanlove, A World without Men, Return to Lebos, and my personal favorite: Labiaflowers.
May 4, 2019
The beginning was hard to follow and get into the “meat” of the story. But the 2nd and third parts moved steady and a bit of a bright ending.
Read
June 14, 2025Hi there , the book was amazing i am still reading it right now and want to discuss something if you are open
September 18, 2025
Lovely little book. Easy read while also being very real, insightful and…. tear jerking at times? Very relatable and sweet, plus I’m a sucker for a happy ending :)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews