01 December 2011

Book Review: For Keeps

                                 

Book Details
Author: Natasha Friend
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 305 KB
Print Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Speak (April 28, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English

Book Summary
Josie's never met her dad, and that's fine with her. To Josie, Paul Tucci is just a guy who got her mom pregnant and then moved away. It all happened sixteen years ago, when Josie's mom was still a teenager herself. But now Paul Tucci is back in town, and Josie has to deal with not one but two men in her life - her father and her first boyfriend, who Josie fears will hurt her just like Paul hurt her mother. 

Book Review
Just when I thought I have read every plot and memorize possible ending in a YA Novel, a new and exciting one comes along. For Keeps, is one of the funniest and heartwarming books I have ever read. Natasha Friend made sure that this book is more than just a cute love story.

It kept me awake all night because…
ü  PLOT. This story is about a young girl who matured at an early age to take care of her mom and is about to meet her absentee father who’s family is coming to town. Whew! That’s a lot to take, right? Not finished yet, there are budding relationships ahead: Josie with a boy she didn’t have a nice history with and didn’t sure she could trust and Josie’s mom starts dating seriously again. To top it all up, Liv, her best friend, had a pregnancy scare. Teen sexuality, abortion, gay parents, underage drinking were handled tactfully by the author making everything not just fiction, but real and tangible.
ü  CHARACTERS. The characters have their own pieces to share and issues to resolve, it’s not just Josie. There is a mother who was suffering from panic attacks every time she met someone from high school, a cynical girl who thinks every guy is like her father who left her mom when she was pregnant, meddling parents, OC boss, an awesome Bond-girl-wanna-be best friend, charming granddad, and of course, the hot boyfriend!
ü   ENDING. This is one cliff-hanging ender I love. It didn’t have the usual happily-ever after – but at least, at the present, everyone is happy and filled with possibilities.


For Keeps, teaches its readers the importance of living in the present, not the past because nothing is going to be the same again, neither in the future because it has not yet arrive. You'll just get crazy thinking about the what ifs and what could have beens.



Favorite Quotes
“No matter what those sex-ed teachers say about how great condoms are, there's not a condom in the world to protect you from heartbreak.” 

“Hey, God made us sexual creatures. If he wanted teenagers to wait that long, he would have made puberty start at twenty-five.” 


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