Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

I was really excited to discover Natasha Friend was releasing a new book. Many of my students have enjoyed her other books: LUSH, BOUNCE, and PERFECT. Now that I've read FOR KEEPS, I know they will love this one, too.

What happens when you think that sometimes you are more mature and in control than your mother? That's how Josie Gardner sometimes feels. She and her mother have made it through a lot together. Josie knows she was the product of a high school romance. She knows her dad's name was Paul Tucci and that he left town with his family not even knowing he was going to be a father.

It never really made a difference until one day in the grocery store. Josie's mother suddenly ducks for cover in the pet-food aisle. What is going on? Kate Gardner appears to be a nervous wreck as she whispers to her daughter that Paul Tucci's parents are in the store. When Josie takes a peek at the couple headed for the checkout, she suddenly realizes they are her grandparents. Now it's a matter of calming down her frantic mother and finding out what they are doing here.

The mystery is solved by Josie's best friend, Liv. With a little amateur sleuthing, Liv finds out that the Tucci's have moved back to town. When Josie tells her mother, she's surprised by Kate's sudden lack of interest. Josie doesn't think there will be a problem and probably not even any contact between them. It all changes when her boss turns his mediocre ice cream parlor into a thriving little pastry/coffee shop. Josie's grandfather, Big Nick Tucci, becomes a regular customer. Again, thanks to her talkative best friend, Josie learns that Paul is the youngest of the Tucci's three boys, and he remains unmarried, working with at-risk youth somewhere in the Carolinas.

Filled with mixed emotions about the possible return of the side of her family she's never known, Josie faces further emotional upheaval when the popular and attractive Matt Rigby makes it known that he is interested in dating her. It's almost more than one girl can handle.

Natasha Friend's fresh, straightforward style makes FOR KEEPS excellent reading entertainment. Her use of humor, down-to-earth characters, and heartfelt relationships will have her fans cheering and any new-comers clamoring for her earlier books. I'm glad to see this new arrival and will be eagerly awaiting more to come.

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The premise sounds similar to the familial setup of Gilmore Girls, and in a ways it is the story of Lorelai, Christopher, and Rory through Rorys point of view. And thankfully the "Rory" in Natasha Friend's story is not as off-putting or unbelievably awkward-pretty as Alexis Bledel. FOR KEEPS is a gentle contemporary read, but the degree to which I was invested in Josie's story took me by delightful surprise.

Josie is a fabulously multifaceted character, with a strong and memorable voice. She's got snark and guts, even while grappling with her problem of her lack of trust in men. Above all, she is resilient: when bad things occur, she may hide and retract into her shell for a while, but we get to the point where we have faith in her healing soon.

The other characters also have good voices, quirky but never stereotypical, though I would have liked to have gotten to learn more about Kate. Kate is the central figure in Josie's life, but in between worrying about the proximity of her father's family, and her dealings with her crush, Josie-the-narrator unfortunately forgets to show us the strength and "width" of her relationship with her mother, instead assuming we know what its like through generalized "telling" statements.

In spite of those few issues I had with the book, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading FOR KEEPS. It was my first Natasha Friend novel, but it's definitely a keeper for me, with my love for its well-voiced MC.

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