Sweetie

Over-weight, bespectacled twelve-year-old Melissa is captivated by wild-mountain-girl Sweetie. As the two friends explore the Western North Carolina mountains where Sweetie lives, they learn about friendship and family, loss and love, loyalty and betrayal. Before the tragedy that changes their lives, and causes Melissa to lose her friend to the mountain sprits, the two become friends, blood sisters, confidants, and caretakers of secrets. At the end of that summer, Sweetie makes a sacrifice that only twelve-year-old Sweetie could make for her mother, and alternatively, Melissa makes a selfish decision, then can only stand by and watch as her friend is there, then gone.

Kathryn Magendie is an acclaimed poet and novelist. She co-publishes the Rose and Thorn literary e-zine. She writes the Graces Saga for Bell Bridge Books: TENDER GRACES and SECRET GRACES

Praise for Magendie's first novel, TENDER GRACES

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR GUYS: It may have a soft, pink cover but it ain't that kind of book. Kathryn Magendie's Virginia Kate has plenty of what my grandmother called "brass," treats us to earfuls of authentic dialogue, and gradually reveals a story not easily forgotten. We will soon read more, I hope, from Magendie's pen. She's real.

Wayne Caldwell

Author of Cataloochee and Requiem by Fire

Every once in a while, you come across a book whose language is so rich and vivid and whose characters are so deep and unforgettable that you simply cannot put it down. Tender Graces is that book. STORY CIRCLE REVIEWS

In her debut novel, "Tender Graces," Magendie builds up the plot-a prodigal daughter story-into a sustained entertainment through an exuberant mountain portrayal.

Rob Neufeld, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times

Magendie does a fine job evoking the mountains and in describing Louisiana. Her words are sometimes as lilting as a mountain accent and always true to her characters' personalities.

This is a novel of family, both good and bad, and what can happen when people allow their personal desires to overwhelm their concern for their children. It's a well-told story that would almost, but not quite, fit in the Young Adult category. It's a good book for older teens and adults.

Greg T. Langley

Baton Rouge Advocate