Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Pages: 216
Source: Netgalley
Summary from Goodreads:
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 spirits, 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.
My Review:
Sweetie and Melissa on one hand seem to be total opposites. Melissa is over-weight, wears glasses and feels every cruel remark of kids at school. She, like her father believes in the magic of science. Enter Sweetie. Unlike Melissa, she often has little to eat and believes in the magic of the mountain. They find in each other a friendship to last an eternity; this was an excellent coming-of-age story with a touch of mountain magic in it. Of course anytime you can inject a story with mountain magic it makes the book that much better. This book dealt with many issues such as religion, mental illness, poverty, and family to name a few. Magendie gives us a wonderful look at life in the Appalachian Mountains. This is a lot of the reason the book appealed to me. This was the first book I had read by this author but I will definitely look for more of her work.
An excellent writer. I'm requesting that my public library buy her other two books, Tender Graces and Secret Graces. She was born in West Virginia.
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