What if your best friend in the world could not feel pain? 

Friendship, Courage, Hope . . .

A little mountain town in the 1960s, a reclusive girl who feels no pain, an unlikely friendship. Melissa will come to understand that just because Sweetie feels no physical pain, does not mean she cannot be hurt  . . . 

For shy, stuttering Melissa, the wild mountain girl named Sweetie was a symbol of pride and strength. But to many in the Smoky Mountain town, Sweetie was an outcast, a sinister force, or worse. 

"A Southern novel in the classic tradition."

The strong, “quare” voice and supernatural elements also infuse Kathryn Magendie's novel, “Sweetie,” in which a bullied schoolgirl finds a friend in a wild spirit.--Asheville Citizen Times "what books are good as gifts"

"Sweetie tells of great beauty in the eyes of a child . . ." --The Mountaineer

Sweetie: Author talks about the wild, wonderful mountain girl who demanded to be heard “Sweetie” has received a warm welcome, charming fans and critics alike -- MSSNews, Sulphur Springs Texas

SWEETIE is a "Southern novel to its bones . . . There’s enough of the unexplainable to classify the book as magical realism, yet it doesn’t overwhelm the core story. Tackling big themes like mental illness, marriage, societal norms, religion and wavering self-esteem from the points-of-view of two young girls is a risky move—Magendie could easily have written characters who were too precocious to be likable, too worldly to be believable, or completely detached from the discomfited reality of Being Twelve. This isn’t the case. Melissa and Sweetie, as atypical as they are, live in the pages as real kids should; their reactions and concerns are standard twelve-year-old stuff . . . Quirky characters, regional dialect, mountain spirits and overall good storytelling make SWEETIE a quick, enjoyable read, especially for lovers of magical realism, coming-of-age or Southern novels. see the entire review at---Adrienne Crezo Best Damn Creative Writing Blog

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