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christawatkins's review against another edition
5.0
This was an amazing story of friendship and love. The characters seemed so alive and real, and the setting was so vividly described, it was just as much a character as any of the people in the story. I feel bad basically just writing, "It was really, really good" but I don't know quite how to describe this novel and all the reasons I loved it.
bookznhookz's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a great book. However, I did think the ending left a lot to be desired.
tfrohock's review against another edition
4.0
Shy, stuttering Melissa meets the wild Sweetie in school, and the two girls fast become friends. Sweetie's wild ways infuse Melissa with confidence, but not everyone is enchanted with Sweetie. Set in an Appalachian town in the 1970s, others see Sweetie as an outcast.
Magendie has written a beautiful novel of friendship that should appeal to readers of all ages. Melissa is the soul of reason and Sweetie is the wild wind from the mountain. Magendie takes the reader into their lives with her poetic prose. She captures what it means to live in a rural North Carolina town in the 1970s as she takes on prejudices and bullies. She also shows you the lives of two beautiful girls, who are as different as night and day.
A good story well told.
Magendie has written a beautiful novel of friendship that should appeal to readers of all ages. Melissa is the soul of reason and Sweetie is the wild wind from the mountain. Magendie takes the reader into their lives with her poetic prose. She captures what it means to live in a rural North Carolina town in the 1970s as she takes on prejudices and bullies. She also shows you the lives of two beautiful girls, who are as different as night and day.
A good story well told.
timofeev's review against another edition
4.0
At first there wasn't really anything special about this story. It just seemed like two strange girls who found friendship. It was lovely. The last third of the book I couldn't put down. Lissa was starting to become a woman so she was confused about what she wanted. The Faith Healer...death...I won't say anymore, but man what a zinger of an ending. The local lingo was a little difficult to get through at first but I soon forgot about it.
endlessreader's review against another edition
4.0
Sigh. I'm such a sucker for a friendship story. Especially if it's a women friendship story. Why? Because so many books of what's called "women fiction" most often than not feature broken friendships or a friendship where one of the women is a harpy and the other one is sooo perfect. So I tend to yearn for a good women friendship story. Was Sweetie a good one? No. It was an abso-friggin-lutely fantastic one!
First off, the writing in Sweetie was so beautiful. Her use of language was just tremendous. Her words were filled with wonderful imagery, her sentences were pure lyricism. I'm not one of those people who can enjoy a book purely for wonderful writing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy beautiful writing when it comes up, but I need to be interested in the plot first. Then, I notice the wonders that some authors can do with seemingly ordinary words.
The characters in Sweetie were so great. I loved Melissa and could completely relate to her (as a former shy girl or maybe not so former). I wanted nothing more than to see her break out of her shell and to tell all of her idiot classmates to stuff it. She literally broke my heart because all she wanted was to feel loved and appreciated. But Sweetie was the real hero of this story. She was just so captivating and so out there. I cheered for a true original. In fact, she sort of reminded me of the Potato Girl from [b:Promise Not to Tell|659546|Promise Not to Tell|Jennifer McMahon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176845063s/659546.jpg|3057249] (another fantastic book about another true original). I just loved all the complexities each of the girl had and their dynamic with their own family. And their friendship was just so beautiful.
So, I highly recommend Sweetie. It was a sweet, enchanting, captivating novel. It did make me tear up a bit at how great Sweetie and Melissa's friendship was, so it is a bit of a tearjerker. However, it is a great coming of age story and an amazing friendship story. Definitely pick it up. (And yay! for one of my better Early Reviewer Reads)
First off, the writing in Sweetie was so beautiful. Her use of language was just tremendous. Her words were filled with wonderful imagery, her sentences were pure lyricism. I'm not one of those people who can enjoy a book purely for wonderful writing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy beautiful writing when it comes up, but I need to be interested in the plot first. Then, I notice the wonders that some authors can do with seemingly ordinary words.
The characters in Sweetie were so great. I loved Melissa and could completely relate to her (as a former shy girl or maybe not so former). I wanted nothing more than to see her break out of her shell and to tell all of her idiot classmates to stuff it. She literally broke my heart because all she wanted was to feel loved and appreciated. But Sweetie was the real hero of this story. She was just so captivating and so out there. I cheered for a true original. In fact, she sort of reminded me of the Potato Girl from [b:Promise Not to Tell|659546|Promise Not to Tell|Jennifer McMahon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176845063s/659546.jpg|3057249] (another fantastic book about another true original). I just loved all the complexities each of the girl had and their dynamic with their own family. And their friendship was just so beautiful.
So, I highly recommend Sweetie. It was a sweet, enchanting, captivating novel. It did make me tear up a bit at how great Sweetie and Melissa's friendship was, so it is a bit of a tearjerker. However, it is a great coming of age story and an amazing friendship story. Definitely pick it up. (And yay! for one of my better Early Reviewer Reads)
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