Sticks and Stones - Paperback

by Shawn McGuire (Author)

A fatal choice, after a string of bad choices, leaves Desiree broken and dying in a ditch. With seconds left to live, a genie appears. She can live again, he says, if she agrees to serve him for fifty years. She agrees, but after more than four decades of granting other people's wishes and never getting her own, the former hippie has developed an attitude problem.

Mandy Matteo is the perfect daughter and student, never breaking a rule for fear of the repercussions. But her friends want fun, not perfection, and abandon Mandy for parties and boys. Miserable, she makes a wish. Nothing extravagant, just a whisper to the universe to be happy. Never dreaming it will come true. Then Lexi, her childhood imaginary friend, shows up in the field outside her house and life is good again. Magical wishes have conditions, though.

Once started, they cannot be altered or revoked. And once Mandy is truly content with her life, Lexi must go back to wherever she came from. Turns out, Lexi likes being alive and she's prepared to do whatever it takes to stay that way.

What Readers Are Saying

"Fantasy at its best!"

"Not only do we get to follow along on Mandy's adventure with Lexi, we also get to learn bits about Desiree - the wish mistress who I absolutely fell in love with."

"Desiree is this quirky, hippy chic genie. She lives in the present with her mind in the past. She marches to her own rhythm, her own way of thinking. Desiree doesn't really fit in, but she has a uniqueness about her that defies rigidity. And she's ever-evolving, always learning something else. It might take her moment to find the lesson, but she'll get there. Eventually."

"Desiree even has her own back story that we slowly get to peel away as the story progresses.

""These books are wonderful. They take you into a world where you find you want to live."

Author Biography

Shawn McGuire is the author of young adult, speculative fiction novels that blend contemporary settings with a touch of fantasy and magic. She started writing after seeing the first Star Wars movie (that's episode IV) as a kid: she couldn't wait for the next one so wrote her own episodes. Sadly, those notebooks are long lost, but her desire to write is as strong now as it was then. She grew up in the beautiful Mississippi River town of Winona, Minnesota, the small town that inspired the setting for Sticks and Stones and the upcoming Break My Bones. After graduating college she moved to the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin (Go Pack Go!) where she lived for many years. She and her family now call Colorado home and when not writing or reading, Shawn enjoys cooking and baking, crafts, interior decorating, and spending time hiking and camping in the spectacular Rocky Mountains.