Today, I’d like to introduce you to fantasy author Shawn McGuire and her brand new release, Never Hurt Me. This book is the third in her series “The Wish Makers” — the first two books of which are Sticks and Stones and Break My Bones (aren’t those titles fabulous?).
Never Hurt Me is the continuing story of an eighteen-year-old genie named Desiree. After years of granting wishes, Desiree’s finally getting the only wish she always wanted for herself. Her happiness comes at a price, however — one that might cost her the very guy she never thought she’d fall for.
Shawn’s running a giveaway to celebrate her new release, and you can find out more about this below the spotlight post. Enter to win a signed copy of Never Hurt Me on Goodreads. The giveaway ends on January 31st, though, so enter today!
Never Hurt Me | Read an Excerpt | Get a Copy of Never Hurt Me
Sticks and Stones | Read an Excerpt | Get a Copy of Sticks and Stones
Break My Bones | Read an Excerpt from Break My Bones | Get a Copy of Break My Bones
About Shawn McGuire | Giveaway!
Everyone has a wish. Desiree’s just got real.
For forty-five years, eternally-eighteen-year-old Desiree has been in a sort of limbo, granting wishes for others while never receiving her own. Now it’s her turn, and she’s finally going to get what she asked for so long ago: a second chance at life.
Once back in the real world, Desiree meets Dara, a girl who must beg for money in order to buy food. With nothing to give her and powerless to grant a wish for her, Desiree begins to wonder if she would have been better off staying where she was.
There’s one other thing Desiree hadn’t bargained for. Not being a genie means not being with Kaf. And that’s a huge problem because falling in love with her chauvinistic, exasperating, gorgeous boss was the last thing Desiree expected.
Read an Excerpt of Never Hurt Me by Shawn McGuire
I’d never gotten close to any of my charges. Not that I hadn’t cared about them, I had. It’s just that I was put on their life path to do a job, not to become attached to them. We were never meant to have long-lasting relationships. Then came Mandy and Crissy.
In a little more than three months, those girls had become a permanent part of my life path. I’d do anything for them. That’s why instinct took over when Crissy was being attacked. I hadn’t thought, I’d just reacted. The call afterward to appear before Kaf, my boss, didn’t surprise me. The fact that he’d waited so long did. Crissy’s wish had ended days ago. Maybe the delay was a timeout, of sorts, so I could think about what I’d done.
I found King Kaf at the very back of his cave seated on a throne. An actual one this time, made of gold and emerald instead of the cloud formation he usually perched upon. Very formal. That couldn’t be good. Orange and green smoke swirled behind him like an acid trip through a kaleidoscope. He had his big book, his compendium of wishes, out and opened to a specific page. One that had been bookmarked by a strip of tie-dyed fabric.
Get a Copy of Never Hurt Me by Shawn McGuire
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Read the Series!
Sticks and Stones by Shawn McGuire
Everyone has a dark side. Mandy’s just moved in with her.
The last time sixteen-year-old Mandy Matteo broke a rule, her sister died. Since that day she has done only what was expected of her, but life as a goody-goody has made Mandy so boring her friends have all but abandoned her. Desperate, Mandy makes a wish to simply be happy.
Enter Desiree, a hippie Wish Mistress (aka a genie). Years of only granting and never receiving wishes have left Desiree bitter, and allowing Mandy to right her biggest wrong — the exact thing Desiree would wish for — only makes things worse. Still, she grants the wish and happiness arrives for Mandy in the form of Lexi, her childhood imaginary friend come to life.
Magical wishes have conditions though: Once started, the wish cannot be altered or revoked. And when Mandy is content with her life again, Lexi must go back to where she came from. But Lexi loves being alive, and she’ll do whatever it takes to stay that way.
Read an Excerpt from Sticks and Stones by Shawn McGuire
It had been twelve years since I’d broken a rule. I found that life flowed along more easily if I didn’t rock the boat. Expectations were understood and outcomes predictable. Tonight was going to be different though. Tonight I’d step out of my carefully controlled comfort zone. If I wanted to have any friends at all, it was my only choice.
I’d promised Brooke and Crissy I’d go to the party tonight, even though it wasn’t my kind of thing and they knew it. But I really wanted the three of us to be together and this was what they agreed on. Besides, if I didn’t go I’d spend my sixteenth birthday alone.
Things weren’t going as planned though. Brooke had promised to pick me up at seven-thirty. At ten minutes to eight I’d received a text saying her brother had taken her car and she’d gotten a ride from someone else. So there I was, ready and willing and no way to get to the party.
Well, there was one way. My birthday present from my uncle, an old Ford Escape he’d been fixing up for months, was waiting in the barn for me. There was the minor detail that I didn’t have my license yet, but my road test was scheduled for tomorrow morning and I knew I’d pass. So what the heck, I was already stepping out of my box, what was one more step?
Brooke was supposed to bring me her silver sequined miniskirt so I was back at the I-have-nothing-to-wear stage. The whole time I stood there staring into my closet, an invisible Jiminy Cricket sat on my shoulder reminding me that I was breaking a rule. You know what happens when you break a rule.
Get a Copy of Sticks and Stones
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Break My Bones by Shawn McGuire
Everyone makes mistakes. Crissy’s just might kill her.
Seventeen-year-old Crissy Sheets was so sure Brad was the one, she believed him when he swore the first bruise was an accident. She believed him when he said he loved her after the second. Now trapped in an abusive relationship with no idea of how to escape, Crissy wishes for a better future.
Desiree, a hippie Wish Mistress (aka a genie), arrives to grant Crissy’s wish and salvation comes in the form of Lance, a new neighbor who teaches Crissy self-defense. Brad doesn’t like Crissy’s newfound confidence though, and he makes sure she knows it.
Genies aren’t supposed to get involved. Desiree’s job is to provide what’s needed for the wish to come true and move along. That means stepping aside when things get not only get worse for Crissy, they turn deadly. Standing by is what she’s supposed to do. But then, Desiree never has played by other people’s rules.
Read an Excerpt from Break My Bones by Shawn McGuire
A car with a loud muffler pulled into the parking lot of the Lakeside Drive-In. Only one car in town sounded like that. Brad’s 1980-something Camaro. His baby. I slouched way down in my seat and watched out of the corner of my window as he pulled into a spot across the lot from where Mandy and I were parked. I’d told him I’d be home all night tonight. If he saw me here, he’d be mad. Accuse me of lying to him.
He and his cousin got out of the Camaro and went up to the order window. Brad knew the cook and always ordered at the window so he could say hi. Then he’d let one of the rollerbladed serving girls bring the food to his car so he could look down her shirt when she bent over to hand him the bags. This time he stayed at the window and waited for his order—almost certainly a triple bacon cheeseburger, no onions, and monster-size chocolate cherry malt. Good. That meant he was taking his food to go. A few minutes later with bags in hand, they went back to the car and Brad peeled out of the lot. I watched him drive away and only sat up once he was far out of sight.
Get a Copy of Break My Bones by Shawn McGuire
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About Shawn McGuire
Shawn McGuire is the author of young adult novels that blend contemporary settings and issues 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 movie to come out so wrote her own episodes. Sadly, those notebooks are long lost, but her desire to write is as strong now as it was then.
Her books deal with harder topics (dating violence, death of a sibling, divorce, substance abuse, runaways, etc.) because she believes it is important to talk about these things. Those kinds of topics can be hard to handle and a bit overwhelming, so she infuses a bit of humor in her work as well because she also believes that a sense of humor can help you get through just about anything.
Shawn lives in Colorado with her family where she loves to read, cook and bake, craft, decorate her house, and spend time hiking and camping in the spectacular Rocky Mountains.
Connect with Shawn McGuire
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Giveaway!
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Never Hurt Me
by Shawn McGuire
Giveaway ends January 31, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.