Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland, lost in the woods after she wanders off to escape the bickering between her mom and her brother, boosts her courage by imagining that her hero, Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Tom Gordon, is with her, helping her survive an unknown enemy.

"When pro baseball player Chase Walker first meets Amanda at her restaurant, it's love at first sight. While Amanda can't help noticing the superstar with the Greek-god-build, he doesn't have a chance of getting to first--or any other--base with her. A successful entrepreneur who's built her business from scratch, Amanda doesn't need a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. And a curvy girl who likes to cook and eat isn't interested in being around...

"Peggy Rowe's story of growing up as the daughter of Thelma Knobel is filled with warmth and humor. But there's a Thelma in everyone's life. She's the person taking charge, the one who knows instinctively how things should be. Growing up, Peggy saw her mother as a benevolent, loving dictator. When major league baseball came to town in the early 1950s and turned sophisticated Thelma into a crazed Baltimore Orioles groupie, nobody was more surprised...

"At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big-league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the i fates of five people are upended."--From publisher's description.