Trudy's an ordinary teenager. She isn't beautiful, a great student, athletic, nor has any special talents. She is the oldest girl of the Carpenter kids who does a lot of housework and child care, tries to keep her dad from going off on everyone, listens to her mom's problems, and loves her family as best she can. Trudy's a country girl. For her, going to college just means leaving home, and that doesn't sound good at all. No matter what anyone else thinks, Trudy knows she needs only true love to make her complete. Unfortunately, that isn't easy to find in a small southern Oregon town with a...

Shelby had as much status as any girl could in Sawyer's Crossing: she was rich, athletic, attractive and a Johansen. Not only that, her mom was her best friend and her boyfriend, Charlie, had moved in with them when he and Shelby were just fourteen. Life couldn't be more perfect. Then, her parents were busted for growing marijuana and mushrooms. Then, Shelby was stuck with judgmental relatives and wound up with a grandma who scraped by on social security, living in a tiny box she called a house. Then, to spend any time with Charlie at all, Shelby had to either lie or fight to make it happen....

Sawyer's Crossing is nestled in the middle of a Southern Oregon valley that has just enough agriculture to have opened up the terrain to views of the surrounding wooded hills. A river winds through it. It had been a timber mill town back when there were more trees to cut, but now the biggest crop is marijuana. It's home to Amelia, Joni, Abby, Sky and Maria: five girls who'd been friends since they were three years old. But, their differences are becoming increasingly evident through the course of their adolescence. Amelia's striking appearance has always had boys eager to date her. It isn't...