Play Ball! CHOOSING SOPHIE Now On Sale

We have liftoff! The countdown to the release of CHOOSING SOPHIE, my fifth women's fiction novel for Avon Trade and my seventh work of contemporary fiction since my 2002 debut with MISS MATCH -- is over!

Apparently, people across the nation, readers like you, have enjoyed this novel about family and baseball and embraced it in a big way. I'll let some of those lucky people who got an advance reading copy of the novel, tell you about it in their own words. Even guys like it! By the way, there are several male characters of all shapes and sizes in this novel, .

ISBN: 9780060871376; ISBN10: 0060871377; Imprint: Avon A ; On Sale: 1/22/2008; Pages: 272; $13.95; Ages: 18 and Up.

Reader Reviews from FirstLook

This really tugs at the heartstrings! The characters were endearing in their own way and they reached out to me with hope, missteps and cute situations that had to be overcome. Thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining!
— Joel (Albuquerque, NM)

Leslie Carroll did her research regarding birth mothers and adoptive children, and the birth mother/adoptee part of the book wove well into the baseball story. I can totally relate to the story as it conains many similarities with what happened in my own family with my adopted sister. I enjoyed it!
— Joleen (Council Bluffs, IA)

Choosing Sophie is a great novel which gives hope to all those who have suffered any type of family breakup. I thoroughly enjoyed Carroll's novel and would recommend it to anyone wanting to while away a cold winter afternoon lost in a fantasy they can only dream or read about!
— Vicki (Moore, ID)

This was a page turner! The personal relationships of all the characters were woven into an intricate story revolving around the bonds of a mother and her daughter whom she had given up for adoption. Also gives great insight into the minor baseball world as the story involves Bronx Cheers team. The ending provides hope for the happiness of all. Well-written story that I thoroughly enjoyed.
— Barbara (Mount Wolf, PA)

This is a very refreshing book with an instantly likable main character. The fact that the author brings adoption and sports into one novel is also impressive!
— Shawn (York, PA)

Target Stores has chosen CHOOSING SOPHIE as one of its "Breakout Books" of 2008. Visit a "La Tarjée" location near you to find copies of the novel at point-of-purchase, or order your copy from any major online retailer of books, or, even better, stop by your own local bookstore.

A helpful note to my readers: Avon Trade novels have a "value added" section titled "Author Insights ... and more" at the back of the bound book. The novel's narrative ends in this additional section, which I have titled "Extra Innings."

I look forward to your comments after you have read the book!

P.S. She doesn't know me from Eve, and I'd never heard of her when I was writing Choosing Sophie, but huge congratulations to Diablo Cody, the former stripper who just became an Oscar nominee for Best Original Screenplay for Juno!