The Peach Keeper, by Sarah Addison Allen

A quirky small town in North Carolina; flawed or troubled characters with a challenge to face or a journey to make; a touch of magic in the air to move the plot along; these are the standard ingredients in a Sarah Addison Allen novel. She somehow always manages to mix up a delicious and enjoyable dish, full of interesting people whose fates you care about. Her writing is very sensual, the smell of coffee, the sound of the wind, the chill of snow, the beauty of trees are deeply felt. The peach keeper has a nice circular motion, with historical events influencing the present and four people who were at high school together discovering that relationships can change if you want them to. When secrets of the past are literally dug up in the eco-tourist town of Walls of Water, loner Willa and eternally busy Paxton must rediscover the friendship their grandmothers had to solve a mystery and move forward with their lives. The joker, the stick, the princess and the freak find they can break old stereotypes, find their true selves and be open to love.