I can't recommend Tawni O'Dell enough. She writes about people in small towns in Pennsylvania with warmth and wit. Right now I am reading her latest, Sister Mine, about a woman who thought her sister was dead and is surprised by her return, and pregnant to boot. Before that I read Coal Run, which is about a high school hero who returns to his home town to put his life back together. Her first book, Back Roads, is about a young man who takes care of his younger sisters while his mother is in jail for killing his father, and he is having an affair with an older woman. All mix tough stories with O'Dell's trademark humor. She's a great writer.