Who are your favorite romance authors??

[diamondlil]

I have really enjoyed all her books!

[EC2]

Roberta Gellis's creation Alinor is a woman almost too hot to handle for her husbands Simon le Magne and Ian de Vipont. She's smart and uppity and runs rings round all the men. That Simon and Ian can handle her is down to her permitting them to do so. Even while they still manage to be men's men, Alinor's in charge. What's more, Alinor firmly remains a woman of her time, and not some anachronistic modern woman in a long frock.

[Spitfire]

I have to agree with EC, Gellis's Roselynde Chronicles are excellent! I have read the first three in the series so far...Roselynde (the story of Alinore and Simon) Alinore (the story of Ian and Alinore...my favorite ) and Joanna (the story of Alinore's daughter and Geoffrey) What I appreciated in this series is that Gellis did her research and kept true to the period that she was writing in. If you enjoy the medieval period during the riegn of King Richard, Prince John and their mother Elanore of Aquitaine, and you enjoy a well written romance...then these are the books for you!

[MrsMorland]

Victoria Holt, Mary Balogh, Jane Feather...I know I'm forgetting someone that I really like, I'll get back to ya!

[ellenjane]

What would be a good Kleypas to start with? They sound like something I'd like for a bit of fun reading, but I hate reading books in a series out of order.

[Misfit]

As long as we've revived this thread, as much as I enjoyed Susan Carroll's Bridefinder books I do not recommend Winterbourne. I finally had to bail, it was so silly and so many little things that didn't fit the period that kept pulling me out of the story.

[nona]

Bridefinder is on my next order list. How would you rate it?
It's funny how my tbr pile grows and yet I still order a few every two weeks and I make a list as to what I order when...lol.

[Misfit]

Nona, it's been a couple of years since I've read them, but I gave them 4/5 stars -- and I rate according to genre, not say comparing a romance book to War and Peace (does that make sense?). They are fun, but they're not high fiction.

The last of the three was the most fun, when she let the ever so serious Val cut lose. Lots of funny moments.

[diamondlil]

I rated the Susan Carroll St Ledger books about the same.

As to the question about Lisa Kleypas books, I would probably suggest starting with the Wallflower books

Secrets of a Summer Night
It Happened One Autumn
Devil in Winter
Scandal in Spring.

The current series then spins off from that one. And then there is a really good backlist to work your way through once you are hooked!

[Jen Black]

This thread may have dried up some time ago but since I'm new I thought I'd add my thoughts. I think of historicals and romances set in historical times as not such different things so I list authors like Mary Ballogh and Dorothy Dunnett in the same sentence. If I want something light and witty I might try a category romance by Louise Allen and I can be certain there will be a happy ending. If I choose Suzannah Dunn I'm not certain at all - in fact the end of Queen of Sorrows was horrifying. Ms Ballogh's usually wraps thing up attractively at the end though there mihght be some horrors along the way.
Ms Dunnett throws in everything but the kitchen sink and I say that in a Good Way - wit, style, drama, tension, sadness - they are all there.

Jen

Jen Black