I’ve been reading romance novels for almost 20 years now. Ok, confession time! I used to be a romance novel snob. I couldn’t imagine why any educated, independent, free-thinking, self-respecting woman would read them, including my friend with the PhD in linguistics who loves them.

Then one day, while browsing in a favorite bookstore, I came across a rack of romance novels and said to myself, “I bet I could write one of these.” I bought a novel with a futuristic setting to read and was immediately hooked. Almost 20 years later, however, I still haven’t penned one. It’s harder than you think, especially for a former tech writer like me. Writing stories is an entirely different animal (Yeah, yeah, I hear you, “Excuses, excuses.”). So I’ve been content to read them.

Romance novels are essentially love stories that involve a man and a woman (usually – some publishers are venturing into love stories involving gay couples) who meet, fall in love, endure some kind of conflict that breaks them apart, and then overcome it to live happily ever after. This description may sound a bit trite, especially when you know how the novel will end. But it’s getting to that happy ending that makes them compelling.

So here’s a list of some of my favorite authors. I’ve tried to annotate it to give you an idea of the kinds of books each author writes; there are many “sub-genres” within the romance genre, including historical, contemporary, romantic suspense, paranormal, and futuristic. I also provide an indication of the “intensity” of the love scenes. My scale goes from “sweet” where the sex is implied, never overtly described to “sensual” where the love scenes are fairly realistic in the context of the budding relationship to "HOT!" where the love scenes are VERY explicit.

Susan Johnson, a former art historian, has been a favorite since I first read Blaze over 15 years ago. She's a formula writer, i.e., same plot, different characters, but her writing is excellent. She recently started writing contemporaries after writing historicals for a long time. (HOT!)

Nora Roberts has been my romance author idol for a long time, primarily because she is so prolific.  She writes mostly contemporary fiction. Her older books focused more on the love story while the newer ones are primarily romantic suspense with a love story subplot, some of which include graphic violence. She also writes futuristic crime novels as J.D. Robb. Roberts has a HUGE backlist (over 100 novels), so if you're looking for the latest one, be sure to check the copyright date. (Sensual)

Deborah Smith, a former journalist, is a GREAT writer. Her stories are unique, her characters complex. I loved A Gentle Rain. (Sensual)

Sharon Shinn is one of my all time favorite sci/fi-fantasy writers. There is always a love story as a component of her novels. Read especially Wrapt in Crystal. Her books focus on feminism, class, and racial differences. (Sensual)

Susan Wiggs writes multi-generational stories often set in small town USA. She’s a very good writer who used to write historicals, but is now writing contemporaries (Sweet to Sensual)

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of the best romance authors out there. Her contemporary stories include complex plots with rich, three dimensional characters. (Sensual)

Cheryl Holt’s first few books were excellent, but her stories became a bit redundant after a while. She writes historical romance. Read especially Love Lessons. (HOT!)

Madeline Hunter is one of my favorite historical writers. (Sensual)

Jayne Ann Krentz writes pretty formulaic stories (e.g., the heroine is always a business woman), but she's very funny. She writes historicals as Amanda Quick, contemporaries as Jayne Ann Krentz and futuristics as Jayne Castle. A paranormal theme runs through most of them. (Sensual)

Diana Gabaldon’s novels are about Claire, A WWII battlefield nurse, who time travels back to 18th c. Scotland and falls in love with reluctant Jacobite Jamie Frazier. Sounds "hokey" but she's an excellent writer whose novels are rich in historical detail and include just about every kind of healing modality you can think of. The first one in the series is Outlander. She also writes about one of the Outlander characters, Lord John Grey, a high ranking officer in the British military who also happens to be gay. I wrote a review of Lord John and The Private Matter on Amazon (as "Native Washingtonian"). You either love them or you hate 'em. The Outlander novels are close to 1,000 pages (Sensual to HOT!)

J.R. Ward is the author to read If you are into vampires. She writes about the Black Dagger Brotherhood and has a HUGE following. My local Borders had to stock the latest one, Lover Avenged, behind the counter because people were stealing them! These are some really hot guys who don't drink human blood (usually). First in the series is Dark Lover. These novels are also close to 1,000 pages (HOT!)

Sandra Brown is a good romantic suspense writer who keeps you guessing whodunit till the very end. (Sensual)

Elizabeth Lowell is another good writer who used to write historicals as Elizabeth Lowell and contemporaries and some futuristics as Ann Maxwell. But I think she's using the former name exclusively now. (Sensual)

Jennifer Crusie is a very funny contemporary writer. (Sensual)

Ok , there you have it. Many of these authors, like Susan Johnson, write about characters (and their descendants) who appear over several novels, so be sure to check the copyright dates and read synopses at Amazon before buying them or checking them out of the library. I also try to find out as much as I can about an author's background. That tells me a lot about how well she writes.