What romance novel would you recommend?

Romance novels continue to sell well - and in today's society, the trends change as rapidly as movies in a theater. From vampires to zombies to homecomings to Cinderella stories. There's something for everyone and thousands upon thousands of choices to pick from. With the influx of indie authors, it's hard to know where to find a good book. As always, word of mouth is the strongest influence.

Today, I'm offering up five of my all-time favorite romance novels.

1.  On the Night of the Seventh Moon - Victoria Holt
For me, no list would be complete without at least one Victoria Holt book. While her style is formulaic, I loved each and every one that I read.

According to ancient Black Forest legend, on the Night of the Seventh Moon, Loke, the God of Mischief, is at large in the world. It is a night for festivity and joyful celebration. It is a night for singing and dancing. And it is a night for love.

Helena Trant was enchanted by everything she found in the Black Forest -- especially its legends. But then, on the Night of the Seventh Moon, she started to live one of them, and the enchantment turned suddenly into a terrifying nightmare . . . Buy it at Amazon

2.  Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

A brilliant character study that sent me to Scotland in search of standing stones and roguish Highlanders wearing kilts. The second in the series, A Dragonfly in Amber, is equally as compelling (and I actually read that one first). 

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon—when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an "outlander"—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743. But it at Amazon

3.  A Knight in Shining Armor - Jude Deveraux

One of the things I liked best about this novel was the attitude toward raising children. Well, that and the romance, of course. Jude does a great job of showing the differences between this century and times past. 

Abandoned by her lover, thoroughly modern Dougless Montgomery finds herself alone and brokenhearted in an old English church. She never dreamed that a love more powerful than time awaited her there...until Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, a sixteenth-century knight, appeared. Drawn to him by a bond so sudden and compelling that it defied reason, Dougless knew that Nicholas was nothing less than a miracle: a man who would not seek to change her, who found her perfect just as she was. But she could not know how strong were the chains that tied them to the past -- or the grand adventure that lay before them. Buy it at Amazon

4.  A Promise of Spring - Mary Balogh

Mary Balogh writes characters seeking redemption from their sins of the past. I particularly liked this one because it dealt with "the one that got away."

Grace Howard has every reason to be devoted to Sir Peregrine Lampman. After all, the gallant gentleman rescued her from poverty by making her his bride. Even more nobly, he did not withdraw his affection after she confessed to a youthful folly that had compromised her virtue. But Grace did not tell the whole truth about the handsome lord who betrayed her—and now the one thing she’s kept from Perry threatens to destroy her last chance at true love. Buy it at Amazon

Geez. How do I round out the top five? With a dash of humor, I think.

5.  Anyone but You - Jennifer Crusie

Jennifer Crusie is fun. She writes quirky characters that make you laugh, and Nina definitely qualifies. 

Part basset, part beagle, all Cupid…

For Nina Askew, turning forty means freedom—from the ex-husband, freedom from their stuffy suburban home, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed—a puppy. A bouncy, adorable puppy.

Instead she gets…Fred.

Overweight, middle-aged, a bit smelly and obviously depressed, Fred is light-years from perky. But he does manage to put Nina in the path of Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger-by-a-decade neighbor.

Alex seems perfect—he's a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor—but the age gap convinces Nina that anyone but Alex would be better relationship material. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it's the young, dog-loving doc she wants to sit and stay! Buy it at Amazon

This is only a small dent, but they are ones that I would read over and over. What books would you recommend?

Books and favorite authors

Do you have a favorite author - every time they put out a book you can't wait to buy it?  There are those we watch for, anticipating their next release.  It's been a long time since I was that excited about new arrivals.  Walking through the airports, I did see Dan Brown's new book on the stands, I'm interested to read that, and browsing around, I saw Diana Gabaldon has a new book out.

This post might offend some of Diana's die-hard readers, but when I saw she had released the next installment of the Outlander series, I wasn't as excited as with previous works.  I will probably still read it - but this time I'll probably get it from the library. And here's why.

After I'd had my first child, I was watching an exercise program to get back into shape (a program I still do now!) and one of the commercials was for "A Dragonfly in Amber," by Diana Gabaldon.  Good marketing - getting the female audience.  So I went to the library and checked it out. I was absolutely mesmerized by the story.  Then I discovered it was the second in the series, so I couldn't wait to read more.  I picked up Outlander and was even MORE mesmerized.  These books were so spell binding that I actually took a trip to Scotland (Karla's Big Adventure) by myself because I wanted to experience the haunting mountains and meadows for myself.  I wanted to stand in an outcropping of stone circles and travel through time to a cold, dark place where the food was sparse and unflavored (on a side note, I was also going through a very difficult time personally, so the escape had even MORE allure for me).  Then came the third in her series - Voyager.  Another good novel, but now the pace had sped up so that I was getting whiplash keeping up.  An interesting read, and I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't the same experience as the first two had been.  Where could she go from there?  Well she brought the characters from Scotland to the "New World" as refugees.  But in Book #4, I was a bit put off by their daughter.  And they were getting older, but the adventure continued.  Well written?  Yes.  But again, the magic wasn't there for me anymore.  I still enjoyed it and when Book #5 came out, there I was buying it.  Book #5 was a stretch for me.  The main characters, the ones I had grown to love and admire, were aging, and yet they weren't aging.  Some of their antics were a stretch for me, and the story moved much more slowly.  Her 1,000 page epics, which I easily read through previously, were becoming more difficult.  Could it be my own aging process and inability to keep up?  Maybe the plot was a little thin.  She's moving in a direction, has a vision of where she wants these books to take us, but the individual installments were losing momentum for me.  So now, with the latest, I read a review first.  I read MANY reviews first.  They all read like the fan that I am - I love her work, but it's getting hard to continue on this same road, and the daughter, whose task it is to step into her parents' footsteps, doesn't have the personality her mother and father have.

Will I read the book?  Yeah.  Most likely.  But I didn't pick it up at the Poisoned Pen (Diana's home book store) when I was there, and I'm not inclined to put out the money for it.  I don't feel the excitement of picking it up immediately now that it's on the stands and I won't sacrifice three days of my life rushing to get through it, on lunch hours, after work, before I go to bed, into the wee hours of the night. 

This is disappointing for me.  I miss having an author I can't wait to read.  There have been several through the course of my lifetime, and one by one I've fallen away from dedicated fan status.  Maybe it's just that life gets in the way, or maybe it's pushing your characters too far, beyond the point of suspended belief.

I still enjoy Diana Gabaldon.  I'm still going to read the next installment, the characters are "old friends."  But I guess the honeymoon is over.  Maybe that's just one of the pitfalls of writing a series.  You get comfortable with the same old characters, but if they don't do anything different, there isn't anything to keep you engaged, just comfortable.  Another sad commentary on today's society, I suppose. 

Which authors do you hang on waiting for to release a new book?