Plot Monkeys

Patricia A asked:
Who are your favorite romance authors (based on body of work) and what impact did they have on writing your stories?

Who are yours? (our readers)?

CP: LaVyrle Spencer got me started on reading romance. My all time favorite is Separate Beds . She taught me that contemporary romance and happy endings was my calling in life. Gave me the warm, snuggly feeling I want and need in a romance, and that is always what I want to impart to my readers. I miss her writing new books!

LK: You know, I don’t even know if anybody else remembers her, but my all-time favorite romance author was always Laurie McBain. She wrote magnificent, heart-rending historicals back in Avon’s heyday. I read Woodiwiss and Wilde, but my heart belonged to McBain. She wrote books such as Moonstruck Madness, Tears of Gold, Chance the Winds of Fortune and Wild Bells to the Wild Sky. (Bells had a hero named Valentine Whitelaw and a heroine named Lily Francesca and I LOOOVED their story and I LOOVED the tragic love story of Lily’s shipwrecked parents!!) Anyway, I would read one of her books and be sobbing my face off all the while rooting for the h/H to get their HEA. I have never read another author, past or present, who could move me with her books the way McBain could.

Unfortunately, she hasn’t written a new book in years. A true shame, IMHO.

JEL I have so many favorite authors, but the one who got me started writing was Linda Lael Miller. Her Corbin series (Corbin’s Fancy being the first) truly inspired me. You can only imagine the thrill I experienced when I was in the novella collection with her last year that made the New York Times. Talk about coming full circle. When I wanted to write for Temptation, I read Jenny Crusie and Pat Ryan voraciously. More recently, I’d say Nora’s JD Robb books set me on my Marisela career path. She really took the idea of the strong heroine to a new level and really excited me with her Eve Dallas stories. I could probably go on and on about authors I love!

JD: For me, it was Sandra Brown who inspired me to write romances, and especially category romances! This was WAY back when she was writing for the now defunct Bantam Loveswept line. She really knew how to write a hot and sexy story, and once I discovered her books, I went back and glommed all the ones I missed! Unfortunately, once she turned to her darker suspense books, I stopped reading her. Too heavy for me! Another author who inspired me was Cindy Gerard — who again started writing category romances with Bantam Loveswept, then crossed over to Harlequin Desire. She just writes these super-sexy heroes, strong heroines, and a great love story. She has since started writing single title suspense, but I still read her books because her single titles still have a strong romance to them.

What about you? Who is your favorite romance author and whose work do you most admire?