These are a few of my favorite things....

I'm working on trying to find a good way to compile some sort of list of "if you like blank, then you will like blank".  I'm sure there's a great way to do it and I'm sure I'll be struck with devine intervention.  Until then I thought I'd do a quick run down of some of my current top 3 favorite authors.

Jennifer Crusie
Why:  She's smart.  She's hysterically funny in a dry sort of way.

What is her writing style:  Almost always a less than physically perfect woman and by that I mean a REAL person that most women can relate to and generally speaking a REAL man.  Are they all beefed up quite a bit?  Sure!  It is a romance novel, after all.
Favorite book:  By far and away Agnes and the Hitman.  (This was written with Bob Mayer.) Love, love, love it!  I don't know if I have one that I don't like although Fast Women depresses me a little because I want fantasy and that was just a little bit too real world for me.

Rachel Gibson
Why:  She's just fun and sexy.  Well written and the perfect example of contemporary romance.
What is her writing style:  Anything you think you'd find in a contemporary romance  you will find with Rachel Gibson.  She has a lot of connected books.  Even the books that don't directly have a connection with another may have a connection through someone who knows someone and are mentioned in the book somewhere.  Most books either involve a hockey player or a law enforcement person of some sort.  Her men are high testosterone uber males and her women are generally (though not always) above average, attractive and glamorous.
Favorite book:  Depends on the day but probably See Jane Score when I want a sports story or Lola Carlyle Reveals All when I want a lighter Romantic Suspense.

Victoria Dahl
She hasn't been around as long as the other two but I've loved every book she's ever written in the contemporary romance style.  She also writes historical romance and if I ever decide to read one of those, she will be my first.
Why:  Sexy!  Her books are about as sexy as they get before you start getting close to erotic romance.
What is her writing style:  Almost always some sort of suspense but it's really light suspense.  Funny and super sexy.  Her women are hot, her men are hot and when I read it I think I must be hot too!  The sex scenes are great.  I was lending books to my mom for a while but felt funny about giving her my first Victoria Dahl.  The pages around the "good parts" were a little dog eared and I felt like me and the book had a bit of a relationship.
Favorite Book:  Her first contemporary romance:  Talk Me Down.  I loved that there was a "sex scene" with her vibrator and that the main character was an erotica writer.  I really loved that she published The Wicked West under the name Holly Summers which was her main character, Molly's, pen name and was the book the Molly was writing throughout Talk Me Down.