Favorite Books

Okay, this is sort of like the other book discussion but not completely. I was thinking that since we're all book addicts it would be nice to see what each other's favorites are. Who knows? Maybe we'll find something new to read!

PNR/UF
- Soulless (Gail Carriger)
- On the Edge (Ilona Andrews)
- Caressed by Ice (Nalini Singh)
- Lover Awakened (JR Ward)
- Tempting Danger (Eileen Wilks)

Funny Romance
- The Very Virile Viking (Sandra Hill)
- Noble Intentions (Katie MacAlister)
- Single White Vampire (Lynsay Sands)
- High Energy (Dara Joy)
- The Corset Diaries (Katie MacAlister)

Historical
- The Masqueraders (Georgette Heyer)
- These Old Shades (Georgette Heyer)
- The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Jennifer Ashley)
- Lord of Scoundrels (Loretta Chase)
- Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Julia Quinn)

Sci-Fi/Fantasy
- Dune (Frank Herbert)
- Shards of Honor/Barrayar (Lois McMaster Bujold)
- Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
- Lord of the Fading Lands (CL Wilson)
- The Dark Lord of Derkholm (Diana Wynne Jones)

Other
- Conrad’s Fate (Diana Wynne Jones)
- The Green Glass Sea (Ellen Klages)
- A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Leguin)
- The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper)
- A Swiftly Titling Planet (Madeleine L’Engle)

(You don't have to use the same headings I used )

This seems much more organized. I think here is where people should post the books they highly recommend and on the other one we should talk/post about why we recommend it and debate about it and what not.

But that's just my opinion. =]

Oh, fab list! I wanted to read some of these books since.. forever.
When I'm done reading Seize the Night, I'm trying to come up with a list, too. I've never been able to say which books were my favorites.. Then, however it's always been hard for me to say what I like the most.. Decisions, decisions.

I have forgotten many good books! Next time *grin*

Feverseries by Karen Marie Moning

MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman.

Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae….

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands….

The Hollows by Kim Harrison
The series heroine is Rachel. She's a witch and living with a Pixie and a Vamp in an alternate Universe. There, in the sixties, there was the Turn, an event where all the paranormal beings made the decision to be known as what they were. Blahblah. Did I mention how I'm not able to summarize anything? Mhe.

The underground population of witches, vampires, werewolves—creatures of dreams and nightmares—has lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But after a genetically engineered virus wipes out a large part of humanity, many of the "Inderlanders" reveal themselves, changing everything.

Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter with the Inderland Runner Services, is one of the best at apprehending supernatural lawbreakers throughout Cincinnati, but when it comes to following the rules, she falls desperately short. Determined to buck the system, she quits and takes off on the run with an I.S. contract on her head and is reluctantly forced to team up with Ivy, Inderland's best runner . . . and a living vampire. But this witch is way out of her league, and to clear her name, Rachel must evade shape-changing assassins, outwit a powerful businessman/crime lord, and survive a vicious underground fight-to-the-death . . . not to mention her own roommate.

Mind Games and Double Crossby Carolyn Crane
FUCK THE WHAT. I'm just in love with the series. There are people, not all of them, but some, who are a bit like the Psy. They are able to e.g. see into bodies or make walls move etc. And .. oh gosh, I just.. Gnn! I love it. *_*

JUSTINE KNOWS SHE’S GOING TO DIE. ANY SECOND NOW.

Justine Jones has a secret. A hardcore hypochondriac, she’s convinced a blood vessel is about to burst in her brain. Then, out of the blue, a startlingly handsome man named Packard peers into Justine’s soul and invites her to join his private crime-fighting team. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. With a little of Packard’s hands-on training, Justine can weaponize her neurosis, turning it outward on Midcity’s worst criminals, and finally get the freedom from fear she’s always craved.
End of problem.
Or is it? In Midcity, a dashing police chief is fighting a unique breed of outlaw with more than human powers. And while Justine’s first missions, including one against a nymphomaniac husband-killer, are thrilling successes, there is more to Packard than meets the eye. Soon, while battling her attraction to two very different men, Justine is plunging deeper into a world of wizardry, eroticism, and cosmic secrets. With Packard’s help, Justine has freed herself from her madness—only to discover a reality more frightening than anyone’s worst fears.

Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane
Another alternate universe. The heroine is really.. messed up. The books are awesome and hawt!

THE DEPARTED HAVE ARRIVED.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

Faythe Sanders|Shifters by Rachel Vincent
Another very, very good book. Although it almost made my cry (and I didn't cry for months, because I really.. can't.) Faythe is the daughter of an Alpha, but she wants to live like a normal person. But then she's forced to go home and help or something like that and well, she meets her former boyfriend. And then she also meets Jace again. And .. Whoa.. Just soo good, really. I'm going to give a copy of her new novel, Blood Bound, away this summer on Ivy's Blog (Ivyreads Birthday Bash). Rachel Vincent's just brilliant!

There are only eight breeding female werecats left . . .
And I'm one of them.
I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I'd been warned about Strays -- werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female, and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back . . . for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever -- and whoever -- I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays -- 'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them . . .

Lover Awakened & Eternal by J.R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood 2 + 3)
Okay. Zsadist and Rhage. Needless to say more, right? J.R. Ward put it that way:

Okay.Right. Horror meets romance meets erotica meets fantasy meets hip hop. Throw in some leather and some Miami Ink shit, stir with a Baseball hat and a tire iron, sprinkle on some baby powder (..)

Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetites. He's the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover-for inside him burns ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. Owned by this dark side, Rhage fears the time when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him.

Mary Luce, a survivor of many hardships is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world and reliant to Rhage's protection. With a life-threatening curse of her own, Mary is not looking for love. She lost her faith in miracles years ago. But when Rhage's intense animal attraction turns into something more emotional, he knows that he must make Mary his alone. And while their enemies close in, Mary fights desperately to gain life eternal with the one she loves..

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion and terror his only passion-until he rescues a beautiful female from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for each other begins to overtake them, Zsadist's thirst for vengeance against Bella's tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past and find a future with her.

Caressed by Ice
Okay, this is a NALINI SINGH forum. Really.. :>

Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
It's the sixth of the Dark Hunter novels and together with some others, esp. Acherons book, I loved it. Dark Hunters are people who've been murdered and have been brought back by Artemis. They make a trade with her. They get their revenge and she get's their souls and eternal service.. Bla. The only way to become human again, is to have someone love them completely. Those people can return the soul into their bodies.

Valerius isn't a popular Dark-Hunter-he's a Roman, which means that the largely Greek Hunters have a major grudge against him and his civilization for superceding them. To make things worse, he's very conscious of his aristocratic background and breeding. So it serves him right when he runs into Tabitha Devereaux.
She's sassy, sexy, and completely unwilling to take him seriously. (Not to mention that she's the twin sister of the wife of former Dark-Hunter Kyrian-Val's mortal enemy.) What Tabitha does take seriously is hunting and killing vampires-and soon she and Val have to grapple with the deadliest of all Daimons-one who's managed to come back from the dead, and one who holds a serious grudge against both of them. To win against evil, Val will have to loosen up, learn to trust, and put everything on the line to protect a man he hates and a woman who drives him nuts.

Julie James: Just the Sexiest Man Alive, Practice Makes Perfect, Something About You, A Lot Like Love. ← I just love this woman's books!

Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan—not in the courtroom and not in her personal life. So when she's assigned to coach People's “Sexiest Man Alive” for his role in the next big legal drama, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob's charms. Even if he is the Jason Andrews.

Matched by Ally Condie

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

But her real name is Gwen.... :<

Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time. But unexpectedly, it is Gwyneth, who in the middle of class takes a sudden spin to a different era! Gwyneth must now unearth the mystery of why her mother would lie about her birth date to ward off suspicion about her ability, brush up on her history, and work with Gideon, the time traveler from a similarly gifted family that passes the gene through its male line, and whose presence becomes, in time, less insufferable and more essential. Together, Gwyneth and Gideon journey through time to discover who, in the 18th century and in contemporary London, they can trust.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

His Dark Materials by P. Pullman

In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing, victims of so-called "Gobblers", and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.

Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent (I haven't recovered from book 4 yet)

There are two short stories, one of them a prequel to the series. But this prequel isn't as good as the real novels!

She doesn't see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next.

The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

St. Vladimir's Academy isn't just any boarding school; it's a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They've been on the run, but now they're being dragged back to St. Vladimir's; the very place where they're most in danger...

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy's ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi; the world's fiercest and most dangerous vampires make Lissa one of them forever.

Wasted by Marya Hornbacher

This vivid and emotionally wrenching memoir of the author's lifelong love affair with bulimia and anorexia offers a devastating critique of the American obsession with food and body image.

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk is the one story about the 1970s and the Blank Generation that has never before been told. Chronicling the birth of what we now call punk, from Andy Warhol's Factory to Max's Kansas City and CBGB's in the 1960s and 1970s, and on to the UK in the 1980s, authors Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain deliver the explosive story of America's most misunderstood pop phenomenon. Seamlessly constructed from a chorus of voices, Please Kill Me is oral history with all the narrative drive and excitement of a novel. In hundreds of interviews with all of the original players, including Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Dee Dee and Joey Ramone, Debbie Harry, Nico, Wayne Kramer, Danny Fields, Richard Hell, and Malcolm McLaren, we go backstage and behind apartment doors to relive what started in New York's underbelly as an exclusive art scene and became a truly revolutionary moment in music. Please Kill Me begins when CBGB's and the Bowery were a veritable no-man's-land: relives the heyday of the Velvet Underground, the Ramones, the MC5, the Stooges, the New York Dolls, Television, and the Patti Smith Group; and explores punk's demise - when it became front-page news and a new trend for latecomers.

Other books I liked: here

@ Patricia: I love the Edelsteintrilogie, too (haha, say that out loud - it´s hilarious) Xemerius is my favourite character, he´s so cute^^

Is someone reading Susan Elizabeth Philipps? "Honey Moon" is one of my all time favourites

I possibly went a little overboard, but damn it's hard to cut down.

Children/Young Adult
On the Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
The Mouse and His Child – Russell Hoban
Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones
The Obernewtyn Chronicles – Isobelle Carmody

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Psy Changeling series – Nalini Singh
The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy – Sarah Rees Brennan
White Cat – Holly Black
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman


Historical Romance
Bound by Your Touch – Meredith Duran
The Last Hellion – Loretta Chase
Friday’s Child – Georgette Heyer
Devil in Winter – Lisa Kleypas

Sci Fi/Fantasy
Farseer Trilogy – Robin Hobb (and everything else she’s written set in that world)
Sevenwaters Trilogy – Juliet Marillier
Only Forward – Michael Marshall Smith
Hyperion – Dan Simmons
To Say Nothing of the Dog – Connie Willis

Other
In the Bleak Midwinter – Julia Spencer Fleming
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John le Carre
Regeneration – Pat Barker
Possession – A S Byatt
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathon Safron Foer
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters

At the same time I love this topic, because there is so many books I`ve never even heard of, and I think it extremely difficult, because if you like to read, this list is neverending.
That said, here are mine:
Count Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Seven - Katherine Neville
Acqua alta - Donna Leon
Tell no one - Harlan Coben
The kite runner - Khaled Hosseini
The eye of the world - Robert Jordan
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Chocolat - Joanne Harris
The virgin blue - Tracy Chevalier
The gift of rain - Tan Twan Eng
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Erast Fandorin series - Boris Akunin
Night Shield - Nora Roberts

I`ll add more when I remember them. Oh, do the one in Serbian count? Most of them are not translated in English, so you won`t know what I am talking about anyway

Jelena I love The Shadow of the Wind. I almost included it in my list.

by Sycorax

Jelena I love The Shadow of the Wind. I almost included it in my list

Zafon is one of the best new authors I`ve read recently.

sometime it is too hard too pick one book out of a great series. Below is a small list of some favorite series of mine:

The Hallows - by Kim Harrison
The Black Jewels - by Anne Bishop
Mercy Thompson - by Patricia Briggs
The Women of the Otherworld - by Kelly Armstrong - starts with "Bitten"

So many others ...

Kim Harrison, yay! Still didn't read the second and third book. *gnn* Need to R&R them.

Mercy Thompson's great, too! Didn't read anything by Anne Bishop and only a bit of Kelly Armstrong.

Great choices!

Girls (I assume there are mostly women here ;-) ), I would be very glad if you not only put authors and titles on the list, but also some clue what the books are about and why you liked them. Thanks!

P.S. I'm still working on my list...

@monadh, I edited my post. now with links and blurbs.

Literature
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice (Austen's novels are not just great literature, but also a good read)
Jane Austen – Persuasion (my second favorite of the Austen novels)
James Welch – Winter in the Blood (one of my favorite books of the Native American Renaissance, in turns depressing and funny)
James Welch – The Death of Jim Loney (kind of a sad story of the inevitable downward spiral of the Native American anti-hero, very authentic)
Margaret Laurence – The Diviners (the life story of an artist, with a great "failed" love story thrown in. My favorite book by my favorite Canadian author)
Shakespeare – Lord John (once I got into the language of the bard I quite liked reading his plays, because his characters ar so vivid; this is one of his less known plays; I especially liked the figure of Philip Falconbridge "the Bastard")
Emily Brontë – Wuthering Heights (dark and intense, like the wilds of Yorkshire)

Series
J. D. Robb – in Death (Roark and Eve rock; the series also has strong supporting characters and is still going strong. It's futuristic mixed with crime)
Iris Johansen – Eve Duncan (Eve is a deeply troubled forensic sculptor, driven to find her missing daughter Bonnie; this series is way out there, but in a way also quite fascinating)
Donna Leon – Commissario Brunetti (I love the contemplative and comfortable feel of Leon's Venice with a hint of darkness thrown in. Between reading classics, enjoying his wife's cooking, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper and eating his way through Venice's quaint trattorias Brunnetti also solves crimes, despite his superior's best efforts to hamper his work)
Janet Evanovich – Stephanie Plum (completely off the wall, very unrealistic, but likable characters and hilariously funny, a light and entertaining read)
Christine Feehan – Carpathians/Dark (one of my favorite "vampire" series, although most of the main characters are real throwbacks, especially in their attitudes towards women. One of my favorite installments is "Dark Slayer", just because Razvan is a different kind of hero.
Laurell K. Hamilton – Anita Blake (used to love this series, at least the first 8 or so installments, but has deterioated into group sex scenes with not even the hint of plot to hold them together. Also, Anita's Catholic guilt and angst have started to wear thin a long time ago.
Sherrilyn Kenyon – Dark Hunter (also quite an entertaining series, unfortunately it has also been deterioating steadily. Favorites are Dance with the Devil and Acheron)
Suzanne Brockmann – Troubleshooters (contemporary romance/thriller, build around a Seal team; "romantic interest" stories sometimes span two or more books; favorite couples are Sam and Alyssa (Gone Too Far) and Molly and Grady (Out of Control/Breaking Point)
Anne Stuart – Ice (I would call it dark romantic suspense; way out there but very intense)
Nalini Singh – Changeling/Psy (only discovered this series a short time ago, but it is one of the best I've encountered so far. Favorites are Caressed by Ice and Blaze of Memory; I haven't read KoS yet, though)
Nalina Singh – Guild Hunter (different from her other series, but just as good)
Jayne Castle – Harmony (I admit it, I like Jayne's predictability and her stereotypical heroes and heroines. Alpha males that are not afraid of equally strong women. Paranormal romance, more on the light side)
Christine Feehan – Leopard (I think this series just keeps getting better and better, I especially like the last two installments, Wild Fire and Savage Nature)
Christine Feehan – Game (only number three in my Feehan series list; of course it's also completely unrealistic, but good world building and I like the science details too. My favorite couple so far are Raoul and Iris. Absolutely hated the last installment Ruthless Game)


Trilogies
Anne Bishop – Black Jewels (as a rule I'm not much into Fantasy, but these three books are outstanding, they are among my alltime favorite books. They are very disturbing and dark and contain child abuse, slavery, forced sex, murder, destruction, betrayal, madness, rape, mutilation etc. Sounds horrible, but it is sort of the basis of the emotional intensity. Great world building and a really great hero. Though there is practically almost no sex scenes (at least of the "good kind"), Daemon Sadi is hot, hot, hot! What I especially liked about this series is the idea of a matriarchical society and how Bishop combined that with really strong males. I really hate that she is now churning out bad sequels to the Black Jewels trilogy, she should have left the ending stand the way she had written it in Queen of the Darkness)
Jayne Castle – Amaryllis, Zinnia, Orchid (light paranormal romance for fans of Jayne Ann Krentz)

Stand-Alone:
Sandra Brown – Slow Heat in Heaven (ok, so SB has written lots of trashy romance novels for Harlequin or whatever, but I really loved this contemporary romance, because who can resist a bad boy? I also liked all the familial tension worked in and I'm a sucker for the "illegitimate son"-angle. All things considered Cash turned out a pretty decent guy.
Elizabeth Lowell – Tell Me No Lies (Another author who used to write better books. I love this contemporary romance/thriller set in the high powered world of art and international relations. Also, beautiful love story)
Amanda Quick – Scandal (my favorite Quick regency. Though I would describe it as a "light" read, it is still very emotional, in a sweet way. Sweetness is balanced by a hero that is not always nice)
Christine Monson – Rangoon (a cross cultural love story set during the British colonial rule of Burma. I especially liked the vivid and IMO quite accurat period detail. Click here to go to my in-depth review on Amazon)
Georgette Heyer – These Old Shades (a chillingly dangerous hero and an unconventional heroine make this tale of revenge and redemption one of my Heyer favorites)
Georgette Heyer – Venetia (I really like that the heroine is aware from the beginning of the ruined reputation of the hero, who, for all his dissipated ways and past sins is a very tolerant and likable hero)
Anne Stuart – Moonrise (this is quite out there; the hero is a former IRA terrorist turned CIA assassin who has done some really horrible things. Now his former mentor's daugther has asked him for help in finding her father's murderer, not knowing where this quest will lead them. Amazing how Stuart can make us crave these anti-heroes. Really dark romantic suspense)
Judith McNaught – Paradise (I also like her historicals, but this contemporary set in the world of retail business is my favorite. The hero and heroine share a very painful past. They have to surmount betrayal, lies and interfering relatives to get a new lease on love)
Linda Howard – All The Queen's Men (dark romantic suspense, set in the world of international arms dealers. Very memorable "first sex" scene, quite rough, only tolerable because the erotic sizzle has been going on for a long time beforehand. Very smooth and likable villain with believable motivation)
Johanna Lindsey – A Heart So Wild (when I was much, much younger I used to like Lindsey's books, especially her earlier ones and the first 5 or 6 of the Malory series. This one I still like. It's a historical western romance and one of the best I've read)
Jude Deveraux – Remembrance (as a rule I hate time travel; but this story really touched me. I like the idea of soulmates that go through different incarnations, hating each other, before they finally "find" each other)
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss – Shanna (very 70ies/80ies historical romance. If you like this type of thing, it is quite the reading experience)

Judging from your recommendations I think I will have to try J. R. Ward and Briggs' Mercy Thompson series...