Sorting the romance shelf
Most romance readers read across two or three sub-genres and develop strong opinions about each. These picks are organized by mode rather than by author, because most serious romance readers know their authors already and need help finding the next one.
For comic / literary romance readers
Rita Mae Brown's Venus Envy is the comic-revelation novel that turned out to be a romance under the comedy. Mourning Glory (Warren Adler) is the colder, harder cousin: a serial widow-hunter who actually falls for one of her marks. Both work for readers who want comedy with stakes.
For expatriate / location romance readers
Elizabeth Adler's The Last Time I Saw Paris is the best contemporary Paris-set expatriate romance in print. The Hotel Riviera is the South-of-France companion with sharper plot machinery. Both work for readers who want the Frances Mayes / Joanne Harris register with cleaner romance plotting.
For coming-of-age / LGBT romance readers
Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle remains the foundational text of the modern American queer coming-of-age novel and contains real romance material that often gets ignored in the genre-history conversations. Alma Mater is the gentler companion.
For historical romance readers
Julie Beard's Midnight Angel is the well-researched 14th-century medieval romance. Kiss of the Blue Dragon is the same author in a near-future cyberpunk-romance setting. Both work for readers willing to follow the writer across registers.
For light contemporary romance readers
Janet Evanovich's pre-Plum work (Thanksgiving, Love Overboard) is some of the most underread comic romance of the late 1980s. Both finish in a sitting and remind you that comedy can be the entire engine of a romance novel.