My keeper shelf has a bunch of books by authors I don't normally like, but who managed to write one book I loved.

An Invitation to Sin by Suzanne Enoch. Really don't like her historicals, very wallpaper. (Haven't tried the contemporaries) But I'm a sucker for books about artists.

His Mistress by Morning by Elizabeth Boyle. Everything else of hers I've tried has bored me to tears. Spies, YAWN.

Wicked by Jill Barnett. She's usually too cute for me - though Wild did join this one on my shelf, so I guess it's a two-hit wonder.

Once He Loves by Sara Bennet.  I find most of her books uninspired, but something about this one really grabs me. I guess I like the hero who will take any amount of crap from the heroine. Reminds me of my husband. ;-)

Deceived by Nicola Cornick. I like her books okay, but they're usually not keepers.

I have one Arnette Lamb book - Maiden of Inverness that I absolutely love, but I haven't really liked her other books.

Julie Garwood - I have Ransom and The Secret but none of her other books for me are keepers.

I also have Dee Henderson's 3-book "True" series but nothing else by her has really been keeper shelf worthy.

Sherri

I will have to think on this and get back to you. I think I have one Jill Barnett on the keeper shelf. Also, I have some that are borderline keepers for certain reasons, but may not stand the test of time. Buttons and Beaus by Margaret Brownley comes to mind as does Diamond Rain by Constance Laux. I will think on this some more. Great question!

Dangerous Temptation by Anne Mather is a terrific switching twin book with a little amnesia thrown in for good measure.  But I haven't found anything else by her that ever remotely interested me.

Okay, some relatively one-hit wonders for me are,

Christina Dodd - Move Heaven and Earth (I like her other books, but this one is a keeper. Too bad I've misplaced my copy! She also has quite a few misses for me.)

Samantha James - The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell (this might not stay a keeper, but after all the drivel she has put out, I remember this one surprised me)

Jacqueline Navin - Meet Me at Midnight (I may have only read one or two others by her, but so far this is the only one on the keeper shelf)

Karen Robards - Scandalous (I love this book, but it has been ages since I've revisited it. I don't know if she ever wrote the third sister's story...probably because she jumped over to contemps! Dang it!

I also have gotten rid of pretty much all my harlequins, but a couple I've held onto, not really sure about the quality, are:

Passion Becomes You (an older Harlequin Presents that I love because it has the stereotypical super-rich Greek tycoon who is to die for); The Brass Ring (a Loveswept that is pretty heartwrenching and is set in my state); Twilight Prince (a Silhouette Intimate Moments that if not one of the first romances I ever read, it is close to it, so I keep it around for sentimental reasons.

Willa, I would encourage you to try Suzanne Enoch's contemporaries. I really enjoy the series. It is kind of like an Eve-Roarke situation, but not as dark and in reverse. The hero is a rich businessman as well as an English nobleman who pretty much sticks to the straight and narrow (like Eve) but falls for Samantha (a thief, like Roarke) and realizes he needs to make compromises in order to keep Samantha with him (like Roarke). Samantha, likewise is skittish of emotional commitment and attaching herself to Rick (like Eve). There are a couple of good secondary characters as well, although nowhere near a Mavis or Peabody. :)

Robards never did write the third sister story, which is amusingly titled Shameless.

I have some of the Enoch contemporaries out from the the library, the Eve-Roarke comparison convinced me to try them. :-)  And sometimes people write better in one genre than another.

Ah, I just found this at "The Good, the Bad and the Unread":

Shameless is nearly finished.

Now in authorspeak ::looks around at authors:: THAT can mean a week away to 4 years. But she went on to say it is "In Line" to come out after:

• the paperback release of Obsession (May 27th, 2008)
• her new hardcover romantic thriller, Pursuit, in February, 2009.

Thanks for the info, Willa! I wonder if Gabriella and Nick will be in it at all?

For me it was Cheryl Holt , My Olnly Love.  It was not a keeper (almost) but I still loved it very much.  I believe it was her very first novel, I guess she put more time and effort into it...  anyhoo, after reading this book, she had me so hooked that I went ahead and ordered 3 others by her.  Well,  I hated every one of them.. LOL 

Thanks, Grace.. I think I am going to try Move Heaven and Earth by Dodd.  Sounds good.

I was pleased to find Move Heaven and Earth by Dodd at the library sale today, because I remembered that someone had mentioned it in this thread. (My - I DO have a good memory. Terrible at faces though.)

I hope you aren't disappointed, Willa. It is an injured hero and a heroine nurse. Admittedly, since I've lost mine, it's been years since I've read it.

Julie Garwood hit for me with The Wedding, and then crashed & burned with each subsequent book I tried afterward.

Night Secrets is my only keeper by Kat Martin.  This was the second book of hers I tried & the only one out of several Kat Martin books that I've read  and then also kept.  I did have Dangerous Passions on my keeper shelf for a while, but just recently moved it to my PBS shelf.  Another one of her typical misogynistic man-whore heroes, but this book is actually quite meaty for a standard Kat Martin.  I just decided I probably wouldn't want to read it again, so out it goes.

Edith Layton hooked me a bit initially with Gypsy Lover, even though sex-wise, it's a tad thin:P  I haven't found anything since that I thought was nearly as good though, and I've given her more tries than I usually do with any author.  The much ballyhooed The Cad, I thought was total stinkburger.  The heroine, IMO, wasn't just tstl, she was stupid enough to kill:P  I tried to get into the rest of the series after that, but I just couldn't get past the second book - bleh.

I also really liked The Devil to Pay by Liz Carlyle, but nothing else of hers has been what I would call exceptional.  She's a good writer & all that, but I don't find her any better than writers like Stephanie Laurens or Christina Dodd.  All writers of that caliber can put out something above average every once in a while, but generally, they're just standard meat & potatoes to me.

And last, but not least, I just traded off my Sabrina Jeffries books today because I decided I just can't work up the enthusiasm to read another one.  I forget which one I actually liked.  I guess it doesn't matter though, since I didn't keep it, and I have no interest in any of the others.  When you have more than 100 books TBR, there's not much tolerance for sifting through a dozen or so of this or that author's blah books, hoping that just one of them will hook you.  I don't have that kind of patience:P