There are few authors whom I adore much as I adore Cathy Lamb. From her first book, "Julia's Chocolates," to her most recent, "A Different Kind of Normal," which I'm reading now, I'm always captivated and immediately pulled into the world she's creating. All of her books are set in Oregon, a place I long to visit and I think I'll like as much as I like the state of Washington, so the books give me a glimpse of a world that's accessible. And her characters are always so strong and so real for me. I can almost hear their voices as I read the words on the page.

I love the touches of whimsy and quirkiness that Cathy Lamb puts into her characters, her narrative and her dialogue. I always want to be friends with the main characters in her novels and find myself wishing that they were, in fact, real people.

Which author or authors spark such a strong response in you? Whose books do you pre-order or go out and buy as soon as they are published? (For me, it's Cathy Lamb, Sarah Addison-Allen and Jen Lancaster for sure!)