Romance author love for Loretta Chase, Mary Jo Putney, Laura Kinsale

Today's featured author: Elena Greene, author of Fly With a Rogue. She's talking about her favorite romance authors, a list I'm sure many of us can heartily endorse!

Elena Greene, author of Fly With a Rogue

Three of my favorite fellow romance authors:

• Loretta Chase. I love her flawed but lovable heroes, her smart and strong heroines, and the combination of humor and heart in her stories.

• Mary Jo Putney. Ever since reading The Rake and the Reformer, I've enjoyed her angsty Regencies. When I first met Mary Jo at a conference book signing, I'd only written Chapter 1 of my first book, but she answered my newbie questions with grace and patience. I'll never forget how kindly she encouraged me to think of myself as a real writer.

• Laura Kinsale. Each of her stories is a unique, beautifully crafted jewel. Flowers From the Storm, her romance featuring a stroke survivor hero, was a great comfort to me when my own husband suffered an unexpected stroke in his 40s.

Here's the blurb for Fly With a Rogue:

Having fallen on hard times, Emma Westfield provides for herself and her young brother by teaching at the school in their village. She has given up on romance, but her passion for life reawakens when a handsome aeronaut crashes his balloon nearby and is brought to her cottage to be nursed.

Captain Gilbert Manning has spent most of his life in the British army, campaigning from India to Waterloo. Now that the war is over, he supports himself and veterans from his company by giving balloon exhibitions. Although he's no eligible suitor, he longs to free the loving, vital woman hiding beneath Emma's prim schoolmistress façade.

Passion sweeps them along, finally taking them on a wild flight across the English countryside. They must marry, but can they make a life together?

Find out more about Elena and her books at www.elenagreene.com.