I'll give away the answer to one question for anyone who still intends to take it--for the authors question, I dislike every other listed except for Dave Barry and Tom Clancy, and I've never read any Tom Clancy books.

Sorry to Stephen King and Anne Rice fans... I respect them both, I just do not like their writing. For King it's just because I don't really like his style in general; Anne Rice just aggravates me, which is probably why I can't like Amelia Atwater-Rhodes as much as I want to, since Atwater-Rhodes is basically Anne Rice Lite (in terms of everything, especially book length--it would take the better part of a week, possibly more, to get through the average Rice book these days and it would only take the better part of an hour to get through an Atwater-Rhodes book...). Not that I dislike all of their works, also, they're just not my cup of tea in general. However I love Dave Barry to tiny pieces (sad that he shares a name with a guy at my school who is a huge asshole) and own many of his books.