Can anyone recommend lighthearted fiction that's still decently written?

[JackieOsHeadScarf]

There must be something in the gap between Jo Jo Moyes and Milkman

Eleanor Oliphant suggestion also puzzled me, glad I’m not alone.

First Lady Detective series - Alexander McCall

... gently written, amusing and nicely poignant.

Santa Montefiore and Lucinda Riley are fantastic authors. I also recommend anything by Mitch Alborn.

@WobblyLondoner It’s different to Noughts and Crosses definitely ... I would recommend reading the plot summaries on goodreads/wiki to get an idea.

I would have been happy reading it around that age I think if it helps but I read basically everything...

Jennifer Weiner

Claire Allans last few books have been brilliant. Her last one is in the top 10 of amazon kindle reads.

Louise Bagshaw
Jill Mansell
Jilly cooper goes without saying

Elenor Oliphant made me laugh out loud on several occasions and I read it in two days as I couldn’t put it down.

I have loved every Peresophone book I have read. (That is the name of the publishers that specialise in forgotten female authors). I recommend Diana Athill - Midsummer night in the workhouse (not funny but brilliant and also a collection of short stories) Mrs Buncles Book (funny) and also Making of a Marchioness (funny).

Mick Herron’s Jackson Lamb series,

I Capture the castle by Dodie Smith. Not laugh out loud funny but light, witty and well written.

Monica Dickens: One Pair of Hands and One Pair of Feet. Very funny and rather easier to read than her great grandfather.

These might be too light, but Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series is an easy holiday read. Jana DeLeon's Fortune series is similar.
Yes, yes to Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella.

@ProfessorRadcliffeEmerson came on here to say the same. I have determined it a personal life goal to bring her (/Georgian) phrases back into common usage, though I may be thought queer in my attic! :P

Blatent place marking for the next time I am in the library!

Pulling up a pew. Need inspiration.

Maisie Moscow.
Wonderful author.

Wodehouse and Heyer are the best recommendations on here without a doubt if you're looking for well-written books.

Am currently going through a very stressful time and re-reading Cadfael to escape from it all for half an hour a day, so good shout whoever suggested that too!

YY to Monica Dickens, alongside One Pair she also wrote My Turn To Make The Tea which is fabulous too, I think it followed on from them. So well worth a read! A lot of the other stories she wrote were well written but really not light-hearted, although Mariana and The Happy Prisoner have uplifting moments (they're on my personal Desert Island book list) and are a joy to read as they are just such engrossing stories.

Also recommend Betty McDonald's books because they are fantastic - well-written and humorous - and Jerome K Jerome. He wrote a lot of books but Three Men On A Boat is justly the most famous.

I’ve just torn through the ‘chronicles of st Mary’s’ books by Jodi Taylor.
They are broadly sci fi - it’s basically time travel adventures but with humour and believable characters. The writing falls down a couple of times - for instance in the first book four years is supposed to have passed and you wonder how that happened, but I ended up carrying hugely about the characters and it’s rare for me to jump straight on Amazon to download the next in the series as soon as I finish a book. I feel a bit bereft now that I’ve finished them all...

Marian Keyes
Anne Tyler
Liane Moriarty
Kate Atkinson
PG Wodehouse
N Mitford

Anne Tyler is another worth mentioning. Heavier than ‘chick lit’ but just incredible characters. I read A Spool of Blue Thread in a matter of days.
Also Lianne Moriarty and Marian Keyes too

I came on to add Monica Dickens and am really pleased that she's been mentioned twice. Well written but easy reading and amusing.

I second Eleanor Oliphant, Kate Atkinson, Wodehouse, Heyer, Stella Gibbons as well.

Also John Wyndham although maybe not light hearted all the time.

Jenni Eclair

The Walsh sisters series by Marian Keyes.

I also like Catherine Alliot.

And a big fat yes to Anne Tyler