I'll second:
The early
Anita Blake books by Laurell K Hamilton - these books started off
soooo good... but the later books are just embarrassing
Diana Gabaldon's
Outlander books - I really had to be pestered into reading these because the blurb really didn't do it for me. I'm so glad I read them and god help any tall red-headed Scotsmen that cross my path
Janet Evanovich's
Stephanie Plum books - completely agree, they are laugh out loud funny!
Considering you just finished Game of Thrones... hmmm... I don't really read the pure 'fantasy' genre, but I do like the 'urban fantasy' books. I'd add to the above list:
Karen Marie Moning's
Fever series - the series is complete now but each book had a cliffhanger ending and it was frickin torture to wait for the next one. I adore these books and the male lead is
seriously Alpha...
Ilona Andrews
Magic series - these can be quite dark, but I think they are excellent - I love the author's 'voice'
Stacia Kane's
Downside Ghosts series - my fave at the moment. These are dark Urban Fantasy. Lead character is a drug addict, so it took me a while to pick it up, but don't let that put you off, the author handles it really well. I can't recommend these books enough - they are
so original. Oh, and I have a
complete author crush on Stacia Kane - she is made of awesome.
I'm pretty sure the above 3 authors post sample chapters on their websites.