Robin Mckinley, love/hate relationship

I'm a reader, I read. I live most my days waiting for the next few minutes I can steal to read some more. Yes I have a life, no it is not in a fantasy world. I'll admit its hard to break away from the fantasy world and back into the real one, but I've done it before and I keep on doing it, and I plan to continue.
Some of the most interesting books I have ever read are by Robin Mckinley. She does some Wonderful re-telling of classic story's: Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty(Spindles End), Robin Hood(Out Laws of Sherwood) etc. It makes you forget that you've already heard this story before, and not just once, a hundred times! She even has 2 re-tellings of Beauty and the beast. Beauty and Rose Daughter. Each are similar but both are amazing! I ate them up and re-read them.
Miss Mckinley isn't just into the classics, she has originals that are pure entertainment. Hero and the Crown, Chalice and Sunshine. I'm trying to read the rest of her books,there are many more, my library is sadly not as well stocked as it should be. But find those books I will!
There is one thing about Robin that you must know. She's a rambler and a tangent freak! She goes off on a tangent, makes a huge circle; rambles on for pages, then finally comes back to where she started. In the classic tales the stories already been laid out, the ending is already planned, you have some wiggle room but not a whole lot. In her re-tellings she uses ALL her wiggle room, even pushes a few boundaries, and comes up with a brilliant story.
In her original pieces she has no boundaries, no blockers to keep her inside. So she's every where, her rambling just keeps going and going. Chalice and Sunshine are two examples of rambling gone well. She starts her story, and goes in small circles through out the whole book. As long as you go into the book knowing this, you can make it though the whole thing with out throwing it against the wall.
Now DragonHaven is the end all book of rambling! It is horrible,horrible,horrible,horrible....*two hours and one big breath later* horrible horrible, the worst book ever written. First person, starting from the future and writing from past to present. Its supposed to be an 18 year old boy narrating the book, and oh my.............................................................................!
I finished it because I wanted to find out what happens at the end, and you know what? It didn't end, ever (lol I'm still reading it. j/k) The ending wasn't worth trudging through pages and pages of the worst written rambling book ever published. Seriously find an 18 year old boy and make him tell you a story. MAKE him tell you a story. Not a thought out story "Oh my brothers a writer I'll have him tell me a story" No find some random 18 year old boy, make him tell you a story and it will be better told then this one.
Maybe I'm just being critical. I'd ask someone to read it so we can discuss if I'm being fair or not. But I really don't want to put anyone else through that. However, through the good and bad, I still love Robin Mckinley, she's my third favorite author and will be. I'll sing her praises for her books and I'll keep reading them. But Never Read DragonHaven.

WoW, suddenly I have an urge to find an 18 year old boy. Does it matter if he's cute and ripped? Or are those just bonus?

Why in the world would you want to find an 18 year old boy other then to have him tell you a story? Do you remember being 18? Do you remember the boys at 18? emphasis on BOY! But if you're into the cougar movement go ahead my friend be the older woman, I think you'll have fun!

Okay so if Robin McKinnely is your third, who are the others? Also, I can normally love what she's getting at but I don't like her writing style. I think she would be better to get a good author to write out her stories for her. I mean I agree that she does best when she has the original story to go off of but Sunshine was awful in my opinion. Who even needed to know about half the book because it was so irrelevant and then that one never really concluded either. She's not a terrible writer but I don't think she'll ever be listed among my top ten.

Well L.J Smith is number one and always will be, I've loved her sense Jr High. But Sharon Shinn runs a really close second, really the first two are tied, but L.J can first. Then Robin because I LOVE Beauty, Spindles End, Hero and the Crown and Chalice. Sunshine was really good if she could have stuck to the relevant and not wandered off on her own so much. Oh and concluded the book that one pissed me off. Then after her it must be Diane Wynne Jones. And from there everyone else rotates who I like more. But the first four always stick.