Oh yes, I read the Novik books a few months ago and loved them! The dragons are such great characters. You may have heard that Peter Jackson bought the movie rights?... No idea if anything will come of that, of course, but it could be a really fun movie if done well. (Hmm, now I'm imagining Norrington from Pirates as the main character...)

As for one-shot fantasy writers, I think Robin McKinley is still in this category, though she hasn't published anything in a while. And if I may recommend some other series, if you haven't read them already, I've been enjoying books by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, both their separate works and their joint efforts (starting with Sorcery and Cecelia).