David Weber

Weber is not a great writer. His stories are very conventional military space opera written with a limited palette: the good guys are truly good and the hero always triumphs in the end due to her physical, mental and moral superiority. Given this, Weber frequently delivers a well-paced plot that leads to a satisfyingly schmaltzy denouement.

Honor Harrington

This is a colossal "series of series" listed below in publication order. It starts off as Horatio Hornblower in space, following the naval career of Honor Harrington as she assumes command of her first starship. I particularly enjoyed the development and evolution of the naval starship technology in the early novels. Later books get caught up in the politics of clashing space empires and Weber too frequently falls into telling us about events rather than showing us. Still, if you're willing to slog through, there's usually a satisfying space battle near the end of each book.

The main Honor Harrington series spawns two other contemporary story lines and two prequel series. The Wikipedia article on the Honorverse breaks it all down.

Empire of Man

Another conventional military space opera where the heir to a galactic empire is stranded and has to make his way across an alien planet to the world's only starport. Aside from the plot revolving around a point often lost in space opera (planets are big!), this is "comfort food" science fiction: never surprising or challenging but satisfying nonetheless.