Since joining here and hanging out here in the Love and Romance forum, I've seen a lot of authors mentioned and several are out of print and selling for big bucks on ebay, half.com, amazon.com used...I'm curious which ones are really 'worth' paying some of these prices. and by 'worth' I mean are they really a good story and worth reading?

Windflower by Curtiss or Laura London(I've seen both), there's a Marsha Canham book that seems harder to get, Francine Rivers' Outlaw(this one I've seen recommended several times here) Jodi Thomas is the latest I'm having trouble finding.

I have a few that I came across at ubs(have no hopes of finding the 2nd in the serie there as the owner now checks every book against used prices on the sites I've mentioned and adds hers to the mix...sigh...)but these were 2 historicals by Annette Blair - about rogues. I read the first and liked it...I wouldn't say it's super duper great everyone should read it though. It was worth paying half the cover price I'd say but not sure the 2nd one is worth paying 10 bucks with shipping and all. It's a thinner book too. I'm wondering if these increased in price from being those series/category type romances and the author suddenly 'got famous' with the witch books she's written lately? it's really bugging me that I'm missing the 2nd book though :-(

I"m wondering about Jodi Thomas' as well...I've really liked her books that I've read(only 3 so far!) enough that I'd consider paying up to 8-10 bucks for a couple but she has a HUGE backlist and I don't want to invest that much in them I don't think(unless they're really good!) there are just way too many other books to read in my TBR and that are still being published. yet I feel like I may be missing something by not going ahead and getting windflower or some of these other OOP books before they keep getting higher and higher

oh, and 3 others that are pretty hard to find- suzanne brockmann's tall dark and dangerous series - get lucky, identity unknown, taylor's temptation..took me almost forever to get all these(already had identity  unknown since bought new) but other than wanting the complete series they're really (IMO) not the best books in the series and darn sure not worth 20 bucks each!

any others ya'll can think of, comment on?

I have been lucky and ran across a few oop's at goodwill and UBS throughout the year, but I did notice they are getting fewer and farther between.   If I really want to read the book I will buy it and then sell it back on half.com or ebay, but I am not into collecting enough that I would pay that much to keep them.  Perhaps patience will pay off. 

However, I do love windflower and would hate not having a copy... 

I paid $25 for Windflower and $25 for Bliss and regretted it.  While I liked Bliss, the ending bummed me out.  Windflower is sitting in my closet untouched.  Couldn't get past the first chapter.  However, I feel like I'm letting Wind & Sea by Canham get away from me in price.  I loooooved it and should own it.........but I'm #12 out of 25 on my WL.  Just don't know what to do.

eta ---bought outlaw for around $10 and really thought it was weak writing.  Sold it the next day on Amazon.

I bought The WIndflower and The Wind and the Sea and don't regret a penny of it.  I actually borrowed a copy of The WIndflower from a PBS friend and then paid about 20.00 for my own copy because I just had to have it. 

I only paid  a dollar for Bliss and Dance.  I haven't even read those yet.  I also have the TD&D series by Brockmann and only paid about 10.00 for the set.  I probably would not pay much for those.  Just found a good deal.  I will probably sell those on ebay on of these days. 

I also have Catherine Anderson's Comanche series and only really really liked the first one.  It was reprinted this year.  (easy to get that one) I just finished Cheyenne Amber and paid 8.00 for that one and it made my keeper shelf.  I was planning on reading it and then putting it back on ebay but it is now staying put on my shelf. 

I bought the Suzanne Brockmann's entire TDD set on ebay for $40? I think( that was with shipping).  I thought I was going a little overboard, but I really wanted the set.  I would not have paid $10/book...I worked it out to be between $3-4/book, which I thought was right since the books were about that new.  I had found a couple of them at a UBS, but they were like $12 each and that was too much for me.  I only had 1 or 2 in the series already, so I got the whole set and then posted the other 2 here (they were ones easier to find, but I can't remember which ones now). 

One that I had trouble finding was Susan Mallery's Sparkling One (first in her Marcelli Sisters series).  It was outrageous on ebay...I ended up finding it at a UBS for $2.00.  I then sold it on ebay for $20!  I figured it was worth it for me. :)  Was it worth $20, I thought it was good, but not THAT good.  This book is available in ebook format, though...I am starting to get into ebooks for ones that I can't find as easily.  No worries about "finding" it.

The Falcon and The Dove by Bonnie Vanak is one that goes for a lot of money, I've seen it for 75 bucks in places! I had it and read it, wouldn't have paid that much for it, it was ok but definately not worth that much money lol!

I wonder why that one Mallory book is HTF? The others aren't.

I don't generally pay the big books for rare books, I'm just too frugal for that. If I did though, I might do it for Mary Balogh.

Ah Susanna, think of all of the really good books out there that don't cost a fortune and enjoy, enjoy.  At least that is what I do.  I am also too frugal to pay big bucks for a book when I know I will find one that I love. They are just waiting for me to find them. 

Jane

I would never pay big bucks for a book, but I would search endlessly at every used book sale and thrift shop that I go too until I found it.  I just love the search.  Then, I would probably sell it after reading it :-)

I always figure that everything will be republished someday.  Like the Suzanne Brockmann series, some have been reissued and I'm sure the rest will eventually be too.  Then, prices on the older versions will drop like a stone.

I admit to taking advantage of high prices while they're there.  I had every early Jennifer Crusie book.  I discovered her when she was still publishing Loveswepts and bought them all new.  Once they started being reissued, I sold them all off on Ebay because I knew eventually they'd all be reissued.  I got like $25 or $30 for The Cinderella Deal!  Sure, the books were good but not that great.  I read thru them one more time and auctioned them off.  If I really want them, I can buy them when they're reissued.

I'd never pay that kind of money for one little book, I'm content to search for them or wait for the reissue.  The search is half the fun!

well so far i haven't paid THAT much for an oop book though I've considred it on a few..I remember getting one for 10 bucks once and thought that was a lot for a paperback. sometimes the story is good enough that it may be worth it; other times I just can't see what the fuss is about or why the book was even printed in the first place...I'm guessing the silhouette type romances go for big bucks since the ubs doesn't usually hang onto them for long or people read and toss them then the author makes the major leagues and suddenly everyone and their dog wants their older books.

I have basically no hopes of ever finding a bargain at my ubs..the smaller independently owned one the woman uses a scanner now and researches every book..I was darn lucky to get one of the lorraine heath books before she discovered how 'rare' it was. she pulled all her jodi thomas off the shelf practically overnight and sold on amazon...even the big chain ubs wised up after 2 women got in a huge fight over a bargain book and management heard them saying the book was worth 100 bucks..the other ubs owner was telling me this after a customer who was front and center told her. before that I found The Cinderella Deal for a quarter!

Sarah, the search is kinda fun but the used bookstores aren't good sources :-( the FOL shelf I can sometimes find new releases but hardly ever anything 'rare' though I look. I also found a Lorraine Heath and Jodi Thomas  book at a thrift shop for a women's center..was happy happy but that one does take some searching..absolutely no logic at all to the order of their books!

It vaires for me, but I do a lot of thrift store & library sale hunting.  I paid $20 for The Wind and the Sea, and then got another copy with a Canham collection - all mint condition books - I bought on ebay for $16 total.  I keep the extra for a loaner copy.  I have extras of Bound By The Heart and China Rose too.  My copy of The Windflower is battered, but I got it at the thrift store for 10 cents, so I can't exactly complain.  It's readable:P  The only books I paid money for that I regretted were the Adele Ashworth books, My Darling Caroline, Stolen Charms and Winter Garden; $40 total for all three.  I'm glad I got to read them, but they weren't worth that much money, IMO.  I've been lucky with most of the rest of my collectibles.  Somebody I know will have an old Mary Balogh regency or something like that, and they'll give it to me because I collect them & they know that they're going to a good home, I get plenty of things from WL offers here, and I tend to get lucky at the thrift store & library sales, so it all kinda balances out.

I don't have a UBS in town to deal with.  All I have are Goodwill and a used a bit store and the library bookstore so it's always like a treasure hunt.  I rarely find good items but the few I have found are worth the continued hunt!

I just saw Wind & Sea for $75 on Alibris.  That is insane.  But damn, it is a good book ;p

I went to the thrift store today and found Stormfire by Christine Monson for a dollar.  I really don't know anything about this book only that it is a hard to find one.  Has anyone read it? 

someone posted a while back asking about Christine Monson and seems like one or more of her books was very intense and dealt with rape seems like..I think they said she committed suicide...I'm a chicken so I'm too scared to try her stuff!

Thanks Susanna.  I will do a search.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=137532  maybe this link will work..4th post down Tina talks about that book...I searched this forum for the author's name.

well now that the Canham and Windflower books are well over 20 bucks I think temptation is out of the way for now! and as Jane pointed out I DO have plenty of other goodies to read and not too far down on the wishlist for some of Jodi Thomas' books.

I was just curious because I've actually read some of these that are so high-dollar and honestly the story wasn't worth it..just the book went with a series or the author suddenly got popular on newer stuff...seems to me though that publishers would reprint some of these esp the ones that are so expensive on ebay and all...authors and publishers don't profit from second hand sales (unless they're the ones pu tting the books on ebay that is!)

There are rights issues sometimes.  Some of Mary Balogh's books are tied up, though quite a few are being reissued now.

I have learned to be patient. There used to be a few books and movies that I was always outbid for on ebay... and all of them got reissued in the last few years and I got cheap new copies. :-) And there's always interlibrary loan.

I've also noticed that it's getting harder to find deals on the older oop/htf books.   A couple of years ago I won a couple of bundles of books on ebay for just a couple dollars plus shiipping. It worked out to like .75/book.  In there was Outlaw's Embrace by Francine Rivers, a bunch of oop/htf Hannah Howells (which are starting to be rereleased under different names) and some old Sherrilyn Kenyon books and some others.  Almost all of them were WL here which surprised me. 

I just don't even try to find them anymore. I put some on my WL and if I get them I get them.  I have so many others to read that it's just not worth the time to fidn them cheap or the outrageous price they want for them now. 

yeah, it's getting hard to find a bargain anywhere. I put them on my wishlist and guess I'll just make a point of looking whenever I hit the goodwill type shops..my ubs is useless for them and the chainstore type  ubs doesn't seem to have much of anything anymore and what they do have you have to  hunt all over the place to find..I've found romance in the chick lit and mysteries in the romance..how in the heck is charlaine harris romance?? they had maybe 10 of her books - 2 in the mysteries then some int eh same series in the romance..go figure.

these publishers need to reprint these suckers! or offer then on ebook at least though that wouldnt help a lot of people. And someone told me Windflower has small print and is a bit hard to read...so if I do find it I'll be lucky to be able to read it LOL!

there are some sellers on half.com Iv'e seen mark a book for 100 bucks or more when the next highest price is 20...not sure what they're thinking or maybe just hoping??

but I've got way too much else to read..it just b ugs me knowing there's a 'great book' out there and I can't have it :-)

Susanna, I have an extra copy of The Windflower and wouldn't mind at all if you wanted to borrow it. 

I went to the thrift store today and found Stormfire by Christine Monson for a dollar.  I really don't know anything about this book only that it is a hard to find one.  Has anyone read it? 

Sherron, I can't believe you found that for a $1.  I own it because Rose granted it to my wishlist.  I think it's selling for around $25.  I thought it was really good, but it's an indepth and lengthy read.   And she can be rough in her agressive writing.  It's old school romance, which I prefer.  It's funny though because all of her other stuff is selling for next to nothing on Amazon.