Sabin was tall, dark and sexy, though I always thought of him as 'Sabin' and not 'Kell' and I found myself purchasing other books just because they might hold a Sabin cameo.
As for the female lead, we got the obligatory 'former marriage ended in tragedy' bit, but very little else about her past or porfession. I couldn't see anything incredibly sexy about her, but hey...central to the plot.

One complaint that I have about Linda Howard's books is a common thread I see spanning many if not most of them. As she gets older, so do her heros and heroines. Suddenly they are in their forties and carting loads of pre-schoolers around. I understand that some small part of all authors are reflected in their books, but she's making this unrealistic (As well as selfish. When their kids are in college, they'll be pushing sixty. I don't care how 'fit' they are). I have never found this trend attractive, and I find am disquieted when it's revealed that the hero/heroine is like, thirty-seven at the time the book is written.

Besides that, however, the book was very hot and I loved the Grant Sullivan bit at the end. As well as the John Rafferty preview. Worth buying it.

I love Linda's later books, but why most publishers "rethread" books such as this one.

This book, as many being republished, shows its age. Written when the writer was still evolving or when the fashion of the time was the masterful rich man and the -sometimes not so- submissive damsel, who does not know she is in trouble (mostly from him) overcome all obstacles and live happily ever after. Sometimes with a few pages written to fill up the the book.

When I see, and sometimes buy a book, that I read 15 or 20 years ago, I am convinced, each time more and more, that such books should be labeled as republished or at the very list the original date of copyright should be clearly shown in the cover as in "Published in 1979 by XYZ publisher."

Reprints of books help the author because people who like their books want to read more, Then again, some of us become overly cautious and don't buy the book until we stand at the store and read its beginning, middle, and end. And what we end up with is the that the thrill is gone.

Story Summary:Kell Sabin is an agent on vacation. He is set up by someone in his organization and is shot. Rachel Jones finds him lying on the beach unconcious. She takes care of him and protects him from the dangerous men hunting him. They both fall in love with each other but he doesn't want to have her hurt because of what he does for a living and ultimately leaves her toward the end of the story. Don't worry it will work out in the end. Now to what I liked about the book.

First, I loved Kell Sabin. He's dark and dangerous. He keeps himself from feeling anything for anyone until he meets Rachel. All I can say is that I want to find a guy liked that washed up on the beach.

Second, I really liked Rachel. She was sooooo honest. She didn't play games and just told it like it was. When she realized she was in love with Kell she just told him straight up.

This book is where you meet John Rafferty and he'll have his own story in Heartbreaker. You also need to read Midnight Rainbow first, then Diamond Bay, Heartbreaker and finally White lies. They all tie into together. Happy reading.

Despite the glowing reviews that convinced me to read this old title, I found Diamond Bay has not held up well at all since it was first released in the 80's. I ocassionally pick up the old books as some of them have a certain charm that is missing in today's romance genre. Not so with Diamond Bay. Kell Sabin was rather anaemic for a hero but the heroine - she made me cringe with her reaction after having sex with Kell. She is the kind of lay a man dreads - who, after having first-time sex, stalks off in a huff with her clothes clasped to her naked body because the man would not commit. There wasn't even time for a romance to develop, just sex. So I found it unreal (in 2003) for a heroine to have that attitude. I suppose in the 80's it was the norm for women to expect marriage after first-time sex. This scene ruined the entire book for me and I had no respect whatsoever for the heroine after that. I also found it unbelievable that Kell felt guilty that Rachel felt she was 'just a sexual convenience' for him. It would have been more like it - in the 80's - for a man to be callous of a woman's feelings than today.