Review: Open Season by Linda Howard

Open Season
Linda Howard
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: May 21, 2002
Format: Audio Book
Source: Public Library
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Characters: Daisy Minor, Jack Russo
My Rating:

Heat Level: 4/5
Synopsis:

She's hunting for a mate...

and there's no more playing it safe.

Daisy Minor is bored. Worse than that, she's boring. A plain, small-town librarian, she's got a wardrobe as sexy as a dictionary and hasn't been on a date in years. She's never even had a lukewarm love affair, let alone a hot one. So when she wakes up on her thirty-fourth birthday and wonders how it is that she still lives with her widowed mom and spinster aunt while her friends have all gotten married and started families, she decides it's time to get a life and a sex life. And as far as she can tell, good girls don't attract nearly as many men as bad ones.

Can a lifelong good girl turn bad? No, not exactly.

But they can pretend, right?

One makeover later, Daisy has transformed herself into a party girl extraordinaire. She's letting her hair down, dancing the night away at clubs, and laughing and flirting with men for the first time in, well, forever. With a new lease on her own place, she's found a new lease on life and it's open season for man hunting.

But on her way home late one night, Daisy sees something she's not supposed to see. Suddenly the target of a killer, she's forced to put her manhunt on hold. But the very moment she stops looking might be the moment she finds what she's wanted all along. Trouble is, before he can share her life, he might just have to save it.

Open Season is a re-read for me. I loved it so much the first time, and it's been a while since the last time I read it (June 2008), so I thought I'd read it again.

Daisy has just turned 34 years old and still lives at home with her mom. And she's the local librarian to boot. She has no life, but she has set out to change all that.

Jack is the new police chief in town who enjoys spending time with Daisy. More to the point, he enjoys getting her all worked up about something. She seems to have taken an instant dislike to him and he loves to just egg her on. Daisy is a very likable and relatable heroine who could be every girl's best friend. Jack too is well executed; he could be your best friend and the love of your life all rolled into one. Prime example the scene with Daisy outside the local pharmacy. (One of my favorite scenes of this book.)

Just like the first time I read it, I was laughing out loud at their interplay. But this time I was at home laughing out loud as opposed to last time I read it on an airplane to NYC. This read is highly entertaining and the suspense is right on par. It's not often that I find a story that offers romance, suspense, and humor. Linda Howard nails all three.

It's no wonder why Open Season has earned a permanent spot on my favorites list.