Open Season
by Linda Howard
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She's hunting for a 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 show more 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. One makeover later, Daisy has transformed herself into a party girl extraordinaire. She's 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, 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. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Open Season was my first read by Linda Howard. It’s been on my TBR pile for a while, and I’m glad I finally got around to reading it. The story has an interesting mix of flavors. It’s part straight-up contemporary romance and part romantic suspense. The contemporary parts lean toward the humorous side with Daisy’s transformation having something of a chick-lit vibe to it. While I hesitate to call it a romantic comedy, some of her scenes with Jack do end up being laugh-out-loud funny. The suspense portion is intense but perhaps not in quite the same way as a Karen Rose novel for example. It’s a small-town romance with that sense of tight-knit community, where everybody knows everybody else, but then you have Jack who’s a show more big-city transplant. It might seem like all these different elements are too disparate to work together, but somehow they all did, because Open Season ended up being a very good read for me.
I greatly enjoyed Daisy’s character. You could transplant me into the story, and I could easily double for Daisy. That’s how much she and I are alike, maybe not exact duplicates but very, very close. She considers herself to be plain and boring, and so do I. She thinks she’s very average looking, as do I, and the way her pre-makeover physical appearance is described is very similar to my own. She’s the head librarian in her small town of Hillsboro, and in another life, that most definitely could have been me. Put me anywhere near books and I’m happy as a clam just like Daisy. Also like me, she’s pretty intelligent and well-read, learning a lot of things from the books she loves so much. Daisy is a very good girl, who goes to church on Sundays and never, ever breaks the rules (Yup, ditto. :-)). But on the day of her thirty-fourth birthday, she decides she’s never going to get what she wants in life, namely a husband and kids, if she doesn’t step out of her comfort zone and do something, live on the edge a little. So she sets about getting a makeover of her physical appearance as well as trying things like going out to a nightclub to meet eligible men. The whole transformation process was pretty humorous. I loved how she was completely inept at putting on makeup, which is totally me too. LOL! I don’t necessarily want to say that Daisy is naive, but she does have a very innocent way of looking at life and a certain trustfulness in other people’s innate goodness. I liked that in spite of putting herself out there and trying new things, she never really loses that side of her personality. That’s not to say that she’s a pushover or that she does stupid stuff. She’s a really smart girl and I had to laugh when Jack thought that maybe she’d not followed his instructions to stay put for her own safety and she responded by telling him she wasn’t an idiot like the characters in movies who do that and get themselves killed. It was really refreshing to see a heroine who wasn’t acting the least bit TSTL.
Jack is kind of the opposite of Daisy. He’s a big-city cop who’s seen the dregs of society and has become somewhat jaded by it. After a failed marriage, he decided a move to the small town where he used to spend summers with his great aunt was in order, and he was lucky enough to get the job as chief of police in Hillsboro. It’s a sleepy little town where nothing ever happens except the occasional domestic disturbance or drunk and disorderly, until a couple of dead bodies show up and Daisy thinks she knows one of the people who was murdered. Then it leads to a huge human trafficking conspiracy, involving pillars of the community that no one ever expected. I have to admit, when Jack was first introduced I wasn’t sure if he was the intended hero or not. Daisy thinks of him in a pretty unfavorable way that didn’t endear me to him at all, but much like he gradually grew on Daisy, he grew on me as well. He could occasionally have his demanding alpha moments, but overall, he wasn’t as bad as many alpha heroes I’ve read. There were several things that I admired him for, such as his protectiveness of Daisy. Much like her, he’s sharp as a tack and puts his investigative ability to work, figuring things out. He doesn’t take anything for granted and meets everything with a healthy does of skepticism without being a total downer. I love how he’s drawn to Daisy’s innocence and goodness, how she can sometimes drive him just a little crazy, but that deep down, he enjoys bantering with her. He may have initially thought that he only wanted a short-term affair with the buttoned-up librarian, but she changed his mind in very short order. I also liked that, while Jack could be a little gruff at times, he has a good heart, and that shows not only in his interactions with Daisy but also with her new puppy.
Overall, Open Season was a very enjoyable read. The supporting cast, from the townspeople to the villains, were all very well-crafted with strong individual personalities and motivations. Sometimes, it’s the little things that are memorable, such as the mystery behind how Jack’s secretary, Eva Fay, always manages to be there before him and have a piping hot cup of coffee ready to hand him as he walks in the door or the gossipy pharmacist’s wife who spreads it all over town that Daisy and Jack are seeing each other and purchased a Party Pack of condoms after a hilarious encounter in the store. It’s small-town life at it’s best. Then there’s the suspense that was also well-written. It’s not so much a mystery, as we know who the bad guys are early on, as it is about their evil plans unraveling and them getting caught, but it still kept me engaged. Everything somehow worked together to create a fun story that I’d definitely recommend. It may have been my first Linda Howard book, but it certainly won’t be my last. I’m now looking forward to exploring more of her backlist soon. show less
I greatly enjoyed Daisy’s character. You could transplant me into the story, and I could easily double for Daisy. That’s how much she and I are alike, maybe not exact duplicates but very, very close. She considers herself to be plain and boring, and so do I. She thinks she’s very average looking, as do I, and the way her pre-makeover physical appearance is described is very similar to my own. She’s the head librarian in her small town of Hillsboro, and in another life, that most definitely could have been me. Put me anywhere near books and I’m happy as a clam just like Daisy. Also like me, she’s pretty intelligent and well-read, learning a lot of things from the books she loves so much. Daisy is a very good girl, who goes to church on Sundays and never, ever breaks the rules (Yup, ditto. :-)). But on the day of her thirty-fourth birthday, she decides she’s never going to get what she wants in life, namely a husband and kids, if she doesn’t step out of her comfort zone and do something, live on the edge a little. So she sets about getting a makeover of her physical appearance as well as trying things like going out to a nightclub to meet eligible men. The whole transformation process was pretty humorous. I loved how she was completely inept at putting on makeup, which is totally me too. LOL! I don’t necessarily want to say that Daisy is naive, but she does have a very innocent way of looking at life and a certain trustfulness in other people’s innate goodness. I liked that in spite of putting herself out there and trying new things, she never really loses that side of her personality. That’s not to say that she’s a pushover or that she does stupid stuff. She’s a really smart girl and I had to laugh when Jack thought that maybe she’d not followed his instructions to stay put for her own safety and she responded by telling him she wasn’t an idiot like the characters in movies who do that and get themselves killed. It was really refreshing to see a heroine who wasn’t acting the least bit TSTL.
Jack is kind of the opposite of Daisy. He’s a big-city cop who’s seen the dregs of society and has become somewhat jaded by it. After a failed marriage, he decided a move to the small town where he used to spend summers with his great aunt was in order, and he was lucky enough to get the job as chief of police in Hillsboro. It’s a sleepy little town where nothing ever happens except the occasional domestic disturbance or drunk and disorderly, until a couple of dead bodies show up and Daisy thinks she knows one of the people who was murdered. Then it leads to a huge human trafficking conspiracy, involving pillars of the community that no one ever expected. I have to admit, when Jack was first introduced I wasn’t sure if he was the intended hero or not. Daisy thinks of him in a pretty unfavorable way that didn’t endear me to him at all, but much like he gradually grew on Daisy, he grew on me as well. He could occasionally have his demanding alpha moments, but overall, he wasn’t as bad as many alpha heroes I’ve read. There were several things that I admired him for, such as his protectiveness of Daisy. Much like her, he’s sharp as a tack and puts his investigative ability to work, figuring things out. He doesn’t take anything for granted and meets everything with a healthy does of skepticism without being a total downer. I love how he’s drawn to Daisy’s innocence and goodness, how she can sometimes drive him just a little crazy, but that deep down, he enjoys bantering with her. He may have initially thought that he only wanted a short-term affair with the buttoned-up librarian, but she changed his mind in very short order. I also liked that, while Jack could be a little gruff at times, he has a good heart, and that shows not only in his interactions with Daisy but also with her new puppy.
Overall, Open Season was a very enjoyable read. The supporting cast, from the townspeople to the villains, were all very well-crafted with strong individual personalities and motivations. Sometimes, it’s the little things that are memorable, such as the mystery behind how Jack’s secretary, Eva Fay, always manages to be there before him and have a piping hot cup of coffee ready to hand him as he walks in the door or the gossipy pharmacist’s wife who spreads it all over town that Daisy and Jack are seeing each other and purchased a Party Pack of condoms after a hilarious encounter in the store. It’s small-town life at it’s best. Then there’s the suspense that was also well-written. It’s not so much a mystery, as we know who the bad guys are early on, as it is about their evil plans unraveling and them getting caught, but it still kept me engaged. Everything somehow worked together to create a fun story that I’d definitely recommend. It may have been my first Linda Howard book, but it certainly won’t be my last. I’m now looking forward to exploring more of her backlist soon. show less
Easily one of my favorite Linda Howard novels. I've re-read it way too often. A little suspense, a little romance, and even a little humor all blend well together to treat you to a quick enjoyable read. In it, we meet Daisy Minor, a small town librarian on a mission to land herself a husband. To do so, she changes up her image. This opens the door to Daisy experiencing way more excitement than she bargained for.
I really enjoyed Open Season. We meet Daisy on her thirty-fourth birthday, when she decides it's time to make changes to her life, living arrangement, and personal appearance. Since Hillsboro is a small town, big on gossip and resistant to change, this isn't going to be an easy process. Her aunt and mother are adorable supporting characters and are always there to offer affection and advice.
I flew through more humorous dialogue as Daisy and her undeterred "team" make the transformation from lonely, dowdy, spinster librarian into head-turning, sophisticated lady. Soon Daisy is ready to get out there and turn a few heads in hope of finding a husband. Meanwhile, Chief of Police Jack Russo, repeatedly pops up and interferes with her show more search. Cases of date rape are on the rise in the surrounding counties and he's concerned about her choice of husband shopping venue.
I'll admit that the mystery aspect is a bit predictable, but the story between Daisy and Jack carries the plot nicely and had me laughing all the way through the book. I love the chemistry and humor the author weaves into their relationship. There's even a puppy... Come on, who doesn't like puppies?
Another great novel by Linda Howard. I highly recommend this to contemporary romance fans who like their suspense on the light side. show less
I flew through more humorous dialogue as Daisy and her undeterred "team" make the transformation from lonely, dowdy, spinster librarian into head-turning, sophisticated lady. Soon Daisy is ready to get out there and turn a few heads in hope of finding a husband. Meanwhile, Chief of Police Jack Russo, repeatedly pops up and interferes with her show more search. Cases of date rape are on the rise in the surrounding counties and he's concerned about her choice of husband shopping venue.
I'll admit that the mystery aspect is a bit predictable, but the story between Daisy and Jack carries the plot nicely and had me laughing all the way through the book. I love the chemistry and humor the author weaves into their relationship. There's even a puppy... Come on, who doesn't like puppies?
Another great novel by Linda Howard. I highly recommend this to contemporary romance fans who like their suspense on the light side. show less
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?
Can a lifelong good girl turn bad? No, not exactly. But they can pretend, right?
I’m not a fan of Romance, but this was so funny! I absolutely fell in love with Daisy and her matter-of-fact attitude. She was hilarious without trying to be...and her banter with Jack kept the story entertaining!
Take one witty librarian with a ticking biological clock, add one Yankee SWAT team member turned Alabama police chief, mix in murder. Stir well and watch the feathers fly! This is a quick paced story with lots of humor and some tender scenes. Solid five for Ms. Howard, would you expect anything less?
Reviewed for www.bookchickcity.com (9 out of 10 on the blog)
I did not expect to love this book so much. It has a combination of many elements I generally do not like in a story – such as a supremely conservative small town setting (alcohol isn’t even legal there), and an über-conservative heroine. However Linda Howard surprised me with her brilliant book, ‘Mr Perfect’, and so I decided to give ‘Open Season’ a chance.
First off, this book is hilarious. I sat there grinning like an idiot for much of it, and laughing out loud more than once. Poor sheltered Daisy has reached her mid-thirties and still can’t make a move in the town without everyone interfering. She tries to find a house of her own and discovers nobody will show more rent to her until she has her mother’s permission. Her realisation of just how pathetic everyone seems to think she is is a massive wakeup call.
Then when Daisy tries to buy a packet of condoms – in what is perhaps the funniest scene I have ever read – she ends up in huge trouble from the shop assistant, and with the whole town finding out about it in a matter of hours. The hero – Jack – happens to turn up in the middle of all the drama, and just as he ended up crying with laughter about the whole situation, I did too.
Howard’s romantic suspense is a little different to many other authors’ work. It is slow-building, setting up characters and locations before the suspense plot arrives on the scene. It borrows as much from other subgenres such as contemporary romance, chick lit and women’s fiction and they all weave together expertly. Howard’s writing style is engaging; it seems she can make me interested in reading about anything!
There was so much potential for stereotyping in this story. In fact I practically expected it. Daisy is a small town woman who’s thirty-four, a mousy librarian, and aware her life needs a makeover if she’s ever going to find a husband. She just wants the kind of life that seems to come to others so easily. She felt like a real person to me. Though she had so many clichés attached to her character, she struggled with ridding herself of them and tried so hard to get the things she wanted. Watching her slowly, tentatively mould herself into a new and improved version while still keeping her heart and soul was great to read. She’s perhaps the most naïve protagonist I have ever read – everything she knows about the world, from how to use makeup to how to converse with men, she only knows about from reading about it – but she’s willing to go out there and try things for herself. Her life was in a terrible place and yet she decides she’s the only one who can change that. I loved her even as I thought she was crazy.
For his part, Jack was an excellent counter to Daisy. Gruff, not local, happy to swear in public and happy to embarrass her into letting down her guards, he was a wonderful and flawed hero. Daisy’s initial reactions to him were priceless; her innocent shock at him when “he said the F word!” was fantastic. He’s a man with a messy past, but I loved that he decided on a relationship with Daisy and simply went for it.
Howard skilfully takes us into different characters’ heads. One moment she’s introducing a man we think is a wonderful person; he suffers through his wife’s infidelity and dotes on his children. It’s from his point of view, and he thinks he’s pretty great. The next we discover he’s a villain in the piece. In his mind he’s able to justify everything he does. It’s incredibly well-written and not at all contrived.
This was simply an all-around good book.
VERDICT:
This is an excellent read. Every aspect is equally as interesting: the romance, the suspense, the secondary characters and the all-around character development. While not my favourite book in the genre – and perhaps not quite as good as Howard’s ‘Mr Perfect’ – it is a very worthwhile way to spend a few hours. show less
I did not expect to love this book so much. It has a combination of many elements I generally do not like in a story – such as a supremely conservative small town setting (alcohol isn’t even legal there), and an über-conservative heroine. However Linda Howard surprised me with her brilliant book, ‘Mr Perfect’, and so I decided to give ‘Open Season’ a chance.
First off, this book is hilarious. I sat there grinning like an idiot for much of it, and laughing out loud more than once. Poor sheltered Daisy has reached her mid-thirties and still can’t make a move in the town without everyone interfering. She tries to find a house of her own and discovers nobody will show more rent to her until she has her mother’s permission. Her realisation of just how pathetic everyone seems to think she is is a massive wakeup call.
Then when Daisy tries to buy a packet of condoms – in what is perhaps the funniest scene I have ever read – she ends up in huge trouble from the shop assistant, and with the whole town finding out about it in a matter of hours. The hero – Jack – happens to turn up in the middle of all the drama, and just as he ended up crying with laughter about the whole situation, I did too.
Howard’s romantic suspense is a little different to many other authors’ work. It is slow-building, setting up characters and locations before the suspense plot arrives on the scene. It borrows as much from other subgenres such as contemporary romance, chick lit and women’s fiction and they all weave together expertly. Howard’s writing style is engaging; it seems she can make me interested in reading about anything!
There was so much potential for stereotyping in this story. In fact I practically expected it. Daisy is a small town woman who’s thirty-four, a mousy librarian, and aware her life needs a makeover if she’s ever going to find a husband. She just wants the kind of life that seems to come to others so easily. She felt like a real person to me. Though she had so many clichés attached to her character, she struggled with ridding herself of them and tried so hard to get the things she wanted. Watching her slowly, tentatively mould herself into a new and improved version while still keeping her heart and soul was great to read. She’s perhaps the most naïve protagonist I have ever read – everything she knows about the world, from how to use makeup to how to converse with men, she only knows about from reading about it – but she’s willing to go out there and try things for herself. Her life was in a terrible place and yet she decides she’s the only one who can change that. I loved her even as I thought she was crazy.
For his part, Jack was an excellent counter to Daisy. Gruff, not local, happy to swear in public and happy to embarrass her into letting down her guards, he was a wonderful and flawed hero. Daisy’s initial reactions to him were priceless; her innocent shock at him when “he said the F word!” was fantastic. He’s a man with a messy past, but I loved that he decided on a relationship with Daisy and simply went for it.
Howard skilfully takes us into different characters’ heads. One moment she’s introducing a man we think is a wonderful person; he suffers through his wife’s infidelity and dotes on his children. It’s from his point of view, and he thinks he’s pretty great. The next we discover he’s a villain in the piece. In his mind he’s able to justify everything he does. It’s incredibly well-written and not at all contrived.
This was simply an all-around good book.
VERDICT:
This is an excellent read. Every aspect is equally as interesting: the romance, the suspense, the secondary characters and the all-around character development. While not my favourite book in the genre – and perhaps not quite as good as Howard’s ‘Mr Perfect’ – it is a very worthwhile way to spend a few hours. show less
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Linda Howard was born on August 3, 1950. She went on to a small community college, as the only journalism major, but soon dropped out to work at a trucking company as a secretary. She sold her first book to Silhouette Books in 1980. She has written over 50 books including Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To show more Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, Dying to Please, Open Season, All the Queen's Men, Kill and Tell, Mr. Perfect, Son of the Morning, Troublemaker, and The Woman Left Behind. She has received several awards including the Romance Writers of America's RITA, the Silver Pen for Affaire de Coeur as well as the Romantic Time's Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Sensual Romance, the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer's Choice Award for Series, and the W.I.S.H. Award for her character Joe Mackenzie. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title*
- Se abre la veda
- Original title
- Open Season
- Original publication date
- 2001-07
- People/Characters
- Dacinda Ann "Daisy" Minor; Jack Russo
- Important places
- Alabama, USA
- Dedication
- I'm blessed with many, many friends, without whom I couldn't operate. They aren't in any particular order, but they are:
Kate Collins, an editor who never let me see her sweat, even though everyone else around her was ... (show all)in panic mode; Robin Rue, agent and friend and number one cheerleader; Gayle Cochran, who is always there when I need her; Beverly Beaver, whose love shelters all of us; Linda Jones, with her steadiness and quirky sense of humor and good advice; Sabrah Agee, with her laughter and endless sources of legal information; Liz Clie, who literally makes it possible for me to funciton; Marilyn Elrod, whose friendship is always there, like a rock; my sister Joyce, who has been side-by-side with me since childhood. . . . Like I said, I'm blessed. Catherine Coulter, Iris Johansen, and Kay Hooper are irreplaceable in my life. And let's not forget the Clud Club--they know who they are.
By the way, there was a real Buffalo Club, though the only resemblance it bore to the one in the book was the name and the fact that it served alcohol. The real Buffalo Club burned to the ground many years ago, but it was the stuff of legends. - First words
- Carmela nervously clutched the burlap bag that held her other dress, some water, and the small package of food she had been able to save for the trip north, across the border.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Because you need me," he said, and Jennifer opened the door.
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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