AAR top 100 romances of all timeNew York Times Bestselling Author Penny Reid’s debut novelThere are three things you need to know about Janie Morris:1) She is incapable of engaging in a conversation without volunteering TMTI (Too Much Trivial Information), especially when she is unnerved,2) No one unnerves her more than Quinn Sullivan, and3) She doesn’t know how to knit.After losing her … and
3) She doesn’t know how to knit.
After losing her boyfriend, apartment, and job in the same day, Janie Morris can’t help wondering what new torment fate has in store. To her utter mortification, Quinn Sullivan—aka Sir McHotpants—witnesses it all then keeps turning up like a pair of shoes you lust after but can’t afford. The last thing she expects is for Quinn to make her an offer she can’t refuse.
Neanderthal Seeks Human is book #1 in the Knitting in the City series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the misadventures and exploits of seven friends in Chicago, all members of the same knitting group.
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DNF 70%
Mild spoilers ahead!
I apparently am in the minority because I really don’t understand why this book is so popular. I liked Janie for probably the first 20% of the book but after that I quickly grew tired of her straightforward, emotionless, and label obsessive monologue. Yes there was a lot of interesting trivia but when you use it to avoid actual important conversations or space out from the world it’s not very appealing, to me anyways. Needless to say, I quickly grew bored with her POV and her frequent avoidance of situations.
Another issue I had with this book is that it’s supposed to be a “smart romance” and Janie does not read as smart to me. It’s really hard for me to believe a character is smart when she is so clueless and oblivious in certain situations. What really killed the idea that she was smart for me was the fact that she states she doesn’t understand why she left Jon, who cheated on her.
“I didn’t like how uncomfortable and guilty Jon made me feel when I was certain—well, mostly certain—that he was the reason we were no longer together.”
Um. Excuse me, what do you mean your mostly certain?? He cheated on you! This was the kind of stuff that instantly made me go WTF and not like Janie. I mean really how can you not understand this.
Now for the Quinn and Janie relationship, if it can really be called one. This book really suffered because we only get Janie’s POV. If we got Quinns it probably would have been a lot better. Quinn seems to like Janie but a lot of his actions come off as abrupt and standoffish because we don’t know how he is feeling or reacting to her mouth vomit. Basically at 70% I called it quits because nothing about this relationship felt like it would succeed. It really just felt like a friends with benefits situation because I don’t see the connection between these two. Maybe if we had his POV I would have felt different about the situation.
Overall, I was really disappointed in this book. I like the Winston Brothers series so hating this book was a big surprise for me. I really expected to enjoy it and now I doubt my memory for my feelings for the Winston Brothers.
I’m a fairly new reader to this author, but I’ve instantly fallen in love with her style and overall character/ plot development.
Quinn and Janie are so easy to root for and watching them fall in love along the way of this funny and well written story left me abandoning all other books on my reading list to dive into the next story in this series.
If you haven’t already picked up this series… get to it. This is a great addition to any book lover’s collection.
Happy Reading…enjoy!
This book started a love affair with these characters. Janie is interesting, unusual but completely relatable. Breaking up with her boyfriend shakes her life up as she is forced to consider the new world order. Then Quinn comes into her life and her character quirks prevent her from fully realising who his is.
This has lots of cute moments as the couple get to know each other. Quinn isn’t easy to love at the beginning, and I like that he grows on you and her friends. It is realistic and refreshing.
I remember reading this and falling in love with the characters the first time around, but I had forgotten just how much fun the book was. Janie is my perfect kind of nerd-girl: she’s socially awkward and somewhat oblivious, but those things make me love her even more. She’s brilliant and refuses to dumb herself down for anyone or anything, making her my absolute hero. Quinn is just something special. He’s always lived his life as a confirmed bachelor and that’s what he’s always believed he would be. But Janie’s presence in his life makes him want to be better than he’s ever been. I want to read about every member of the knitting club.
Quinn & Janie are adorable. Janie is all awkward and shy. Seeing herself as a ‘neanderthal’ to Quinn apparent perfection. I love her random trivia dumps on people when she’s nervous. I so relate. And Quinn is simply delicious. I also can’t wait to hear the rest of the women’s stories.
I think the main character (Janie) has ASD (on the side of high functioning Autism) which made her unique and endearing. This whole series is wonderful!
One of my all time favorite books. I have read it several times and I never get tired of it. I look forward to more in this series. I definitely recommend this book, this series and this author. After each reread it still is as funny, sweet and quirky as the first time.
5 STARS!!
This was the book that started my love for Penny Reid and I just, put simply, loved the book. I equal the humor to that in my favorite rom-com, Pride and Prejudice. Not equal in it’s subtlety, but in it’s intelligence. Now, don’t go thinking this is a regency romp or on par with all things Jane Austen. It’s just that the humor is well-earned. I, personally, thrive on the thinking man’s humor and wit and, generally, cringe if the humor is in-my-face slapstick. So while reading Neanderthal Seeks Human and most of Penny Reid’s books, I get to relish the fact that I was smart enough to understand why it was funny.
Please read this book, but do not start reading with the idea that it is simply another formulaic romance. You will never get that with a PR book. In fact, that is what makes them utterly more enjoyable. Erase other romance books from your mind and clear the way for a different, but enjoyable experience.
I’d give this book 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed it, but I’ve read a couple other books by Penny Reid that I enjoyed better. But considering that this was her first, solo, full length novel, she knocked it out of the park!
I’m usually a stickler about reading book series’ in order, even if the author says that they were written as a standalone. There’s still overlapping characters and information, no matter how minor, from previous books that, as a reader, I don’t want to miss! But despite that self imposed rule, I started this series with book 4 (Beauty and the Mustache). eBook 4 was on sale for .99 a few months back so I jumped on it. Then the spin off series of BatM, The Winston Brothers, all went up on Kindle Unlimited for a limited time. So I read those first, because I wanted to read them while they were free! But I was kicking myself for not reading the other Knitting In the City books first because Quinn and Jaine were in a couple of the Winston books AND the 4th Winston brother falls in love with Quinn’s sister! I felt like I’d missed out on so much by not starting with Neanderthal Meets Human.
But that’s over now, so moving on to an actual review! I really identified with Jaine. I don’t have lots of ridiculous information stored in my head, nor do I like numbers, but I do happen to say ridiculous things when I’m nervous. She’s also very tall, extra curvy, has a big head, crazy unmanageable hair, and loves to wear ridiculous high heeled stilettos. All things that I myself do or feel apply to my person! It was almost like Jaine was modeled after me. And then she behaved in a way, at least around Quinn, that I tend to behave around men that I like. She was a good heroine, despite a few annoyances with her commitment issues (which I’ll touch on in a sec).
As for the hero, I really loved Quinn. Brooding, moody heroes aren’t usually my thing. But Quinn was different because he was actively trying to change and be a better man for Jaine. He was moody and brooding with everyone but Jaine. When around her, he was sweet, affectionate, funny, and attentive. I actually got really frustrated with Jaine when she continued to question him and his desire to be with her when he’d been NOTHING but open and honest about his feelings. He literally said, “I want to date you exclusively,” like three or four times and she still didn’t believe him! It was annoying.
This book was pretty tame for a romance novel, and compared to some of Penny Reid’s other books. There was practically no descriptive sex scenes. Don’t get me wrong, Jaine and Quinn have sex, but it was always off page. The first time they did it, the scene was described by Jaine (being written from her POV) but it was all the emotion behind it and not the physical act. I wasn’t actually sure they were doing it until she said something like, “I’m having mind blowing sex with my boss.” And if I’m honest, I was a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn’t a bit more descriptive. Usually, I prefer it when the love scenes are less descriptive, but there was so much build up to this sexual encounter, I felt like I was missing out by not getting any kind of description!
This book had virtually no foul language nor taking of the Lord’s name in vain. I think there were maybe two or three F bombs in the whole book, which I really liked. I feel like a bunch of foul language takes away from the story itself, so I really appreciated Ms. Reid not using much of it.
The end had an exciting meet up between Quinn, Jaine, her knitting group, and a bunch of kidnapping skinheads, in which I will not go into detail about, because you should read it and find out for yourself!
This book started out a bit slow because there was no character interactions just Jamie’s thoughts. Once we were introduced to other characters things began to pick up and become quite interesting. There is plenty of romance, alpha man and humor to make this an enticing read. There were a few things that the author didn’t really give closure too and at the last part of the book some characters just disappeared like they didn’t exist. I would prefer the character not be introduced at all if you aren’t going to follow up throughout the book. It leaves a feeling of something missing and unfinished. Otherwise I loved the book and give it 4 stars.
Penny Reid is a master story-teller provoking smart, intelligent characters with real world problems and ethical discussion. I have read everything this woman has written with fervor and this was the first one I read. Enjoy this absolute gem!
I really enjoyed this lighthearted story. The author’s writing is so easy flowing and funny. I adored the characters, their flaws and all their oddities. This is the kind of romance read I like. It has all the chemical attraction, but does not detail the sex scenes. I will be reading the rest of this series.