Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid – Book Review

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: Adult contemporary romance

First Published: 2013

Author: Penny Reid

Goodreads Synopsis: There 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, 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- the focus of her slightly, albeit harmless, stalkerish tendencies- to make her an offer she can’t refuse.

Goodreads | Amazon

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I was very, very pleasantly surprised by this book. I loved it. I got it as a free Kindle ebook, and I usually don’t have much faith in those. I download them anyway, because I am a book hoarder and I am incapable of passing up a free book. But this one was a rare gem. And I think it’s still free of Kindle, so I fully recommend you go download it.

Normally, I’m not the biggest fan of chick-lit, but this one was really well done. It was funny, it was sweet, it was just the right amount of sexy, it had some mystery, it had some crazy and a bit of a Quentin Tarantino vibe going for it.

The first thing I noticed and really appreciated is that there was no obnoxious insta-love. There were some sparks flying when our two characters met, but it was the reasonable kind of attraction that is plausible and does happen. You know, the kind with blushes and babbling nonsense, not the kind where two people who’ve just met have elevator sex.

I loved the two main characters. Janie was awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever identified with a MC in a romance ever in my life. Actually, I don’t know if I’ve identified with any character ever as much as I did with her. She’s nuts, but she’s so funny and her discourse is intelligent. I really enjoyed her voice. Then there’s Quin, or Sir Handsome McHotpants. I really liked him as a love interest. He wasn’t boring, or self-righteous and I’ve always been a sucker for a bit of a bad boy.

Another great thing is that there was more than just the romance going on, plot-wise. Often in romance novels, the only thing that seems to happen is the romance. But here, there was a bit of a mystery vibe going on. I really found myself excited to find out what was going on, because I wasn’t really sure.Which is a rare occurrence with romance, because it’s almost always some variation of “they get together and live happily ever after”. Which, of course is what happened here as well, but it was refreshing to have something other than that going on.

This really was “a smart romance”. The writing was smart, the characters was smart and it was very funny and very witty and I really recommend it. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.