Name: Neanderthal Seeks Human
Rating: 3.753846153846154 (130 reviews)
ISBN: 9780989281010

Penny Reid

A Smart Romance

Neanderthal Seeks Human

Ophelia

Penny Reid is a mastermind of contemporary romance, and that's a fact.

Janie just got fired, she has just broken up with her boyfriend, making her homeless. Beggining anew, Janie finds herself meeting Quinn, who works the security in her old job's tower, getting a new job and living with her best friend. But things are not always what they seem.

I love Janie, she's so unappologetically herself, with the wikipedia facts and the untimely comments. I think she and Quinn make the perfect balance, because he is so closed off and controled, Janie would be the only person free enough to make him see things he would never otherwise.

I don't need to gush on this book too much, it's the 3rd time I'm reading it so it was time I reviewed it, the whole series is amazing, I don't think I've found a Penny Reid book that has disappointed me yet, You should totally start here!

Priyanka

<b> FIVE I-LOVE-QUINN-AND-JANIE STARS! </b>

Colleen

1.5 Stars

*This review contains some spoilers. Not all of them are hidden.*


I've heard good things about things about this series. Sadly, Neanderthal Seeks Human did not meet my expectations. I really wanted to like it, and admittedly there were a couple cute moments. But I was frequently extremely uncomfortable while reading this book, so I definitely cannot go about two stars. 

The cover claims this book is "a smart romance." In fact, that assertion is front and center and is in even bigger font than the title. I don't know what "a smart romance" is supposed to entail. I'm not sure the publishers knew either. They probably just slapped that on the cover for marketing purposes. It led me to expect something with an audacious, intelligent heroine. But I never believed in Janie's intelligence. Other than one instance of competence at her job, her cleverness was limited to word-vomiting random facts. Which probably would have made her good at trivia, but didn't necessarily denote intellect. 

Janie Morris was a frustrating heroine. The humor in the story all revolved around her lack of social understanding. It was more uncomfortably awkward than humorous. When combined with a less than polished writing style, the dialogue seemed so stilted. And even ignoring Janie's lack of emotional maturity, she was unbelievably oblivious to glaringly obvious facts. (view spoiler)[So maybe she could not read social queues, but not figuring out that Quinn was the owner of the company for that long?? Especially considering how smart she was allegedly? (hide spoiler)] It seemed more like willful ignorance and just was not believable. 

But the real problem that I had with Neanderthal Seeks Human was that her love interest, Quinn Sullivan, was manipulative, possessive, and seemed destined to be abusive. To be clear, he was never physically abusive. But he definitely treated Janie like she was incompetent despite claiming to love how intelligent she (allegedly) was. He was increasingly controlling. It was very Fifty Shades of Grey minus the BDSM. He manipulated her job, her home, her free time, and actively tried to isolate her from her friends. It made it so much worse that her relationship with Quinn was almost exactly like the one with her ex. He was just as manipulative; the only difference was that she had much more chemistry with Quinn. Apparently all those hormones overrode her alleged smarts. Actions that she hated from her ex were somehow sexy when Quinn did them. It was unnerving how oblivious she was to Quinn's domineering manipulation. Over and over, it describes Quinn ogling her in a sexually predatory way. 
"At first he held my gaze for a long moment; then he looked all around. This was done with such a deliberate languorous insolence that I feel like I was being perused for purchase. I blamed my slightly inebriated state when I was tempted to ask if her were looking for something in particular or just window-shopping."

"His eyes moved over me in that way he sometimes employed: a plain open assessment. He did this a lot, and it always made me feel uncomfortable." Those are just two examples, but there were plenty more. Him constantly undressing her with his eyes was not remotely sexy. And that was on top of other controlling macho stunts such as NEVER letting her order her own food or drink. Even the very first time they ate together when he had no idea what she liked or disliked and clearly did not care if she disagreed with his choices. Without the slightest question, he just plowed ahead and made all decisions for her. There were so many instances where Janie stated that usually possessive, controlling behaviors made her mad, but she just did not mind when Quinn did those things because he somehow made it sexy. (Or so she claimed. Obviously I was not drinking that Kool-Aid.) He got insanely jealous literally every time she talked to any male. Even talking to a gay coworker about work-related things set him off. He was also always physically intimidating her. If they were in the same room, then he had his hands on her, either in a proprietary way or to physically guide her. It became apparent that he did not even think she her capable of walking into an elevator without him physically steering her into it. He constantly used his physical size to intimidate her and control her.
"I stepped back and shrugged out of his grip; he took a step forward, effectively trapping me against the counter."

"'As much as the idea of collaring and leashing you sounds promising, the purpose of the phone is to ensure you're reachable.'
I interrupted him. 'You mean bound and restrained.'
'Janie, if I wanted to restrain you, I'd use rope.'" SPOILER NOT HIDDEN: Even more disturbing, was a scene at the beginning where someone slipped Janie a date-rape drug. She woke up in her underwear not knowing where she was or what had happened. Quinn gets mad when she keeps questioning what happened. He tells her that he would "take care of it" (something that was never satisfactorily explained) and for her to forget about it. Even though she was apparently not physically assaulted, she was still drugged. Not only does Quinn not want her to go to the police, he basically told her not to tell anyone about it, to take his word that nothing happened to her, to stop asking questions, and that if she had listened (I.E. obeyed) him then the situation would not have happened. THAT IS NEVER OK! I know it is just fiction, but this is sort of thing that perpetuates rape culture. Nothing was going to redeem Quinn's character to me after that point. 

  “Although I tended to obsess about topics like the English vernacular, the height of the average Brazil nut tree, and international date standards, I had a habit of ignoring important details like who drugged me and how did I feel about blacking out only to wake up mostly naked in a strange apartment with seven pieces of furniture.”
 NOT OK.

The story definitely took the strong, silent, and mysterious troupe way too far. I was so frustrated that the one time Janie and Quinn allegedly have a real, deep conversation, the narrative fast-forwarded and basically gave a recap to the affect of "yeah, we had a super deep, emotional conversation and there is so much more to him than meets the eye." That might have been the one scene that could have humanized Quinn and made him not seem like such a controlling douchebag. But the author just had to skip over that in favor of adding random filler. 

There was also a weird suspense plot that did not make much sense or really fit with the rest of the story. There were multiple threads that were introduced into the plot but were never satisfactorily explained or in some cases just disappeared. 

The only positive that I can say is that (view spoiler)[Janie stuck to her guns about not sleeping with Quinn until he commits to being exclusive. I really despise when wimpy heroines do the whole sleep with them while the guy sleeps around and the delusion girl remains convinced that her love will change him. It was important to her that she not sleep with him unless he stopped sleeping around, and she actually stuck to her guns on that. It was the only time she stood up to him. Don't get me wrong, Janie was still delusional and naive, but at least that was one area where she stuck to her convictions. (hide spoiler)] But other than that, this book pretty much checked all of the boxes for an abusive situation masqueraded as an ideal relationship other than actually hitting her. Uncontrollable instalust. A heroine with super low self esteem who not only was oblivious to her good looks, she actually thought she was ugly and constantly bad mouthed herself despite multiple men throwing themselves at her. A rich, handsome hero who was controlling, manipulative, and stalkerish. Lots of slut-shamming. It completely undermined women, glorified unhealthy relationships, and promoted misogynistic behavior. 

The whole explanation of the title Neanderthal Seeks Human was supposed to be that Janie was so socially awkward that she referred to herself as a Neanderthal. I would theorize that Quinn was much more Neanderthal in his behavior since he frequently seemed one second away from hitting her on the head with a club and dragging her back to his cave. 

Finishing this review, I'm honestly surprised that this book did not make me angrier. It had so many trigger points that get my blood boiling. But honestly, I felt significantly more uncomfortable than angry. Still, I wanted it to end because the message of the story was so off-putting. It absolutely NOT "a smart romance." There was nothing smart about it. I would not recommend this book to anyone.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 1 Star
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars

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 mortification, Quinn Sullivan-- aka Sir McHotpants, the focus of her slightly stalkerish tendencies-- witnesses it all then keeps turning up like a pair a shoes you lust after but can't afford. She's a math whiz and a trivia collector, but Janie is more than a little naive when it comes to men and relationships.

Gisela Ayala 

Nicole Cousin 

I loved this book!! It has one of the funniest books ever. Janie was definitely a bit different, her brains works nothing like mine on how she computes things which made me cringe for her a couple times but at the same time embracing her difference and laughing a lot!! 

Quinn I imagied him like this huge guy but extremely adorable who does not has the best of people skills. But love the way he cares for Janie and just loved her quirks. 

The way their love story progressed was definitely cute and it was interesting to read how Janie found a hidden part of herself by desiring Quinn, I always love something like that :).

I have become a huge Penny Reid fan and I won't stop until I finish all her books.

After just five months of dating Janie, Quinn-former Wendell and unapologetic autocrat-is ready to propose marriage. In fact, he's more than ready. If it were up to Quinn, he would efficiently propose, marry, and beget Janie with child all in the same day. But Janie, much to Quinn's dismay, tosses a wrench in his efficacious endeavors and challenges him to prove his devotion by going through the matrimonial motions, no matter how minute and mundane. Will Quinn last until the wedding day?

A Smarter Romance

Neanderthal Marries Human

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed it. It was nice to see this and the parallels with Elizabeth and Nico's I laughed at those. Janie and Quin are so cute, strange and hillarious. Honestly, I think this could have been a smaller novel but hey! it was awesome :P

Viviana 

“I like showing the world you matter to me, that you matter most.”

This is book 1.5 of ‘Knitting in the City” and it was so cute! I did like the first book better, but I loved being able to go through all the wedding preparations and jitters with Janie and Quinn. It’s was so cute to be able to read about something we don’t typically do, which is our favorites getting married! Of course Quinn was as witty as ever and Janie as funny as before! I did love having more interactions with other characters and seeing more of the badass knitting club. I cant wait to continue with more of Penny Reid’s books! 

“"I lost myself to him and to myself, to trust and to faith, and in that momont, I was
fearless.”

Neanderthal Seeks Human was a very unexpected read this month. I found this book in the ‘our staff recommends’ shelf at B&N and I’m so glad I picked this one! It has your grumpy/sunshine trope and is a very fun read! I found my self laughing out loud and smiling throughout. Janie and Quinn are funny and adorable and make you love them. Janie is completely oblivious and Mr.McHotpants Quinn is patient and understanding with her. I also loved the relationship Janie has with all her girlfirends and I can’t wait to read her other Knitting in the city books!

Yaneli | @aquariusbookadventures 

Rating: 5 Stars!
bookboyfriendsdoitbetter.com 

I've decided to start rewriting reviews (not published) from books I've read before 2020 and from my old account. I'm, of course, starting with Penny Reid because I adore her books! I don't plan to make them long but I am currently rereading the rest of the series (reread this one last year) so those will likely be longer. 

Janie and Quinn are so cute! I loved watching their relationship progress and grow. These books will make you feel all warm and fuzzy. This was one of the books that first got me to like romantic comedies (not sure if this is what Neanderthal is classified as but it fits lol). I've read so many that I had honestly given up on them. But oh no no, this book took all of my expectations and threw them in a dumpster!

Renee K Hopper

I just absolutely adore this series. It's fun, sexy, and geeky!

Rebecca Shaffer 

** spoiler alert **
           I almost have no words for how much I hated this book, but I'm going to try if it means that I spare even one person from being subjected to reading it. I love a good modern romance as much as the next girl but skip this one, please. This review will not be well-written as a result of my lividity, but you'll get the point. 

1. The cliche of "oh I have a big butt and long legs and that's not attractive" is so outdated, antifeminist, hands-down bad writing and makes me want to SCREAM. I read one comment that said that people on the Autism spectrum often experience this distorted self-view, which makes me not want to count this against the book. However, without knowing this in advance it makes me want to strangle the protagonist and the author. 

2. "She's not like other girls..." she doesn't have a cell phone and enjoys spouting off random facts in not socially acceptable situations. Well gee you live in a major city and don't have a cell phone? Sounds like a recipe for disaster, if you ask me. At one point, she goes out drinking with her friend and then winds up at the club alone WITHOUT A CELL PHONE. Honestly just dangerous and stupid from a 21st century woman perspective. 

3. Credit where credit is due, someone else pointed this detail out in a review, but Quin and her ex are BOTH controlling and want to provide for her. The difference? Quin is more high-powered, mysterious, and apparently super sexy. Haven't we had enough of the high-powered-executive-wants-to-protect-the-hot-naive-employee? *YAWN* 

4. I listened to the audiobook version of this and I honestly pity the narrator for having to suffer through this and read some of the stupider lines out loud. I hope they paid her very well. 

5. THE SERIES IS CALLED KNITTING IN THE CITY AND SHE'S IN A KNITTING CLUB BUT SHE DOESNT F-ING KNIT!!!! IT WOULD MAKE SENSE FOR HER WEIRDO CHARACTER TO KNIT BUT IF COURSE SHE COULDN'T POSSIBLY ACTUALLY KNIT. WTF!!!!!!!! She is just "friends" with the knitting group and goes to gossip about her life. Blah.

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 to make her an offer she can't refuse. New York Times Bestselling Author Penny Reid's debut novel! ★ AAR top 100 romances of all time ★ 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.

Michelle Xu

1.5 stars

Plot: 2 stars
Characters: 1 star
Romance: 2 stars
Smut: 1 star
Steam factor: Meh, mostly implied sex, not very descriptive.

I am so so so disappointed in my reading experience of this book. I was so excited to read this book. Prior to picking it up, I had been recommended Friends without Benefits because I wanted a female health care professional as the main character, and I'd been recommended Truth or Beard on a separate occasion. All over the romance subreddit and Booktube, I feel like Penny Reid is gushed about fairly often and both her Knitting in the City and Winston Brothers series get recommended all the time. I'm fairly new to contemporary romance, so I decided to give her a shot. Unfortunately, everything just didn't work for me. 

The book focuses on the love story of Janie and Quinn. Janie breaks up with her boyfriend, loses her job, and loses her apartment all in the same day. She moves in with her best friend Elizabeth and eventually finds a new job with the mysterious Quinn as her boss. She's quirky and talkative while remaining emotionally detached from her life while Quinn is stoic and "doesn't date." There's also a background plot involving Janie's sketchy sister and Quinn's past in Boston. 

I always try to start with the positives so... let's get into that. Um... I liked Elizabeth and the knitting group. I wish we actually delved more into the group's friendship. I also did like that Janie, the main character, tried to label things, and thus was very forward with her expectations and feelings regarding her relationship with Quinn.

That's it. That's all I liked.

The book just had so much it could have improved on. For one, the writing just really needed to improve. Based on conversations that I've had with Penny Reid fans, I think her writing does actually get better throughout the series and especially in her Winston Brother's series. I believe this was her debut novel. A few examples of poor writing included the author using "In retrospect" and "in hindsight" in the same sentence (one at the beginning and one at the end). Both characters licked their lips every other paragraph. You'd think they were dogs or maybe would just have insanely chapped lips by now. Both characters tilted/tipped their heads to the side every page or so in any conversation. They both occasionally release breaths they didn't know they were holding. Many sentences get repeated multiple times in one scene to make a point, but it's too much (e.g. her mouth opening and closing two sentences apart. Or Janie not knowing the name of someone and calling them AllenAlexAndrewAiden 6 times over the course of 3 pages.) All that just made this book so tedious to read. 

I also just didn't like either of the main characters. Janie was a bit TOO quirky for me. I don't even know if you can call it that, but she's definitely not normal and so exaggerated, I kept rolling my eyes. There were paragraphs and paragraphs of her rants and thought processes of random facts. While that was how she coped with awkwardness and silence, that same mechanism being deployed over and over and over and over just was too much. If you cut out all of her trivia rants, I honestly think this book could be 50 pages shorter. I also felt like this was one of those books where the main character was obviously gorgeous, but she thinks that she's an ugly troll, despite the fact she's had two super hot, rich boyfriends with almost no single time. She was also supposed to be really smart, yet soooo dumb. I know that Quinn calls her incredibly oblivious, but in no way are any of her thought processes believable. I could tell from a mile away that Quinn was her boss, and it took him spelling it out for her for her to figure it out. Also, the few sex scenes in this book were ruined by Janie's fucking mind not shutting the fuck up. I don't give a shit about your inner Ida controlling your body and becoming a sex goddess. Plz stop. 

Quinn was honestly no better. He was creepy from the very beginning. I hated how he would always touch her and guide her by her lower back before they even knew each other or dated. If someone did that to me in real life, I would try to wiggle away. Moreover, he just tried forcing their relationship from the very beginning. He forces her to cancel plans for him under the guise of their job and all of it rubbed me the wrong way. Before even knowing her, on their first dinner together, he ordered for her... there's just too many red flags for me to think they would eventually have a healthy relationship. 

The pacing of the romance and plot could have also been improved. I felt like everything should have been shifted forward more. Less beginning intro, and more of everything earlier. Even if their relationship kept on at the same pace, I think more of Jem and the side plot should have been introduced earlier along with some of the reveals. While the story did introduce Jem potentially coming back into Janie's life at the beginning, the author didn't do anything with that until halfway through the book. The reveal of Jem and Jon should have happened before 50% of the way in, Quinn's past should have also been disclosed beforehand. More run-ins with the thugs from Boston should have happened earlier in order to balance out the book. Instead, it seems largely like a really really dumb romance up until the last 30 pages where out of nowhere it suddenly becomes an action movie for 5% of the book. I also felt like the romance was a fairly slow burn, but once the characters really got together, everything happened so fast and the ending was unsatisfying. 

To go into a bit more detail with the ending, the whole action scene was just... poorly thought out. Janie was the most passive character in the entire scene, and she instead recounts the scene based on what she thinks happens. And basically, all her knitting friends are much cooler and badass than her. 

I'm not sure what else to rant about. I just really hated my experience with this book. I thought about DNFing it around 50% but kept thinking like oh maybe it'll get better. I don't think I will read any more books in this series but am still considering the Winston Brothers series in the future. I definitely need a palate cleanser and will be reading some other romances before maybe giving Penny Reid another try. 

If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know :/

---
First impression review:
Between a 1 and 2 star... Mostly because I’m not sure I liked anything about it and reading it was a struggle but I know a lot of people love this book so idk 

More thoughts tomorrow

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads
.

Before I say anything else, I have to get this off my chest: I loved every single thing about this book.

Seriously. No gripes. Nothing I wish would've been different. This one is going on my top shelf and I totally expect to read it over and over again when I'm in the mood for a smart, funny and sweet romance.

Janie is my awkward spirit animal. I love her. Her brain works in fascinating ways and I loved both her inner monologue and the dialogue she had with others – particularly Quinn. (And, of course, her girls from the knitting club. I LOVED the friendships in this book just about as much as the romance!) I lost track of the number of times I laughed out loud at something that was said or thought and I swear I highlighted roughly 1/3 of the book. Penny's writing is refreshing and hilarious, without trying too hard. 

I adored Quinn. He's not a perfect guy. He's made some mistakes in his past and he's been involved in things he doesn't like to admit. But, he's one hell of a man. I loved how he was all in when it came to Janie. She might not've believed it, but anyone following along had realize she was "it" for him. They were an unconventional pairing, but somehow that made it work even better. I loved their banter and the spark between them. Their interactions left me with a giant, cheesy grin on my face and I just couldn't get enough of them. 

As soon as I finished this book, I dove right into the sequel Neanderthal Marries Human because I absolutely couldn't live without more of Janie and Quinn. But that's another review for another day. Until then, if you're late to the Penny Reid party like I was, do something about it sooner rather than later. If you enjoy smart, swoony romance with characters you won't be able to get out of your head (or heart), you need to be reading this series.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


If you read my review for Neanderthal Seeks Human, you know how much I love-love-loved everything about it. I hopelessly shipped Janie and Quinn and, I swear, I fell in love with both of them. It should come as absolutely no surprise that I loved this, the second part of their story, every bit as much. Don't let the .5 in the series reading order fool you. This is no novella. It's a full length book that's big on romance, humor and even has a fair number of feels. If you are a fan of Janie and Quinn – and how could you NOT be? – this is an absolute must read.

The title of this book pretty much gives it all away, so I'm not going to get too carried away with talking about what happens. You can see the end game here. What you don't know going in is just how fun and swoony the ride is. Not only do we get more of quirky, brilliant Janie and sexy, swoony Quinn in this book, but we get a bigger peek into the personalities of the ladies in Janie's knitting group. And you know what? I think I'm gonna love each of them as I continue through the series and read their books. I love the friendships between these ladies. Their Vegas trip had me literally laughing out loud. Quinn's boys are nothing to scoff at either. Oh, and did I mention we get chapters from Quinn's POV? Because we do. And they're everything.

In short, I loved this book. It was one that I read with a giant, goofy grin on my face for about 99% of it. I highlighted roughly half the book because it was either a) amazingly written, b) funny as hell or c) SO VERY SWOONY, but you can see some of my favorite passages below. I can't wait to continue on with this series and see what each of the new pairings will bring. Of course, I also hope Janie and Quinn are featured prominently throughout the remainder too, because I'm definitely not ready to give these two up just yet. I probably won't ever be.

FAVORITE QUOTES:

  He stopped some two yards from where I stood and slowly tucked his hands into his pockets. His eyes were still pointed at my feet when he said, “Nice shoes.” 
I let that statement and the delicious timbre of his voice dance between my head and heart; then predictably, it settled between my hipbones in the vicinity of my ovaries. If my body were a map, the area currently suffering prolonged side effects was just south of my uterus and north of my thighs.
So, my vagina.
Hence, my helplessness.
Before Quinn, my vagina and I were acquainted but not really friends. It seemed like a bother mostly, a mystery, always underperforming or causing me pain. I reflected that my troubles were likely user error; but I wasn’t certain how to operate it. Admittedly, I’d never successfully navigated the labyrinth known as the labia, never mind the confounding clitoris.
However, since Quinn, I’d become willingly powerless against all of its parts (not to mention his parts).


  Giving the woman you’re going to marry an outrageously expensive ring to mark her as your own was genius. Women probably thought they were the winners of tradition in this scenario. They were wrong.
Men were the winners, because the prize wasn’t the ring. The prize was the woman.


  He grew rigid again when my arms tightened around his torso, but he relaxed when I placed several quick kisses on his neck and whispered in his ear, “I love you, Quinn Sullivan. You are precious to me, and I will love you always. And if I die before you, I plan to haunt you.”
He glanced at me over his shoulder, his eyes sad but warm, and stole another quick kiss from me. “Ditto,” he said.
I ensnared his gaze and suggested, “Perhaps you could learn to make pottery so that posthumously we can use the wheel together in a sensual, mystically transcendent display of affection.”
I was rewarded with a grin and an expression that was considerably less melancholy when he responded, “Consider it done.”


  “Are you warm?” he asked, looking only mildly interested.
“No, Quinn. I’m hot. In fact, I’m burning up, in case you didn’t already know.” Throwing caution to the wind, I stood and released a third button, pulled my shirttails from my skirt, and fanned the fabric, trying to encourage air flow. “You have an incendiary effect on me, and I’m quite uncomfortably aroused right now. Your biometrics might be completely unaffected by my presence, but all you have to do is call me Kitten and I experience vasomotor symptoms.”

Neanderthal Seeks Human A Smart Romance

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