Review for Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid
I did something with this book that is always a good thing. I read it without reading the blurb first. I'd heard it was quirky, funny, and had a character named "Sir McHotpants." That was good enough for me.
I start reading. It's first person POV, not my favorite. The heroine is clueless. As in, extremely clueless. It also appears that she has Asperger syndrome, since she babbles incoherently about minutia, and has no idea about other people's perceptions of her. This could be bad.
But it wasn't.
It was very, very good.
Here are some reasons it was good...
1. The heroine says "By the mighty power of Thor!" More than once.
2. This sentence: "She had hot monkey sex with McHotpants!"
3. This sentence: "If you didn't climb that man like a tree I was going to have to get all lumberjack on his ass."
4. Janie is in a knitting group. And she doesn't knit.
5. Quinn is insanely sexy, adorable, protective. Schwing!
6. Janie is super smart, quirky, insecure, and a wonderfully unique heroine. LOVE HER!
7. The humor is fab.
8. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the entire story is told from Janie's POV, and then for the epilogue, we get Hottie McHotpant's POV. That is just too cool. Brilliant!
9. This is Reid's debut novel. Is it perfect? No. But her voice is so big and funny and quirky and awesome, I didn't care that there were a couple of typos in here. (Which I think have been rectified). Reid's voice is a big huge honkin' breath-of-fresh-air, and this book is one-of-a-kind. LOVE!
10. The sub-title is spot-on: This is a "smart romance." Bring it!
So, my overall assessment of this book: It's not perfect. The beginning is slow, it takes a while to warm up to the quirky heroine, some of the pacing is a little bit draggy. And I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that Reid does an extraordinary job building up the sexual tension, and then gives us a "closed door" sex scene. After building up the lusciousness that is Quinn, I wanted a little more action.
Nevertheless, this book is by far one of the most impressive debut novels I have ever read. Reid has a gift for story-telling and creating characters. And her sense of humor is simply divine. I cannot wait for her to write the next installment of this series.
Also, her name is Penny.
Also, she is actually really funny IRL (in real life).
I would recommend
If you are looking for something unique, outside-of-the-romance-box, funny as hell, with a quirky heroine, adorable hero, and super satisfying HEA, then Neanderthal Seeks Human is a big, fat winner!
Grade: A+
I also happen to be a knitter. But in a very mindless sort of way. What this means is that I only knit scarves. I don't follow patterns, and I don't count stitches. I like to knit with as minimal brain capacity working as possible. Since you all know I love sequins and sparkle, I couldn't resist this yarn. It has multi-colored rainbow sequins! Here is my latest project...
Hope all of you are having a good week!
Penny









































