Some good bits. Some frustrating bits though.

4.5 Stars
I so love nerdy, quirky characters so Janie is right up my alley. She's brilliant, but a little oblivious when it comes to the opposite sex. I love she just blurts out random factoids. This book is quite humorous and it just sucked me right in. Janie's ex was a piece of work and how she was with him is a mystery to me. Quinn is just perfect for her. He's is super yummy and I love how he treats Janie. They bring out the best in one another.The only thing I would have liked is getting Quinn's point of view through out the book, but that's just a personal reader preference. Penny Reid did a bang up job writing in the first person. I highly recommend this one.

Yes, it is a smart romance, a humorous romance with an endearing heroine and likable hero, but to me it was just an okay romance. My biggest gripe with this book was chemistry and pacing. I didn't feel the pull between these two characters, although I thought their interactions were pretty sweet. Also, I skimmed a bit because, though the writing was good, I wasn't consistently engaged. If I skim the that means I'm bored.

I recently read The Elements of Chemistry series by this author and I'm sure that influenced my reception of this book. Both that series and this book starred smart, over-analytical, logical, yet highly irrational heroines who are skittish about love, so the plot for this book felt predictable at times. Fortunately, I liked Jaine so I put up with her shenanigans because I hoped the payout would be worth it.

This book is a standout for its quirks and intelligent writing, but I would've loved more heat. I enjoyed the growth of both characters though, so I've got my eye on book 1.5, and I'm excited to see how their relationship progresses.

A friend gifted this one to me and it was mental popcorn (which let's be honest is gold in these times), but I really didn't like the main characters. Also, jumped the shark a bit too much, especially given the weak characters.

DNF. Didn't make it 30%. It's very rare that I don't finish a book but I couldn't manage one more page. It was neither smart nor funny probably because it tries too hard to be both. Janie judgmentally categorizes others, makes some really stupid decisions and is constantly spewing trivial knowledge that might be quirky and funny if it happened a lot less often. The plot is absurd and it's baffling how she can be so dumb as to not pick up on the obvious signs that Sir Handsome McHotpants is her boss.

5 NERDY STARS❤️

From the first moment I have loved Penny Reid’s writing but especially her odd/quirky/nerdy characters. I live for them, I don’t know if it’s because I see myself in them or if it’s because I see them written so rarely.

This book was so.freaking.cute. Like screaming into your pillow and crying of happiness cute. While I love me so good angst and drama and yada,yada,yada; I can never ever resist fluffy romances.NEVER. And this was a masterpiece.

I adored the main characters,Janie and Quinn, I ADORE Elizabeth, and I loved Janie’s Knitting Group and Best Friends. I seriously cannot wait to read all of their stories

So after reading and thoroughly enjoying the Winston Brothers series, I decided I better go back to where it all began. I really enjoy Penny's writing, her style and her ability to create realistic characters with story-lines that just sucks you right on in.
Unfortunately, this book, Neanderthal Seeks Human, fell so short of my expectations, I was worried that I'd put Penny up on a pedestal too early (don't worry, I'm on book #2 and her crown is well deserved!).
I really struggled with this book, and look, maybe it was just the narrator - I'm sure it would be difficult to 'become' characters off of a page maybe as authentically as the author intended, but while I really loved Janie as a character, the endless internal monologue, as interesting as all her facts were, became boring, especially when mixed with her really clueless and lack luster social skills. It maybe didn't need to be so obvious that Janie always missed the obvious.....

And Quinn, alpha male extraordinaire, let's break this character down for a moment:
Hot - check
Smart - check
Successful - check
Controlling - check
Manipulative - check
Dominating - check

You see where I'm going here, right?

So many red flags with this character, and Janie was oblivious to them all. But that's ok, because Quinn 'loves' Janie....... *sigh*

I spent about 80% of this book wanting to throttle Janie for being so blind, so forgiving of all of Quinn's red flags, for being so hypocritical when it came to comparing Jon's behaviour with Quinn's and making excuses for it. I felt like I'd entered some kink storyline (nothing wrong with that) with Quinn the dom and Janie the oblivious sub and while I am ALL THERE for that sort of relationship, I feel like Janie hadn't given any form of consent to take part in this sort of arrangement and consent is a far bigger issue than the progression of a relationship for a plot in my opinion, even with fictional characters.

I'm not sure what shifted, but the last 20% of the book, a lot of things fell into place and Quinn became a more likable character. I also really enjoyed the epilogue.
I think this is one book, or maybe, one set of characters that would have really benefited from having dual perspective chapters. I think those red flags of Quinn's would have seen more like plot devices and it would explain a little better why Janie was so oblivious or forgiving of them.

It's not my favourite read of the year so far, but a reminder of why I admire authors so much. They go through so many stages when it comes to telling a story, to be able to even get it onto a page in some form of completion is a massive achievement. Sure, I may be being overly critical, but that's only because in comparison to most of her other books, this is not the standard of quality writing I was expecting from Penny, but I understand that maybe this one just needed a bit more ironing out and in all, I decided to continue on with the series because I KNOW Penny is capable of amazing storytelling and fabulous characters.
And for the record, I'm currently on Book #2 and have fallen IN love with Elizabeth and Nico... so don't let this first book stop you diving in to the series!

Look, I love Penny Reid, I am a big big big big fan, but Janie and Quinn? Meh.
Janie was her own worst enemy and Quinn was probably a little too dominating for my particular tastes, but each to their own.
It wasn't this book that grabbed me and dragged me into the series, the first time I read it a couple of years ago but seeing as I've worked my way through nearly all of Penny's books, I thought it was time to give it another chance.
It was a little repetitive in places, Janie's gushing of Quinn's cool stare and smile that hooks to the side became a little too much... and honestly, the repeated use of the words 'wendall and slamp' were super cringey. They must be a location or generation-based word, because I've not heard of them, ever, to describe a male slut and a tramp. I would have rather she had just used standard swearing and cussing, as she had no trouble using other swearing words, but the repeating of wendall and slamp just made me cringe every time it was said and almost drove me to wanting to stop reading altogether. It gives 'mid-western mom replacing bad words for the kids' vibe and with the number of times they were used, I felt like I was being forced to accept these ridiculous words, it was a complete turn off for me.
I'm still not sold on the characters, but overall, Janie is a part of the knitting group, so it'd be rude to ignore her book. I've even started reading Neanderthal Marries Human now, so we'll see if that improves my outlook for this couple. Fingers crossed.

I really liked this book. It was a really great surprise. I don't know why I didn't read it sooner.

Looking forward to reading more from Ms. Reid.