#as for billionaires I obviously have a distaste for them and they shouldn’t exist but to wish them such a horrible death? like nah

[twinge-of-cosmicangst]

Mother fuckers saying that they hope the submarine never gets found because it serves them right or whatever, when there is literally a 19yo on there who is probably going to have a slow and traumatic death lack empathy just as much as the billionaires they criticise do.

[graceivers]

Review #28 - Neanderthal Seeks Human

Neanderthal Seeks Human Author: Penny Reid Genre: Billionaires & CEOs, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy, Workplace Romance Rating: ★★★½ Recommendation: it’s a toss-up; once was enough Summary: Janie Morris seemingly just wants job security and some stability in her social life to avoid her reclusive tendencies. Quinn Sullivan apparently gives her all of those things.

Female Lead: Ugh, Janie Morris. This woman… I mean, on one hand, she’s obviously very smart and independent and is pretty good at keeping her priorities straight. On the other hand, I want to shake this girl at her sheer stupidity sometimes. How can someone who graduated summa cum laude with a double major be so oblivious? How can someone who grew up in abnormal circumstances in regards to her family seem so naive? Some of her insecurities and fears, yeah, I get and understand where they come from. My problem was that Reid ended up making Janie the ‘meek and insecure when actually hot and independent’ type of girl.

And then, can we talk about this wholly and extensively unnecessary writing style that culminated in Janie’s point of view? I mean, Jesus, her thought process just went on and on and wouldn’t stop. There’s stream of consciousness and then there’s just doing too much. There was an overload of her thoughts, and given that the whole book except for the epilogue was written in Janie’s perspective, it got to a point where I didn’t know if I wanted to continue. Seriously, extended metaphors, analogies, unnecessary and lengthy descriptions everywhere! Half the time I felt like this style of writing and thought process made the character almost immature. Most of the time I was just plain annoyed. It was like Reid decided to write a really long book by way of making unnecessary descriptions and justifying this choice as being character revealing. No. It just dragged the book on and on and made me like Janie less, not because she has a unique voice but rather because she didn’t know when to stop and open her eyes and see—quite the contradiction for someone who refused to have a cellphone because she believed people lacked that quality.

But wait, there’s also the whole thing with this character about labels and definitions. I mean, okay, yes, sometimes labels makes things clearer, but this girl needs a freaking label for everything. Janie labels everyone without even knowing them. SHE JUDGES EVERYONE. There are some people who deserve it like her sister, Jem, but for her to box everyone into one of four quadrants so she feels safer and better about herself was quite frankly disappointing and distasteful. Yes, Janie is entitled to her opinion and perspective on people and life, but the way it was written it was as if Janie had everyone and everything all figured out. If you wanted me to root for this female protagonist, that is certainly not the way to do it. Male Lead: Quinn Sullivan? I still don’t know what to make of this guy. Honestly, I think he’s kind of underdeveloped and stale. I think Reid made him super hot in hopes that his physical appearance would overshadow his not so great qualities. He’s not a complete jerk, but he honestly isn’t all that better than Janie’s ex-boyfriend aside from the fact that he didn’t cheat on her. Were there some moments where he was flirty and sweet that I enjoyed? Yes. Were there also moments of Quinn Sullivan where I thought ‘dude, what game are you playing at?’ Yes.

I think what bothered me most was that Quinn was actually that billionaire/CEO character when I  had hoped (and believed) him to be someone/thing else. In that case, I can fully admit that I just wasn’t invested and into Quinn, and that’s my problem to deal with and not due to Reid’s writing or otherwise. In the beginning, I so fully wanted to get invested in this character and learn more about him and what makes him the person he is. But then when I got the answers, I felt unsatisfied. I just never got around to genuinely liking and caring for this character. I honestly do think a part of that is because through Janie’s POV (and ergo Reid’s writing), the swarm of unnecessary metaphors and descriptions and unique thought process hindered me from connecting with the character. Or, like I said before, maybe this dude just didn’t work for me, and I wasn’t blinded by his good looks to let him off the hook. Plot & Writing: Neanderthal Seeks Human took me way too long to finish, and at this point, I’ve come to the conclusion that that means something. For someone who is usually a quick reader, all I can surmise from all the books that take me way longer than necessary to read are two things: the book drags on and/or I’m not a fan but continue to read in hopes that it will get better, which it usually does not. This book is the epitome of both.

The main issue I had with it, again, was the writing style. I talked about it above, so I won’t go into too much more about that. I will emphasize that Janie’s perspective is certainly unique. It’s different, and perhaps that may be refreshing to read. However, it was not my cup of tea and unfortunately made the book all the more sluggish to complete when it felt like Reid looked for every flowery synonym and phrase possible to extend the length of her novel. I will also say that I think I saw a couple of typos…? Given that this wasn’t self-published or whatever and I read the free copy available on the iBooks store, uh, typos shouldn’t happen? Yeah.

I did feel that the relationship between Janie and Quinn progressed at a generally natural rate. I didn’t think it was rushed, especially considering Janie’s persistent reluctance to engage with Quinn before and even after she found out he was her boss. Did their relationship borderline on instalove? Maybe, but that was the least of my problems with the book, really. I mean, they got to know each other basically and kind of dated at which point their relationship progressed to a more physical level. That’s… pretty straightforward in terms of how people usually think of how relationships should be formed. I had less of an issue with the relationship as a whole and more of an issue with the way Janie ran from basically every slightly uncomfortable situation with Quinn but was willing to keep her ex-boyfriend in her life after he cheated on her with her sister. Yeah.

And finally, let’s discuss that end. I genuinely thought after finishing 80% of the book that it would just have some nice, unique, Janie-styled fairy tale ending and their relationship would progress to a solid point. But no! Reid decides to get strangely creative and throw in the most random conflict into the story at the end. I mean, were there hints of it peppered throughout the rest of the book? Yeah, sure, I’ll give her that. Was that climax surprising to me? Yes, it was. Did I enjoy it? No, not really. My face was permanently stuck in a expression of confusion reading the last couple of chapters because I honestly didn’t get it. Why was that scene and conflict incorporated at all? I felt as if Reid wanted to throw in some kind of dramatic moment in there for no good reason, and hey, let’s put everyone in a potentially life-threatening situation, why not! No. I thought it was so painfully out of place. And worse, Reid tried to make it comedic to keep in line with Janie’s POV and the rest of the book, and that just made the whole scene all the more cringeworthy. It didn’t work for me at all, which subsequently ended the book on the oddest low note. Secondary Characters & Plots: What I really appreciated was the fact that Janie had a group of supportive girlfriends she could honestly and openly talk to. Given that she’s basically severed all ties to her biological family, I loved that Janie still had supportive people in her life that she trusted and felt comfortable around. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like any of them…? Well, we didn’t really get a sense of these other girls save for maybe Elizabeth, but even so, there were a bit bland and in the background, which is I guess perfect for their role as secondary characters but not nearly enough for me to be invested and pick up their individual books in the series.

The ex-boyfriend, Jon, I don’t know what I can say about this dude that will definitively express how I feel about him. Just know this. The whole time he was trying to explain to Janie why he cheated on her? WRONG. Dead wrong. The most illogical excuse ever and complete bullshit—excuse my language—I have ever heard/read in my entire life.

Janie’s sister, Jem, was weird. Reid played up her role and existence way more than necessary. The character was actually kind of entertaining given how crazy she was, but other than that, yeah, her presence was rather unnecessary, which lead to the entirely unnecessary secondary plot that encompassed the last couple of chapters of the book. Unnecessary, I tell you. UNNECESSARY. Favorite Part(s): Um… When Janie and Quinn were messing around in the limo towards the end? I honestly can’t pinpoint one, and that’s not because there are too many to choose from… Final Thoughts: I’m going to chalk it up to this: Neanderthal Seeks Human just wasn’t for me. I personally didn’t enjoy the style of writing (I said before that I’m usually not a fan of romantic comedy); I really wasn’t all that into either character in the central relationship; I didn’t like a lot of the choices Reid made for the story. So it’s safe to say I probably won’t read the sequel or the other books in the series focusing on the other girls. I can see how other people may find this appealing; it is in fact a unique twist to the typical billionaire/CEO and workplace romance story. But again, it just didn’t work for me. My recommendation then? Read at your own risk.