Tag: Caped Publishing

Joint Review: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

Posted May 2, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 5 Comments

Joint Review: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny ReidReviewer: Holly & Rowena
Neanderthal Seeks Human (Knitting in the City, #1) by Penny Reid
Series: Knitting in the City #1
Also in this series: Neanderthal Seeks Human
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: March 14, 2013
Point-of-View: First Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 403
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating: four-stars

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.

Holly: Rowena and I have both been hearing a lot about Penny Reid, so we chose Neanderthal Seeks Human, book one in the Knitting in the City series, for our April joint review book.

I read it before Rowena did and I have to tell you, the heroine annoyed me. She was written as an extremely intelligent, but oblivious individual. Mostly she came off as lacking in common sense.

What did you think?

Rowena: I agree about the heroine. It took me a long time to read this book because I kept stepping away because I couldn’t believe how dumb the heroine came off. She was too smart to be so dumb about a lot of the things that went on. Like when Quinn kept telling her that the company was his company and she kept not understanding what he meant? There were too many instances where this happened and I wasn’t a fan of that.

Holly: I could have understood if she missed a few cues here and there, or even if she was oblivious until someone spelled things out for her, but that just wasn’t the case. Even when things were spelled out she completely missed them. She was completely lacking in common sense. It was frustrating.

Rowena: Yeah, I agree with Janie. I don’t think the way that she was written really pulled off her personality. It just didn’t work for me. I really liked the random trivia that she threw out. That was probably my favorite part with her.

I didn’t mind the random trivia facts that she threw out when she was nervous. I actually liked that stuff but the lacking of common sense for someone so smart didn’t work for me.

Holly: I thought the random trivia facts were hilarious, and I loved how she just babbled when she was nervous. But man, I couldn’t get past how dumb she could be.

Rowena: Then there was Quinn. He was great and I would have liked him more if he was more upfront about every little thing with Janie. He had too many secrets for my liking.

Holly: I really liked Quinn, but you’re right, it would have been nice if he’d been more upfront with Janie. It was obvious he knew she was oblivious to most things. He should have spelled things out.

Rowena: Yes, he knew that she didn’t understand that the company belonged to him and he kept letting her think what she wanted to think but also, he knew a lot of things about her and about those around her and he didn’t tell her and for what? He didn’t owe anyone but Janie anything so why keep her in the dark about things that affected her personally? He could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he was upfront with her about everything.

Those little things kept taking me right out of the story and I kept needing to walk away from the story for a bit because I could not deal with all of the unnecessary shenanigans.

Holly: Right, that’s what I mean. He knew she didn’t understand what was going on with him, his company, her sister, etc. Yet he chose not to tell her, to keep her in the dark. I didn’t like that. He should have let her know what was going on.

Rowena: But how great was that knitting group?

Holly: That knitting group was amazing. The scene toward the end with them? Oh man, I about died laughing. I want to read more of this series just for them.

Rowena: The way that the knitting group came together to fight the bad guys had me bent over at the waist laughing. They truly saved this book from a lower grade because even though they weren’t front and center in the story, they were still a big part of it and their part had me laughing a lot. These are the kinds of friends that a woman needs in her life.

Holly: While there were some enjoyable parts – most notably the knitting group and their shenanigans – I didn’t love this book the way I expected to. It came highly recommended from so many, I thought I’d love it. I loved the knitting group enough to try another book in the series, but Janie really killed this book for me. I’m giving it a 2.75 out of 5.

Rowena: Yep, I pretty much have the same thoughts. There was potential but overall, most of the comedy stuff missed its mark with me though I will not permanently say no to any of the other books in this series. I really do need to get to know the other ladies in the knitting group, especially Sandra. She sounds like a riot and I’m all for reading her book.

I’d give this one the same grade, 2.75 out of 5.

Final Rating

Holly: 2.75 out of 5
Rowena: 2.75 out of 5

Knitting in the City

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Guest Review: Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid

Posted February 23, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Friends Without BenefitsTracy’s review of Friends Without Benefits (Knitting in the City #2) by Penny Reid

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she’s unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

Elizabeth Finney is a girl who had three things during her childhood. Her father, who raised her alone after her mother died when she was nine, always told stories of her mother and how much he loved her. He constantly said that she was his one and only love. Nico, whose mother was best friends with her mother, was a year older than her and was the bane of her existence. They played together for a while but then he started teasing and bullying her and she did not have fond thoughts of him. Then there was Garrett who she met when she was just nine, right after her mother died, and they were attached at the hip. As they got older they fell in love and planned to get married. Unfortunately Garrett was diagnosed with a horrible disease and died when Elizabeth was just shy of 16.

It’s been 10 years since Elizabeth graduated from high school and she’s now a doctor. She’s shocked when Nico, his mother and his niece walk in to her hospital. Elizabeth is ashamed of how she acted after Garrett’s funeral but she really doesn’t know what to say to Nico. The niece, Angelica, begins a study at the hospital and this means that Elizabeth sees Nico constantly. He likes it that was as he’s really been in love with Elizabeth since before he could really remember. Yes, he was upset as he felt that she picked Garrett over him all those years ago but at the time Elizabeth didn’t even know that Nico liked her, much less loved her. Now that he’s back in her life he’s determined to get her to love him and stay with him forever.

Elizabeth is confused. She has never opened herself up to love as both of the people she’s loved have died – her mother and Garrett. She feels that if she loved someone and then lost them she wouldn’t know how to go on. This causes her to have stunted emotions and, well, great confusion. The more she talks to Nico the more she likes him and the more she likes him the more she realizes what a great person he is. She soon falls in love. But even that has her on an emotional roller coaster that causes problems in the relationship. Then her father tells her that he’s getting remarried and everything that she thought she knew about love is all topsy turvy.  Throw in a stalker who is psycho and wants Nico for herself, bodyguards, freaky fellow doctors and you’ve got yourself a good story.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Neanderthal Seeks Human, so I was excited to read Friends Without Benefits. I really enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth after meeting her in book 1 and of course Nico was wonderful, if a little too hard on himself at times.

Elizabeth, I have to be honest, did get on my nerves a couple of times. She was just so confused – which I didn’t blame her for, but the way she acted at times really had me wanting to get into the pages of the book and shake her a time or two. lol I thought that she fought against her feelings for too long towards the end, of course Nico played a role in that as well.

Nico was a temperamental Italian and he was awesome. He was kind, funny, smart and uber-sexy. Was he a dick around Elizabeth when they were kids? Oh, absolutely, but he was at the age that he didn’t know how to express his feelings so they came out as teasing just to get her attention – it was just the wrong kind of attention. He did have his flaws but I still loved him.

The knitting club that Elizabeth belongs to is fantastic. I can’t tell you how much I love all of those women. They are the type of women who would do anything for a friend and I loved that about them. The support their friends but they also don’t beat around the bush – they tell it like they feel it – and that brought a whole other amazing element into the story that worked so well. The knitting club was woven seamlessly into the romance and I admired Reid for the effortless way she accomplished that.

FWB is a fun, funny, sexy book and is a book that I recommend.  I can’t wait for the next book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Series:
Book Cover Book Cover

This title is available from Caped Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format. This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Guest Review: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

Posted August 5, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny ReidReviewer: Tracy
Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid
Series: Knitting in the City #1
Also in this series: Neanderthal Seeks Human (Knitting in the City, #1)
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: March 14, 2013
Format: eARC
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

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

Janie is having a bad day. She found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and then goes into work and gets “downsized.” She’s pretty upset but wraps up her feelings and puts them away in the closet in her head, like she does everything else. She’s more flustered by the security guard who escorts her down to sign her final employment papers. She’s been watching him for weeks because he’s so darned good looking but had never gotten the nerve up to talk to him.

Since she has no official home she contacts her old college friend Elizabeth (who she still sees once a week) and ends up crashing on her couch temporarily. The arrangement works and Janie stays. Elizabeth gets tickets to an exclusive club one night and who do they run into there? The security guard – whose real name is Quinn Sullivan. The next morning she wakes up in a strange apartment that Quinn brought her to after she got drugged at the club and he saved her. They head to breakfast after Janie finds out that nothing happened between the two of them and Quinn ends up telling her about a job that she may be perfect for.

This begins the relationship between Quinn and Janie. Quinn has never dated before – he’s just kind of had women that were available (which is a point of contention in the relationship) so he’s not sure how to act and he’s a very stoic guy anyway. Janie is so many different things. She’s never felt passionate about too much of anything so when Quinn comes around and she starts feeling things that she never has before it feels awkward. She doesn’t know what to say and ends up spouting her endless supply of trivial information. Normally this would make people look at her funny but with Quinn he just wants to know more.

The story is sweet, fun, funny, awkward, lovely. It really isn’t like another romance I’ve ever read because of the awkwardness of both characters. Quinn’s no geek but he’s just lost with how to act. It made me love him even more. Janie misunderstands Quinn and his motivations at first and I found that part a bit frustrating but her self esteem really wasn’t at its highest point.

There was kind of a subplot with Janie’s sister, Jem, that involved both Janie’s ex-boyfriend and Quinn that I thought was a bit on the odd side. I can’t say that I saw the whole point of it being in the book but maybe that was just me. Janie’s knitting club was the best. They were all such very different women but they were all warm, caring, loyal and they could kick some butt when they needed to.

In the end seeing both Janie and Quinn grow and learn about both themselves and each other made for a really good read. I’m pretty interested to see where things in the series next and hope we get to hear more about this couple.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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