The Naughty Professora: Neanderthal Seeks Human + Scenes from the City by Penny Reid

The review of the first book in the series. . Neanderthal Meets Human

Meet Janie. She’s quirky, highly intelligent (degrees in mathematics and architecture), spouts random facts (or rampant randomness), and talks too much when she’s nervous. She’s also having a bit of a bad day. She’s having a bad hair day, she just discovered her boyfriend of 5-years is cheating on her, she broke her heel while getting to work, spilled coffee on her favorite shirt, and her job has just been downsized. She’s out of work.

Add to all that – while hiding in the bathroom before going out and clearing her desk, she discovers that the toilet paper roll is empty. EMPTY! She has to go back out and face the world, jobless, homeless (because she was living with the cheater boyfriend), and is escorted out by none other than Sir Handsome McHotpants. The guy she’s been “harmlessly admiring-slash-stalking for the past five weeks.”

McHotpants is Quinn. He’s silent and authoritative, and escorts Janie out of the building and arranges for her to get home. He doesn’t see her again until she shows up with her friend at a nightclub, and has her drink spiked by another man. Quinn takes her out of the club, to his home, where she wakes up and realizes she has a raging hangover, is not at her friend Elizabeth’s house where she’s currently crashing on her couch, and she’s in her underwear and wants to die. When she finally realizes she’s at McHotpants house (okay, actually his sister’s apartment), she freaks. He ends up taking her to breakfast, where she reveals that she compares herself and her big head to a Neanderthal, has a freakish ability to crunch numbers, any numbers, in her head, and again, talks too much with rampant randomness. Quinn is intrigued by her, and since he knows that she's unemployed, he helps her find a position. What Janie doesn’t know is that it’s with his company.

The two continue to interact, and seriously, the banter is hilarious. He teases her, and she responds with her quirky comments. Despite her resistance to carrying a cell phone, she does and he sends her quotes and jokes every day.

"There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't"

NERD HUMOR!!! OMIGOD. I. Love. It. I. Get. It!!

As he tries to develop a relationship with Janie, she’s oblivious to the fact that he’s interested in her. She tries to find excuses to not be involved with him, while he tries to be a better man for her. She sees things in fixed definitions and black and white, he’s grey. The two work.

Some of the internal dialogue is laugh out loud material.

"I was never one of those girls who could go comfortably bra-less; there was too much jiggle in my wiggle"

I’ve read, and re-read this book and still laugh so hard I snort, and get strange looks from those around me who are wondering what I’m reading.

shutupshutupshutupshutup!

And If that’s not enough, Penny Reid may be my new girl crush because of this:

“I thought about what steps I could take to remove the word “moisture” or even “moist” from the English language. I really hated the way it sounded and always went out of my way to avoid saying it out loud.”

See? That right there? Bonded. Like Janie and Elizabeth. Or more like Janie, and the harmlessly admiring-slash-stalking-but not really stalking but I still heart her kinda bond. Only she doesn’t know it, so don’t go telling on me, mmmkay?

After reading Neanderthal Meets Human I felt happy, satisfied, and just a bit like Janie "One thought galloped around and around in my brain: I can't believe that just happened. Eventually, it was accompanied by another thought: How can I make that happen again."

Read the next book in the series, that's how.

You really need to read Book 2: Friends Without Benefits before reading Neanderthal Marries Human. Then, read the first part of Scenes from the City for the Honeymoon!

Neanderthal Seeks Honeymoon:

Janie and Quinn go on their honeymoon - a secluded island in the Caribbean. Janie doesn't know how to do nothing so she brings along some tasks and research projects.

"What's in the binder"

"Vaginas"

"Janie, why do you have a binder of vaginas?"

"For discussion. I got the idea when the ladies and I were at the spa in Las Vegas. Someone mentioned Vagazzling, so I looked it up..."

"I think I need a drink."

Quinn, has other things planned. Margaritas. Frozen and strong. He packed for Janie - bikini's and sunscreen. Get where his mind is at? Of course, since it's their honeymoon, they also have lots of sexy-times!

Here are the linkies to get your own copies of Knitting goodness:

Reading Order: