We're back with part two of our discussion of Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid. Ava is investigating hot dog crimes, and Brynn has an extremely good theory about the book's word count.
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There are three things you need to know about Janie Morris: 1) She is incapable of engaging in a conversation without volunteering TMTI (TooMuch 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.
TRANSCRIPT:
Ava: So what are your final thoughts on this one?
Brynn: I wanted to like it. I mean, from the description it sounded interesting, but, I mean, I had issues with the character of Janie, I had issues with the character of Quinn, you know?
A: Yeah, Quinn just sucked.
A: See, it would've been – it wouldn't have been bad if Janie sort of sucked, because Janie's level of suckitude is like, whatever. You know, she experiences a little bit of growth, um, so, it would've been bearable if Quinn had been a good dude and not a creepo.
B: Yeah. I mean, she was very judgmental of others, but everyone is a little bit, you know?
B: And I – I feel like if there was a little less of the judginess with her, and a litle of the less creepo with Quinn –
A: [laughs] well, and like, I don't know about you, but when I think something really judgmental about something, I internally scold myself, so if that had been in there –
A: [laughs] it would have been, um, would've been a little bit – a little bit nicer [laughs].
A: So, uh, I wrote the script for this episode right after we did our Halloween episodes, and I accidentally left our creepiness rating in there. Um, but Brynn was like "no, that's perfect, that's great, because this guy's a creep," so we're leaving the creepiness rating in there.
B: One star is super creepy, five stars is like [pause] a puppy [laughs].
A: [laughs] a real cute puppy.
B: So what did you give it for editing?
A: I gave it a three out of five on editing. It – despite my complaints, it was about average for one of these books, though I was much harsher on it in the actual discussion because it said "A Smart Romance" right on the cover.
B: Yeah, I mean, it was average, there wasn't anything that was glaringly terrible. The grammar issues and the break issues that we've talked about while we were doing this. So, plot.
A: I gave it a two out of five on plot, because I felt like [pause] nothing happened for a really long stretch, and then everything happened all at once.
B: Yeah, I can agree with that. I mean [pause], we got from point A to point B, but instead of just riding along at the same speed, we went slow and then really fast.
A: Yeah. Oh, wait, and also, I put in my end notes "what the hell about Janie being drugged?" We still don't know anything about that.
A: I mean, like, it's supposedly resolved, but like, yikes.
B: And shouldn't she be more like, wanting to know like, what exactly happened there?
B: Instead of just being like, "oh, la, la, la, okay."
A: "Everything's fine now." Did Quinn say that it was just taken care of, or did he say that person was arrested?
B: I don't remember. Maybe both? It's been a while.
A: 'cause if he said it's taken care of, and he's running with this kind of crowd...that person might be dead.
B: Yeah, no, I think he said they were arrested. About 70% sure on that.
A: I gave it a three out of five, because I felt like Janie was really well characterized. However, Quinn didn't really have anything except sort of a sad backstory and desire. And all the background characters were really, like, two-dimensional.
B: Um, I also gave it a –
B: – three. Sorry, I interrupted you. Did you have more to say?
A: I was just going to say that I think – I think Elizabeth deserved a lot more fleshing out.
B: Yes. I also gave it a three, because, I mean, Janie had more depth than everyone else, Quinn was very flat. Elizabeth had potential, Steven – that's his name, right? – he had potential.
B: And there are just too many characters.
A: Yeah, there really were a lot [laughs].
B: I mean, I get that they have the knitting group, and it probably comes into play more as there's more stories, you know? So we might –
B: If we were to continue reading, we might learn more about the other characters. 'Cause at this point in time, they're just background characters, you don't really get to learn that much about them and it just feels like too many.
A: Well, and a realistic way to take care of that is that, um – I actually went to my stepmom's knitting group a couple times during the holidays, and not everybody comes every week. So if you wanted to introduce a character and throw them away again like happened in this book, you could just have them show up to one and then not another one and then bring them in in another book.
B: Yeah. And even then, you could do like, say [pause] so-and-so might be in the background for a couple of meetings, and then later on they just start talking. And you're like, so-and-so, like, part of the group, been here and there, whatever. I don't know where I'm going with this, you – you get what I'm trying to say.
A: [laughs] Yeah, they were all – in every scene with the knitting group, they were all always talking at once.
B: Yeah. It's like, if they're background characters, I mean, yeah, you want to, um, like, you don't want to leave, like that was our issue with some of the other books, making the descriptions too long. But if somebody's a background character and unimportant, you don't need to describe them in detail before it's important, right? That's where I was trying to go with it [laughs].
B: Yeah, I agree with it.
A: It just didn't – it didn't seem natural.
A: Sometimes it geometimes it felt really natural, but other times it was really stilted.
B: Yeah, I also gave it the same. And creepiness.
A: I don't know whether I'm a one or a two on this. Because sometimes I hated him. And other times I was like "eh." [laughs] "He's not too creepy."
B: I mean, let's call it a one-point-five.
A: I mean, he was a creep.
B: He – he was a creep, he wasn't the creepiest creep, though. So, let's see, I think we have...editing was three, plot was two, did we call characterization a two or a three?
B: Three, dialogue was a two.
A: Yeah, and then creepiness was about a one-and-a-half. So around a two.So, even though we – we were very harsh on that story, I need you to tell me your favorite part.
B: Maybe the beginning, because that seemed like the realest part of the book, you know? Like, her –
A: Yeah, that was definitely the realest bit.
B: Like, that was probably my favorite thing to actually read in the book. 'Cause I think the author did a good job of setting that up, you know?
A: Yeah, I liked, um, I liked her interactions with her friends, because she really did care about her friends. But also, when she finally got to the Chicago stuff, I liked that because I like Chicago.
B: Yeah, I mean, the knitting group was pretty cool, and it's like, if I were to continue reading this, I'd like seeing more of them, you know.
A: Yeah, it just – there were too many characters, you know?
B: And it – there was just too much going on in this book for the knitting group to be important. I mean, it – if it wasn't for the fact that the series is about the knitting group, they weren't – they could have completely been left out of this book, honestly, except for the ending would have to be redone.
B: But, you know, that was the only time they were important.
A: So, what was your least favorite?
B: I – there's a lot of things I didn't like, the Quinn creepiness thing, but the things that bothered me – I'm gonna go with the things that bothered me the most, and that is the fact that – the whole Jem getting into the apartment thing. The, um, Elizabeth's apartment, I mean.
B: Because she's just like –
B: "I got the landlord to let me in." Okay, except that he's not – he's not Janie's landlord. He shouldn't have let you in.
B: He shouldn't be letting Janie in. Like, I wanted to go on a rant about that after I read it. I had to wait for you to catch up [lsughs].
A: [laughs] yeah, it's – for me, it's Quinn. He's a creepo, and [pause] I don't like that his creepo activites are portayed as romantic.
B: Yeah. You need a realistic level of creepiness [laughs].
A: [laughs] I – I obviously was very salty about the [pause] mistakes, when it came to the, like [pause] facts and stuff. 'Cause [laughs]. It just really annoyed me [laughs]. Do you have anything else?
A: I have very bad heartburn, so I'm going to the outro [laughs]. Thank you for listening to Amazon warriors. You can find us on Twitter @thebookwarriors and at warriors (at) superfuntimes.net. Next episode we'll be discussing Planet Urth by Jennifer and Christopher Martucci
