Neanderthal

Neanderthal by Avery Flynn. Entangled Publishing

Kinsey has graduated and is off to Harbour City to start her dream job as a junior research chemist for a perfume maker. It just happens that she’s been an online friend to Morgan for years and guess where Morgan lives? Anyway, due to a lack of suitable affordable apartments, Morgan invites Kinsey to be her roommate. And that’s how she meets Morgan’s brother Griff, a bit of a silent type who mostly communicates in grunts. By the way, Griff is head of research and development at the competition to her new company. Nothing can go wrong there, right?

The setup is pretty good in this story. Kinsey is a determined and strong woman who has a plan in life. But she’s had some challenges so far and one of them is she’s blond, large-breasted and speaks with a southern accent. Nobody takes her seriously with these attributes and she wants to be accepted without questioning her credentials every step of the way. Kinsey does talk quite a bit but she’s always thinking a step or three ahead of things and is on the ball most of the time. On the other hand, Griff is kind of the strong silent type and doesn’t share much of himself with anyone.

Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with the overall book. The romance wasn’t really romance but a massive lust fest. The relationship doesn’t really develop much at all. Also, the time frame of the book seems to shift depending on the page. At one point towards the end, Kinsey has been there just a month but a little later it’s mentioned Griff has been in love for months now. I can’t help but feel this is the result of a rushed book. There is also a lot of repetition in the book, including a part of a plotline that is repeated but for a different character. The whole villain part of the story is also is lacking and I don’t feel like much time was taken to work out that part of the plot at all. It just isn’t developed enough to be believable. One last issue is the constant reference to Legos when it seems most fans call it Lego instead. (Based on my interactions with a big Lego fan.) This one is kind of minor but it does pop up several times.

I’ve read a few of the author’s earlier books and really liked them but this just didn’t work for me. It felt hurried and lacked much development. I rate this two stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for providing an advanced reader copy with no obligation. I wrote this review voluntarily.