There are no new releases this week but I have some exciting news to share with you. I am very happy to let you know that I have accepted in Samantha Young's Club 39. Ms Young is the author of one of my favourite books of 2012 - On Dublin Street. It will a series and the second book - Down London Road - is to be released on 7 May 2013. Make sure to read the excerpt from Chapter 1 on author's official website. It is totally worth it.

In the meantime you can enjoy Braden and Jocelyn's Christmas (free short story)  on Smexy Books. There is also an accompanying novella, telling the story of Ellie and Adam - Until Fountain Bridge - already available as a ebook.

Back to Club 39 business. It will provide the latest news on Ms Young books and I will be more than happy to share them with you. So, follow me on Bloglovin or Facebook to keep up to date with all the fun. 

Title: Review: Neanderthal Seeks Human: A Smart Romance
Author: Penny Reid
Date of publication: 13 March 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
More reviews: Goodreads

My rating: 4 stars

This is a full-length, 110k word novel and is the first book in the Knitting in the City series.

I came across after somebody recommended it in one of the topics in the Kristen Ashley fan group on Goodreads. It was described as funny romance and I was immediately interested because that is exactly the type of romance I like - sweet and funny, not just hot sex. I am really happy to say that the book did not disappointed me in the least, actually it turned out to be much better than I expected initially. 

Janie is this freakish, geekish girl who says the most award things, yet she is super smart and her inner monologues and interactions with actual people come across as just hilarious. I loved her character even though at the beginning the presentation of her thoughts seemed as too much, gradually as the story progresses you just accept this as her modus operandi. She overthinks things, this is her natural way to make sense of the world around her. She is socially inadequate, yet her sincerity makes the people in her life really care about her (her family excluded).

I can really relate to Janie's infatuation with Quinn, (Sir. McHotpants, how cool is that?). I enjoyed everything about their relationship - how it started, progressed and lead to something good for both of them. She made him want to be a better person and his acceptance of her the way she is made her engage in life rather than just observe from a distance.

The secondary characters in the story were also great. The book had it all - trusted and loyal friends, a slightly annoying ex-boyfriend, a sympathetic gay colleague and a jealous bitch colleague, a crazy family, some dangerous thugs. 

The story is told entirely from the point of view of Janie (except the Epilogue, but I will come to it later) and we are given an in-depth insight into her character. Against this I feel that Quinn is a much weaker character. We learn that he has done things that he regrets and he sees himself as a bad guy, yet the glimpses of his past and present (independent of Janie's opinion of him) were not enough for me. I kept waiting to learn more about him. Still, that does not mean, I did not love him, I really did.

The weakest element in the story for me was the Epilogue. It is told from Quinn's point of view but for me it was not convincing. His voice was too much like Janie's, it did not fit his alpha male nature we see in the rest of the novel. At the same time the final scene in the luxury fixtures store, though fitting to the Janie's freakishness, did not provide the ending her love story deserves. Even though it is cliché, I feel the actual proposal would have been a better choice. Just saying!

There are also some plot elements that did not make much sense for me (Jon being responsible for Janie being fired and Jem stripping for Quinn, biting him and burning him with a cigarette, for example). 

These minor weaknesses prevent me form giving the book five glowing stars, still I really enjoyed reading it
and I hope that it will be just the first story in the Knitting in the City series.

Personal note 1: I know how to knit and enjoy doing it occasionally :) 

Personal note 2: There is a reference to Bulgarians in this book. Unfortunately for me, it is quite a negative one, still I am mentioning it since it is so rare to come across one. 

As most of you already know Google Reader will be going out of business as of 1 July 2013, so we need a new way to follow our favourite blogs and to allow our readers to follow us. Since I started my blog after the announcement that the Google Reader will not be available any more, since currently I am not following that many blogs, I decided to wait some time and see which of the new solutions will serve me best. 

Increasingly, I have come to notice that my friends with book blogs show a preference for Bloglovin in the place of GFC. This week I decided it is time to give it a try. 

It has a nice interface and it is very user-friendly. I managed to transfer all the blogs that I am currently following into it without any problems. The claiming of my blog was also done almost effortlessly on my part. Even for someone like me, who is not particularly technically savvy, it was easy to install the Follow me button on my blog. 

In short, I can say that I quite like Bloglovin so far. I hope it will work for you too. 

You can follow me by clicking on Bloglovin icon in the left column of the blog. 

I have decided to participate in a weekly bookish meme, called Teaser Tuesday. It is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. I learned about it from my friend at Unraveling Words. Here are the rules: 

So, here is my Teaser this week: 

"Barrons was powerful, broodingly good-looking, insanely wealthy, frighteningly intelligent, and had exquisite taste, not to mention a had body that emitted some kind of low-level charge. Bottom line: He was the stuff of heroes.

An psychotic killers."

Bloodfever (Book 3 of the Fever series) 

Karen Marie Moning

Here are the new releases I am looking forward to this week. I can't honestly say which one I am most excited about.

I really liked Pushing the Limits, so I expect the same to happen with Crossing the Line, even though it is just a novella. 

Krsiten Ashley is one of my most favoutire authors and I have already read and enjoyed many of her novels. The Motorcycle Man is a particular favourite of mine and since the Choas series is a sort of spin-off of it an also considering what a huge fan I am of the TV series Sons of Anarchy, it is safe to say that I have some very high expectations of Own the Wind. Also, keep in mind that the excerpt of the book (Prologue and Chapter 1) published on KA's site already has me heart-broken and addicted to Shy and Tabby's story. 

Last, but not least, comes the Julie James's latest FBI/US Attorney novel, Love Irresistibly. I quite enjoyed her previous novels in the series, so this one should be no different. Ms James writes some pretty witty dialogue, strong-willed characters (both the heroes and heroines) and steamy hot scenes. So, in short I am looking forward to enjoying this novel a lot.