Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell - 5 out of 5 stars!

Wow. This was a ride. Like, I can usually tell where the plot is leading and often see the "twists" coming before they happen, but this book really took me by surprise the whole way through. Rooting for the "monster" might be unusual, but it can't be helped here!

I adored everything about it, to be honest. It has humourous dialogue, a clever writing style, and enthralling world-building, and was filled with strange, compelling characters from the start. I loved how the story was structured and how the plot developed in layers, often sticking only with what the characters knew at that point, so you discovered things the same moment they do.

The character development of Shesheshen and Homily is fantastic, and I love how they are described, especially seeing Homily through Shesheshen's eyes. I saw a lot of my own characteristics and struggles as a queer autistic person in how Shesheshen sees the world and functions, so I was very much drawn to her. Seeing a fat character celebrated in such wonderful language was also liberating. The whole cast is memorable and unusual, and for me felt very vivid throughout the story.

There are some content warnings, so do double-check before reading - I didn't expect some of the body-horror/violence elements, but nothing felt unnecessary. It gripped me, shocked me, and moved me at each turn. I just found it just an interesting, refreshing, enjoyable read, and I really hope there will be more stories of all sorts from this fantastic author soon!

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and of course John Wiswell for access to this incredible ARC - all opinions here are my own, honest, and freely given

This is such a wonderful book, weird (affectionate) and mostrous (most affectionate) as a shorthand invitation to be more accepting to viewpoints that are not your standard ones. I truly enjoyed the ride, and the sympathetic angle neurodivergent and/or disabled readers could find in this book made my heart sing.

This is really hard to say, but I read this book on and off for almost 3 months before giving up at ~40%. I was so stoked to be reading this early... The very idea of reading a book from the perspective of the monster seemed so great, and the first few chapters were great, but then it just .. trailed off. ;( I think I might pick this up at a later time again.

*Arc received from Netgalley. All opinions are my own*

TLDR: One of the strangest rides I’ve ever been on, but well worth strapping yourself in for! A cosy fantasy story of a Wyrm finding and fighting for love when everyone, even her love, is out to kill her.

This happened to be in my arc pile to review and I can’t remember requesting it but I am beyond happy that I did. It tells such a unique point of view from the eyes of a “monster”, as Shesheshen isn’t really a “villain”, she’s just a creature trying to survive, albeit on human flesh.

You’re always kept on your toes as you never know what’s coming next and there are some pretty massive shocks throughout the book which keep you engaged and needing to read more. John Wiswel does a fantastic job of staying “in character” throughout the story and really shows you life in a different light and has some interesting takes on trauma, family relationships and love as it’s through the eyes of a, societally dubbed, “monster”.

Anyone who is at all squeamish would be best to sit this one out as there is a great deal of gore and talk of absorbing body parts and fluids while also thinking about planting eggs in your lover's lungs. It certainly wouldn’t be a book for everyone but for those with a hardier stomach it’s a fantastic read and definitely one to take your time with.

Have you ever related a little too much to the villain? Recognised their characteristics, mental or physical, in yourself? Have you ever noticed how so many villains reflect a society’s fear of disability and queerness? Of those who don’t — who can’t — conform?

Shesheshen is a monster. She should be the villain. She’s not, although she isn’t necessarily a hero either (she does, after all, eat people). I didn’t expect to relate to her, just as I didn’t expect to find such nuanced discussions of disability, queerness, and familial trauma within this book. But I did, and I think many other readers will too. Which may be a slightly concerning statement out of context, considering Shesheshen is made of slime, discarded metal and the occasional sheep bone.

Shesheshen observes the human world as an outsider, never fitting in, but never allowing others to make her feel small. It’s one of the reasons why she’s the perfect counterpart to Homily — a warm and kind woman from a family of monster hunters, whose self-worth is detrimentally tied to how much she’s able to sacrifice for others. As their relationship progresses, neither Shesheshen nor Homily change who they are for one another. Rather, they help each other grow and heal, as they learn how to become a family.

‘Someone You Can Build A Nest in’ is packed full of wonderful (and wonderfully awful) characters, is effortlessly funny, and features a lovely asexual romance at the centre of an otherwise action-packed and compelling plot. And, for the horror/gore lovers: it’s also kind of gross.

This is such a wonderful book!

It is a cozy sapphic fantasy horror with a lovely romance, which may seem like a lot of contradictions but it is the perfect way to describe this. The balance between wholesomeness and the high stakes and gore was impressive and worked very well. As someone who does not read or watch horror, the descriptions of the shapeshifting were sometimes a bit intense, but also somehow funny because of the matter of factness of our main character.

I need to shout out these characters, because wow. I love them so much and am so invested in their lives. Sheshesen is the village ‘monster’ and where most of the horror aspects of this story come in to play, as she crafts and rearranges her body. Reading from her perspective was such a joy since she has so much dry humour simply in the way she sees the world. I also loved being able to see how she developed more of her interpersonal skills and specifically start understanding the nuances in human emotions. It was subtle and very heartwarming.

Then there is Homily. Homily is such a loveable, kindhearted person who slowly needs to learn to be kinder to herself. It is impossible to dislike her as she is such a comfort from the minute she gets introduced. Nevertheless, she still has a lot of depth and struggles, which is not always the case for ‘sunshine’ characters. I found that her trauma was handled very well and never felt like ‘just a character quirk’, but a genuine part of her life that is hard to overcome.

Shesheshen and Homily perfectly balance out each other and it is so lovely to see their relationship develop. The romance fit very naturally in the story and the way these two interact is simply a joy. They give each other so much comfort and security and its simply beautiful!

The writing was also great! The tension was definitely there and the story flowed well. There are plot twists that I did not see coming, and things I knew had to happen that somehow still surprised me. I giggled, I grimace and all in all I just had a really good time.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC

A celebration of love, in the most gloriously strange way you can imagine. When I say monster-romance, most would probably assume kind of smutty book. But not Wiswell's novel. It is wonderfully wholesome and cosy, but with a bit of gore thrown in. The characters are wonderful and flawed and the dialogue is witty, A Legends and Lattes-eqsue masterpiece. Couldn't recommend it enough.

Okay so I'm not sure what I was expecting when I went into this. I will say if you're not a fan of gore and body horror then this book is not for you.

Despite being a little icked out by some of the descriptions of Shesheshen, I really enjoyed her story. I did feel like hers and Homily's love story was very confusing and quite fast paced. They meet and a day later Shesheshen is saying Homily is her girlfriend, despite Homily never actually agreeing to that. Then Shesheshen refers to Homily's mother as her mother-in-law which is typically used when you're married. Other than that I had no issues with the book and the plot twist surrounding Homily's mother was fantastic.

This book is an absolute delight. This is a story told from the POV of a 'monster', and she is funny, kind and witty, even if she doesn't quite realise she's being all of those things.

I went into this not quite knowing what to expect and what I got was a really touching sapphic, arguably asexual, romance between a fat, not conventionally attractive character, and a shapeshifter. It was full of all the feelings, and, well, a lot of violence and gore. But oddly, less than you might expect? Or more, I guess, depending on your expectations.

Either way, the writing was nuanced and accessible. The book made me laugh, make that weird 'awww' noise, and quickly turn the page because I needed to know what happened next.

If you love a reaffirming romance, with a good touch of black humour, check this out.

Thank you Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This story left me with mixed feelings. Not surprising as the author tries to combine different genres in one book, never really deciding what kind of story he wants to tell and combined with not the strongest writing, but that’s okay, it was an easy and quite entertaining story. I didn’t dislike reading it but will I remember it in a month or so? I’m affraid not.

The beginning felt like a mediocre version of one of the characters of one of my favorite horror books called Slewfoot by Brom. We meet Shesheshen (I love saying that name), an alien monster which is basically a blob of flesh with no organs or skeleton. It eats humans and has no feelings whatsoever about doing so. It does have very strong, unfortunately too repetitive and hypocritical, opinions about humans.

Shesheshen is hibernating and she (her species is all female) is woken up by monster hunters and their narcissistic coward of an employer. She kills one of them, the others flee but she is weakened and decides to go into town to get a meal ;). We also get to meet her pet bear haha yes a real one and this is where the author starts to try to make us believe that Shesheshen does have feelings so we can relate to her of course but it took a long time for that to really work for me and it was way too unrealistically easy for others to just accept her the way she is later in the story. I mean if you fall in love with a human and then suddenly walk into a situation where that supposed human is literally a puddle of flesh on the floor and you just have no reaction whatsoever to that and continue like nothing changed… Uhm..

Shesheshen can use bones and organs of her victims to create a body that makes her look human. This often went a little too fast and easy to be believable. She ends up being hunted again and falls of a cliff. And guess what? She is saved by a human.. Strangly enough, the funny (because Shesheshen is so not used to (talking to) them) and cozy parts with only that human were my favorite parts of this book. I really felt like those parts were where the author excelled. But we soon get this high stakes adventure mixed with an attempt at adding some deep parts around trauma and abuse and still with these very different cozy and mildly funny parts in between and at the end. So yeah, mixed feelings but not a bad book and I loved the ending.

This just might be the strangest (and most heartwarming) fantasy story you read this year.

Shesheshen is a monster, but almost everyone around her - chiefly humans - is far more bloodthirsty than she could ever be. Long has the myth of the Wyrm of Underlook haunted the region. This is the year they slay it for good. Fleeing hunters, she finds herself in the care of kind-hearted Homily, unaware of the monstrous truth…

A debut novel, there’s the occasional clunky line of prose, but overall the writer’s voice succeeds, and a sense of humour and style runs through the core of the book. ‘Someone You Can Build a Nest in’ is as cathartic as it is entertaining. Wiswell goes to great lengths to detail the nuances in the relationships depicted here, and how grief and trauma linger - and how they can, eventually, with love and trust and time, be overcome.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was so much fun to read - I can only describe it as 'Legends & Lattes' meets 'Alien' (two things I very much enjoy). I wasn't really sure what to expect when requesting, but was immediately hooked by the writing style and the subtle, witty little jokes placed throughout the narrative. Shesheshen was a great protagonist, one that you could route for, and Homily's family trauma was handled in a way that didn't feel like it was pandering or overdramatic. The plot wasn't entirely unpredictable, but was still engaging and felt like a fresh take. Overall, would thoroughly recommend this one! (As an aside, I really enjoyed the naming convention for everyone - simple yet effective!)

As someone who reads a fair amount of fantasy fiction, it's rare to come across a creature that is entirely new to my imagination. However, Wiswell does just that with the creation of Shesheshen. A new type of monster! And she was glorious. The vivid descriptions of Shesheshen's body creation was fascinating from the very first page, watching her build a humanoid body from the humans she'd eaten and the weapons, stones and general cast-offs in the immediate vicinity.
When she meets love interest Homily, starts interacting with the world in new ways, with fresh perspective, the character was able to show her compassion and empathy in surprising ways. Not so much of a monster as some of the human's around them! The process of Shesheshen growing a heart, and her confusion as she grew to understand what was actually happening to her was excellently done.

I especially loved the twist in the Wulfyre family's hunt for the Wyrm of Lockwood, it was one I truly did not see coming!

I'll look forward to seeing more from Wiswell.
Also - the green cover is beautiful!

I love that the aliens are really Alien, you really believe they aren’t human. It isn’t just ‘these are aliens’ and then they act completely human except for a few ‘what does this thing do’ snippets here and there. It’s actually believable

This is such a hard book to review, because how can I possibly express how much I loved it? It was a wonderful mix of horror and fantasy and romance, with all the romantic bits written in an incredibly gory and disturbing way which fit Shesheshen’s character perfectly. It was kind of like Legends and Lattes for horror lovers, setting cosy vibes and heartwarming moments against a gruesome monster story.

It’s incredibly weird throughout, with Shesheshen shapeshifting using a variety of different objects and parts of murdered humans to be convincing in her disguises. It’s high on body horror, violence, and uncomfortable descriptions, but also full of aww-inducing cuteness and lovable characters.

Unlike anything I’ve ever read before and I can’t wait to read more from the author! Thank you so much to @quercusbooks and @netgalley for the chance to read this early 😊

*ad-pr product: I received a free NetGalley arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus books for providing me with an EARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I had such a good time with this book! Shesheshen was such an integrated g protagonist to follow, and the exploration of her humanity and Homily's family dynamics had me hooked the whole way through.

Homily in particular was such an interesting character. Her upbringing and family dynamic were incredibly toxic, but pulling yourself away from the cycle of abuse is hard, and this book handled her situation so respectfully. It wasn't a cure-all after she met Shesheshen, and it's something she still has to work on even beyond the last page on the novel.

I do feel like there could have been a little more development regarding the relationship between Homily and Shesheshen. I do think that, to some extent, the nature of the characters lent to the quickly-developed romance; one character who is a major people-pleaser vs someone who isn't quite human and likely hasn't experienced much, if any, human compassion in their lifetime, so this is something I'm being more lenient with. However, at times it did feel a little like they were saying a lot and barely anything to each other all at once.

The actual dynamic between Homily and Shesheshen was actually beautiful though; the unconditional acceptance the each of them gave each other, allowing them both to be entirely comfortable with one another and growing together was so refreshing, and the asexuality of the characters was just something they both experienced and loved about one another. It was such an unconventional and beautiful relationship.

One thing that absolutely didn't affect my rating but I wanted to point out; this was completely unreadable on a Kindle.

Netgalley does allow you to send books to your kindle, and this is my main method to reading digitally, but the numbers used in the formatting made it basically impossible unless you were willing to read a sentence per page. I'm sure this is a pre-publishing format and won't be in the final product, but it's something I wanted to point out.

Once again thank you for providing me with a free digital copy of this book!

Charmingly gruesome and unique. I adored this book, it is horromance at its finest.
The portrayal of what it means to be a monster is superbly explored.
Although there is gore this is very well balanced with sweet romance and humour creating an overall cozy atmosphere. The story itself read like a classic fairytale.
A very creative piece of literature that is a must read.
I now need to get myself a steel-fanged necklace in homage to this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Sometimes a book is so wonderfully weird that you cannot help but admire the pure bizarreness of it. This is one of those. It’s odd, yet satisfying.

Although I have to admit the story did not completely pull me in, it definitely kept me engaged and appreciated the story in itself. It felt fresh and original and also kind of gross and fun at the same time.

I thought the love story that is at the heart of this novel was very heart-warming. The mutual respect and affection was beautifully written. I think we all need that warmth in another person to keep the monsters at bay.

I am not sure why I never quite felt immersed in the story itself. It may be the tone of the writing or simply the oddness of it, but something kept me at arm’s length a little.

Even so, I would happily recommend this to any reader who is looking for something that is a bit different, a bit gory in a strangely cosy way and with a big heart.

This book is very weird, the base of the story is that we follow a shape-shifting creature, who is regularly hunted by monster hunters, as she falls in love with a human woman. Plot wise I won't go further than that but trust me there is so much more to this than meets the eye. I flew through this book in two days, it is an excellent page turner and not too long (my version was 320 pages), so in my opinion it was a great quick read.

The sapphic romance is adorable and I was invested from the get go. The two characters are so different from what I've encountered in other romance novels, it was refreshing to read. The cast of characters have sapphic rep, asexual rep, and fat rep, to name a few. The relationship builds such emotion and tenderness into a story that is otherwise about monsters and monster hunters. The author manages to weave tenderness and emotion in creatures you wouldn't expect it from.

There was much more to the plot than I expected going in. Twists and turns kept me invested the whole way through, with only short parts here and there where the pacing got a bit slow. There are some action scenes in this book and I think it was really well written (coming from someone who often struggles to follow action/fight scenes).

There is a body horror aspect in how the shape-shifting creature characters' actions are described and there is detailed descriptions of gore; but don't let this put you off entirely if it's not usually your thing. I do not usually get on with body horror and I was fine with this one, I found it added a great counterpart to the sweet romantic plotline.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's so unique to anything I've read before and managed to kept me interested in the plot while emotionally invested in the characters.

I have reviewed Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell for book recommendation and selling site LoveReading.co.uk. I’ve chosen it as a Liz Pick of the Month and LoveReading Star Book. Please see the link to the site for the full review.