I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by John Wiswell through the PW Grab A Galley giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and have a safe and happy holiday season!

I am so in love with everything this book is. It’s classic monster fairytale meets body horror nightmare, it’s funny, it’s sharp, it’s insightful, and most of all it’s fun. I adore Shesheshen, her story and narrative are unique and compelling. I just want the gay damages monster and the gay damaged monster hunter to live happily ever after! I am but a simple woman!!

I was probably as often grossed out as I was charmed by this story. And the TWISTS!! They keep the story feeling so alive and had me desperate to know what would happen next. I’m so blown away by this book, I don’t think I’ll ever read something quite like this again.

This book had an amazing concept– who wouldn’t want to read a book about a sapphic monster romance? Because I was definitely really excited to read about this. Unfortunately, it was a slog if I have ever read one, and it is way too boring for the mindset that I am currently in, which could be a reason that I don’t like the book. I kept on thinking that I was at least halfway through the book and then be only about fifty pages into it.
I’m not sure why I didn’t like it exactly, it may have been the writing style, it may have been the pacing, it may have been the way that Shesheshen’s train of thought made absolutely zero sense to me (also she used the word girlfriend when she was still very much in the they have never physically touched each other while both of them were conscious era which was certainly a choice), but it was just overall pretty disappointing to me.

Shesheshen, our main character, is a shapeshifter who uses external objects (or flesh) to give her body structure. She falls in love with a human woman, Homily, whose abusive family is cartoonishly evil. The originality and strength of Shesheshen's voice made this a fascinating and engaging read. Despite the sometimes heavy subject matter, the tone and pace remain light and quick. Sometimes this is a joyful and wonderful thing. Other times this felt like a disservice to the characters and their relationships, which as a result could feel one-dimensional and unexplored. The story has enough complexity that the cartoon villainy of Homily's family (which includes every member, down to her still-quite-young sibling Ode) feels odd, but not so much for a satisfyingly deep exploration of characters' relationships to abuse, their abusers, or even love more generally. There is still plenty to enjoy, particularly in Shesheshen's unique perspective on the world, and it was still worth the read, but I found myself wanting more. (I do love and appreciate that the romance was asexual, also!)

Without a doubt one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read, in the most delightful of ways. Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a creepy, gory, icky, unabashedly fun mash-up of horror, fantasy, sci-fi and romance, and the LGBTQIA romance is an added bonus.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a horror-fantasy romcom hybrid told from the point of view of Shesheshen, an amorphous shape shifter that relies on a grab bag of sticks, bones, rocks, and man-made tools to form a skeleton when she changes shape. She's an obligate carnivore and has been known to opportunistically eat humans. This would not normally make her a very sympathetic character, but Wiswell somehow makes it work. It helps that she has a strangely romantic--in the sense that she has a very rosy, optimistic point of view --of her prospects, her personal history and her existence, and that she tends to eat humans who are attacking her and people who are kind of objectively horrible. (Another way she may be considered "romantic" is that she is looking for that Special Someone who will be the perfect "parent" (read: host) for her eggs.)

When Shesheshen is awakened from hibernation by monster hunters, she flees and eventually encounters a woman named Homily, whom she thinks might be The One. However there are a number of complication, obstacles and revelations that come between Shesheshen and a potential relationship with Homily. The first, is that Shesheshen is being sought by monster hunters for her "heart" to end a family's curse. (Shesheshen does not have a heart or even a circulatory system.) The second is that Shesheshen's potential "in-laws" are objectively horrible people who want to kill her for murders she did not commit. (As opposed to the ones she has committed.) The third is that Shesheshen comes from an intelligent, solitary species that doesn't pass on information to the next generation and therefore, has no actual idea of how her species reproductive cycle works. (The revelations are not fun.)

Wiswell does a disturbingly good job of turning what would be a terrifying combination of The Thing, The Blob and a Xenomorph into a sympathetic and engaging protagonist. Even as you're very creeped out by Shesheshen's alien view point and instincts you can sympathise with her confusion, literal mindedness and vast holes in her knowledge and her substandard social skills as she tries to navigate something resembling a relationship with Homily. I liked the interactions between Shesheshen and Homily, and I found the plot to be extremely engaging. (While I do classify this as "horror" I'd have to say it's more strongly fantasy. The "horror" aspects mostly come in the form of body horror--due to disturbing shapeshifting powers and general sliminess-- and Homily's horrible family.)

Only one slight complaint: It is just plain mean of the writer to have a minor character discover a monster kink after encountering Shesheshen, and then have Shesheshen stumble into using it to get the character to help her. I say "stumbles" because Shesheshen has no dang clue of why Laurent likes it when she delivers hair-raising threats. It is completely confusing to her on every level. I say it's "mean" because Laurent does not strike me as an exceptionally terrible person, just a dumbass, and doesn't deserve to be accidentally strung along. On the other hand Shesheshen's baffled reactions to Laurent's painful, second hand embarrassment inducing attraction are kind of funny. Except you know, for the painful second hand embarrassment. (Shesheshen gives me very strong "gray ace or maybe demisexual" vibes. Mostly because of the way she reacts to certain forms of physical intimacy but also because she just fails to understand when someone is attracted to her. Of all of the monster movie monsters I've compared her to, she is definitely NOT Sil from Species.)

I highly recommend the book, though with the caveat that if you are intensely "cool story, still murder" you may want to give this book a pass because the book is about a monster who kills people. And then eats them/uses their bones as scaffolding.

This was a fun story that I enjoyed very much. Kept me interested. Look forward to more by the author.

Ordinarily one wouldn’t use the words absolutely adorable to describe a book that discusses at length various bodily fluids, bones, and an Alien style hatching, but here we are. This book was probably the surprise of the year for me. I was intrigued by the description and then blown away by the execution. The novel follows Shesheshen, a blob of not really human flesh but with an appetite for it, grappling with human nature, family dynamics, and battling her own nature for the one she loves. I love originality in a book and this one certainly delivers, and there were several twists I certainly wasn’t expecting. Very much enjoyed, thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

First, let me be clear that the premise of this book is incredible. It's a story about folks chasing down a monster... from the perspective of the monster.

I will say, I enjoyed the premise and vibes more than the actual story. All the plot points worked for me, but I just couldn't connect with the narration in a way that had me really care about what was happening. It also slanted a little more horror/gore than I generally prefer, but that's definitely personal preference and didn't impact my rating.

I don't know how to describe the book beyond being a queer horror romance about a monster trying to flee and hide her identity. If that's your vibe though, I think you'll love Someone You Can Build a Nest In. I look forward to reading John Wisewell's future work and am grateful to NetGalley for granting me access to an ARC of this book!

What a fun and wild ride! Innovative monster idea and witty yet psychologically subtle story with almost more unexpected turns than the main character possesses stolen organs. Perfect for fans of smart and queer novels such as "Gideon the Ninth" "Legends & Lattes", "Empire of the Vampire". Will certainly recommend this new fantasy gem.

Fun, weird, strange, creepy all the things that I like in a book. I thought this was very unique and I really enjoyed the characters and plot .

Destination Uncanny Valley

I have mixed feelings about John Wiswell's debut novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In. Intellectually, it's one of the most interesting attempts I've read at a problem Science Fiction authors have always struggled with -- creating aliens that are actually alien. But emotionally, alas, I didn't really connect with it. Sadly, I finished the book with a feeling of relief.

I don't guess Wiswell was aiming at Science Fiction, but rather Horror Fantasy. Fine, I don't care where the bookstore shelves it. It stars an alien monster that a science fiction author would be proud of. What's more, the alien monster, Sheshehen, is the main point of view character. And she is truly biologically alien. She's a blob of flesh and can voluntarily take any shape and incorporate anything she eats. Does she have bones? If she wants to, and if she eats something with bones. Her life-cycle, though inhuman, is more familiar. Wiswell obviously based it on the truly horrifying Parasitoid Wasp -- they lay eggs in the body of a host, the eggs hatch and consume the host, killing it -- thus the title Someone You Can Build a Nest In.

This leads to some fascinatingly awkward etiquette problems, like this one

"There was no easy way to ask if Homily wanted her to eat her mother."*

Indeed, it's a difficult subject to broach.

Where Shesheshen's alienness slips is in her inner life. She thinks and wants and communicates in a very human way. In fact, she falls in love with a human. How does she have the capacity for a very human-seeming love? Her species reproduces asexually. Furthermore, like Parasitoid wasps they do not nurture their young. It is difficult to understand how, with this biology, it makes sense for her to experience a very human love.

Well, of course it is not really that difficult to understand. Wiswell is bowing to the exigencies of fiction. He wants a point-of-view character that his readers (most of whom he assuredly expects to be human) can relate to. For me this doesn't quite work. The alien biology combined with the almost human psyche combine to place Shesheshen in the Uncanny Valley. One suspects that Wiswell may be doing this deliberately.

I personally am not a big fan of Romance novels, and while I appreciate the creativity of this one, it landed outside my sweet spot. It would not surprise me to learn that it works better for folks who have broader romance tolerances.

I thank NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Someone You Can Build a Nest In. This review expresses my honest opinions. Release date 2-Apr-2024.

*This quote is from an advance reader copy, and may change before publication. If necessary, it will be corrected on the book's release.

This is the type of book that makes me buzz with excitement for people to read it. I genuinely cannot wait to see what people think of this one because I loved it.

The monster biology in this novel is so inventive and interesting to read.

Shesheshen is by far one of my favorite protagonists I've read in recent years. It's really hard to capture such inhuman concepts and emotions in writing but I commend this author for nailing it on the head.

There's also an extremely clever bait and switch moment in this novel that genuinely surprised me-

Lot's to be praised here! So wholesome!

This book started out so fun, funny, unexpected and weird – in a good way! – and it stayed that way, throughout, but as it progressed it also delved deeper into relationships, family, trauma and healing. So this is a very well written and funny book about some pretty heavy stuff – a tall order – and it does it so well.

Shesheshen is probably one of my favourite protagonists in a long time.

I really, really enjoyed this read and I can´t wait to read more by John Wiswell.

PS I LOVE this title!

This book is an absolute wild ride of a read, and it was incredibly enjoyable throughout. It's definitely not for everyone - I'm not recommending it for family book group, for example. However, for people for whom, "lesbian shapeshifting blob disembowels and absorbs girlfriend's abusive family members...for love!" hits the sweet spot, it's an absolute slam dunk. Yeah, it's a little gory, but there's an amazing amount of tenderness and humanity that I found super relatable. It's also got a great message about how "monsters" might have more humanity than the humans, and that humans can be monsters too; the different is not in how you're perceived, but how you treat others. Honestly, a book that can give me goopy digestive juicy gore, a tender exploration of familial trauma, and the joy and confusion of falling in love all in one is absolutely a five star read for me. This is the kind of book that I wouldn't have expected to get published, but I'm thrilled that it did, and I hope it finds its way into the hands of other readers for whom it resonates like it did for me.

An utter delight from start to finish. I can't recommend this enough! Shesheshen is fabulously alien and monstrous, and she never loses that even as she gains an understanding of love and empathy. The romance is slow and sweet and does a wonderful job of focusing on each of them as full people.

Wiswell, as an author, recognizes the fine line between being caring and supportive and being traumatized and self-sacrificing. He leans in, asking difficult questions: do you love your partner for who they are, or are you in love with their trauma? And what if their trauma is part of what has made them who they are?