John Wiswell's debut novel is a captivating blend of fantasy, romance, and a unique monster's perspective. Shesheshen, a shapeshifting creature, falls in love with Homily, a human who mistakes her for one of her own. As Shesheshen grapples with keeping her identity secret, she discovers Homily is hunting a shapeshifter believed to have cursed her family.

Forced to unearth the truth while evading deadly hunters and dealing with Homily’s toxic family, Shesheshen must navigate love, identity, and acceptance. This creepy yet charming story subverts traditional genre conventions, making it a must-read for fans of fantasy romance.

I am struggling to navigate my feelings. The premise was both inventive and charming, yet the execution left so much to be desired. While I was enjoying the first half of this book, I found that the pacing stumbled towards the end and when I did finish all I felt was relief. Wiswell is a great writer, I do not think that is where he lacked, the book was simply too long. Shesheshen, our main character, started interesting but soon fell as flat as Homily. I want to end on a positive of this otherwise negative review, I did think this book was extremely humorous and do recommend it to others but perhaps those who are looking for a rather slow read that leans more cozy than horror. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I was so looking forward to it because I thought it could possibly have some similar mixed cozy X something (that doesn’t feel like it would mix well with cozy) feelings as my own WIP. For this one specifically, I heard it was cozy and horror that were intertwined. I can’t say I’m fully convinced of either of those designations.

The horror part is the one that really didn’t stick out to me. Yes, there’s a bit of gore and there’s a monster, but it felt more like a fantasy story with some dark parts to me than horror. I didn’t get the suspense or creepy factor or anything else like that from this. It did feel a little bit cozy here and there but not as much as I had expected. Yes, the idea of the romance was cute and had cozy potential but it just didn’t play out that way for me personally.

This could be because I struggled to feel any kind of connection to any of the characters. I had a hard time emphasizing with some of them and found some others to be too over the top. Combined with a hunt that felt drawn out and repetitive, I had a hard time wanting to pick this up and sticking to it and I thought it should’ve ended sooner than it did (but I’m just not a fan of cheesy endings in general and often prefer stories to end sooner).

I did really enjoy the surprise of the plot later on and how that affected the direction of the story. I also liked the commentary on monsters vs. civilization and who the true monsters are, though I would’ve liked that to be more than quick asides every once in a while. The world was easy to imagine for me, though I would’ve loved more lore about monsters in general.

So while there are some positives, overall it sadly didn’t work quite as well for me as I had hoped. I found the idea very intriguing though and there were aspects that I did find interesting so I’m open to trying more by this author.

First of all, I loved that this was from the monster's perspective. Right off the bat it felt different and it led to my immediate engagement. This is a haunting book that asks the deeper questions of life through the lens of a love story.

DNF at around 35%

I am sad to let this one go, but I don't see myself going back to it any time soon. It's not that it is a bad book but every time I put it down I found myself finding excuse after excuse to not go back to it.
The thing is that the author did a brave thing in choosing the MC, because Shesheshen is original (and pretty likable too!). I mean, she is a monster, she is an inhuman creature (and I am referring here to her nature. I am not saying she is evil or similar things, not at all! But she is pretty far from a human being) and the author did a great job portraying this. I loved her. And, to be honest, I also enjoyed Homily (and surprisingly, even Laurent... don't ask me why, but it is so!). The MCs are pretty good, and I was enjoying them.
But all the rest was given off strong "same old, same old" vibes, and I just wasn't interested. It's not that the plot is bad but... I wasn't interested in it, at all.

Romantic fantasy with humour, heart and a great heroine who's allergic to rosemary, can change shape and it's usually considered a monster.
The so called-monster is cleverer and sweeter and most of the humans she met and I didn't cry when she killer the aristoguy at the beginning of the story.
The rest is a well plotted, fast paced, and humorous story that kept me reading and made me laugh.
A bit gorey at times but always humorous and full of heart
Shesheshen is a great heroine and I loved her even if I wouldn't be so happy to meet her.
Cant' wait to read other books by this author, this one is highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

For fangs of T. Kingfisher, a fun, creative read and surprisingly wholesome romance. As a non-romance reader, I would have preferred this to be a bit heavier on the horror. This dragged in the middle and could have been a bit shorter, and the monster felt a bit too anthropomorphized by the end, though her interactions with humans in the first half were perfect. Overall an enjoyable read. Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity to review.

Okay, I LOVED this book. The premise of a monster not only learning what love it, but learning how to love a human is just as wonderful as it sounds in this novel. I found myself laughing just as often as I was ooh-ing and aww-ing over the adorableness the characters displayed towards one another. I felt the LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse vibes the characters gave off which made the entire novel all the more enduring despite it being considered a horror-romance. I've recommended this novel to all of my friends! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

One of the most curious and brilliant reads of recent times!
Intriguing from the premise I devoured every page. A unique romantic story even if for me the ending isn't up to the rest!

Thanks to Negalley and publisher for the e-ARC!

**Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the eARC of this title and to DAW for the physical ARC! Apologies I am past publication getting this review up.**

As a mood reader, it is sometimes a struggle for me to pick out my next read. When the mood hit for this one though, I knew it was going to be the perfect, cozy little monster fantasy that I needed.

I felt that the characters in this one were so unique and well thought out, and I enjoyed riding around in the head of a monster as she navigated her feelings towards the human world.

My only complaints with this one were that the ending didn't quite hit the mark for me, and that is the big reasons for not being a 5 star read for me. Overall, I would recommend this book for fans of cozy fantasy, monster romance, and epic adventure!

This was just too intriguing to put down. Will the shape-shifting monster lay her eggs in the very person her body is compelling her to love? She is not human and therefore not at the mercy of some strange organs she's picked up to assimilate. The question is ever persistent as I tore through this book. I was very satisfied by the wrap up and so glad that my dwindling free time was taken up by this story.

What a unique romance. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a protagonist like Shesheshen. Her character growth is remarkable and the parallels between her trauma and Homily’s are wonderful. Truly a beautiful story of ending cycles of trauma grossly told.

OK but how to describe this? It’s a horror I think but also has super tender moments of romance and delves into grief and trauma in a really understated way? Idk but I really enjoyed it. Basically, ashapeshifting “monster” accidentally falls for a human only to find out that she’s hunting … the monster. Sweet and funny and gross all at the same time. I initially picked it up because of the cover, and I’m so glad I did!!

3.5 okay okay hmmmm. I really wanted to LOVE this book. while I did really enjoy a lot of it (it’s really unlike anything i’ve ever read!) it felt about 75 pages too long. LOVED the concept and it was funny! loved how gory it was, loved how insane some of the plot points were. but the pacing was just not for me.

All in all, this was good. I think a lot of people could really enjoy this cozy horror romantic fantasy vibe. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I will probably not think about this much beyond right now if I'm honest.

Going into this book, I was so intrigued and ready to eat up this story following a forbidden lovers kind of romance. And for the first half, I would say that his was giving me everything I wanted. But the second half started to fall apart for me, and I honestly had trouble paying attention at times.

- Shesheshen was a wonderfully created character - immensely complex and ever-changing
- Homily was a precious kind of love interest being introduced after nursing Shesheshen back to health. However, Homily felt like a very flat, doormat-type character for much of the book (no help from the in-laws treating her like garbage). I think I wanted more from Homily?
- Shesheshen constantly being in hiding, protecting her secret identity as a shapeshifter while navigating the fact that the woman she was falling in love with (despite not understanding what love is) was actually trying to hunt her? Iconic.
- I did really love the relationship here, and the constant inner battle for Shesheshen on what to do about this woman she loves, but knowing what nesting will do to her. It is endearing to read about he inner turmoil and how it all comes together.
- The twist with Homily's mom was interesting, but also I was already kind of losing interest, and trying to follow the mechanics of everything here was impossible for a visual reader - there is no good way to visualize a shapeshifter who can mold their flesh and bones and muscles and orifices at a whim and the image of the nesting of eggs from the egg sac? Yeah, you can forget that.
- The audio was done very well, I think the narrator helped build a cozy feeling, while also adding enough differentiation between voices to carry the story clearly.

This was a very enjoyable read! Cozy horror that goes great with a rainstorm and hot coco. The characters are developed really well, and the journey taken by Shesheshen over the course of the book is beautiful.

There are some spots I felt that dragged, but for the most part it’s all really well paced.

This is such a bizarre read that I'm not entirely sure if I really did like it as much as I did, but I think it warped my mind with how original the concept is.
Its basic premise is that of a shapeshifter monster, Shesheshen, passing herself off as human in order to escape hunters and exact revenge on those who've wronged her. Except Shesheshen meets a member of the family hunting her and this particular human woman is sweet and caring and makes Shesheshen feel all kinds of things she didn't know she could. So what does a sentient sludge with a need to find someone to implant her eggs into do when the person who makes her want to lay her eggs is also the person she can't imagine losing?
There is so much bloody violence in everything that has to do with Shesheshen and those hunting her, but it's done in a way that feels so spectacular and out there that the unreality of it makes it not feel as violent as it truly is, particularly because the heart of the story is the humanity of not only Homily but Shesheshen. Their heartfelt talks and explorations of their past and how it's shaping their present make for riveting reading that perfectly balances out the more action-packed scenes.
I would have never thought I'd say this, but it's one of the books I've most enjoyed reading this year. At the very least, the most memorable from sheer originality.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and DAW for the memorable read!

First of all let me start by saying, I think the marriage of Romance and Horror makes a lot of sense when you consider how they are both based on the build up of narrative tension and it's controlled release. With that said, I think for that to work you have to lean a lot harder into the narrative tropes of both for it to truly work. In a lot of ways it feels like the teeth were filed off of both genres here, I'm not sure if it's my lack of experience with the current "cozy horror" trend or if the plot elements that the author decided on in addition to the romance left them spinning a few too many plates. But in the edition I had (ARC copy that I'm finally finishing after 2 months, I'm assuming not that much changed from there to release) the romance feels incomplete.

I want to be clear that I did mostly enjoy this book. It was a refreshing concept. I enjoyed the feeling of alienness that we get from having a monstrous character, though the neurodivergent among the crowd may find certain elements fairly relatable sometimes talking really is too much work. But after the romance is established, not even really that bothered by the instalove, it gets shoved to the wayside for a plot that doesn't land as successfully as it would if we also saw the main relationship getting worked on. We rely a bit too heavily on the Shesheshen says something sincerely, Homily thinks it's meant as a joke -- something I also quickly found a little annoying -- to show the relationship is progressing.

The plot which surrounds Homily's family, which I think is too big for the purposes it's being used for. I don't need my bad guys to be fleshed out necessarily, but having 3 characters whose personalities boil down to loud, rude, and abusive leaves that section of the book feeling a bit one note - the 50% mark when we're just in the forest with Homily's family hunting the monster is when I set it down and just could not bring myself to pick it back up for nearly a month, not ideal. When I pushed through that point, things got easier to progress through, but I knew with a good deal of certainty that this wasn't going to be my next favorite book like I'd been hoping when I saw it. The conclusion was fine, the epilogue portion suffers in the same way that the romance did -- it relies too heavily on the audience to find the suggestion of relationships that the author hasn't fleshed out.

My last complaint, I am genuinely not someone who is bothered by the use of more modern language in a "period" piece. Especially fantasy where the period is usually more implied than outright stated, and if it's for the sake of better representation, I normally really, really don't mind if our MC calls themself a lesbian or bisexual or gay regardless of the language that would be used at the time. That Being Said, when our shapeshifting blob used the phrase allosexual I had to put the book down for a minute. I don't object to the concept, and in fact I thought that was probably the most fun twist in the book that the monster in the monster romance was ace, it is just such a jarringly modern word to be used in a world that is dubiously medieval. And also personally, I don't like the word enby that's not the author's fault but it was another choice in here that took me out of my rhythm.

I feel like I need to reiterate that I did like this book. It has a lot of heart, it's a fun concept that I think was largely well executed. There are going to be a lot of people that this works for more than it did me, and it could turn into a brand new favorite for them. I'll probably even give the author's next book a go to see what he does.

I really enjoyed this book! some of the body horror was a bit over the top, but it was well-balanced by the humor. I really enjoyed the romance as well. It took me by surprise just how well the romance worked. So glad to have gotten this ARC!

This is one of the weirdest and surprising books I've read in a long time. It felt so unique and intriguing of a premise - and I had absolutely no idea what direction it would go in the beginning. Besides a familiarity with many of the authours lovely short stories, I might not have been attracted to a book in this genre otherwise, I might not have enough stuck with it, despite enjoying the writing because body horror isn't really for me generally, but it wasn't intense, and it paid off, I'm glad I kept reading because it was very enjoyable, but also very weird.

This is an odd sort of love story, the descriptive language evokes the feeling of being there, the villains are not who you think, and empathizing with a human eating amorphous flesh monster was not on my bingo card for the year.