Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell is a weird and wonderful book. I was honestly hooked the moment I read the summary, and the story absolutely delivered. Nest takes after its shape-shifting protagonist and combines elements of horror, comedy, mystery, adventure, and queer romance into one tale that will definitely stand out amongst your 2024 TBR.

Shesheshen’s hibernation is disrupted by two monster hunters and a very loud and gilded nobleman. Annoyed by their intrusion, the shape-shifting monster strings her body together from leftover bones, tools, and a chain to confront the humans ruining her slumber. When the confrontation goes poorly, Shesheshen is forced to visit town in search of a meal to aid in her healing. But her appearance does not go unnoticed, and in her haste to find safety, Shesheshen ends up in the company of a warm and kind stranger. As the town and powerful local family decide to hunt and kill the monster once and for all, Shesheshen will take shape, make a stand, and fall deeply in love.

Shesheshen is a great narrator and the main reason why I enjoyed this story so much. Her perspective is interesting, morbid, and incredibly funny. We’re learning about the world through the eyes of a reclusive monster who has a limited view of how humans operate. This makes for entertaining interactions as Shesheshen assumes a human shape and enters society. She is naive about humans while incredibly observant, making blunt commentary about the way they live and treat both humans and monsters alike. The humor sprinkled throughout the story is completely unintentional, thanks to Sheseshen’s unflappable ability to be honest and straightforward, and it made me laugh out loud several times.

There is a lot of commentary about what makes someone or something monstrous. As soon as the story begins, Wiswell has us questioning this definition and why some acts are accepted while others are horrifying. Our narrator, Shesheshen, is a monster and must absorb people to survive which can be a gruesome experience described in detail. However, Wiswell subtly hints that Shesheshen mostly minds her own business, and targets terrible people when she must feed or as a means of protecting herself when confronted. In comparison, many of the humans in this story are awful, so awful that I was rooting for Shesheshen to eat them at every turn. Unfortunately for me, Shesheshen had more sense and patience than the meat sacks walking around her.

I appreciate the attention that Wiswell gave to trauma in this story, especially by showing the way characters have been shaped by it and how it manifests. At the end of the climax, the story actually makes us sit with the trauma, guilt, and pain that comes from all the desperation, fear, and violent actions of the plot. There were no quick fixes to the panic attacks or solutions for the personalities molded by all the ways people failed the characters. Wiswell doesn’t go too in-depth here, but he calls it out and makes sure space is held for the realities of hurting and healing.

Someone You Can Build A Nest In was monstrously fun and heartfelt. It’s a horror-adventure-love story that will make you uncomfortable but also creates a safe space for you to come home to.

Rating: Someone You Can Build A Nest In - 7.5/10

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own.

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.

Hi, I loved this and am about to make it part of my whole personality. Please read this book.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a delightfully cozy, funny horromantasy about what it means to be human, what it means to truly love someone, and healing from traumatic families. It's told from the POV of a monster that slowly finds itself falling in love. She has a blue bear (creatively named Blueberry), a remarkable ability to re-create perfectly detailed human hands, and devilishly sinister threats like "if you lie I will eat your lips."

#MonsterLife:
Unfortunately, the human she thinks she's falling in love with is part of a family that's out hunting her, so she has to do things like: borrow (aka digest) an olfactory system so she can blend in-- so tedious to maintain, not kill humans who are being rude at any moment she wants to, and even tie deer antlers to sheep and try to convince her beloved that that's the monster they're hunting.

The Writing:
If not already apparent, I was enamored by the humor which consistently dropped little nuggets that perfectly tickled my funny bone. But I also enjoyed the way a non-human monster viewed humanity and blending in with phrases like "romance was awful," or "arguing was the hardest form of talking." And equally they could say the absolutely sweetest things that made me genuinely buy into the romance such as when her gf is injured and "she wanted to... spend the rest of her life protecting that shoulder."

The Ending:
Some of the twists were well-telegraphed and easy to guess, but others were very fun developments that felt organic to the story and further reflected the characters' inner selves and their growth. I like when knowledge of a magic system is expanded on by the end of the book for both the reader and the characters. All of it was very satisfying for me.

Overall:
Don't be surprised if you hear me screaming about this book or re-reading it within a week. I absolutely loved it and if I didn't have other commitments would probably immediately start a re-read.

This was an adorable book! Despite the stakes, the book never felt too stressful, but instead felt cozy and went along at a comforting and indulgent pace. All of the characters in this book were fantastically characterised and fleshed out, each incredibly distinct from the others but not in a one-schtick character sort of way. Shesheshen was so well characterized and relatable, and made for a wonderful protagonist, and example of a monster main character who isn’t monstrous. Similarly Homily balanced her out fantastically, with her own issues and struggles separate from Shesheshen’s that worked incredibly well. Not to mention the villains of this book who were all incredibly intriguing and entirey detestable.
The story itself was also fantastic, I loved all the twists and turns it took, and the internal pacing of the story was incredibly well done and kept me mostly engaged throughout the story. The one criticism I have is that at some points it lagged mostly due to the style of the writing itself which was occasionally dry.
However all in all I really enjoyed this book and everything it had to offer.

SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN probably wouldn’t have really crossed my radar if the publisher hadn’t offered me the ARC, but I’m so glad it did because this book is such a unique and brilliant read.
I always say ‘unlikeable’ characters and morally grey/antihero types are my absolute favourites, and if you’re of a similar opinion, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN is one you’ll definitely need to check out. Horrible characters abound, not least of which is Shesheshen – who actually is, I would say, a really likable protagonist, but just so happens to have absolutely no hesitations about eating people. If tortured vampires aren’t quite hitting it, this is a real monster romance for you. The romance is a slow burn sapphic story, without spice, that touches on (I would say) asexuality, disability and family abuse.
The plot isn’t terribly complex, but it’s the way it’s pulled off that’s so clever – I’ve never seen body horror with such a sense of humour – and utterly unlike anything I’ve read before.
The overall effect is strangely wholesome and cozy, despite violence. Perhaps, what Legends & Lattes is to epic fantasy, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN is to eldritch horror?
Utterly engaging. I’ll be watching out for what John Wiswell’s brain comes up with next.
A must read.

I adored this one! Definitely one of my very favorite books of the year--I know it's only March, but I can't imagine it being knocked down from its spot. Very inventive and funny. I've probably recommended it to everyone I know, with segues like "speaking of eye horror. if you want a cute love story, you should read..."

The voice of Shesheshen is one of a kind. Seeing the world through her eyes (no matter their origin) was a surprise and a delight. I imagine many people, upon hearing a basic description of the book, would question how such a thing could be endearing or romantic, but I suppose the answer will be - read it and find out!

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is delightfully disturbing. I knew from the dedication that it was going to be a great book. I didn't expect to laugh and swoon at some of the more morbid depictions of body parts and gore....but here we are. If a monster murdering and absorbing a girlfriend's abusive family members sounds intriguing and oddly sweet then you have to read this book!

Oddly charming and sweet for a book that’s so filled with gore and body horror.

I’m a sucker for a traditionally “evil” character getting their time in the sun. Especially when they’re fun. Monsters pretending to people always make for a lot of interesting interactions and the main character here, Shesheshen, really makes the book feel like something special. She’s unique, clever and entertaining - and somehow, wanting to eat your girlfriend’s shitty family is surprisingly endearing.

Despite this book struggling a bit with some depth in it’s secondary characters and having some pacing issues at times, it has a lot of to say about letting yourself be destroyed for the benefit of others, kindness that becomes a response to trauma rather than a genuine act for another, and what makes someone deserving or worthy of love they shouldn’t have to earn. Seeing these things through the eyes of a monster learning about humanity adds a great layer and yeah, yeah - que the corny sentiment. “Who’s the REAL monster here?” Spoiler though: it’s still Shesheshen, but she’s our girl so, it’s cool.

Overall fun read. Would recommend.

This is a cute horror book, which I know can be seen as opposite but it really is. I love the sapphic relationship woven throughout, and how the main character is able to be gentle with the trauma her girlfriend has lived through. There is a lot of gentleness from the main "monster" character. It took me a while to get through this book, because the switch between cozy sapphic romance to horror genre meant I wasn't always in the mood. But, overall, I think this book was genre breaking and so unique. I am 100% buying a physical copy as a trophy for my bookshelf.

Thank you Netgalley and DAW for the ARC!

A mythical wrym falls in love with a human woman, whose family’s sole purpose is to hunt and destroy her.
Their love is doomed from the start. But Shesheshen refuses to give into the pressure to consume Homily, or to implant her eggs in her. She could never do that to her.
But soon they find out Homily’s mother is not what she seems, and maybe not quite human either. Together they must accept who Shesheshen is and stop Homily’s out of control, abusive mother once and for all.

This book was okay. It was longer than it needed to be, and I found myself getting bored towards the end. I feel like the resolution dragged on after the climax and things could’ve wrapped up more efficiently.

Overall Inpressions: I am rounding up a 4.5 star review to a 5 star. I actually think if it weren’t for the last handful of chapters, this would have been a 5 star book. Overall, it was weird, horrible, and absolutely delightful. Just the best sapphic body horror romantasy I can imagine.

Worldbuilding: The world here is fairly sparse. We visit a single city in some sort of europe-like fantasy world, without much of a deep dive into the politics or any of the surrounding area. Most of the worldbuilding is based on the wyvern (if that’s what Shesheshen is), with many questions unanswered for reasons that make sense in the context of the book. Her existence and way of shape shifting was utterly unique and fascinating.

Characters: I would die for Shesheshen. I just absolutely loved her. I think there is something to be said for comparing her to Murderbot; both are confused by human behavior and emotion but spend plenty of time studying it, both have a very dry sense of humor, and both are absolutely charming. Homily is a complex character that I didn’t always agree with but do understand the motivations for, and I appreciated her character arc.

Plot: At no point during this book did I know what would happen next. In retrospect, the plot arc makes sense and is fairly traditional in some ways; while it was happening, it was a delightful rollercoaster. I do think the pacing was overall very consistent with only some mild dragging towards around 60-70% of the book. However, the ending was… not my favorite. I felt like we had a delightful ending which wrapped up the story well and then it just kept going for a few more chapters. I didn’t hate Epilogue as a character but some of the dialogue around it was too on the nose and I just didn’t particularly love it either. It was fine. I do wish the book had ended earlier.

Recommend/Read More? Absolutely recommend, this was fantastic. Though I will have quite the time trying to describe what exactly I just read. I would read more from this author as well.

Cosy fantasy isn’t normally my cup of tea but the healthy dashes of good weirdness, horror, satire and humour have made this reading experience very enjoyable.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In follows Shesheshen, the resident shapeshifter monster of Underlook who falls in love with a kind human girl named Homily. However, despite Homily reciprocating Shesheshen’s feelings, their romance is not an easy one because:

a) Homily is part of the intense, complicated, toxic and extreme Wulfyre family who has made it their duty to slay wyrms like Shesheshen because her kind has somehow ‘cursed’ their family.
b) No matter how well Shesheshen mimics and learns, at the end of the day, she’s no human and a relationship built on lies is not something she can vibe with — and heavens, there are a lot of lies from all sides that need to be dealt with first.

So, what can a monster in love do but try her best anyway, am I right? Which, brings us this oddly lovable story that has humans VS monsters interwoven into everything, everywhere, all at once.

Wiswell has done a brilliant job telling this story through the perspective of a monster. It truly reads and feels alien, but as admirable as I find this (and as much as I enjoyed the other aspects of the story), I feel this has created a great emotional disconnect as well. I get that this is due to Shesheshen’s character and when she becomes more human in feeling and thinking, her narrative reflects that. However, the emotions in her narrative also stop coming to life after the climax and the story returns to this state of emotional disconnectivity. This could just be me, though, as I found the entire bit post-climax too neat. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the care Wiswell has in exploring different types of trauma, love, relationships and identity here.

If romance between a human and monster paired with a direct, unflinching narrative (remember, this is a horror fantasy too) doesn’t give you the ick, I think you’ll enjoy Someone You Can Build a Nest In too.

Ahoy there me mateys!  There is a lot of awesome in this story of Shesheshen the monster falling in love with a human.  I loved the tale being told from the prospective of the monster.  Shesheshen's viewpoint of humans and their particularities was excellent fun.  I found the beginning of this novel up through the monster meeting the love interest, Homily, to be captivating.  Homily, of course, thinks Shesheshen is a human.  The monster learning about how humans think about love was also wonderful.  The insight into monster ethics was excellent.

Sadly, I did not love Homily as a character, even though she was sympathetic.  She seemed very one dimensional.  As the novel progressed I found the romance subplot and Homily's family began to irk me.  I did not like the plot twist regarding Homily's mother at all.  The logic of the story did not always work for me.

I also wish the novel would not have taken the direction it did once the big bad was dealt with.  Part of the problem was all of the lying that Shesheshen did to Homily seemed to be brushed off with no real consequences.  The reasons for the lies made sense but were not resolved satisfactorily.  It personally never felt like the two became partners.  Plus the epilogue was odd and too long.

I am still extremely glad I read this though because the beginning imagery and plot is going to stick with me for quite sometime.  I could see meself rereading this book just because of how enjoyable it was.  Oh and Blueberry the Bear rocks!  So I do highly recommend it.  I think the problems are more me and not the book.  Arrr!

This book is definitely the most unique fantasy/horror book I’ve ever read.

Main perspective is from a shapeshifting amorphous lump who is consider a monster by the locals.

I don’t really have much to say on this story other than it was such a delight to read. It truly is a great mix of charming and creepy, tender hearted at times and a little funny at others (kissing and cannibalism).

I do think it would be hard to run around and recommend this to just anyone like I want to but I kind of love that this sweet little hidden gem exists in the world of stories and when I do find those who enjoy this kind of vibe, Someone You Can Build a Nest In will be the first.

Cover and Burb feedback: Both represented the contents of the book really accurately and the cover is gorgeous!

I'm very glad a publisher took a chance on this book, even if it ultimately wasn't for me. It's weird, and gory, and nothing like anything I've ever read before. I didn't expect to find myself sympathising with a monster, but I loved the POV of Shesheshen, a shapeshifting monster built from the body parts of her victims. I really liked that this book played with the idea of what it means to be monstrous, and how we perceive those who interact with the world differently from us, without ever feeling like an after-school special.

With that said, where this book really fell down for me was the romance. The entire romantic plot relies on Shesheshen repeatedly lying to and deceiving her already traumatised girlfriend, who is also being continually victimised by her awful family. This is never called out in anyway, and we are supposed to believe that Homily just accepts what Shesheshen tells her when all the big reveals finally come out. Without Homily's POV to give us a sense of how she is thinking and feeling in these moments, the romance really did not work for me, and in fact undercut many of the good qualities of the book.

One final note: as someone on the ace spectrum, I felt a little... underwhelmed by how it was handled in this story, particularly given how much attention was given to the fact that Shesheshen is about to reproduce asexually. There are so many more reasons why someone may or may not desire sex, other than the biological need for children, and this wasn't explored as much as I might like. I also didn't like that Shesheshen was portrayed as becoming irrational the minute her eggs were available, which felt very close to stereotypes around women becoming hysterical when pregnant.

Thanks to DAW and Netgalley for sharing an arc in exchange for an honest review!!

A monster romance where even the human love interest feels monstrous and ostracized by society.

A genre bending fantasy where we follow a monster named Shesheshen who takes great offense at that title. She's trying her best to survive, and pesky so-called heroes keep getting in the way. With a snarky asides and scathing social commentary, Shesheshen is a delightful narrator. At times utterly unaware of her hypocrisy, which personally makes her all the more believable as an eldritch horror play-acting at personhood.

This is a glimpse at what it means to be othered and the joys of finally finding a place to belong and a person to share it with. This book is zany and weird, full of a deep-rooted desire to belong. More so a character study than an adventure tale, the story really shines during the "can I eat __" and "I shouldn't eat __ because of __" conversations. They reminded me of Venom 😊

The romance is almost instantaneous, as both leads are so desperate for connection and softness they fall at the first taste of compassion. Those who want a more meaty build-up of feelings will be disappointed; this is a party I typically find myself in, yet the otherness of Shesheshen and her species warranted some leeway. Of course the eldritch creature views feelings in a different way and latched on once a suitable mate had be found.

There's a lot of body horror in this novel. Yet as the protag is an eldritch being, it's more so descriptions of how Shesheshen uses people she's eaten to morph her own body into shapes she needs to complete various tasks. So like it isn't gore central if that's a concern for anyone going into this novel—I enjoy gratuitous carnage every now and again, but know that isn't everyone's cup of tea—most descriptions are rote detailings rather than bloody revels. Things don't really get bloody til the end.

As far as trigger warnings go, those with sensitivities to abusive parents (especially mothers) may want to pass or go into this carefully, as Homily's entire family is vile.

This offering from John Wiswell is a quirky, gory yet also cosy tale that deals with a lot of dark themes. I requested the ARC because I loved the premise and thought this would be right up my alley. I think this is a great book for the right reader, but while I did enjoy aspects of it, it ultimately wasn't quite for me.

This is a monster romance from the perspective of the (very, very non-human) monster. Shesheshen is an amorphous shapeshifter who can pull items (bones, organs, bear traps, etc) into her flesh to create a humanoid (or whatever other -oid she fancies) body. She is a predator who needs to eat quite a lot to stay happy and healthy. Her species reproduces asexually by planting eggs into a host, which the eggs eventually kill and eat. Hence, the title!

The book starts off really strong. Shesheshen is a fascinating character with a very different set of ethics compared to a human protagonist. There are a lot of tongue-in-cheek comments about the nature of monsterhood that I really enjoyed. Where I started to feel a little let down was the romance itself, which is (of course) a big part of the story.

Shesheshen meets Homily and it's essentially insta-love, which I would be down with if Shesheshen's only criteria for love was finding a nice "nest" for her eggs. But Shesheshen's idea of love is ultimately very human. My animal-behaviour specialist brain couldn't quite bring myself to accept this the way it was presented. I am, however, fussy about romance at the best of times, so don't let this put you off.

I do think this is a good story and it's unlike anything I've read before. I loved reading a book from the perspective of the monster and Shesheshen is SUCH a cool monster. If you're a fan of horror, romance, and cosy vibes combined into one unlikely and very unique bundle, I recommend checking this one out!

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘈 𝘕𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘐𝘯 is out 2 April 2024. Big thanks to Netgalley and DAW for providing me with a free eARC!

I'm not sure what I expected this book to be, but I am obsessed with what I read. This book meshes horror, romance, and LGBTQIA+ themes into a strangely weird book about existence and identity. Shesheshen's unintended wit and observations of humanity kept me giggling the whole book. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC! I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

Imagine being woken up from hibernation by a group intent on killing you, all because you're a fleshy blob that sometimes devours humans. Shesheshen finds herself being pursued by a family who is convinced she cursed them. She naturally has to get to the bottom of this, and along the way she falls in love with the perfect human to serve as a nest for her eggs. But is that really the best way to show her affection? And is it polite to eat your new girlfriend's family, even if they are awful human beings?

Wow, interesting take on monster-hunting books - a book from the viewpoint of the "monster" itself! I loved all the grappling with consent, and how Shesheshen remains not quite human while developing some human emotions. It's not your typical romance, more of a slow burn without much physical contact at all, and showcases how relationships come in all shapes and sizes. I'm in love with Blueberry the bear, one of my favorite characters! And what a perfectly horrid family that this curse centers around (with the exception of Homily, of course!). It makes you really sympathize with Shesheshen wanting to eat them. I also enjoyed the creativity of the monster itself, she had a lot of interesting abilities and characteristics.

Overall this was a quick and fun read! If science fiction or a darker fantasy involving monsters is your cup of tea then you should give this book a try! I would definitely read more by John Wiswell in the future. It is a bit gory at times, so TW if that bothers you. I received this book as an ARC for my opinions.