Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster. When she’s unfairly hunted down after years spent devouring the occasional sheep or passersby, Shesheshen manages to escape. But when a beautiful human woman comes to her aid, thinking Shesheshen is a human as well, Shesheshen makes a terrible mistake: she falls in love.

I requested access to this on a lark because of that stellar title, and I found the book itself utterly delightful. It is a madcap monster romance with a heart that also manages to convey an important message about how our parents shape us. Highly recommended.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is absolutely nuts and I loved it. It took me a bit to understand the main character's body situation or lack thereof. Absorbing other parts to make theirs whole was weird, but once I understood that she was pretty much a blob I understood her more. I loved the relationship between SheSheShen and Homily. It works and is one heck of a romance. Her fierce loyalty and love of Homily were really something. There were surprises along the way, specifically Homily's awful family. This is such a great story and I have a feeling this will be a huge hit. Loved it and look forward to more by this author.

The first thing that drew me in with this book was the title!

I was intrigued and needed to know more, and then was completely captivated by the description.

Was lucky enough to be given a copy to read and review.

This story was hilarious, fascinating, horrifying, and heart wrenching.

There is a lot going on, including:

Love & Hate
Found family
Abusive family
Manipulation
Monsters
Misunderstanding
Creatures
Myth and Folklore

There is also commentary on the different shades of love, and the hypocrisy of humanity.

And our MC Shesheshen trying to comprehend why humans insist on humaning in such confusing humany ways...... amazing.

This may not be for everyone, esp if you aren’t a fan of, for lack of a better term, squishy gore, but I really recommend it!

Loved it!

Shesheshen is a shapeshifting slime-like blob creature who lives a solitary life in a ruined manor on the outskirts of human society. When a group of monster hunters manage to flush her out of her lair, she makes a series of decisions that land her in deep trouble and, shortly after, almost literally land her half-dead in the lap of a woman named Homily. Homily shows Shesheshen a small modicum of human kindness (under the mistaken assumption that Shesheshen is, well...human) and nurses Shesheshen back to health. As our monstrous hero grows closer to Homily she has to deal with a few small issues, like the fact that her new girlfriend is ostensibly here to explicitly kill Shesheshen, that Homily's family is a toxic nightmare that also incorrectly believes that Shesheshen has somehow cursed their family, and that the truest expression of romance for Shesheshen's species is laying an egg sac inside their partner and having the young eat them from the inside out. If Shesheshen wants to have any kind of future with Homily, she'll need to address all these issues and confess to Homily that she's been lying to her this whole time about being a normal human. Hopefully that won't be too awkward!

I really enjoyed this book, and while I was a big fan of the author coming into the book, I was happy to be as much of a fan after finishing this one. Shesheshen is a great character, weird and creative, with some fun internal monologues and a very likeable personality that eases readers into a book that comes from the perspective of an inhuman creature. Fans of this kind of romance will be very happy, and the relationship between Homily and Shesheshen is very cute, but was not exactly my cup of tea.

I wanted to like this book. The premise is interesting, the writing is good, but about 40% of the way through I just stopped because I realized that while I was interested in what happened, I was not interested enough to go on the journey of reading the rest of this book. There's nothing wrong with the book, it's just not for me.

the world needs more monster lesbian books!! i really enjoyed this book even though i never read this type of genre. definitely would recommend if you love cozy fantasy and a little bit of creepiness mixed into it.

thank you netgalley for the e arc!

This book is an acquired taste. (Yes, that was joke.)

I was really looking forward to this novel because it sounded so incredibly weird. And it is incredibly weird. It’s dark, the concept is whacky, and there’s lots of blood (though I wouldn’t call it gory, per se).

Unfortunately, while the wackiness, lesbians, and occasional humour kept me reading, the insta-love didn’t work for me and the plot was a bit stiled at times.

Shesheshen is a fascinating character. She is a blob monster, essentially, who can shapeshift into human form. She’s also unsure what she wants - first it’s simply to get the monster hunters off her back, then, when she meets Homily, to decide whether she wants a relationship or a host for her egg. Because she’s a monster, she doesn’t really understand humans that well, so there are some good “fish out of water” moments. Her character is well-rendered, and the way she absorbs and uses the body parts of the people/things she eats is very easy to picture but it doesn’t come across as disturbing, just a normal thing such a creature would do.

Tied to this, the tone of the story is light. There’s body horror and death and family trauma, but the atmosphere carries this sort of breeziness to it that makes everything which happens that could be horrific, not so. There are also some really funny parts, like a development with a minor noble that I wished we had more of, Shesheshen’s accidental jokes, and some quips in the narrative voice.

The novel also touches on abuse, self-esteem, and breaking away from toxic family members. In truth, while I understand the novel doesn’t have space to do a whole work-over of Homily’s psyche, this aspect resolved a bit too easily for me, but that might also be because of the insta-love.

My biggest issue with the story is not a narrative craft thing, as I thought the writing and worldbuilding were very well done, but a personal thing. You guessed it - I can’t stand insta-love. I guess the draw for other readers is that you get to see their relationship develop and grow, rather than the build-up towards a relationship? For me, though, once a couple gets together, I tend to lose interest in their story. This book has the romance develop so quickly there was nothing for me to ship. And I love ships! As such, I was a bit let down on that front, as well as when the plot tended to stall out in a few parts around the middle.

Overall, I do recommend the novel, though, as I appreciate its weirdness, the normalization of monster romances, and the attempt to say something about breaking away from a toxic family.

Have you ever felt like you’re not quite human?

…like you just don’t fit in with society?

…ever wanted to find a bombed-out medieval keep and make it into a lair?

…and eat anybody who dares trespass upon your sanctuary?

Well then you just might be kin of Shesheshen…welcome to the club! I’m not sure how I came to relate to a shapeshifting, gelatinous monster, but here I am, and I must admit I quite like it.

Shesheshen is a monster rudely awoken from her winter hibernation, and like most of us, she is quite angry about it. Only to discover a bunch of monster hunters (humans at that!) at her doorstep. This total breach of social etiquette leads to Shesheshen making a mad dash for survival to the nearest human settlement where she must blend in to recover from her wounds. While there she meets the kind Homily, a human who is not as dreadful as the rest, and, dare I say, plain lovable.

However, love doesn’t look quite the same for Shesheshen’s kind. Having lived life on her own, almost since birth, she only vaguely remembers the teeth of her mother and the warm body of her father who fed her and her siblings, at least till she had to eat those siblings as well. So for Shesheshen, the pinnacle of love is your partner making themselves into a nest for their offspring. *cue title card*

This is the general premise of this book, truly bizarre, but in a completely lovable way. Have you ever read the first chapter of a book and just said to yourself, “Oh ya, this is going to be great.” That was this book for me. I honestly have no criticism for this book, only praise. This is the first book in which I was highlighting things that made me laugh. Every time I laughed, I was thinking “relatable!” and wanted to go back to these moments later.

I feel like any neurodivergent person will find themselves in this book. However, though it does talk about serious issues like trauma, the book is very lighthearted. As if to say, “Yes you’re different, the way you view the world might not be most common, you might be awkward, but you know what, together, we make the world a more interesting place.”

This is also one of the few stand-alone books that left me completely satisfied. I feel like a lot of books these days just drop off the edge of the “Plot Mountain” and end after the action is done. This book felt like it had its “falling action” and “resolution” phases. So, when I completed the book, I did so with a smile. I felt content where the characters were. Of course, I wish they didn’t have to go, but I’m happy about where they’re heading.

I would recommend this book to pretty much everybody, because this book left me with a sense that there is a place/people who would accept me, monster and all, and I think everybody needs to be reminded of that from time to time.

I’m not usually a cozy fantasy person. I like my fantasy to be a bit more murdery. Well, this book certainly filled that need and more. I LOVE SHESHESHEN!!

3-3.5 stars

This book was a whirlwind, enjoyable and touching at moments but ultimately, I found that I was not the attended audience. Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a very niche story that even though I didn't love it this time around I could see myself picking up again in a few years.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy.

Shesheshen would really love it if she could simply continue to hibernate, but instead she has to get rid of some pesky monster hunters first. Unfortunately, before she devours him, Count Wolf shoots a cross bolt into her, and she can’t absorb it like she can the rest of the parts of the humans and their accouterments. When she jumps off a cliff to escape the hunters and is rescued and cared for by Homily, Shesheshen’s happy days lurking in the manorial cellar are over. In Homily, Shesheshen finds a potential nest for her eggs. Homily is warm, loving, caring–a perfect vessel to house a family. It doesn’t help that Homily is also hunting for the monster, but that matters less and less to Shesheshen as the two grow closer. Unfortunately, the hunt for Shesheshen intensifies, and Homily’s past is catching up to her. Shesheshen must make a choice that she never expected to have to make: to give without taking, to make a sacrifice for love.

I absolutely love this book. Told from the monster’s perspective, the reader has a precious opportunity to see and feel the movement from isolation and self-absorption to a reluctant acceptance of liking someone so much that you don’t want to eat them. How odd. Wiswell is a master of considering Shesheshen’s perspective and capturing the absurdity of a monster, whose only intent is to survive and reproduce, finds herself falling confoundedly in love. At the same time, the reader is treated to ponder a moral quandary: Who is a monster, and who is a victim? Filled with laugh-out-loud irony, this tale will warm your heart and totally gross you out at the same time. It has been a trend to revivify old fairy tales by telling the story from the role of the villain, but this one is special. Stripped to a primal core, the monster’s motive is survival; Wiswell delicately builds on this, shaping his shape shifter to execute a powerful transformation.

Thanks to DAW and Netgalley for access to this ARC. Opinions stated herein are my own; I don’t receive remuneration for my review.

Can a book be gruesome and beautiful at the same time?

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is that perfect sweet spot between literary and horror. And yet, it is also funny at times?! In the beginning, Wiswell's monster Shesheshen felt like a reimagining of Beowulf's Grendel, but Wiswell expands upon preexisting Medieval monsters while flipping our sympathies. I don't think I've ever rooted for a monster to terrorize a village!

One of my favorite parts about reading this book was imagining Shesheshen's form. Her amorphous physical parameters (or lack of parameters) made for such rich, unusual descriptions. And her biting and often hilarious inner dialogue about human society kept me reading way past my bedtime.

Plus, queer and asexual representation? Unique names? Blue bears? More like this, please!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This is a fascinating fantasy-horror-romance, though it reads a bit less quirky than the synopsis would suggest, at least to me. I was hoping for something a bit cozier, though I didn't mind the gore.

Best title of the year?!? Probably! Great book as well! Uncanny and strange but I love every seconds it took me to read it!

Oh, this was very good. I loved Shesheshen and Homily and this story and I'll definitely pick up more from John Wiswell in the future.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a squirming, monstrous sapphic love story that captured me from the first page.

This story was gorgeous. I loved the narration from a monster’s POV, which made the story a rare and fascinating experience. Some characters were sweet, some were vicious, and most were very odd. This story was slimy and wriggly in the best ways and strangely cozy. I devoured the beautiful sapphic love story and its uniqueness. It’s difficult to summarize what a fantastic experience reading this book was, so I’ll leave it at that!

Thank you to the publisher for the free review copy!

I wish this story was a bit more fleshed out. I definitely felt the potential but unfortunately the story fell flat for me at the 40% mark and I had to force myself to finish. It was hard for me to figure out what knowledge Shesheshen had of humans. It went back and forth her supposed knowledge of humans and when at times she would use monster-ish language to describe Homily she suddenly started referring to her as "her girlfriend". Which was a bit jarring because where did she learn that word? I would have liked to have seen more build up with her learning with humans but with how fast paced everything was it kind of felt rushed.

I loved Shesheshen's inner monologuing describing in detail how excruciating painful it was to fall in love. Also the concept of "putting eggs into Homily" = "love" was hilarious. The romance wasn't really hitting until the end.

"True love was a woman sinking up to her elbows in her viscera, delicately removing hooks from her rigid tissues"
I loved this quote haha.

I love weird monster romance stories like this. I hope there are more publications like this one - I do wish it had a better execution unfortunately.

This cover caught my attention and the synopsis.....WHAT!!!! Sold. This was such a unique fantasy romance. I loved the morally grey/lovable monster mc. I couldn't help but root for Shesheshen even learning about her beginning. I was always on her side. This was such a grotesquely morbid yet humorous story. I loved the sweet romance between Shesheshen and Homily, although She did start calling Homily her girlfriend rather quickly despite Homily not knowing. The consent these two had with one another was beautiful. I loved Blueberry, the poor thing. The asexual reproduction was a clever plot as well. This story will definitely be stuck in my mind for a long time. Great work!!! Five stars

<i>Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.</i>

With that description and <i>that</i> cover, I expected a wild (and wildly creative) ride, which I got, but it did not expect it to be so <i>tender</i>.

This is a monster book, yes, but it's also about love and specifically, finding your family when your biological family is . . . psychopathic monster hunters who don't appreciate you and outright abuse you.

The entire premise was wonderfully imaginative, and John Wiswell has a way of infusing his writing with imagery in a way that is very fun and very engrossing to read. The writing lends a larger-than-life feeling to the story, which makes sense, given the story and especially given the characters themselves.

Shesheshen, aforementioned murderous blob monster, is lovely and loyal to a fault, and it's extremely easy to root for her. She <i>cares</i> a lot, and hers and Homily's relationship is the backbone of the story. (I can't overstate how difficult it is not to make "backbone" jokes and whatnot, considering Shesheshen's physical attributes - but I will say, the way she creates her body and especially her body parts is a weird delight to read.)

The Wulfyre siblings are hilariously horrible in a really fun way, and I'd honestly read a lot more of each of them. Like, yes, they're obviously all terrible people but the way they were written and how much <i>personality</i> just oozed out on the page from the writing, I truly enjoyed them all. Laurent is obviously another standout side character, that weirdo (affectionate).

So yes, the cast was a standout for me, but when I think back to this book, I think what will come to mind aside from the characters and, you know, the main character being a blob with a bear trap mouth (incredible), is how sweet the story and its emotional beats are. I wasn't prepared for that, especially with the rest of the story, but the tenderness in the relationship between Shesheshen and Homily and the poignancy of Shesheshen's comments on the treatment of Homily by her family were so well done and hard-hitting.

This was unlike anything I'd read before, and it was utterly lovely.

<i>Thank you to the publisher, DAW, and to NetGalley for the ARC.</i>

I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher DAW Books, in exchange for an honest review.

At first glance, John Wiswell's debut novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In looks like it's going to be a very marmite weird bollocks (affectionately) book. The potential reader looking at the title (a bit odd, innit), covers (yes, there are two of them: one for the US edition and one for the UK edition and both reflect a small part of what this book is) and the synopsis of the book might be hesitant about getting it... Perhaps wondering if this book is too weird for them or not weird enough for them... Please allow me to Bigolas Dickolas why this book is a fantastic read for everyone and why you should just embrace the weirdness of it.

"One of them reached for the other's hand. Whoever it was didn't matter. They clasped hands, and basked in quiet warmth for a moment"

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is such a captivating and emotional read, filled with surprises along the way. The author's writing is phenomenal, his sentences and paragraphs flow smoothly into one another creating an intriguing rhythm. The book is, without any doubt, a page-turner that will drag deep and varied emotions from the readers to the surface. In the same chapter, you will laugh at the silliness of a phrase in a dialogue, feel rage because someone did something unspeakably horrifying that you wish to roast them over an open fire and feel such tenderness seeing character interaction.

It is hard to categorise this book; it's a surprising mix of things. It is a story about trauma and a journey of discovery filled with tension and drama, while simultaneously being cosy, full of sapphic yearning and tenderness. The story is as complex as its characters and filled with unforeseen twists and turns. It will bewitch you from the start, keep you on your toes and have you contemplating about the characters for a long time.

Simply put, it's an unforgettable, beautifully monstrously twisted novel, and everyone should (try) to read it.