Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author is a dear friend and I read an earlier draft of this.

I am so excited that the rest of you are going to get to read this in only a few months, because John and I have been making jokes based on the protagonist for the entire time since he wrote it, and soon you can too. Shesheshen is a shapeshifting slime monster! She is a blob! She is my favorite blob ever! She is grumpy and eats people! And this is endearing as only John can do it. She has a pet bear named Blueberry, and rosemary is poison to her, and humans are a lot of trouble but sometimes good for parts.

And sometimes interesting.

So that's a surprise, really, because who would have thought that humans would be interesting. But don't worry, it's definitely not all of them. Some of them are interested almost exclusively in hunting monsters, which in addition to being single-minded and unpleasant, is bad for Shesheshen and Blueberry. But maybe...just maybe...there's a human out there who's different. A human who's worth more than the use Shesheshen can make of her bones and pancreas.

Worth more than bones and a pancreas? Seems like you're gonna have suspension of disbelief issues with that one, huh? Seriously, John gives us monster perspective with all the warmth and humor he's always brought to short stories, but this time he's got room to really get comfortable in the voice and let Shesheshen's revelations develop and her choices ramify. You'll be rooting for this monster all the way through. I know I was. This book hooks you like a pair of borrowed steel jaws and pulls you in like a persistent tentacle. You won't be sorry you formed eyeballs to read this one--or ears to listen to someone read it to you if that's your thing. Highly recommended.

I read this book in one sitting, eating and petting my cat intermittently without being able to tear myself away. It's a very, very good book.

There's a lot I love here: queer romance, obviously, but also a completely unique and fascinating plot with just enough world-building and terribly lovable characters. The writing is straightforward and still poetic.

We know Shesheshen is a monster from the first page, and we never know too much about the kind of monster to make it boring or predictable. There is something to be said for fantasy books that have a deep, detailed taxonomy of monsters (and infodump that exposition right away in some compendium), but one of the highlights of this book for me was how organically the lore was introduced. We learn about Shesheshen as she learns about herself, and it feels really satisfying going on that journey with her.

There are a few heavy-handed moments discussing trauma and abuse, but they are accompanied by some really meaningful insights and beautiful prose. I highly recommend this book with the advance warning that there is a metric ton of body horror and horrible family dynamics; for me, it was absolutely worth it. If this turns out to be a series, I will definitely read the next one; regardless, I'll be waiting for the next John Wiswell release with bated breath.

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

Someone You Can Build a Nest In was an absolute delight to read. It was funny and emotional and overall a really exciting book! Shenshenshen was maybe my favorite character that I’ve read all year. She was such an entertaining character with some truly solid development. I also really loved the progression of Shenshenshen and Homily’s relationship.

This was a great fantasy/romance and I can’t recommend it enough!

Have you ever wanted to read a delightful ace/sapphic romance but where the main character is the thing from, well, The Thing? Then drop everything right now and get ready for Someone You Can Build A Nest In.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter who is more often an amalgamation of blobs and tentacles than not, and she's equal parts witty and monstrous. Her opinions of humanity are that they are strange and violent creatures until she meets Homily, a kind and too-helpful woman with an evil family, She and Shesheshen begin a sweet and tender relationship all while trying to hunt down the shapeshifting monster that has cursed her family. Awkward... especially as Homily has no idea what Shesheshen actually is.

Their relationship is slow and saccharine sweet, which is a delightful juxtaposition to the gooey, gory, graphic descriptions of Shesheshen's habits of eating people and using their bits to shape herself. I would not label this as a horror novel, but readers with sensitive stomachs may be wary of the graphic violence and icky shapeshifting moments. I personally did not find them to be too much, as Wiswell has managed to frame them within Shesheshen's perspective, and she of course did not find these things too graphic.

Overall this was a fantastic book for me that I, like Shesheshen, hungered for and wanted to stick into one of my stomachs to savor for a long time.

Two words come to my mind when I try to sum up this book: emotion and intellect.

On an intellectual level, this story is a social commentary about othering and existentialism. About the human understanding of what a monster is/can be. Of what humans are/can be. To that end, symbolism is weaved into the literal plot in a way that I have scarcely seen before, and which I was completely enamored with from start to finish.

On an emotional level, I enjoyed the asexual romance between the monster and her love interest. There's something truly special about experiencing the journey of a monster as they don't just discover that they're in love, but as they also discover what human love is, all the while teaching a human to love like a monster. I'm aware that this hardly makes any sense... but if you read the book, I promise you it will. And it's not just love between partners, but love between family. Motherhood, especially.

This book is a dream and a nightmare wrapped into one. It finds love and beauty in pain and gore.

Other noteworthy aspects of the book include: extremely clever plot twists and super inventive alien anatomy.

Lastly, if you're not a fan of love stories, this probably isn't a book for you. At its heart, this is a love story in that the primary motivation for the protagonist (and thus the plot) is love. Hint: the title actually suggests this.

I LOVE the premise of this book. A sapphic monster romance sounds so unique and right up my alley, so I was really excited for this book. Unfortunately, it wasn't really my cup of tea. The book takes place from Shesheshen's POV, so the writing is a little stilted and awkward. This makes total sense for her character, since Shesheshen's very straightforward, but it didn't really make for enjoyable reading for me. The writing style made it hard for me to connect with the characters and the storyline.

Loved this long fiction debut. A sweet romance wrapped in cozy horror, dark but wholesome and lifted by humor—it strides along this balance expertly from start to finish. I also appreciated the wonderful ace-spec and neurodivergent representation, and the insightful and sensitive treatment of topics of trauma and healing at all scales.

I enjoyed this book so much. A blend of fairytale, fantasy, love story and action and adventure. A monster story that kept me gripped from beginning to end. Highly recommended.. as long as you aren’t too squeamish. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

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.