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.

I was expecting this to be weird and charming, and it did start off that way but then turned weird and sad instead. Homily's family was abominable, and while dealing with emotional abuse is an important topic it's not the direction I was expecting this book to go. I really appreciate the publisher taking a chance on this one, and I'm sure this will find its readers who love it, but unfortunately I wasn't one of them despite this book being highly anticipated for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Shesheshen is minding her own business at home when a trio of home invaders break in, intent on killing her. The thing is that they're monster hunters and Shesheshen is, by most definitions of the word, a monster. She's a shapeshifting creature that, yes fine, eats humans when needed (though she tries to only eat the bad ones who are hurting others), but really all she wants is love. After scaring off two of the monster hunters (and eating the other one), Shesheshen is wounded, alone, and temporarily human-shaped when she is discovered by a traveling botanist named Homily, who treats her with the first kindness Shesheshen has ever experienced. And now Shesheshen is conflicted — she's falling in love with Homily, despite the fact that Homily's family is dead set on killing Shesheshen. She's not sure how she can keep Homily in her life while still killing off those who would kill her.

I love the idea of a fantasy novel from the monster's point of view, and for the most part, Wiswell nails it. Shesheshen is pretty gross, but she's also a very three-dimensional, sympathetic character, and it's easy to take her side in the conflict that dominates this book. Where the book falters, however, is in the plot, particularly toward the end of the book, where it wanders off into the weeds a bit, with several potential stopping points that aren't. I'd still happily recommend this to anyone who has felt like an outsider (and is OK with reading about copious bodily fluids).

Finally, look at that cover. It's definitely an early frontrunner for best of the year!

idk how to feel about this
it just wasn't really what I was expecting and no offense, I don't know if the characters name was bugging me the whole time which made my rating lower and influenced me to dislike other parts of the book, but I couldn't stand "shesheshen" it distracted me whenever I read it and I hope this isn't insensitive but yeahhh...
anyways not terrible, but not the best.

This book was... so weird. I just can't decide if I liked the weirdness.
Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love.
I think the issue with this book is it had it's thumb in too many genres, which left me unsure where to put my footing. If it's sci-fi I know to build my belief around one thing, for horror I put my brain somewhere else, this? I was left feeling floaty. Unsure of where I was meant to build this reality.

Thank to you DAW for the advanced copy of this book!

What happens when a monster falls in love? A cute/fun/creepy book that somehow mashes up romance, fantasy, and horror into a fun read. Shesheshen is what some would call a monster, as she is a creature that can shapeshift her body into anything she needs by consuming parts. Those parts can be human, flora, or even bear traps. After being rudely awakened from hibernation by some hunters, she is chased off a cliff and then rescued by a human named Homily. Things get worse when Homily reveals she is hunting the shapeshifting monster that placed a curse on her family. From there things get even more complicated as the two start to bond, but Shesheshen isn't the only one hiding what she truly is.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a sapphic horror romance novel featuring Shesheshen a shapeshifting entity that falls in love with a human girl while trying to escape attack by the local villagers. However, Shesheshen finds out that she is being blamed for placing a curse on her beloveds family and resolves to help solve the curse and save her future in-laws. Even as an amorphous shape shifter Shesheshen was such a relatable character, I really enjoyed the growth of her relationship with Homily. I felt their bond grew in a realistic way as the book went on even with no physical aspect to their relationship. They had better communication skills than most couples I know in real life! I also liked the side characters, especially Laurent, and I would have liked to see even more of him (and his kinks) in the book. None of the named characters felt extraneous and they were all well fleshed out and contributed to the plot. There was a bit of a twist, maybe just to me because I did not see it coming at all but I loved the direction it took the book to. I’ve heard other reviewers comment that this would be great for fans of the movie Jennifer’s Body, but since I haven’t seen it I will be adding this to my watchlist. The novel is described as a horror but I didn’t find it too scary or graphic, I think if you are very squeamish some of the detailed shape shifting scenes may be a little much for you, but I liked how the author really thought out how shapeshifting would work anatomically. This was a very fun read for me and I am excited to go back and read through John Wiswell’s backlist.

Thanks to John Wiswell, DAW Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC. Someone You Can Build a Nest In publishes on April 2nd

Really enjoyed this read from John Chiswell. This genre is not one I normally read-- I like light-hearted fiction. This had its moments, but it was also very gruesome. I enjoyed it.

John Wiswell's first novel reflects his talents as a writer and ability for growth while also seeing the best in others. Though Shesheshen is a monster that preys on human beings, her world is rocked by meeting Homily, a woman who proceeds to see the best in her. For starters, Wiswell's writing is solid. His prose is functional, but he's best with characters and humor, which is where his talents tend to shine out. He makes Shesheshen an effective protagonist and her relationship to Homily is believable. The plot iis not the strongest at times, and the setting could have used a bit more, but overall, it's a strong effort.

My thanks to DAW books for the advance copy!

"Maybe the monster is just misunderstood" isn't a new concept, but I found this telling to be engaging and unpredictable, and very satisfying in its conclusion. Very polished for a debut novel, and I look forward to seeing what Wiswell does in the future.