Have you ever wanted to see a romantic fling between a shapeshifting lump of flesh with no concept of humanity and a woman from a monster hunting family that has some SERIOUS issues? I know I did when I requested this title, which worth reading just for its odd, niche concept alone.

Shesheshen's voice is highly enjoyable as she tries to makes sense of humanity and navigate her developing feelings for Homily, the member of a family she had seemingly placed a curse on. I always love getting into the mind of the monster and, here, we find that maybe she's not the most nefarious and cruel thing on the isthmus as Homily's family moves in to slay her. Big trigger warning to anyone that has gone through serious familial abuse, whether physical or emotional, there's a lot of it here and it gets fairly uncomfortable at times. Homily, for the majority of the story, stands there and accepts it, and I so wish more was done to show her rising and standing against her abusers. There wasn't really a moment of empowerment, just a quick shift of character so that now she's working against them. It doesn't really feel earned and just for character development's sake I had hoped it would land harder.

The romance between them is mostly what keeps this story from being a full out horror tale. There are some gnarly description of organs and the eating of them in order for Sheshesen to take on a human shape, but that's mostly it. Their relationship is sweet though and I highly appreciate the sapphic asexual representation.

There is a point in the story where it really loses some of its gas and ends up spinning its wheels for a good while. The plot cycles in on itself a few times before leading to a very drawn out conclusion. You get the climax, which was tense, engaging, suspenseful, and then you read five or six chapters of denouement to see how the characters and aftermath settle. It really could have been condensed into a single epilogue and at that point I think I was rushing to finish the book.

Aside from that, I think it's a very interesting and unique take on the monster lover romance. Very spice free and willing to go to some weird places.

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: fantasy, light horror, monster main characters, LGBTQ+ characters

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 1/30 and my review blog as of 3/12, and will be posted to Instagram on 3/22.

TW: gore, animal cruelty, abuse

I definitely thought this was a novella going into this and didn't realize it wasn't until I got past all the acknowledgements, ARC stuff, and table of contents and the book was still on 1%. Most of the horror I read is in novella format, so I was a little worried I was going to end up with more than I'd bargained for, but luckily that wasn't the case!

This book definitely has gore in it, at times quite a bit, but I wouldn't really classify this as a gorey novel and, in that same vein, while Shesheshen is a monster and devours people, I wouldn't classify this book as 'horror' necessarily. I suppose it is somewhat in the same vein as The Salt Grows Heavy, though Shesheshen and the mermaid are very different. I actually thought some of the scenes of Shesheshen eating were funny at times, she has an interesting outlook to things that can be humorous.

Shesheshen herself is the only one of her kind that she knows. Her mother was killed when she was young and she devoured her siblings before they could devour her and has lived in monster solitude ever since. It's clear that her early life has a great impact on her since she wants to find someone to build a nest in who will be a better parent than her father was (and whom she views as just a setting, albeit a nice nest), how she wants to be able to be there for her offspring, and how she questions some things about her own existence since she had no one to teach her otherwise. I found Shesheshen to be interesting, particularly in the way that she can absorb items around her and utilize them to build her body's structure.

Despite being a 'monster,' Shesheshen clearly has empathy and feelings. Her best friend is a blue bear named Blueberry and the two are obviously close and Shesheshen definitely loves her. Likewise, she's able to recognize the hypocrisy of humans calling her a monster while killing what- and whoever they feel and being mean to one another. Shesheshen is also drawn to Homily's kindness and it quickly becomes clear that she has a strong protective streak when it comes to the people and things she cares about.

Homily is depicted as kindhearted and even expresses similar sentiments about hunting animals and monsters that Shesheshen does. These two are two of the things that most strongly draw Shesheshen to her. But Homily has also been through some shit and has a hard time around people as well as the tendency to let people hurt her, either in a "go along to get along" kind of way or because she thinks she deserves it. Despite this, Homily also has a strong protective streak and protects Shesheshen and others on multiple occasions.

While not a main character, I have to give a shoutout to Laurent, whom I find hilarious. May he be happily terrorized for the rest of his days.

I enjoyed reading about Shesheshen's attempts to stay close to Homily, and confess that she's the 'monster' who Homily thinks cursed her family (but definitely didn't), and how major hijinks ensue as a result of this decision. Shesheshen definitely has gotten herself into a situation here and it was funny to read her desperately attempting to outmaneuver the humans trying to hunt her down. She shows some remarkable cunning, and it's clear she has a good mind for strategy. But I did find her attempts to get out of the situation without devouring the whole hunting party to be quite hilarious.

While this is ostensibly a humorous story about a queer monster falling in love with a human, this book also tackles themes like abuse and the cycle of abuse. Shesheshen has suffered at the hands of humans who have come to kill her, which is one kind of abuse, but Homily has suffered through having a truly demonic set of family members who seem to delight in harming her, both physically and emotionally. A large part of this story is about healing from that and not falling into the same cycles, wittingly or unwittingly.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it to be fairly light-hearted, despite its contents. There is some gore, but it's not too bad, and Shesheshen's 'monster' shenanigans are done very matter-of-factly and with a great deal of attention paid toward whether Homily would think it too weird.

First, I have to say that I loved every bit of this story. For a horror tale about a monster who eats people/things and uses them to mold her body, it is surprisingly wholesome. Like, this is also a love story, and a sweet one at that. It's hilarious, too. Some of the characters are absolutely terrible, and it's very much a "who is the real monster" kind of story. It's one of the most delightful horror/monster stories I've ever read.

Reminded me a lot of T. Kingfisher's style, which I am a huge fan of, so this is an author I'm going to have to find more from. I desperately hope that they write tons more stuff like this, because I love love loved it.

I heartily recommend this to pretty much everyone.

"Someone You Can Build a Nest in" by John Wiswell is a captivating blend of horror and heartwarming romance that left me enchanted. I saw this described by other readers as a cozy horror, and I couldn't agree more. It's like a gory Grimm fairy tale wrapped in the comforting warmth of "The House Witch" by Delemhach. Imagine if Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" focused on Lamia, the head witch, and her journey to redemption after years of seeing the error of her ways.

The relationship between Homily and Shesheshen (which I confirmed with the author rhymes with "succession") is beautifully depicted, proving that soulmates can find each other regardless of their outer appearances and in spite of all odds. Shesheshen's natural detachment and ignorance, born from years of isolation, gave her a snarky sense of humor that she grew into over time. Shesheshen's personality shines through as a badass character that adds depth to the story as we see her grow in more ways than one.

As an animal lover, I have to award bonus points for the sweet addition of Blueberry, the lovable blue bear/confidante who is Shesheshen's, as the kids say, "ride or die." Overall, this is a perfectly visceral and captivating tale that combines horror with heart in a truly unique way.

A hilarious yet absolutely charming sapphic horror romance told from the perspective of the monster. This book is for all my Jennifer's Body loving girls, for all my horror fans, and for anyone who appreciates a good sapphic romance, this book is IT. The story follows a flesh-eating shapeshifting monster who accidentally falls for the monster hunter who is after her. Shesheshen has been pretty content with her life, she is a shapeshifting monster who is essentially a lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. She consumes humans in order to make her own body and maintain it. However when the latest group of hunters chase her out of her home and she falls off a cliff she is surprisingly rescued by Homily, a kind hearted and sweet woman.... who just happens to be the daughter of the family of monster hunters hell bent on killing Shesheshen. To make matters worse, Shesheshen is falling for Homily and hiding who she truly is while trying to keep up the facade of being a human. Eating her girlfriend is definitely not an option but Shesheshen needs to feed and its nearly impossible with so many monster hunters around and Homily's twisted family watching them. Can Shesheshen find a way to build a nest and family with the woman she loves... or will the truth of who she actually is completely ruin any chance at happiness? This book was so funny yet so sweet. I loved the sapphic monster romance in this so much and had a fun time with the variety of characters (Laurent had me laughing so much).The horror in this book was so well done, it was giving Alien levels of horror and the body horror was fantastic. This book completely blew my mind with how good it was and I can't wait to for everyone to add this to their list when spooky season comes around!!

*Thanks Netgalley and DAW for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Wiswell's debut Someone You Can Build a Nest In begins with a creative premise: a monster-romance told from a perspective of the monster. It begins as a quirky romantsy with a smattering of body horror, but develops into more familiar fantasy battle plots. The strongest writing is certainly in the first half, where Wiswell develops the monster Shesheshen, but the pacing in the second half starts to stumble as the characters are trapped in cyclical monster hunts.

At times, the messaging felt heavy-handed, following a long lineage from Shelley's "what if the monster isn't the real monster?" While other moments seemed oblivious to their own symbolism: a female monster's biological drive to procreate makes her irrational. There are many instances where Shesheshen points out the monstrosity of "civilization," but it's not particularly convincing coming from the monster whose solution to every problem is eating people (which is further complicated when it is revealed the Baroness is Shesheshen's mother and the monstrosity of civilization in part results from a monster exactly like Shesheshen).

Shesheshen is a unique (and that's saying something in the world of monsters) character, well-crafted and consistent, that did not shine to full effect. If I were to guess, I'd say this resulted from a desire to ensure the "who is the real monster?" message was readily apparent, rather than letting readers do that work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have to admit, I’m a little confused by the buzz for this book. I’ve seen it described as both a “cute and quirky monster love story” and a “body horror gore-fest.” While it’s true that an unusual love story and an abundance of bodily fluids can both be found within Someone You Can Build a Nest In, I don’t think it’s entirely fair to label the book either one of these things. As in, in trying to have its cake and eat it too, all we end up with is a mess of frosting and crumbs.

Our main character, Sheshenshen, is a monster. And, not a monster in the traditional werewolf/vampire/humanoid monster way of paranormal fiction; oh no, no, no. Sheshenshen is a parthenogenetic amorphous blob of gray slime. You’ve read the blurb; you understand what we’re working with here. This is a completely alien creature, with completely alien ideas about “bodies” and “consent” and “the inherent romance of cannibalism.”

You know. Quirky stuff like that.

Oh, and how I loved Sheshenshen! What a unique narrative voice! Really, she’s the best thing about this novel. Every other character, from Laurent to Epigram to the Baroness and, as sad as I am to say it, to Homily, pale in comparison to this weird, off-putting, monstrous thing… who just wants to be loved <3 If there’s one thing I can criticize about her voice, it’s that, eventually, in an attempt to endear Sheshenshen to the reader, she becomes… bland. The narrative glosses over her illogical actions (seeking companionship, defending her human mate, having ideas about love and romance that are, seemingly, at odds with her parthenogenetic asexually-reproducing species) and tones down her monstrousness in favor of a bland romantasy love story.
Come on. We read the synopsis. What happened to our monster? Give us the monster!
And, look, I’m aware these are nit-picks, but the more I think about the worldbuilding, the less I’m convinced of its internal logic. If, as mentioned above,Shesheshen is slime, how did Homily miss this when she sewed up Shesheshen’s wounds? Shesheshen was unconscious, so it wasn’t like she was constructing a form for herself (we see throughout the novel that it takes her conscious effort to maintain a humanoid form). And where did Shesheshen come up with the story of her parents? Why did she come up with the story of her parents?
Ultimately, I’ll say this: these are minor quibbles. This is a unique little story, and while I found it difficult to connect with the characters or the romance (a shame, considering how much the premise intrigued me), there is, undoubtedly, an audience for this book. This audience even included me, to a certain extent. If you’re at all intrigued by the summary, and as long as you can handle some body horror, why not give it a try?

(Review will be posted March 27)

Imgur link goes to Instagram Post scheduled March 22
Blog link goes live March 20th
Will be discussed in Youtube video March Reads Pt 1

**TL;DR**: Wow the abuse was rampant - while this looks cute and quirky I would not recommend it for anyone who doesn’t enjoy borderline trauma porn.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In has such a fun idea behind it. Shesheshen is a monster that awakes from her hibernation to monster hunters in her lair. She handles them as best she can but she’s awake and cold and most get food. Ultimately she’s having a truly bad day that day and ends up hurtling off a cliff. From there a woman who mistakes her for a human patches her up. She (instantly) falls in love and drama follows.

This started out as a very cute, quirky type of novel but then quickly showed it’s colors as more of a emotional horror show. The biggest conflict in this is that Homily’s family is wildly abusive, physically and emotionally and are hunting Shesheshen while abusing Homily. Shesheshen is caught between helping Homily (eating her family) and avoiding revealing herself to Homily while doing so. If you have *any* problems reading emotional abuse to wild levels, avoid this. It goes well and truly over the top in some situations and Homily takes it for most of the novel quietly and reacts as you’d expect. It was very rough to read.

Besides that horror show, I also have questions. The more I sit and think on the story the more I’m confused on how things work. For example, Shesheshen is essentially a slime. She constructs forms out of objects around her (a chain for a spine, chair legs for bones). How did Homily not notice this when she sewed up Shesheshen’s wounds at the bottom of that cliff? Also, where did Shesheshen learn to not be… well monstrous in personality. Where did she come up with the idea of her parents ‘love story’?

Overall this was a fast, and… sometimes fun read. It doesn’t stand up to any kind of close examination, which is a shame. But it’s interesting enough.

3 out of 5 bloody ‘hearts’

This book started out strong for me, but then became a slog to finish. At the 3/4 mark the plot seemed to stall out and just become repetitive and like wheels spinning in the mud. I'm not sure why it slowed down so much, but I think the constant search-find-kill-insult repetition between Shesheshen, the Queen, and Homily, and all the obnoxiously weird-named other children just became incredibly uninteresting. It's like we got the answers, then stuff just didn't happen or the book continued as if we didn't know the things we know? It also felt like Shesheshen and Homily's relationship became kind of stagnant and the characters stopped growing. Obviously Homily grew a backbone, but it didn't really feel like growth but rather just a switch flicked up. Still enjoyed the idea of this fantasy/horror kind of crossover, but really wanted Shesheshen to be MORE. They could do all this nutso stuff with their alien-mush-monster body, but literally hardly ever do much with it, or succeed in the gazillion battles they fight? I didn't really get that either. Was hoping for more, but will still keep an eye on Wiswell's next forays into fiction.

This started out weird but charming, and ended up just weird.
I looooved that this book is writted from the perspective of the monster. It added a nice new perspective. Despite the objective gruesomeness of many of the monster qualities, it wasn't too abstract or horrific.
And I guess that's partially where the problem lay for me. In what I think was an effort to not make Sheshenshen unrelateable, I sometimes lost her monster-ness in favour of humanity. So often it was glossed over how her very human actions fit with her actually being not human at all.
Similarly, the book was rather humorous, but I wish it had taken itself a bit more seriously at parts.

It was also much more romantasy and much less horror than I anticipated. It wasn't scary, instead coming across as trope-y at times, and unfortunately not in the best way.

As I said, i was charmed in the first half of the book, but unfortunately it lost me in the second. It dragged on for a bit with no clear direction for the plot. This lack of direction even continued until after the main plot ended, and the book just... continues for several chapters. It was honestly one of the weirdest ways to wrap up a book that I have ever seen. It may have tried to close up all the threads, but instead just opened up a whole new can of worms, just to not quite know what to do with them, so it felt really half-baked.
Speaking of, I didn't find the characterizations particularly believeable or consistent. Some choices did not fit the characters at all.

Overall this was an interesting read, but not quite what I expected or wanted from it, with a decent execution that unfortunately didn't quite live up to itself.

Like smothering a victim, comforting was easier to do with a good grip.

I loved this book literally from its very first page, but holy moly is it hard to hype to people. I kept trying to tell my boring friends and family about it, overexcited and eager to share, and inevitably would end up at "well, it does have cannibalism, but only kinda?"

let me tell you, folks are way less inclined to listen when you start talking about sorta-cannibalism. nonetheless! I'm assuming that if you are someone who is reading this review, you're at least on the fence about cannibalism and/or willing to indulge in some for the sake of an absolutely riveting love story. to those people I say: dear god, please please please pick this book up. it does not disappoint.

the vibes are a little tricky to pin down but I guess I'm gonna largely recommend it to people who like Jeff VanderMeer or Stephen Graham Jones but wish that their books were a little bit... happier, for lack of a better term.

do people die in Someone You Can Build a Nest In? yes. loads. women, children, bandits, soldiers, etc etc. but we also get to see Shesheshen, an inhuman, regularly boneless, very introverted monster fall in love. we get to see her finally fully understand what love is, and that love shouldn't cost someone everything they are, and that it's possible to fall in love with someone's trauma response but to also, somehow, still love the very real person underneath. this book is so excruciatingly gentle in its analysis of mental health.

A mistake so many humans made: believing someone would leap over trauma when it hurt them badly enough.
That wasn’t how it worked, and the monster knew it. All Shesheshen could do for Homily was be patient with her, and make space for her, and eventually, one day behind her back, eat her mother.

deadass, my one desire in life is to find someone who loves me the way Shesheshen loves Homily, and personally I could not care less if my girlfriend turned to goo every winter to hibernate. if you agree with me, or even if you just want to see a genuinely loving asexual sapphic relationship, or even if you're just here for the fascinating way Shesheshen looks at humans and tries to deconstruct their social expectations and cultural norms (enormous neurodivergent vibes here), please pick up this book. just give it a try.

Shesheshen sat beside her on the bed, not talking, puzzling over what she was allowed to say. With the little tact she possessed, she determined this was the wrong time to offer to eat someone.


queer rep - sapphic ace mc, sapphic ace love interest
thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc ✨

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!!