Name: Someone You Can Build a Nest In
ISBN: 9780756418854

John Wiswell

Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love. 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. However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way. Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she’s about to confess, Homily reveals why she’s in the area: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere? Eating her girlfriend isn’t an option. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk. And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In

This book was an unexpected favourite. Catch me crying unapologetically about literal queer monsters.

Apiecalypse Jen

Do not try to prove you are generous by letting yourself be hurt 

Cloudface

Shesheshen now worried, deep in her core, that Homily was giving because it protected her from those who took. Could it be that every quality Shesheshen had fallen in love with was a symptom of pain?

Sophia 

It would have been a prime moment to attack her, if not for the eight armed guards who poured out of the carriage behind her. Vengeance required a little more tact than that.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I found the first two thirds of it to be almost agonizingly slow. In theory, a great premise, but I think it could have been fleshed out better.

Very mixed feelings about this book - didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Finished it tho so thats a win

Nat V

Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I found the first two thirds of it to be almost agonizingly slow. In theory, a great premise, but I think it could have been fleshed out better.

Very mixed feelings about this book - didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Finished it tho so thats a win

A story from the perspective of a monster is a nice change of pace. That monster being more like a mouldable slime than any classic humanoid or human derived supernatural being that is used for perspective or agency - vampires, zombies, werewolves, fey, elves, gnomes, ghosts and most of the aliens - is a plus. The best of this book is the most "realistic" in its "unrealness": the slime observes and tries to understand humans from the outside (and through body parts) - the odd impressions, the usual misinterpretations, the weirdness our normality would obviously cause on other beings are the best of this book. The exploration of falling in love without understanding exactly what it is is also interesting. The willingness to solve problems by eating people brought many smiles to my face. (I am not a psychopath, I swear)

On the other hand, much of this book is so earnest in its inclusivity and empathy that it disturbs the storytelling and character building. The same creature that barely understands human regular behaviours and socialization and who's described as having existed alone all its adult life is so good at not only understanding chronic abuse but knowing how to answer to it that I felt thrown out of the story. The other less accomplished point in the novel, as far as I'm concerned, is the falling in love itself. This is a problem I have with many romances, I just can't believe instant love, many authors have a hard time making me accept those characters are really falling for each other and this book is yet another one of those, even more jarring for whom they are.

I never really connected with Homily nearly as much as with Shesheshen (again, I promise I'm not a serial killer) probably because she is almost always the object, that of the abuse or that of the therapy/love , although I can see, in my mind, how she is an interestingly and deeply imagined character. Shesheshen herself can be seen as a metaphor for someone who is deeply traumatized, abandoned, taught nothing but violence and self-reliance, so anti-social she is practically another species, even if she can, as needed, inhabit human parts (in both senses of the word), which does remind me of a personality disorder. That she then becomes, not as a part played and quite quickly, an empathic lover and acting against her body's very clear and painful instincts is, again, quite jarring.

I did guess some of the reveals, but to be honest, I don't think it took from the book, the plot was still engaging to read. I did like that the ending isn't on the typical hero's journey climax, because those characters still have much to learn and live through that is, in a way, structurally part of the story being told.

André Nóbrega

A story from the perspective of a monster is a nice change of pace. That monster being more like a mouldable slime than any classic humanoid or human derived supernatural being that is used for perspective or agency - vampires, zombies, werewolves, fey, elves, gnomes, ghosts and most of the aliens - is a plus. The best of this book is the most "realistic" in its "unrealness": the slime observes and tries to understand humans from the outside (and through body parts) - the odd impressions, the usual misinterpretations, the weirdness our normality would obviously cause on other beings are the best of this book. The exploration of falling in love without understanding exactly what it is is also interesting. The willingness to solve problems by eating people brought many smiles to my face. (I am not a psychopath, I swear)

On the other hand, much of this book is so earnest in its inclusivity and empathy that it disturbs the storytelling and character building. The same creature that barely understands human regular behaviours and socialization and who's described as having existed alone all its adult life is so good at not only understanding chronic abuse but knowing how to answer to it that I felt thrown out of the story. The other less accomplished point in the novel, as far as I'm concerned, is the falling in love itself. This is a problem I have with many romances, I just can't believe instant love, many authors have a hard time making me accept those characters are really falling for each other and this book is yet another one of those, even more jarring for whom they are.

I never really connected with Homily nearly as much as with Shesheshen (again, I promise I'm not a serial killer) probably because she is almost always the object, that of the abuse or that of the therapy/love , although I can see, in my mind, how she is an interestingly and deeply imagined character. Shesheshen herself can be seen as a metaphor for someone who is deeply traumatized, abandoned, taught nothing but violence and self-reliance, so anti-social she is practically another species, even if she can, as needed, inhabit human parts (in both senses of the word), which does remind me of a personality disorder. That she then becomes, not as a part played and quite quickly, an empathic lover and acting against her body's very clear and painful instincts is, again, quite jarring.

I did guess some of the reveals, but to be honest, I don't think it took from the book, the plot was still engaging to read. I did like that the ending isn't on the typical hero's journey climax, because those characters still have much to learn and live through that is, in a way, structurally part of the story being told.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this one. It was so refreshingly new and creative. The writing was grotesque and gross, but also strangely endearing. I’m very squeamish so I really appreciated that even though it was quite gross, it was just gross enough to be fun, but just shy of making me want to throw up. Actually, I did feel like throwing up sometimes, but some things can’t be helped. The descriptions of the body horror were really interesting and cool.

I love the idea of a parasitic, shape shifting monster falling in love with the first human that was kind to her. Their romance was so sweet, and I found them both so adorably awkward. Shesheshen was my favorite character, I love how confused she was about the whole concept of falling in love, but basically marching through it anyway, and immediately becoming protective of her girlfriend. She’s so pathetic, but i get her. If a woman saved my life and shared a dance with me, I too would immediately consider proposing marriage and imagine her as the mother of my children. Also, the concept of her growing her egg sac (her heart) as she fell deeper in love with Homily was really beautiful and made me emotional. Homily was really sweet, I loved her arc of discovering her worth and unlearning all her familial trauma.

The plot itself was pretty simple, I was more interested in the characters and their conflicts so I didn’t mind. It was easy enough to follow, but it did drag in the middle a bit. I loved the ending, I would read a whole book of just that ending.

Needless to say, I am now obsessed with the idea of my lover laying her eggs in my lungs, and murdering my abusive siblings. Peak romance in my opinion, and if I don’t find a love like that I’ll cry.

bel 

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this one. It was so refreshingly new and creative. The writing was grotesque and gross, but also strangely endearing. I’m very squeamish so I really appreciated that even though it was quite gross, it was just gross enough to be fun, but just shy of making me want to throw up. Actually, I did feel like throwing up sometimes, but some things can’t be helped. The descriptions of the body horror were really interesting and cool.

I love the idea of a parasitic, shape shifting monster falling in love with the first human that was kind to her. Their romance was so sweet, and I found them both so adorably awkward. Shesheshen was my favorite character, I love how confused she was about the whole concept of falling in love, but basically marching through it anyway, and immediately becoming protective of her girlfriend. She’s so pathetic, but i get her. If a woman saved my life and shared a dance with me, I too would immediately consider proposing marriage and imagine her as the mother of my children. Also, the concept of her growing her egg sac (her heart) as she fell deeper in love with Homily was really beautiful and made me emotional. Homily was really sweet, I loved her arc of discovering her worth and unlearning all her familial trauma.

The plot itself was pretty simple, I was more interested in the characters and their conflicts so I didn’t mind. It was easy enough to follow, but it did drag in the middle a bit. I loved the ending, I would read a whole book of just that ending.

Needless to say, I am now obsessed with the idea of my lover laying her eggs in my lungs, and murdering my abusive siblings. Peak romance in my opinion, and if I don’t find a love like that I’ll cry.

I can’t recall if this was my first 5 Starr of the year but this book was a big queer monster hug I didn’t know I needed but I needed it 

. Not me bawling over a monster. Not me bawling over found family and like a cave. Not me thinking this would be a horror book and getting Kingfisher’d by it and discovering it’s one of those Cottage Corror books where year some limbs go missing but like, who cares because it’s somehow cozy anyways. Anyways I think everyone should read it because it was awesome and if I had to tell my partner I was crying about a monster then you should have to as well. 

I can’t recall if this was my first 5 Starr of the year but this book was a big queer monster hug I didn’t know I needed but I needed it so bad. Not me bawling over a monster. Not me bawling over found family and like a cave. Not me thinking this would be a horror book and getting Kingfisher’d by it and discovering it’s one of those Cottage Corror books where year some limbs go missing but like, who cares because it’s somehow cozy anyways. Anyways I think everyone should read it because it was awesome and if I had to tell my partner I was crying about a monster then you should have to as well. 

Gory sapphic fairytale/horror?? Super fun, fast read. Asexual rep. Monster and monster hunter romance. Navigating grief, family trauma in a surprisingly emotionally intelligent way - which I did not expect for what I thought was going to be a mostly silly read. I enjoyed it.

I thought I knew where this was going several times throughout the book and I never did lol, this was kooky happy pride

fris🐝

This book was weird in all the best ways. I wasn’t expecting a book about a monster to be the best disability representation I’ve ever read. I don’t know if the author meant for Shesheshen to read as autistic specifically, but I certainly read her that way and it was more relatable than other books I’ve read with human autistic characters. But I think she could be interpreted many ways, and anyone who has felt othered because of something they can’t control would be able to relate to her.

The only reason I don’t give this a full 5 stars is because the antagonists in this book were a little over the top, and it felt like the author was working too hard to get me to hate them. Without getting too spoilery, I’m assuming it was written that way so the reader wouldn’t feel bad when Shesheshen violently kills people, because they were being so obviously evil. I just don’t enjoy it when a story uses that strategy to make their main character more sympathetic.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. It’s exactly the kind of book I’ve been longing for, and I will definitely add it to my rotation of books I read to get out of a reading slump.

This book was weird in all the best ways. I wasn’t expecting a book about a monster to be the best disability representation I’ve ever read. I don’t know if the author meant for Shesheshen to read as autistic specifically, but I certainly read her that way and it was more relatable than other books I’ve read with human autistic characters. But I think she could be interpreted many ways, and anyone who has felt othered because of something they can’t control would be able to relate to her.
The only reason I don’t give this a full 5 stars is because the antagonists in this book were a little over the top, and it felt like the author was working too hard to get me to hate them. Without getting too spoilery, I’m assuming it was written that way so the reader wouldn’t feel bad when Shesheshen violently kills people, because they were being so obviously evil. I just don’t enjoy it when a story uses that strategy to make their main character more sympathetic.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. It’s exactly the kind of book I’ve been longing for, and I will definitely add it to my rotation of books I read to get out of a reading slump.