Someone You Can Build a Nest In

By: John Wiswell

Narrated by: Carmen Rose

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 using 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 warmhearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent coparent: 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. 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.

©2024 John Wiswell (P)2024 Tantor

Instantly riveting

The characters are real. The plot is weird. The stakes high. It was phenominal. I'll be keeping an eye out for more from this author! Also: queer. I'm old enough to remember when that never happened. And I keep getting surprised today, and pleasantly so. Wonderful book.

Sapphic, Autistic-coded MC, Unique

This book is from the unique perspective of a shapeshifter so you get a lot of weird scenes and semi gory details. I loved was that the main character was very relatable for autistic readers because of the way shesheshen sees the world and has a hard time understanding human expression and language. I also didn’t expect it to be a sapphic love story🥹 I can’t say it’s the most awe inspiring book I’ve read but it is unique and special. It isn’t like anything I’ve read before and I loved it. Oh right… the ending was kind of lame to me personally.

The Best Kind of Sapphic

I loved every single thing about this book! It was sad and funny and sweet. I usually don't read books by men, but this one was amazing.

Unique characters, fast paced story

Enjoyed this book more than my last several because of how unique the main character is- allowed me to look at humans from the outside. The interplay between the main character and her friend emphasizes this. It also highlights “power corrupts” but can’t say more without ruining first experience. Don’t often recommend books to friends but I will this one.

Weird, but good

This was *way* more gory than I expected. It was billed as “cozy” and “humorous” and a “sweet love story”, so I expected something along the lines of Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. Uh, no. There was a LOT of gore and violence, including child abuse (both physical and emotional). Some scenes were hard to take. But in between the gore and violence, there was humor, though it is *very* dry. And there was a sweet romance, it just didn’t seem like the main focus.

I think I would have liked it better with a different narrator. Ms. Rose ended each phrase with an upswing in tone, which became grating after just a few minutes. I think she was trying to show how Shesheshen didn’t think like a human, but it was just irritating.

I do think the author did a brilliant job in making Shesheshen very un-human. But I found myself rooting for her, despite her “monstrous” tendencies. So that’s quite an accomplishment as an author! Overall, this is a pretty brilliant book, just a little darker than I like and than I expected.

Absolutely brilliant!

The narration is wonderful, and this novel is... I only hesitate to say "masterpiece" because the term is overused. But I use it here selectively. It's such an ingenious premise, and and the execution is impecable. This book is a masterpiece, like a piece of music concieved because of a clever melody and then elaborated upon until it becomes something so much grander. I'll be recommending it to anyone who will listen.

Creative, Captivating, and a Little Contrived

This was such a imaginative and unique story. I love stories that can make you root for the horrible monster, and this one does it well. It was so good that I still rated it five stars despite some minor problems it has. In the interest of constructive criticism and not to dissuade you from buying it, I will explain them here. Firstly, whoever made the cover art should be shot. I passed over this wonderful book several times because I thought this was a straight horror book. Secondly, there are several instances where the main character is almost willfully stupid or unobservant in order to further the plot, which is a mortal sin in writing and something I hate. Fortunately, these instances are few and far between and don't matter so much but they could really have been handled more believably. The last complaint is that the scenes and the main character's appearance are almost never adequately described and there are times when the scenes transition from place to place in a jarring way. However, like I said, in the grand scheme of these, the bulk of this book is a 6 out of 5 so these minor issues can be overlooked but I do urge the author to take them to heart and improve these areas in the future to reach perfection.

aw🥹

this was gross and absurdly tender and my fav monster romance I’ve ever read ever.

Fun story with some interesting takes on the fantasy genre

The story was great, often very funny, and great characters. Really fun representations. The plot was engaging although about halfway through you’ll probably figure out where it’s going. Narration was excellent.

Amazing and unique story

This is hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read. This is an actual love story like no other. Great world, great lore, wonderfully written.