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

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.

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.

aw🥹

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

An amorphous lump to root for?

Think droll British humor and a story that felt like The Thing meets Frankenstein, except with a Princess Bride mentality. Yeah. Kooky. Gross. But also charming and sweet and delightfully unconventional. Another reviewer called this cozy horror and I agree: no sex or F bombs… and mild treatment of gaslighting, fluid identities, and young, amorphous love.

Liked the story but HATED the narrator.

I couldn’t continue after 7 chapters. I “read” the audio version. The narrator read each sentence the exact same way: as if each sentence was a question, with a lift and tone change at the end of every sentence. I found myself trying to restate each sentence so that it was palatable. It was very difficult to imagine what was going on in the book because of the way it was being read. I’ve written down the name of the narrator just so I can avoid any other books she narrates.