Someone You Can Build a Nest In kind of defies easy explanations. It’s monster queer romance, toxic families, and about shapeshifting? It took me a bit to get on board, but there were some really precious moments. Keep reading my book review of Someone You Can Build a Nest In for my full thoughts.
Summary
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.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Okay so Someone You Can Build a Nest In manages to straddle this line of monster romance and cozy fantasy. There’s a distinct sense of whimsicalness, wry humor from Shesheshen, and romantic plot beats. Not going to lie, it took me a long while to warm up to the romance, just because I wasn’t really understanding this instant connection and the spark between them. But as you continue reading, you begin to understand how both of them feel so out of place.
Shesheshen obviously feels out of place because of the whole monster thing. Additionally, for a large part of her life she is alone, so when she meets Homily she sees a spark. Something foreign to her. There’s this moment where she wants to pursue what they have, until she realizes the depths of her feelings. This part of the book was the hardest for me to come around to, just because I think Shesheshen is such a unique character and we aren’t really sure, lore wise, what to expect. But I think as we get to see both of them more, I began to ship them.
I do wish Homily had some more space. We see her toxic family – oh my god are they the worst – and this gives us a better picture of why they work so well together. But I do wish there was a bit more of that earlier on so I could understand her more. But what I enjoyed the most was how Wiswell plays with this image of the monster. Of us figuring out who is the true monster. Is it Shesheshen? Or is it those with human skins? Are monsters created by the stories we have of them, the fear and scapegoating? Or are they always monstrous?
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The exploration of this theme, particularly within Homily’s family and her treatment from halfway onwards, is what really solidified this book for me. About how parents can view their children as vehicles of their dreams and ambitions, of future resources. So if you want a monster romance where you aren’t sure sometimes who the monsters are, this is for you! Find Someone You Can Build a Nest In on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.