Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Subjects
- FICTION / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
Tags
ace or demi protagonist, lesbian protagonist, queer representationBy John Wiswell
A Most-Anticipated Book of 2024: LitHub, Polygon, Apple, Goodreads
⭐ "Wiswell raises the bar on the outcast as protagonist . . . the ultimate monster slayer story, if the monster is just a misunderstood creature searching for love.” — Kristi Chadwick, Library Journal (starred review)
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.
Loved by our collective!
In some ways Shesheshen's problems are not very relatable. I'll wager that few of us have personally battled the urge to lay parasitic eggs inside of our partners, or have been forced to dodge homicidal in-laws. But underneath her grotesque exterior, Shesheshen is any of us asking to be accepted in our fucked-up entirety. This tender ace romance between polar opposites is equal parts humorous and healing. I came for the shapeshifting shenanigans, but stayed for the gentle ways only survivors of abuse can make each other feel truly seen.
Content warnings: mild body horror, parent death, child abuse, fucked up sibling relationships
Product Details
- Hardcover
- 320 pages
- ISBN
- 9780756418854
- Publisher
- DAW (4/2/24)
- Dimensions
- 5.8 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
- Subjects
Subjects
- FICTION / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
- Tags
Tags
ace or demi protagonist, lesbian protagonist, queer representation