Someone You Can Build A Nest In
Subjects
- FICTION / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
- FICTION / Fantasy / Humorous
- FICTION / Fantasy / Romance
Tags
ace or demi protagonist, lesbian protagonist, queer representationBy John Wiswell
**Nebula Award Nominee**
**Hugo Award Nominee**
*Featuring all-new exclusive material for the trade paperback: an author's note, reading group guide, and teaser for Wearing the Lion!*
“This unusual queer romance is a heartfelt fable about disability and the possibility of reconciling conflicting needs through love and understanding.” —The Guardian
"Sweetly furious, darkly funny, and gruesomely wholesome. It's a love story for the unloved, a happily-ever-after with a higher-than-average body count. I just adored it." —Alix E. Harrow, New York Times-bestselling author of Starling House
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 impolite monster hunters, 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.
Badly hurt by the hunters, Shesheshen’s nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human. Homily is kind and would make a great co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young can devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, Shesheshen realizes that eating her girlfriend isn’t an option.
Just as Shesheshen’s about to confess her identity, Homily reveals something else: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?
Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, so now she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As Shesheshen’s hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, the bigger challenge remains: learning how to build a life with, rather than in, the woman she loves.
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
- Paperback
- 336 pages
- ISBN
- 9780756419745
- Publisher
- DAW (4/29/25)
- Dimensions
- 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
- Subjects
Subjects
- FICTION / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
- FICTION / Fantasy / Humorous
- FICTION / Fantasy / Romance
- Tags
Tags
ace or demi protagonist, lesbian protagonist, queer representation



