Wiswell, John | Paperback / softback | 03-04-2024 | 9781529431346

“Do love stories often end this way?” “Why do you think it’s over?”

Shesheshen has made a fatal mistake for a monster: she’s fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who usually resides as an amorphous lump in the swamp of a ruined manor, unless impolite monster hunters invade intent on murdering her. Through a chance encounter, she meets a different kind of human, warm-hearted Homily, who mistakes Shesheshen for a human in turn.

Shesheshen is loath to deceive, but just as she’s about to confess her true identity, Homily reveals she’s hunting the shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, but to give them both a chance at happiness, she must figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with the woman she loves.

A glorious, funny, occasionally slightly violent love story which asks us to examine – and re-examine – the meaning of legacy, family and love.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is 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

A beautiful monster story with a heart, Wiswell treats his outcasts as heroes. He is an author the world desperately needs ? J.R. Dawson, author of The First Bright Thing

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is charming, horrifying, sweet, and funny – everything I could have wanted from John Wiswell’s debut novel and more! With the perfect blend of humor and darkness, it’s a wholly fresh take on a monster story ? A.C. Wise, author of Hooked