Recent Reads - Someone You Can Build A Nest In

Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell - I heard this book recommended in a podcast and it looked intriguing when I read the summary. I opted to listen to the audiobook and overall I enjoyed it. Now, how do I describe it? The cover gives young adult horror fantasy vibes, and that's certainly a start. It's not gory or graphic but certainly uncomfortable in a body horror kind of way, and there are elements that are not going to sit well with every audience.

Let me do a bit of story summary to start. The protagonist is a shapeshifting monster named Shesheshen whose hibernation is interrupted by hunters come to murder her. She manages to pull herself together - literally using discarded bones and chains and a bear trap to form a skeleton! - and fight back, but she's chased away from the ruined manor where she lives and is injured when she falls from a cliff. A human woman named Homily finds Shesheshen, and mistaking her for a fellow human, insists on nursing her back to health. Shesheshen continues in her human form disguise, using Homily's help to escape the hunters, but soon finds that she genuinely likes Homily. Homily is kind and caring, and as they grow closer Shesheshen decides Homily would make an excellent nest in which to lay her eggs. But the young would consume their host, and Shesheshen realizes that's not how humans do things.

Before Shesheshen can explain to Homily what she really is, she finds out that Homily's family - and in particular, her mother - is single-mindedly hunting the monster that put a curse on the family, and Homily is trying to help kill that monster too. Now Shesheshen is in a real predicament - she's wound up in a romantic relationship with a member of the family intent on murdering her. Shesheshen has to outwit Homily's mother, figure out why they believe they are cursed, and at some point tell Homily the truth, but the danger to them both is increasing the more time they spend with Homily's family. Plus Shesheshen really needs to lay those eggs soon.

This is a very inventive premise, with both the story telling and world-building done really well. The humor is dry and ironic, and Shesheshen's voice as the viewpoint character is both naive and ruthless. She is a surprisingly sympathetic and relatable character that happens to be a monster. Yes, she has disgusting gustatory habits, and a grossly weird ability to suck objects and animal body parts of all kinds into her naturally shapeless self and construct chains and sticks and bones into an imitation of a human shape (that's the body horror element). Seeing how humans behave from the perspective of a monster is both humorous and interesting.

I didn't care for Homily as a character. It's revealed that she has been a victim of abuse at the hands of her family, which makes her sympathetic, but I felt she was weak and insipid. Surely her tendency to accept blame, overcompensate, and attempt to earn affection was a response to how she had been "othered" and victimized, but I felt it was overdone. In general, that was what I didn't care for in this book - the effort to normalize and lionize queer and trans identities and throw in what felt like pop psychology felt heavy-handed. Although it's a fantasy setting so could be whatever the author wanted, it was all very medieval feeling except for the modern-day pop psychology. The romantic relationship between Shesheshen and Homily is a strange one because it's kind of a same-sex, but also sort of asexual, and on top of that, Shesheshen isn't human . . . so it's weird, but don't worry that it's graphic. There's one kiss, which I'm sure was intended to be very romantic, but I thought it was just incredibly awkward and wierd. 

As far as the plot and storytelling, I felt the denouement and wrap-up after the "final battle" was too long and drawn out, and didn't give any information about anyone or anything other than Shesheshen and Homily. It felt like the characters were transferred into a domestic fiction novel showing them as housemates and parents and romantic partners and to me it didn't really fit with the rest of the story. It could have been just an epilogue instead of several more chapters, in my opinion. An actual epilogue, which would be ironic, since there was a character named Epilogue! 

I'm not sorry I listened to it, because it was very entertaining, but I don't think my life has been enriched by it either. Important to note, because I do have a tag "hours I will never get back" that I give to books that I considered an actual waste of my time, and I'm NOT giving this one that designation. Entertaining, diverting, humorous, quirky, good story telling . . . just not edifying or enlightening.

From the publisher:

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorophous 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 a 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.

This is a standalone novel  (#33) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2025

Since I listened to most of this in October, I counted it for Pick Your Treat in the October Mini-Challenge.

This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot

©2008-2025 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human.  http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

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Recent Reads - A Man With One of Those Faces

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A Man With One of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell - I should start out by explaining why I decided to read listen to this book. One of the readers in the 52 Book Club shared a photo of a hilarious dedication in a novel, and many of us commented wanting to know the title and author because it was so clever. (Of course, I cannot now remember what the dedication was, or which novel it came from.) Upon learning the title and that it was by Caimh McDonnell, I declared that I wanted to read his work based only on that dedication. A search at Amazon and at my library didn't turn up that title, but did turn up this one, which happens to take place in Dublin, fulfilling one of the 52 prompts, so I borrowed the audiobook version and hoped for the best. Not only have I not been disappointed, I have been thoroughly delighted with this story! 

Many questions about Paul Mulchrone arise right from the start of the story, and nurse Brigit Conroy asks a lot of them. What we find out early is that he has that 'familiar' kind of face, and one of the things he does is allow elderly hospital patients who are alone to believe he is the son or nephew or grandson or whatever, in order to provide some companionship to them. It's not entirely altruistic though. Brigit asks Paul to look in on an elderly man without much time left, and it leads to a very odd conversation and the man attempting to murder Paul. It's a case of mistaken identity, but the old man dies during the scuffle and Paul is left to try to explain what happened even though he doesn't know who the man really was or why he wanted to kill whoever he thought Paul was. 

Later, someone tries to attack Paul back at his apartment, and he reluctantly teams up with Brigit to try and figure out why. They find themselves in a bizarre race to stay ahead of the would-be killers, trying to figure out how the few pieces they have connect before they can even speculate what the missing pieces might be. An old copper friend of Paul's, an aging detective and his upstart partner, an elderly woman who thinks Paul is her grandson, Paul's lawyer, and several other characters take part in the chase, but Paul and Bridget really don't know who is on their side or who can be trusted.

The result is a narrative that is full of suspense and intrigue, but is also full of sardonic wit and comedy. It's a somehow twisted version of detective noir with dark humor. I laughed out loud plenty of times - sometimes even during tense scenes - because the descriptions, reactions, and dialog was so funny. Narrator Morgan C. Jones is fabulous and his voice characterizations and accents added so much to the atmosphere and my enjoyment of the story. This is the kind of book that is best enjoyed in audio format, in my opinion! And I enjoyed it so much I will plan on listening to the following books in the series.

One important caveat - it is also full of very colorful language and there are some gratuitously violent scenes. If f-bombs and similar profanity or vulgarity of language will offend you, steer clear.

From the publisher:

The first time somebody tried to kill him was an accident.

The second time was deliberate.

Now Paul Mulchrone finds himself on the run with nobody to turn to except a nurse who has read one-too-many crime novels and a renegade copper with a penchant for violence. Together they must solve one of the most notorious crimes in Irish history . . . 

. . . or else they'll be history.

A Man With One of Those Faces is the first book in Caimh McDonnell's Dublin Trilogy, which melds fast-paced action with a distinctly Irish acerbic wit.

*********************

This is a book set in the city for the Summer Reading Challenge.

This is a book set in the city of Dublin (#47) for The 52 Book Club's 2023 Reading Challenge

#the52bookclub #the52bookclub2023

©2008-2023 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.