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bookthief404's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Sweet language age, gory scenes, lovable characters and lothable villians all from the perspective of a non-human lesbian? Yes please
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death
snazzy10101's review
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Body horror, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
abookwormspov's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This was an absolute joy to read! Love me an asexual blob girlfriend
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Death, Blood, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Violence, Stalking, Torture, and War
ecpritchard's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
thereadingrambler's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
One Sentence Review: Although this book appears to be a black rom-com at first, this book is deeply layered and deals with familial/parental trauma and abuse, the idea of civilization, and what monstrosity means.
Shesheshen is a monster—at least that is what everyone says. She is happily living in her lair with her pet bear, Blueberry, hunting down food when she needs it when she is woken from her slumber by a trio of monster hunters. Weakened, she is unable to kill them all and in her flight, she falls off a cliff, she assumes to her death. But she wakes up, wrapped in blankets, her wounds stitched up, and an unknown woman feeding her broth. Used to violence from humans, she doesn’t trust this woman, but Homily appears to be genuine and unaware that Shesheshen is a monster. Unfortunately, Homily reveals that she is hunting a monster who lives in the area who has cursed her family. Thus begins a confusing romance between monster and monster-hunter that manages to touch on so many complex subjects in such a caring and nuanced way I was continually impressed.
First and foremost, the book deals with the idea of the monster. The monster, especially the female monster, is a complicated figure in literature and media (my friend wrote her whole doctoral dissertation on this!). She is the site of many anxieties about women and the threat they could (and often do) pose to society. Shesheshen takes her deadliness as not only a given but a natural and logical response to her experiences. She stands as a foil to “civilization,” she is constantly questioning this entire concept and finds so many of the requirements of civilization to be baffling. She is a threat to the nebulous concept of civilization (which is the term she uses) in so many ways: literally, as she is the apex predator extraordinaire of the area, but also she disrupts the entire political and economic structure of the isthmus where she lives. Monsters are disruptive and dangerous but often in good and necessary ways.
As her relationship with Homily develops, Shesheshen is confronted with abuse and trauma. I was impressed with how this is handled within the book. In many romances, someone’s trauma is magicked away once they are in a loving, supportive romantic relationship, but Homily is not somehow free of her trauma triggers and responses once Shesheshen is in her life. In fact, Shesheshen realizes that she has fallen in love with Homily’s pain, and they have to renegotiate the relationship so Shesheshen is supporting Homily as she works through what happened to her. And the book doesn’t end with Homily being “fine;” it ends with hope for Homily and Shesheshen to have a strong relationship where they both will be made better and able to work through their trauma, pain, and emotional needs with each other as support.
This book is a little chaotic plot-wise. It is the author’s debut novel so I’m willing to be a little more forgiving, but the final 25% jumps through a number of twists very quickly. I didn’t disbelieve any of the twists, and they did raise the stakes in interesting ways, but the reader was never given a lot of time with the implications of these twists. Since this is a romantasy (technically), I think the plot fumbled a bit when trying to balance the romance climax with the fantasy climax. Obviously not in a way that ruined the book for me, but I did find myself pulled out of the book a bit, particularly when Shesheshen experienced the same consequences three or four times in a row from different confrontations. While each confrontation gave us more progression and development character and plot-wise, knowing how Shesheshen would recover every time did take away from the suspense and tension. On the other hand, this is a romance so the reader knows there is ultimately going to be a happy ending.
I would recommend this book to people who liked the tone and hijinks of Dead Cat Tail Assassins or the character depth of The Woods All Black or are chasing the more complex romantasy of The Emperor and the Endless Palace. I would also recommend this to people who are looking for something that deals with familial/parental abuse and trauma the MC’s partner has experienced and the impact that has on romantic relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse
pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Excrement, Gore, Child death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gaslighting, Body horror, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Classism
kaiyakaiyo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
this was so fun and sad and unique and gory and strange and sweet and heartwarming and gut wrenching and whimsical and… you get the gist, I LOVED this.
heavier subject matter than I expected, but I think it balances well with the comedy and gore. this gave me the same “I’ve never read anything like this before” feeling as Walking Practice; I’m so pleased to have found another book for that mental shelf
I’d write forever if I had to say all the reasons I liked this, so I’ll leave it at: 5 stars, favorite shelf, so fresh and so so hard to put down.
heavier subject matter than I expected, but I think it balances well with the comedy and gore. this gave me the same “I’ve never read anything like this before” feeling as Walking Practice; I’m so pleased to have found another book for that mental shelf
I’d write forever if I had to say all the reasons I liked this, so I’ll leave it at: 5 stars, favorite shelf, so fresh and so so hard to put down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Murder
Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty
keen's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Body horror
Moderate: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, and Child death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
tisjenna's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Death
mindsplinters's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 4/2/2024. Just as the tagline says - Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love. So, yes, this is a romance but it is so very much more. Wiswell takes any preconceptions you might have going into something so neatly described as "a love story told from the point of view of the monster" and chucks them out the window. This is not Angel and Buffy (or even Spike). This is messy and primal and the stuff of the original dark fairy tales but gone even deeper into the forest. This is also a book about how very human monsters can be and how very monstrous humans can be.
Which sounds a bit pretentious but we all know it is true.
Shesheshen starts the book as that primal, gelatinous lump of sleepy shape-shifting monster that you find under your bed but she grows and develops into so much more. Her arc towards better self-understanding (of her nature, her desires, her needs) is truly impressive. At no point did I felt like I was getting off easy. I was with her in her mind and trudging through both her own layers and those of the humans around her. As she became aware of the difference in humans, in caring about or for others, in how human civilization can work and not work - so did I. It felt utterly naturally despite the alien gloss and knowing that, yes, this is a monster's head we are riding in. Sometimes it takes an outsider to really see the world and upset the status quo and Wiswell gives that to us with Shesheshen who, as she upsets herself, also upends the world around her.
Then there is the human who started the confusion, the love interest who is so much more than that. Homily has her own powerful character arc independent of but still entwined with Shesheshen's. We see her through the monster's eyes and what we see is sweet and kind and giving and attractive. It is only as the story unfolds that we (and Shesheshen) discover that there is more to her, that sometimes behaviors are learned in painful ways. Homily will break your heart in about twelve dozen ways and then she will offer to fix it because that is who she is. The perfect nest and yet... Shouldn't a relationship be consensual?
Speaking of consensual, Homily's family? Are not. Let's just say that there are a lot of types of monsters in the world and not all of them have supernatural powers. Be prepared to hate with the fire of a thousand suns.
Lines that made me put down the book and stare into space, questioning EVERYTHING...
- Underlook had made a mess in their celebration of her death, and then used their fear of her still being alive as an excuse to not clean up after themselves. That lack of accountability was typical to humans.
-Romance was awful. She couldn't even do something as simple as murdering rude people anymore.
-You could not excrete memories. They could not be surgically removed. It was unjust.
-It was easier to comfort than argue. Arguing was the hardest version of talking. You could have reasonable points and try to show as much empathy as possible and lose miserably.
-There was no deception to keep her safe from whatever Homily thought of her. If she wanted to be in love, then she had to grow used to it.
And a lot more. Damn, this book was amazing. I'm going to have to go and buy it now. Drat.
Warning : As you might have guessed, this book is pretty full of heavy themes and fairly graphic descriptions of violence, gore, and mental/emotional/physical abuse. Tread gently and be kind to yourself as you go but I hope and believe that, if you read it, it will be worth every bit of your effort.
Which sounds a bit pretentious but we all know it is true.
Shesheshen starts the book as that primal, gelatinous lump of sleepy shape-shifting monster that you find under your bed but she grows and develops into so much more. Her arc towards better self-understanding (of her nature, her desires, her needs) is truly impressive. At no point did I felt like I was getting off easy. I was with her in her mind and trudging through both her own layers and those of the humans around her. As she became aware of the difference in humans, in caring about or for others, in how human civilization can work and not work - so did I. It felt utterly naturally despite the alien gloss and knowing that, yes, this is a monster's head we are riding in. Sometimes it takes an outsider to really see the world and upset the status quo and Wiswell gives that to us with Shesheshen who, as she upsets herself, also upends the world around her.
Then there is the human who started the confusion, the love interest who is so much more than that. Homily has her own powerful character arc independent of but still entwined with Shesheshen's. We see her through the monster's eyes and what we see is sweet and kind and giving and attractive. It is only as the story unfolds that we (and Shesheshen) discover that there is more to her, that sometimes behaviors are learned in painful ways. Homily will break your heart in about twelve dozen ways and then she will offer to fix it because that is who she is. The perfect nest and yet... Shouldn't a relationship be consensual?
Speaking of consensual, Homily's family? Are not. Let's just say that there are a lot of types of monsters in the world and not all of them have supernatural powers. Be prepared to hate with the fire of a thousand suns.
Lines that made me put down the book and stare into space, questioning EVERYTHING...
- Underlook had made a mess in their celebration of her death, and then used their fear of her still being alive as an excuse to not clean up after themselves. That lack of accountability was typical to humans.
-Romance was awful. She couldn't even do something as simple as murdering rude people anymore.
-You could not excrete memories. They could not be surgically removed. It was unjust.
-It was easier to comfort than argue. Arguing was the hardest version of talking. You could have reasonable points and try to show as much empathy as possible and lose miserably.
-There was no deception to keep her safe from whatever Homily thought of her. If she wanted to be in love, then she had to grow used to it.
And a lot more. Damn, this book was amazing. I'm going to have to go and buy it now. Drat.
Warning : As you might have guessed, this book is pretty full of heavy themes and fairly graphic descriptions of violence, gore, and mental/emotional/physical abuse. Tread gently and be kind to yourself as you go but I hope and believe that, if you read it, it will be worth every bit of your effort.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, and Grief