A review by spadedigsbutts
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.5

Very much a cozy fantasy book but with much more plot than they usually get, which was welcomed! The main character was actually such a different monster than we usually get in these books and I loved her very weird body language and how she saw the world. Very fun character! Sadly I didn't really feel the main romantic relationship very strongly and their attachment happens very quickly before being backfilled later. Now, this wasn't entirely out-of-character feeling since the MC is so unused to receiving any kindness whatsoever that you can absolutely see her catching feelings from someone just mending her wounds and giving her delicious soup. It just feels weird later when this characterization gets interfered with by her suddenly being really good at identifying complex abuse dynamics in a family when a lot of her character stuff is she has no family herself and doesn't get people or relationships. I feel like the book got very ambitious with addressing how the Love Interest's familial situation would affect her romantically, and while it's nice to see this addressed since it rarely is in romantasy books, I think it needed a little more fine-tuning is all. Overall, cute book and good for a short read.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings