I loved this horror/romance about monsters and the brutality of "civilization" and surviving abuse and choosing your own path. And a sweet queer romance! ( )

This book was perfect. It might not be perfect for everybody but it was perfect for me. It was the perfect blend of weirdness, darkness, horror, fantasy, and romance. I loved the world and the characters and the overall vibe. It just struck the perfect balance and it was everything I look for in a book. It's so queer in the best possible way and it's my absolute favorite kind of dark, gritty, horror-fantasy. I'll be thinking about this for the rest of my life. I really really loved it. ( )

This is a story about a monster, who is just trying to survive. Along the way, she meets a woman, who is just trying to gain the respect of her mother... This is a fairy tale, but from the perspective of the Wyrm, who cursed the woman's family (or so the story goes).

Its well written, and covers trauma, from abandonment issues, to living up to your family's expectations. The characters make sense, but are not perfect. Hidden secrets drive the story, but they are secrets for reasons. As for the ending, its completely unexpected, and very much within the context of the story. ( )

[3.25] This utterly bizarre blend of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, romance and suspense provided an ideal escapism portal after an eight-month reading binge that included a couple dozen books that pondered lofty topics. That’s not to imply that Wiswell’s creative work doesn’t touch on some important themes. In its own weird way, the book explores toxic relationships, family dysfunction, self-identity and other themes in what has to be one of strangest coming-of-age novels in recent years. Unfortunately, I have a relatively short attention span when it comes monster-hunting tales involving shape-shifting creatures. This would have worked more effectively for me had Wiswell penned a more streamlined novella-length work. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this book it is a creative and intriguing premise. At times, the story does get a bit slow and I never really related to the characters. However, I appreciated the craziness of the situation they were in.

This is about Shesheshen, a shapeshifter who eats humans (and many other things) for sustenance...think gelatinous cube but more aggressive. When she is fleeing some hunters after being poisoned by them, she falls off a cliff and wakes to find herself being nursed back to health by Homily. Initially, Shesheshen doesn't know that Homily is the daughter of a famous hunter and a hunter in her own right. Shesheshen starts to fall in love with Homily and struggles with the lies she is having to tell. When the history of a curse comes to light, Shesheshen decides to help Homily solve this mystery.

This is an odd book. Shesheshen is an incredibly odd monster of sorts and the fact that she starts to fall in love with a human is...both odd and strangely sweet. Homily struggles with her own issues; she has a mother and sister who have demeaned and abused her most of her life. Shesheshen hates seeing this and wants to save Homily from her own habits and family. Unfortunately, Homily is under a curse that has its origins from Shesheshen's history so that mystery needs to be unraveled before Shesheshen can pull Homily away from her family.

I enjoyed the uniqueness of this read but I struggled with some aspects of it as well. I didn't find any of the characters particularly easy to engage with here. Shesheshen is just too non-human to really understand. Homily is too much of a people pleaser with a strangely violent streak. Homily's family are just awful people. Because of this lack of engagement with any of the characters I did struggled some to get through certain parts of the story.

I also felt like the pacing was inconsistent. The beginning is kind of cozy and slow, but then so much happens in the last third of the book it seems frantic. It also feels a bit repetitive with Homily abasing herself for her family over and over again. I enjoyed how it all ended but the ending didn't feel like it matched the tone of the rest of the story. I guess the flow was a bit off for me as well.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed the uniqueness and creativity behind this story. I struggled some with character engagement, pacing, and the flow of the story. I am happy I read this and would recommend it if you are looking for something a bit different. However, I am on the fence about whether or not I will read more books by Wiswell. ( )