Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter who lives as a shapeless mass at the bottom of a ruined manor, until hunters break in to kill her. She assembles a body from what her past meals left behind: a metal chain for a spine, borrowed bones for limbs, a bear trap for a second mouth. The hunters still drive her out of the house and over a cliff.

She is badly hurt when Homily finds her. Homily is a warm-hearted human who takes her for another human and nurses her back to health. To a monster, Homily looks like the ideal partner, a safe place to lay eggs whose young would eat their host from the inside. Shesheshen soon learns that humans do not think of love that way, and she hates hiding what she is.

Just as she prepares to confess, Homily explains why she is in the area: she is tracking a shapeshifting monster said to have cursed her family. Shesheshen has cursed no one. To keep Homily and a chance at happiness, she has to learn why Homily's relatives blame her, while the hunt turns more dangerous and her disguise is always at risk.

This is a fantasy romance between a monster and a human, with a queer love story at its center. It mixes horror imagery with dark humor and warmth, and the family conflict drives much of the tension. The pace is brisk, and the mood is tender even when the bodies pile up.