Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell
An asexual sapphic monster romance told from the perspective of the monster herself, Someone You Can Build A Nest In is deeply, deeply weird and honestly kind of gross in places, but it’s also full of strangely lovely sentiment and is pretty much guaranteed to be like nothing you’ve read before. The monster in question is an amorphous, flesh-eating shapeshifter named Shesheshen who is nursed back to health by a kind human after being badly injured by hunters, and then experiences an existential crisis about unfamiliar concepts like friendship and love. Shesheshen and Homily’s relationship turns out to be surprisingly compelling, but there’s quite a bit more gore and body horror here than is typical in stories on this list, so if that’s not your bag, beware.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
A strangely surreal novel that defies easy explanation, The Pisces centers on Lucy, a depressed academic whose life is spiraling in pretty much every way. Things start to look up when she meets sensitive swimmer Theo, but their relationship gets weird fast when he reveals he’s actually a merman. Broder deftly handles some fairly dark themes—obsession, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and loneliness—in a story that blends magical realism with all too human problems. The book is also a lot more forthright about the likely difficulties (or at least the awkward factor) of attempted human-merperson sex, but it also thankfully gives Theo more dimension than many characters like him in this genre, who tend to represent dream boyfriend ideals rather than fully formed people.
The Husbands by Annie Gramazio
This charming speculative novel about the paralysis of choice in a world of seemingly endless possibilities follows Lauren, a single woman struggling with dating in London. She returns home from a night out to discover a strange man in her apartment, claiming to be her husband, a role seemingly confirmed by the sudden appearance of text messages and shared photos that support his claim. (Apparently, her friends love him!) Things get even weirder when that man heads to the attic to change a light bulb, and a completely different man returns, also insisting he is Lauren’s husband. This vaguely Groundhog Day-esque scenario repeats any time one of the husbands heads upstairs, and each new “spouse” rewrites aspects of Lauren’s life, from her personal styling choices to her social circle. As the situation grows increasingly unhinged, she wrestles with her own commitment fears and the question of whether finding “the one” is still attainable.
That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Kimberly Lemming’s series of creatively titled monster romances—other gems in her “Mead Mishaps” series include That Time I Got Drunk And Yeeted A Love Potion At A Werewolf and the forthcoming That Time I Got Drunk And Was Bitten By A Snake Man—are so popular because in addition to including the requisite cross-species spice, each is a delightfully quirky adventure in its own right. This first entry tells the story of a cinnamon trader who inadvertently rescues an injured demon and finds herself swept up in his quest to stop an evil spellcaster. Top-notch banter, fast-paced escapades, and, yes, sex ensue.
Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle
A more lighthearted, holiday-themed spin on the “accidentally became romantically involved with a magical creature” trope, this book follows a down-on-her-luck social media influencer who mistakenly summons the Holiday Spirit by playing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” backwards. Hal, for short, takes the form of a very attractive man who comes complete with the ability to grant all of Bettie’s wishes and pretend to be her fiancée in front of her judgy family. But, as anyone who has seen a Hallmark movie can tell you, Hal’s real gift is his ability to slowly teach her that the true meaning of the season is much more than presents, and no amount of material objects can make you happy.
Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck
A heartfelt story of love and loss that’s unafraid of both big philosophical questions and bigger emotions, Shark Heart is the story of Lewis and Wren, a couple who’ve only been married a few weeks when he’s diagnosed with something called a Carcharodon carcharias mutation. Translation: He’s slowly turning into a great white shark. The pair are given a year before he’ll have to be released into the wild, and what follows is their complicated attempt to navigate Lewis’ transformation and what it means for them both. As weird as this premise sounds, Habeck deftly crafts Lewis’s shifting condition in the vein of familiar real-world illnesses like Alzheimer’s that require loved ones to care for a family member they slowly cease to recognize. Beautifully written and deeply earnest, you should definitely pack some tissues before reading.
I Made It Out of Clay by Beth Kander
A lonely Jewish woman in need of a date for her sister’s wedding—you’d be surprised how often this kind of fake boyfriend trope surfaces in these stories—turns to folklore and crafts a clay golem that magically comes to life in this funny, fizzy story that turns out to be more complex than it initially appears. Turning 40, Eve’s life is colored by grief, loneliness, and that specific feeling of failure that goes along with a younger sibling walking down the aisle before you do. Paul Mudd—so-named because he resembles Paul Rudd—represents much of what she sees as missing from her life, but part of her journey is coming to understand that she has more power than she thinks to shape her own future. (Just… maybe not so literally next time.) Kander touches on some surprisingly heavy topics such as antisemitism and generational trauma, but Eve’s story is ultimately a warm and uplifting one.
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