It gave her strength, but sometimes Miyoung resented being strong.
Uncorrected Review Copy from BookishFirst and PenguinTeen for an honest review
When I first heard about this book, all I saw was: the awesome cover, the cool title, and that it had fox demons. Let it be known that I needed NO convincing to read this book! I was immediately drawn in by the premise: A Fantasy-Romance Set In Modern Day Seoul. It was bound to hold my heart.
It's about a girl named Gu Miyoung who is a Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who feeds off the energy inside people to live as an immortal. She lives her mother and has just moved to avoid things she'd rather not think about. Which is where she runs into Jihoon...
Jihoon is a very human boy, who is sweet, but maybe doesn't understand the gravity of the situations he finds himself in. Or he doesn't care? Soon, his relationship with Miyoung starts growing in ways neither could have imagined.
As I read this, one question I had was whether it would be more of a romance or more of a fantasy novel. Interestingly enough, it felt pretty even for me. This book reminded me of other fantasy romance novels like Hush Hush, Beautiful Creatures, and yep, Twilight. It didn't have the same cheese as these other series though. None of the cringe you remember. It seems to be a fresh take on a classic story. Or as I would much rather describe it...A classic take on a brand new story. Because really...I haven't seen this story before. Korean mythology isn't exactly everywhere and I knew next to nothing about it when I started. It's something I really loved about this book. To this regard, the world-building is awesome. There's creatures of all different kinds that live beneath a very thin veil that I hope to learn more about.
However, this book seems to really shine in its characters for me. I think at times they came off as very simple and basic, but sometimes the book just had these moments of great connection between Miyoung and Jihoon. I will also say that Jihoon's character was ever so slightly more basic that Miyoung's. I started off thinking I loved Jihoon more and was sorely mistaken by the last page. Miyoung knocked my socks off, I loved watching her arc in a way that took me by surprise. I really didn't think that her slowly opening up to people and having friends for once would make me as happy as it really did. I just really want more of her. Plus, the rest of the characters were really fun! Especially Junu, just saying, I want more Junu.
Through out the book, there were these pauses that explained more and more of the story of the Gumiho, these were not only written beautifully, but very helpful to understand the world they lived in. There were some that really made my jaw drop and I think it did a lot for the overall story. Speaking of jaw dropping...there were quite a many twists that I did not at all see coming that I maybe should have. This book has one of my favorite tropes that I will hide because it is a spoiler (view spoiler) But yeah, there are many twists to be had.
The only part that actually did disappoint me was that it didn't release from the heavy. The book stayed weighed down by the gravity of everything, which I get, but it's a shame the characters never got a real reprieve. They didn't get to enjoy having fun together. Which felt like it lowered the romance a bit, Jihoon and Miyoung were really thrown together and it was sometimes hard to see the love beneath all the trauma. Though I will say that this book hooked me on a friends-to-lovers trope and that is incredibly rare for me.
TL;DR This book uses re-writes conventional fantasy-romance into a new kind of story. You'll fall for old tropes and be impressed by new ones. It's everything you hope it is and you'll be wanting the next book as soon as you're done.
Uncorrected Review Copy from BookishFirst and PenguinTeen for an honest review
When I first heard about this book, all I saw was: the awesome cover, the cool title, and that it had fox demons. Let it be known that I needed NO convincing to read this book! I was immediately drawn in by the premise: A Fantasy-Romance Set In Modern Day Seoul. It was bound to hold my heart.
It's about a girl named Gu Miyoung who is a Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who feeds off the energy inside people to live as an immortal. She lives her mother and has just moved to avoid things she'd rather not think about. Which is where she runs into Jihoon...
Jihoon is a very human boy, who is sweet, but maybe doesn't understand the gravity of the situations he finds himself in. Or he doesn't care? Soon, his relationship with Miyoung starts growing in ways neither could have imagined.
As I read this, one question I had was whether it would be more of a romance or more of a fantasy novel. Interestingly enough, it felt pretty even for me. This book reminded me of other fantasy romance novels like Hush Hush, Beautiful Creatures, and yep, Twilight. It didn't have the same cheese as these other series though. None of the cringe you remember. It seems to be a fresh take on a classic story. Or as I would much rather describe it...A classic take on a brand new story. Because really...I haven't seen this story before. Korean mythology isn't exactly everywhere and I knew next to nothing about it when I started. It's something I really loved about this book. To this regard, the world-building is awesome. There's creatures of all different kinds that live beneath a very thin veil that I hope to learn more about.
However, this book seems to really shine in its characters for me. I think at times they came off as very simple and basic, but sometimes the book just had these moments of great connection between Miyoung and Jihoon. I will also say that Jihoon's character was ever so slightly more basic that Miyoung's. I started off thinking I loved Jihoon more and was sorely mistaken by the last page. Miyoung knocked my socks off, I loved watching her arc in a way that took me by surprise. I really didn't think that her slowly opening up to people and having friends for once would make me as happy as it really did. I just really want more of her. Plus, the rest of the characters were really fun! Especially Junu, just saying, I want more Junu.
Through out the book, there were these pauses that explained more and more of the story of the Gumiho, these were not only written beautifully, but very helpful to understand the world they lived in. There were some that really made my jaw drop and I think it did a lot for the overall story. Speaking of jaw dropping...there were quite a many twists that I did not at all see coming that I maybe should have. This book has one of my favorite tropes that I will hide because it is a spoiler (view spoiler) But yeah, there are many twists to be had.
The only part that actually did disappoint me was that it didn't release from the heavy. The book stayed weighed down by the gravity of everything, which I get, but it's a shame the characters never got a real reprieve. They didn't get to enjoy having fun together. Which felt like it lowered the romance a bit, Jihoon and Miyoung were really thrown together and it was sometimes hard to see the love beneath all the trauma. Though I will say that this book hooked me on a friends-to-lovers trope and that is incredibly rare for me.
TL;DR This book uses re-writes conventional fantasy-romance into a new kind of story. You'll fall for old tropes and be impressed by new ones. It's everything you hope it is and you'll be wanting the next book as soon as you're done.