Thank you to Penguin Teen for hosting this blog tour!
BOOK DESCRIPTION
An addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.
Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret–she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.
But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead–her gumiho soul–in the process.
Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl–he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to men. He’s drawn to her anyway. When he finds her fox bead, he does not realize he holds her life in his hands.
With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous and reignite a generations-old feud . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.
MY REVIEW
ARC provided by Penguin Teen in exchange for an honest review.
When I learned I was going to be on this blog tour, I may or may not have screamed. Wicked Fox was such an anticipated YA release of 2019 for me, and it did not disappoint!
This Korean-lore inspired tale of the gumiho (fox with nine tails) was so much fun to read, and I immediately fell in love with our two main stars: Miyoung and Jihoon.
Miyoung: A high school student who is half-gumiho and half-human. She must feed on the gi (or energy) of men in order to survive. Miyoung has a very strained relationship with her mother, who is a beautiful and ancient gumiho. She does not know her father and struggles with wanting a normal life. However, she isn’t good at making friends and tends to be a loner.
Jihoon: A high school boy who has a few close friends to whom he’s very loyal. He doesn’t have a relationship with his mother so he lives with his grandmother and works in her restaurant. Also, we must protect Jihoon at all costs.
Yena: Miyoung’s gumiho mother. She is incredibly strict and protective of Miyoung, and pretty much won’t show mercy to anyone.
I loved how this book is an urban fantasy that’s set in modern day Seoul. The story opens with Miyoung on her hunt for gi, but she ends up saving Jihoon when she sees a goblin attacking him. But then something strange happens in the process: Miyoung’s fox bead, which contains her gumiho soul, gets extracted from her body. And if the bead falls into the wrong hands, that person can control Miyoung.
What made me love this book so much was that we got to follow the budding friendship (and later romance) of Miyoung and Jihoon. Both teens deal with absent parents and it affects them both in different ways. And I don’t want to make things too personal, but I would die for Jihoon. He is so soft and caring, and his relationship with his grandmother was so similar to my relationship with my (late) Thai grandmother.
One thing that this book addresses well is sexism and misogyny. I appreciated how Cho included some chapters dedicated to the history of the legend of the gumiho. I won’t give away spoilers, but the legend of the “evil” woman who devours men’s souls has some underlying misogyny and it’s interesting how this type of story was told at bed time to scare children. But I really loved how Cho reversed the role of the gumiho; instead of being a seductive liver-eating monster, Miyoung fought temptation to feed, even if it meant potentially losing her immortality. Seriously, I loved seeing Miyoung’s character develop from the first page.
I highly recommend this book if you’re into urban fantasies with a twist on a popular legend. Not only is the romance cute and organic, but the mysteries and mayhem involved had me turning the page late into the night. I cannot wait to read the next installment!
BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
WEEK ONE
June 3 – Reverie and Ink – Creative Instagram Picture
June 4 – Read by Tiffany – Review + Creative
June 5 – NovelKnight Book – Author Guest Post: How did your personal experiences influence writing Wicked Fox?
June 6 – Read Forevermore – Creative Instagram Picture
June 7 – Moonlight Rendezvous – Review + Playlist
WEEK TWO
June 10 – The Book’s Buzz – Creative Instagram Picture + Blog Content
June 11 – Xenatine – Creative Instagram Picture
June 12 – Mike the Fanboy – Listicle: Favorite Fox Characters in Movies and TV + potential background on the fox myth
June 13 – Vicky Who Reads – Wicked Fox Phone Wallpapers
June 14 – _Forevermint – Creative Instagram Picture
WEEK THREE
June 17 – Beverage and Book – Creative Instagram Picture + Playlist
June 18 – A Court of Crowns and Quills – Review + Creative Instagram Picture
June 19 – The Fandom – Author Q&A
June 20 – A Novel Escape – Creative Instagram Picture
June 21 – Hollywood News Source – Listicle: Kdramas to Binge After Finishing Wicked Fox
WEEK FOUR
June 24 – Amber after glow reads – Creative Instagram Picture
June 25 – High Lit – Review + Author Guest Post: If you were born as a Gumiho, would you see it as a blessing or a curse?
June 26 – That is Mari – Creative Instagram Picture
June 27 – Folded Pages Distillery – Review
June 28 – Bookwormgram – Creative Instagram Picture
Author Bio
Kat Cho used to hide books under the bathroom sink and then sneak in there to read after bedtime. Her parents pretended not to know. This helped when she decided to write a dinosaur time-travel novel at the tender age of nine. Sadly, that book was not published. She currently lives and works in NYC and spends her free time trying to figure out what kind of puppy to adopt.
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