⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 4.75 stars
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

The God and the Gumiho is a story about Hani, a gumiho who joins Seokgo, a fallen god, in investigating a series of murders in their city.

“There are no happy endings in your story. The god and the gumiho ends with tragedy.”

This book is one of my most anticipated reads this year and I was so glad to be approved for an eARC! That aside, this book did not disappoint!!

I really liked how this city, New Sinsi, in Korea existed and how all these supernatural creatures co-existed together within the city. All different types came by, and it was fun to see them all.

The writing was really well done! I loved how the writing really fitted the vibe and atmosphere and really brought the characters to live. The story takes place in 1992, and I love how it shows in video recordings being used and all! It makes it fun to see how the investigation progressed.

Hani is an interesting character, who is definitely morally grey like Seokga! She is a gumiho, a notorious one from the past and sort of in hiding now. At first, her actions are selfish and only for her best interesting, but I love how she gradually grows to respect others and how she doesn’t do things solely for herself anymore as she opens her heart to others! Seokga, equally morally grey, has had a hard time on Earth. As a fallen God and tasked with killing the unrulies, his powers taken, it isn’t weird that he became bitter and very grumpy. He wants no help whatsoever and wants to do it all by himself, as he doesn’t trust anyone but himself. Seeing him learning to trust others was really awesome. The character ARCs were so well developed, and both had amazing growth!

There was a lot of humour and banter and I lived for every second of it! Hani and Seokga have so much chemistry and I really love how they went from reluctant allies to friends to lovers! The mutual respect slowly forming was really well done! I did think their first kiss was still a bit sudden with how they still acted around each other, but I really loved how it progressed afterwards!

The ending, damn I did not see that twist coming! It was so hard to put the book down once the stakes were so high and the ending was nearing! It was a really amazing and satisfying ending. I love the very last chapter and it gives me a lot of hope for the sequel!
Also, I love how big a role coffee plays in this story! As a coffee lover, I approve haha!

Overall, The God and the Gumiho is a fun story with amazing characters and a very engaging plot! I can’t wait for the sequel!

5⭐️ This was a breathtakingly beautiful and engaging fantasy that completely stole me away- I couldn’t put it down! 🌸

I knew this book sounded amazing and I hoped going into it that I’d enjoy it but I was blown away by how much I loved it! It was beautifully and engagingly written with a rich, vibrant and cosmopolitan world that drew inspiration from Korean folklore and brought it to life, making me want to learn more about the Gods, Gumihos and all kinds of other shape shifting, metal eating or soul gathering beings.

While at it’s heart The God and the Gumiho is a K-Drama esque Adult folklore infused Urban Fantasy romance set in the 90’s it also had a gritty, hard-boiled noir vibes with Seokga as the grumpy, brooding coffee addict detective and Hani the fiesty femme fatale that had me absolutely hooked. It was truly a breath of fresh air to read, an absolute joy to devour as I fell in love with everything about it, especially Seokga and Hani who completely have my heart. I loved the dual pov and really liked both titular characters- they were morally grey and they owned it! I also have to commend the author because the writing was wonderful and I was left open mouthed because I was completely blindsided by a twist- it’s very rare I’m completely surprised like that!

This book has:
💙Grumpy x Sunshine
🩷Hidden Identities
💙Only One Bed
🩷Morally Grey BAMF MCs
💙They hate eachother until they don’t Enemies to lovers
🩷Great Banter and Chemistry
💙Inspired by Korean Myth and Legend
🩷90’s K Drama vibes

I haven’t watched any K Drama’s before but this was pitched as having K Drama vibes and from what I know about them, and from the way this reads like I’m watching it on TV I can only assume this does what it says on the tin (it also has made me want to give K dramas a go even more!)

Basically, I loved this book, go read it and OMG I NEED BOOK 2!

The Book in Emojis: 🌸☕️🦊🗡️🩸💙

The God and the Gumiho is a delightful love letter for every PNR Korean Drama! The story tke set at realm of New Sinsi and brimming with our favourite creatures from South Korean folklore and mythology.

We will following Seokga, the fallen God of trickery and deceit who must demolishes monsters and dark creatures to earn his redemption and place at Spirit of God. His character is cold, hateful and grumpy. Sadly I lost his cunning, sleazy and deceitful characteristic that supposedly appear from his title and background. He doing his daily job as Devective and bullies everyone around him.
And then there is Hani, secretly the Scarlet Fox. The famous serial killer who devour men's liver and soul at same timeline with Jack the Ripper.
I love her energies and never ending urge to make Seokga's daily life miserable. But her trickery and prank kinda childish and felt repetirive.

The plot actually simple and easy to access. Their romance isn't earth shattering level but enjoyable. It is brimming with familiar scenes and trope we saw and love at Korean Drana Series. It is hilarious and predictable, but high addictive. The Korean name for creature, monster and God/Goddess need special glossary pages. It is difficult to remember.

So far this is promising cozy romance fantasy with mystery subplot. It is entertaining and light. I just expecting deeper development and exploration on such interesting premises.

Thank you Netgalley and Hodderscape from Hodder and Stoughton for providing copy of this ebook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Expecting release date : 4 June 2024

The God and the Gumiho was everything and more than I expected going into this. I did ever imagine that this would make me cry hello??? Sophie Kim is truly so talented and I love her for the emotional damage she put me through. Seokga and Hani own every part of my soul and I need more of them ASAP please!! Their banter was so funny and adorable, I love my silly little immortals. That ending made me so happy and I can't wait to see what book 2 has in store!

If you love kdramas you will probably love this! It reads exactly like any good kdrama does, and the characters were loveable and fun to read about. I was pleasantly surprised by the twist towards the end as I thought I had the plot more or less guessed quite early into the book (even though I still did manage to guess just before the big reveal) and the ending was satisfying and left me wanting to know more. A thoroughly enjoyable read!

This was so much fun ! Imagine reading a kdrama. This was it, from the folklore, to the characters that hate each other, from the banter to the falling for each other... And the tragic ending, with the hopeful epilogue, it felt like watching a whole season of a fantasy kdrama. I could hear the dramatic music playing in my head when the cherry blossom petals were falling down. I giggled, laughed out loud and kicked my feet in the air. I was also pretty invested in the whole investigation, with the MMC being a detective and the deception coming from the FMC, I really got the vibes from my favorite drama (Flower Of Evil). There's quite a few romanized korean words so do your research if you're not familiar with them. 100% recommend it !

Personally, I'm always reserved when it comes to these kind of books, because I often feel the authors are trying too hard to make everyone who could potentially read their books happy. But here I must say, it was brilliant. The perfect amount of Korean Mythologie knowledge, a bit of Kdrama and a wholesome and humorous slow burn lovestory. The world building was amazing and so was the writing style. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

The God and the Gumiho is an urban fantasy novel inspired by Korean mythology and K-Drama. It features a whole cast of mythological creatures I never heard about, which was refreshing. Written in a beautiful, captivating style, this book was hard to put down. I especially enjoyed Hani’s point of view as she navigates between helping Seokga find the demon and keeping her identity secret. There are many leads the characters need to follow and many opportunities for her to tamper with the evidence. The main heroes are both centuries old, making them complex characters with a complicated history. Their relationship is also one of the highlights of the story. Calling it enemies to lovers would be too much, but there is much resentment and banter at the beginning.

This could be a perfect read if it wasn’t for the fact that I found the plot predictable. Also, despite being directed to the adult audience, the novel reads like YA. It could be much darker, but the author gave us a light and fun read instead. Despite that, I will definitely reach out for the next installment in the series.

Mythology, monsters, mystery and magic. Sophie Kim really delivered with this one. Add coffee and a Grumpy x Grumpier trope and it's almost perfect.
The 'almost' coming from the fact that it took me a while to warm up to the characters after all. Even though you get a pretty good idea for them from the beginning, and their 'I hate you' chemistry, it still needed about half the book for them to tug on my heartstrings. But when they do, oh man, the tug is real.
By the end I was aching so much and I really need the next book now.
The mythology behind everything is great, really giving me Loki vibes, and the stakes are incredibly high. I would have liked for it to be more immersive though, but I think it's just the author's writing style. She's always giving a bit of a detached vibe.
Overall, I'd say it's totally worth sticking with the book and getting through it. You'll not regret it in the end.

4,5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @hodderbooks for the eARC!

#Netgalley #TheGodAndTheGumiho #bookstagram

The God and the Gumiho is one of my favorite reads of the whole year! Sophie Kim says that this book is her love letter to K-dramas and you can absolutely tell, it reads like you’re watching one of your favourite k-dramas and I couldn’t put it down. It’s not often that a book that could be described as a murder mystery has me laughing or squealing with joy quite like this book did. The characters are so well written and all have their own unique and distinctive voices and the dynamics between Kim Hani and Seokga are just *chef’s kiss* perfection. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone that loves K-dramas or their fantasy books to be sprinkled with sarcasm, reluctant romance and the occasional bit of light heart ache. I lost a lot of sleep reading this book and it’s was 100% worth it. I can’t wait to see what Sophie Kim writes next!

౨ৎ ₊˚⊹ "the story of the god and the gumiho was an addicting drama." and indeed it was.

4.75 stars.

this book was absolutely delectable.

i fell face-first in love with this book. there was truly nothing to not enjoy about it. mythology? check. hot god? check. banter? check. characters who fall for each other hard and are adorable together? check.

the dual pov in this book was just chef's kiss. i did not expect it, but oh did i enjoy it. both hani and seokga were such amazing characters who went through amazing growth to overcome their flaws, which they did. i adored both their characters so much, and i am also heavily in love with seokga <3 the things he says... he's a smooth operator alright.

i loved how both of them were there and understood each other in a way no one did. they were both written really well.

also, this was a slightly significant part of the book but it wasn't, and it's the sibling relationship between seokga and his brother. sibling relationships in books are everything to me, and this one just made me so emotional.

the whole detective aspect of this book was also fun to read about. and that plot twist at the end.. holy shit it blew my mind. the last 20% of this book just had me sobbing, screaming, and praying that my babies get some form of a happy ending. and honestly, that ending was phenomenal. i feel this book can easily be read as a standalone because the ending is slightly bittersweet, and i like that. having said that, i am nothing but thrilled that there will be a sequel.

despite me raving about how much i love this, there is definitely room for improvement. the world building was little to nothing. it seemed really fascinating, what with the different creatures and gods, but there was hardly anything that was written about it. even though i liked their romance, it did feel a tad bit... fast. it takes place over a short period of time, and especially since they despised each other in the beginning, their romance was a little rushed and fast. also. there was a lot, and i mean A LOT, of smirking. that word was used maybe a little too much... oh and one more thing, this book was quite troupey. i understand why some people would get put off by this, but i wasn't that bothered.

other than that, i had a lot of fun with this, and definitely recommend it.

Attention, fans of Korean myths, legends, and K-dramas! Allow me to introduce my latest favourite book. If you love fantasy K-dramas, you will definitely enjoy this book.

Welcome to New Sinsi, a city where beings and creatures from folklore, myths, and legends live among humans. Seokga the Fallen, a coffee-loving trickster god, has been exiled from the heavenly kingdom. He now works as a detective, responsible for capturing unruly creatures and sending them back to the underworld as punishment for his failed coup against his brother, the emperor. Hani, also known as the Scarlet Fox, is a gumiho who works at a local coffee shop and keeps a low profile after her notorious killing spree a few hundred years ago. She takes it upon herself to annoy Seokga, the Fallen God whenever he comes for his beloved drink..

When two bodies without livers and souls are found, and it's confirmed that the Scarlet Fox is involved, it becomes Seokga's duty to catch her. Meanwhile, New Sinsi is in danger as a vicious demon escapes the underworld and tries to turn the human world it into a new dark domain. The emperor offers Seokga a deal: if he kills the demon and the Scarlet Fox, he will be reinstated as a god.

Motivated by this offer, Seokga begins the hunt for both, but Hani has no intention of being caught. To distract Seokga from her trace, Hani becomes Seokga's new assistant. She will help him catch the demon and sabotage his attempt to catch her...

The start of the book is slow, but once the crime-solving begins, the pages fly by. The balance of banter between the main characters, the funny moments, the drama, the murder mystery, and the slow-burn grumpy x sunshine romance between the unlikely duo is perfect. Hani and Seokga quickly grew on me, and I found myself rooting for their happy end while trying to solve the murder mystery with them.. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for us in the next book. I plan to re-read the book during the summer again.

I also can’t forget to mention the gorgeous cover! LOVE IT!!

Thank you, Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape and NetGalley for granting me access to the ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review.

This book has a creative plot and some rather unique characters, which make it stand out from other books. I enjoyed learning about the different types of magical beings whilst the plot progressed, and trying to unpick the mystery that was unfolding. The complex relationship between Seokga and Kim Hani was interesting to see unfold, with the secrets between them and their own distinctly conflicting motivations. I did think their interactions were lacking chemistry, and neither of them were overly likeable, though I did warm up to them somewhat as the book went on. The grumpy vs sunshine trope came into play here which was fun, and the banter between Hani and Seokga was one of the highlights of the book for me, but I would have liked the plot to have a bit more substance to it.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

That was so freaking fun? Like the banter between Hani and Seogka was 🤌😙! The plot was entertaining and although I saw some of the plot twists coming, I didn’t plan for that final one which was quite refreshing ngl. So excited for what that second book has in store for us but I totally recommend this one🫶

First of all, I would like to say thank you for the review copy, which was provided to me by the publisher. This fact does not in any way affect my personal opinion of this book. This post contains advertising and the rights for the book belong to the publisher.

Of course, is this only my personal opinion of the book and just because I give this rating to the book doesn’t mean, that everyone will have that opinion.

I heard so many good things about that book, so I decided to pick it up.

This book sounded perfect and individual parts were, but the overall book sadly didn’t hit the right spot for me.

The writing style was okay and after a while, I could follow along. My main issue was that I didn’t know any of the Korean mythical creatures besides the Gumiho, so I often had to look up certain things.

The main idea sounded very good and I liked the conflict that the synopsis offered but while reading I noticed that it was lacking for me.

The characters were sooo old but behaved like 10-year-olds and it was sometimes just childish. I rolled my eyes a lot in some chapters. The love story was also too fast for my taste. I had the feeling that everything changed rather quickly between them.

The ending was nice and I will treat this as a standalone.

Why am I giving the 2,5-star rating?

The fact that I didn’t know the mythical creatures is my fault. Yes, they could been introduced better but still.
The plot was nice and the plot sometimes carries more weight for me than the characters (this switches from book to book tbh)
The ending was kinda cool and I see potential in the author for their future book.
I read an ARC and something could change until the publication
The cover is gorgeous
2,5 stars just feel right to give.
Conclusion
Sadly not as good as I hoped.

I loved the author's ability to explain and blend Korean mythology together with K-drama humor and levity. I also loved every single thing starting from the setting: in fact, I found the lack of technology refreshing . And in characters? They are not perfect but I loved them both! I loved the banter between Seokga and Hani, and the lengths she would go to just to annoy him. The plot may have been predictable but I loved it anyway.

This book is light, funny ,magical and fast paced which is why it has become my new obsession!

Korean Fantasy ?! I will always be amazed !

I love that we get more and more open and different kinds of lore get explored!

This was a fun, cute and fast paced read and I am definetly curious how it will continue..

The God and the Gumiho is a lot of fun. The Korean contemporary setting really worked for me, it felt like a k-drama and there was plenty of making light of things/humour. I probably would have rated 5 star if this was purely YA, I didn’t need the sex bits. You can still do YA with violence and gore and I would be very happy with that. The characters are likeable and yet frustrating, for their ages they do have an immaturity but then I think that’s also part of the charm. The grumpy/sunshine dynamic is as front and centre and I quite liked this aspect. The actual plot was full of Korean lore and creatures, this made for vivid world-building. I’m not overly invested in the characters, but if I was in a mood for a fun read with some action, gore and slightly infuriating characters I’ll be back for book two. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I think I just found my new guilty pleasure!
I will start by saying that I really appreciated how the author blends the original name of the Korean lore creature with an explanation - just few words, enough to contextualize without forcing you to reach out to wikipedia but at the same not pages over pages of notes. It is up to the reader to decide if that is enough or if they want to indulge into a full deep down of Korean folklore.
As far as the story goes, it reads just like a k-drama would - good pacing, yet relaxed - almost cozy.
A lot of the tropes found in k-dramas are also present, but personally I appreciated most the banter and the feeling that the book gave me. I could see a lot of the South Korea I know in those pages. And I know it is odd to talk about colors, sounds and sometimes even smells when reviewing a book, but this was indeed the case for me. A lovely trip to a beautiful country, from the comfort of my couch.

It was a very interesting book. It is my first contact with South Korean mythology and I loved it, I was a bit lost at the beginning especially with the names of the mythological beings and their identities, but it is still easy to follow the story. The characters are wonderful and their relationship evolves divinely, the banter between the two main characters has been incredible.
The writing and setting of the novel was wonderful.
Recommended for those who love mythology, enemies to lovers, decit and a hot, grumpy and dark guy or girl.