e-ALC, 09:42:56
Narrated by: Peter Cross & Abigail Reno
Release Date: May 12, 2026
Published by: Insatiable Press
Read from: May 13-14, 2026
Stand-Alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received this ALC free from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Death, Grief, Car Accident, Injury/Injury Detail, Panic Attacks/Disorders, Violence, Body Horror, Bullying, Cancer
For Readers of: Audio, Catchy Title, Contemporary, Fantasy, Sparkly Covers, Mythology, ToB 2026?, YAA fresh fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of Once Upon a K-Prom.
Seventeen-year-old junior class vice president Grace Bak has her entire future all mapped out with plans to become a doctor like her parents. But the weight of Grace’s own daunting expectations leads to debilitating panic attacks that have made her a virtual outcast at school, even to her longtime friend and crush. To make matters worse, her grandmother and only real support system has just died. Halmeoni was the glue that kept Grace’s little family together, especially after she and her dad lost her mother to cancer when Grace was too little to have many memories of her. To cope with the grief of another loss, Grace starts a webcomic inspired by the Korean myths her halmeoni used to tell her as a child.
In Sun God, Grace spins the tale of Korean god Haemosu and his love Yuhwa, but with a twist—the two gods are trapped in the bodies of teenagers and, worst of all, cursed to attend high school. Grace never expected her comic to go viral, but it has, and the new fandom has somehow conjured the real Haemosu. Now it’s up to Grace to get him back home. But when she starts to fall for Hae, sending him home is the last thing she wants to do. More troubling, Hae isn’t the only god to suddenly reappear. Hae’s sworn enemy—also brought back to the mortal realm by Grace’s comic—is set on destroying Hae, all while infecting humanity with a deadly disease.
As an epic battle between gods looms, Hae is without his powers, so it may fall to Grace to fight back against a vengeful god hell-bent on punishing anyone who gets in his way.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This started out so strong! But unfortunately it didn’t stay that way. I was so sad that I didn’t love this when I finished it. It was a lot different than what I was expecting. I thought it was just me, but after checking some reviews, it didn’t seem like just a me thing lol
Ok so I loved the characters. Even the gods that she drew. It was just so intriguing. I loved seeing them come to life and having to navigate real life. As for Grace, I liked her but she was a bit too grown. Like she had to grow up really fast. Her dad made it happen, but she just let him do it. And all the pressure on her from college and the e-comic. It just seemed like way too much. She didn’t have time to be a kid. I felt bad for her. She was essentially taking care of herself.
The plot of this started out so strong. I was hooked trying to figure out wtf was going on and how did her drawings suddenly come out? But unfortunately that was never addressed. And then once it got toward the middle of the book, it was boring. Even with the villains and things popping up, it just didn’t hit the same when I got past it. I thought it was just me, but others had the same problem. And by the time the ending came, it was like bam everything was happening, but I don’t remember a lick of it. It didn’t make sense but I didn’t look more into it either.
I’m not a real fantasy person, but I do love mythology. And this one was had Korean mythology where the gods are trapped in a teenager’s body. I didn’t expect it to be anything real big since they were teenagers, but I wanted more than what I got I guess. I just couldn’t get into it. And this deadly disease…… Was this COVID? I just couldn’t stop thinking that that’s what they were talking about lol It was just a lot lol
This should have been one of my favorite things, but I just didn’t get this. There were so many things about this that I liked, but it just didn’t live up to my expectation. I just didn’t fall into it like I thought it would. One good thing tho, I ended up looking up the Korean gods after I finished the book so I have that info in my arsenal even if I didn’t really enjoy the book.
Overall, I give this
