This book masterfully weaves Korean mythology into the plot, making the supernatural elements feel rich and alive without ever overwhelming the core story about friendship, bravery, and growing into your power.

Fast-paced, emotionally satisfying, and delightfully eerie, The Last Rhee Witch and the Nine-tailed Fox is a must-read sequel that will leave readers desperately hoping for a third adventure.

The Last Rhee Witch and the Nine Tailed Fox was a book that I had been looking forward to ever since I read the first in the series and it did not disappoint. Even though I thought that it wasnt quite as strong as the first book it was still an exciting, fast paced adventure with a twist I really didnt catch until it happened and the heartwarming ending that I needed. I really loved learning about Gumiho and more Korean folklore, that element is always my favorite part of these books. The characters all faced a lot of growth throughout and each one of the friends had their own challenge that they had to overcome. It made for a great read and I cant wait to read another from this world.

Ronnie is back at camp and ready to make some new memories with her friends!

Ever since she had to say goodbye to her mom’s ghost during summer camp, Ronnie has been cherishing her mom’s magical memories, which are stored in a collection of friendship bracelets. Knowing how important memories are, Ronnie wants to make more with her friends, but somehow, over the course of a few months, everyone has changed so much. Now, Ronnie is struggling to find time to be with her friends, let alone make memories! But when campers start turning up frozen and unconscious, Ronnie knows that magic is once more afoot. Luckily, as the last Rhee witch, she has a few tricks up her sleeve that might save her and her friends from whatever new creature is haunting camp.

I received an advanced reading copy of The Last Rhee Witch and the Nine-Tailed Fox in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Rhee Witch and the Nine-Tailed Fox is a middle grade contemporary fantasy novel by Jenna Lee-Yun. It’s also the sequel to The Last Rhee Witch, which I read and reviewed last year!

Once more, our characters are back at camp, and Ronnie is excited to hang out with her friends and learn more magic from the witches who run the camp, and who were part of her mother’s coven when she was alive. But very quickly, we learn that something isn’t right. Ronnie’s friends are all on social media, while she isn’t, and now that she’s back at camp, she feels lonely and excluded. I immediately felt for her, knowing exactly how this feels, and I was waiting to see her reconnect with her friends, only to suddenly have campers turn up frozen!

So now that campers are frozen, who is doing the freezing? Jenna did an amazing job of weaving in a few mystery elements into the book, dropping enough clues so that I was kept busy trying to guess who was freezing the campers. We learn it’s a gumiho fairly quickly, and that it’s stealing the campers’ life energy, but it seems to be much closer than anyone would expect.

There’s a lot of emotion tied up into this story. The gumiho is able to sense people’s deepest wishes, and so, we learn so much about the campers here, and especially about Ronnie’s best friends: Jack, Sam, and Olivia. Each of these characters develops their own storyline in the book, and they are fleshed out as more and more of their story is revealed.

Ronnie herself goes through a lot of development as she learns more about her friends, and one thing I really loved is that Ronnie is flawed, just like any person would be. Jenna doesn’t shy away from showing us the more flawed side of Ronnie, and in that, we all see more of ourselves in Ronnie. Or, at least, I did. I might not be fighting a gumiho, but what she was feeling, it felt so real to me, and I could understand each of her choices. In fact, I understood them so well that this book brought me to tears TWICE. Yes, that’s right. Twice. I couldn’t help it! And, as much as I want to tell you why, I can’t, otherwise I’d spoil the book for you! Just know that I loved this as much as I loved the first book, and as soon as I turned the last page, I had to smile through my tears because the ending couldn’t be more perfect.

I would recommend both The Last Rhee Witch books to any kid who loves camp, or who loves to read about it! Any kid who loves the supernatural, and especially folklore and mythology. Adults too! Jenna’s books have something for every reader.

The Last Rhee Witch and the Nine-Tailed Fox will be released on May 6. You can preorder your copy now from Disney Hyperion here.

Ronnie Miller is excited to be back at Camp Foster for winter break. She’s looking forward to honing her magic further, spending time with her friends, Jack and Olivia, and doing all the activities winter camp has to offer. Things go sour when Ronnie’s archenemy Gigi runs into Olivia. Soon, campers are falling ill. Thinking it’s the dokkaebi at work again, Ronnie investigates. Instead, her and her friends discover the problems at camp are caused by a gumiho-a nine-tailed fox spirit-and it’s hungry. Can Ronnie and her friends stop the fox before it’s too late?

The plot is well written, fantastical, and engaging. The characters are believable, well developed, and draw the reader into the story. The world building is magically done. People who like fantasy, mystery, camp stories, and magic will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most library collections. 5 stars, Gr 4 to 7.

Ronnie Miller, Olivia, and Jack are arriving at Camp Foster for winter break. Having a deeper understanding of her magical history, Ronnie is looking forward to developing her skills more. When Ronnie sees her archenemy, Gigi, run into her best friend, Olivia, Ronie suspects dokkaebi telekinesis is at work once again. As she investigates further, she discover there is a more powerful, evil spirit who is hungry? Can she save the campers from the evil spirit?

The plot is magical, engaging, and well written. The characters are memorable, realistic, and well written The world build is well done and draw the reader into the story. People who like fantasy, mystery, camp stories, and magic will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most library collections.

I was so excited to be returning to Camp Foster—this time for a week of winter camping—and Jenna Lee-Yun did not disappoint! I love the way she weaved the themes of friendship, loss, and openness together amidst the backdrop of snowshoeing, winter hikes, and snowball fights. It was so much fun from start to finish!

Imagine an impossible choice: decide between saving your friends or your only memories of the beloved mother you’ve lost. How I gasped! The meaning of remembering, the changing nature of grief, and the energy that connects us all is at the heart of this action-packed sequel to Jenna Lee-Yun phenomenal fantasy debut THE LAST RHEE WITCH. Book 2 starts with a fantastic recap of the first story (I will try to leave spoilers out here!) perfectly woven into our return to Camp Foster, only this time for a week of winter fun. Ronnie is excited to see her friends and practice magic, but things go sideways very quickly as the gumiho—the nine-tailed fox—starts to cause trouble by taking people’s gi and leaving them frozen. Gumi wants more life energy and memories to sustain her and challenges Ronnie with that impossible choice of sacrificing her remembering bracelets in order to save her friends. I absolutely LOVE the way Jenna Lee-Yun writes magic and there is so much history, mythology, and cultural discussion here that the world-building is as exciting as the adventure. Plus there is fantastic camp drama and activities, a group of friends figuring out how to work together to save the day, and a moment between Ronnie and her dad that left me bawling. My recommendation is to grab Book 1 now if you haven’t read it yet so you’re reading for this one in May! Highly recommend!!

Middle grade diverse YA series based in Korean mythology and folklore. Suitable for public and school libraries.

I didn't realize this was the second book in the series, which might have reduced my enjoyment of it. Sometimes in series authors feel compelled to make a book where the MC is suddenly highly unappealing, which might have been the case here. My major take away was the MC is incredibly self involved, which made it hard to get into her perspective and made many of her decisions seem like random authorial choices rather than something a real person would do. It also made all of the other characters far more interesting and appealing that the MC, which was sub-optimal given the story is told exclusively through her lens.

Ronnie Miller and her friends return to Camp Foster during winter break. While everyone else is off snowboarding Ronnie is having witch lessons with her coven. But Ronnie expects everything to be the same with her friends. She feels left out and the changes hurt leading her to listen to a mysterious woman in the woods. This leads to all kinds of trouble that only be solved with Ronnie is honest with her friends and understands her own motivations.
I love this mix of camp and Korean mythological characters. The children are so relatable, trying to come to grip with loss and feeling alone. Especially when you are half-dokkaebi and half witch!
Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for this DRC.
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