water moon is a magical realism story set in the backdrop of tokyo, about a hidden pawn shop that only those who need it find and the father-daughter pair who run it, the story was beautifully paced, with fleshed out characters and a writing that made me forget that i was reading completely, i will definitely get a physical copy once it comes out and reread it <3

for everyone who loves cost japanese fiction, and a book that makes them feel whole again

Finally a book that captured me in right from the beginning! I loved it! The story was beautiful and heart-warming yet surprising.
It's a mixture of romance and fantasy, of questioning everything you thought you knew and discovering the undiscoverable.
I loved the characters, although I would have put a little more thought in the world building as there were some passages where I didn't really understood how they ended up in a specific place. But maybe that was done on purpose.
I wish this could be adapted for a Studio Ghibli film as it has all the potential.

Choices! We make so many choices every day. Today I suggest that you make your day a little bit better by choosing to read this fantasy story. Opening a door does not always lead us where we think. But instead, maybe where we need to be. Hana and Kei have a story to tell you. Enjoy. Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a beautiful book with a fun fantastical setting that slowly unfolds as Hana leads Keishin through on the hunt for her father. The descriptions are gorgeous and dreamlike (very much like the cover which attracted me to this book in the first place). Unfortunately, despite this it really wasn't for me.

I went into this fascinated by the concept of the pawnshop and the selling of choices, and the first couple of chapters that focused here really sold me in the premise. However, once the plot around her father commences and Keishin the love interest shows up, this aspect is left behind as we dart from new place to new place. Hana's feeling of being trapped worked well in the limited space of the shop, but once it's clear there is a whole world she lives in, and the world is not just out beyond the shop door, it loses some power. And once it starts, the constant travel doesn't really stop, and things do start to blur together, which is a shame. A gentler pace with more time spent would have worked better and sold the dreamlike qualities of the other world much more.

The arrival of Keishin was also a little disappointing. I enjoy him as a character but I didn't expect the love interest aspect to kick in quite as quick as it did and it honestly weakened what could have been an interesting relationship between him and Hana, if allowed to develop more organically. It was also a little frustrating that the moment she is the one in charge, her first day where the pawnshop is hers after being her father's for so long, another man shows up. Give the poor girl half a chance to exist solo before replacing her dad with a love interest. The Ghibli comparison falls down there too: Hayao Miyazaki would never.

All in all, I think there will be a lot of readers who will enjoy this story, style and setting, and I really wanted to be one of them, but this was a miss for me. I think I was looking for a coming of age story of Hana coming into her own and finding her own way, but she felt a little lost in the action.

*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

This is easily the most whimsical story I've ever read. The world is beautiful and left me wide eyed in wonder - what a thing it would be to ride on a song, travel through puddles and see hope sparkle. I loved the relationship which blossomed between Kei and Hana as they journeyed through her world to find her missing dad and solve the mystery surrounding her mum. I loved all the characters who passed through. It had me embracing the impossible. A perfect blend of romance, mystery and the ethereal.

A mixed bag on this one for me- it’s very charming, and the succession of dreamlike settings are very vividly drawn. However, it felt a little too dreamlike at times, with no real room for the characters to breathe or feel very grounded to me.

Water Moon is a novel that blends magical realism with a heartfelt exploration of love, loss, and self-discovery. The story follows a character’s journey through a richly imagined world, drawing on cultural themes and personal experiences to create a deeply immersive narrative.

Yambao's talent for vivid descriptions shines throughout the book, bringing both settings and emotions to life. Her sensitive portrayal of themes like grief and healing is poignant and thought-provoking. The cultural elements embedded in the story add depth and authenticity, further enriching the reader's experience.

Though I was captivated by Yambao’s evocative prose, the pacing and thematic complexity might not be for everyone. Some characters felt distant, and the ending left me longing for more closure. However, these elements didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the novel, which is beautifully crafted and emotionally resonant.

The story is about more than just a pawnshop and the inanimate objects it houses; it explores the choices people make and the consequences of those choices. The author draws extensively on Japanese mythology and physics—topics I wasn’t particularly familiar with—but presents them in a way that is accessible and easy to understand. The world-building is intricate yet clear, and though the novel takes its time to unfold, I didn’t mind the slower pace, as there was always something unfolding beneath the surface.

The Museum of Education chapter stands out as one of the most memorable parts of the book, incorporating real-life events that are uncomfortable but undeniably true. Watching the characters confront their choices in this chapter was an emotionally powerful experience.

While I anticipated a more philosophical tone due to the novel's complexity, I wouldn’t recommend this book if you’re looking for a light read. The themes of death, neglect, and difficult life choices are central to the story, and they require a thoughtful and introspective approach. That said, I would highly recommend Water Moon to readers who appreciate novels with emotional depth and philosophical exploration.

To S.S. Yambao: Thank you for taking me on this transformative journey beyond the pawnshop.

Water Moon is a fantastical story set in a dreamlike world just beyond ours. We are introduced to this story through one of our two main protagonists, Hana, who works in a pawnshop with her father. We quickly learn this is not a normal pawnshop, as it belongs to the otherworld, but interacts with our own as only people who certainly need it will stumble upon it and be given the chance to pawn away a choice that they regret. They will always certainly take it.

I was very intrigued by this book at first with high hopes, and these first few chapters really pulled me into the story, but as soon as the inciting incident occurred and we were introduced to our second protagonist and love interest, Keishin, I was quickly lost. Keishin is from our world and despite having any real reason, he insists that he help Hana on figuring out the mystery that quickly unfolded. Hana reluctantly agrees, and they spend the rest of the book moving from one location to another, following clues to solve the mystery.

I loved the setting of this book and the creativity behind it, as the dreamlike world is based on Japanese folklore and interconnects it with our own in fascinating ways. It was interesting to imagine that things we take for granted in our world were created by workers in a spiritual realm just beyond our own. Everyone in that realm has a place, a part to play, that allows our world to keep spinning.

However, while I loved the setting, the characters started to feel dry as they explored this world. Hana would explain how aspects of the world worked, Keishin would instantly do the things Hana had warned him against, and this was somehow supposed to show how brave he was despite how foolish it constantly felt. Not only did they both feel underdeveloped, but when their love story began it felt shallow and uninspired. Neither had shown any real reason to be interested in each other romantically. This was also where the logic behind this world started to confuse me.

Without spoiling too much about the conclusion to this book, the world building fell apart with some reveals towards the end. It felt as if the logic had not been considered, and what we are left with is a world where the point of it is just… “why?” I think the author wanted to do a commentary on duty vs. personal desires, but in the context of this world that did not make any sense at all. There was one big reveal towards the end of the book that excited me, that was answering most of my questions while reading this book, but I quickly lost my excitement with the character’s decisions from this reveal.

I also felt like too often the author relied on ending chapters and paragraphs with the same tone of surprise. A character, whether it be Hana or many of the side characters we meet along their journey, would mention something that had not been mentioned before — usually a place they would have to go, or a person they would have to speak to, or a secret being kept. After a while the writing felt like it was using the same trope over and over, and that left for uninspiring writing. I was really hoping this book would scratch an itch in my brain for the Studio Ghibli-like fantasy world beyond our own, where we explore the world and it’s people and become self reflective from it, but in the end I just felt disappointed with a half-baked romance story that seemed to take importance over everything else within this book.

I feel I will still recommend this book to some YA readers, and for those looking to read about interesting worlds as I did like the initial concept of it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Watermoon
Have you ever wanted to travel inside a Studio Ghibli movie and spend your heart exploring the universe unfolding before you? If so, this is the perfect book for you.
Our story starts with Hana, who has taken over her father’s magical pawnshop, where people sell their choices to relieve them from the burden of possibilities. She is single-minded toward her ikigai and has accepted her fate. This is until a handsome Kei stumbles upon her pawnshop. Kei is a scholar fascinated by the secret world Hana’s pawnshop is a gateway too. Together, they set off on an adventure where they tried to find Hana’s missing father. However, the true story lies in the eternal truths that Kei and Hana discover among themselves.
This book was so visually stunning that I could easily see the scenes unfold as a movie in my mind. This is a testament to the skill of the author and her mystic imagination. This story is like travelling on a beautiful, handcrafted boat underneath the crystal celestial sky—you may not know where you are going, but you are too enraptured by the journey to care. Clouds, rain, origami, ramen—there are so many beautiful aspects of our world that Samantha uses in a completely different way . She forces the reader to understand that the rules of philosophies of our world, may not apply in Hana’s. She holds a mirror towards our natural presumptions surrounding choice, free will, and fate . As readers, both Hana and Kei offer two alternative perspectives on how to view these topics. The romantic tension between them is quiet and noble. I was never sure whether they should or would end up together or not, I was only certain that they shared something beautiful and rare worth exploring.
If you are expecting the dominating three-act, action-driven Western version of the plot, this is not the book for you. Often when people hear “Studio Ghibli” vibes, they are expecting Howl’s Moving Castle. However, I would say this book is more akin to Princess Mononoke, where the themes and the crevices of the world form the character arcs as opposed to huge plot twists. Instead, we have a series of subtle reveals within the world that help push our perceptions of life, love, and duty.
I also am unsure if a Western audience can truly appreciate the beauty of the relationships between our love triangle—Hana, Kei, and Haruto. I saw a few reviews saying the love triangle was “underdeveloped.”. I would vehemently disagree. The romances are very reflective of Eastern cultures where duty, family, and love are so intricately intertwined. The romances might not be big and glamorous, but this makes the romance more realistic and poignant to me. It does not overpower the plot. Instead, it heightens the beauty of their individual journey’s.

DNF at 42%

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing me an eARC.

I'm so upset because the cover is gorgeous and the premise sounded really interesting.

It's very much trying to fit in the same category as The Starless Sea or Stephanie Garber's works with the whimsy and kind of absurdist jumping from place to place, "just go with it" vibes, but unfortunately it holds none of the same charm.

The first couple of chapters were pretty interesting, a pawn shop that is hidden behind the door to a ramen restaurant and that takes regrets from their clients. Main character Hana is about to step up as manager when her dad retires, but her first morning she finds the shop ransacked and her father missing. The messaging about fate and choices was rubbing me the wrong way, but I thought that was where the character growth was going to come in.

But then the love interest was introduced and the adventure started. The characters show absolutely no depth and their instalove had me gagging. Each scene is Hana taking Kei to a new place via some different method, jumping thrpugh a puddle, through a dream, through a song. They meet some new character that gives them next to no clues and then they're travelling to some other place with the flimsiest connections that Hana seems to be pulling out of her ass! And Kei is all on board for seemingly no reason other than he's in love with Hana (again, I don't know why).

When they make it to a museum with an exhibit of moments of human mistakes and it brings up the Titanic, a failed assassination of Hitler, and Kokura (the original target of the bomb that hit Nagasaki) all within a page or two, I gave up. I don't know what the author was trying to do using those examples but to say, referencing the Titanic, that one crewman failing to turn over his keys to the locker where the binoculars were kept and therefore the man replacing him didn't see the iceberg in time; "fifteen seconds cost one thousand five hundred people their lives." seems irresponsible. The other two anecdotes are true but not something I had ever heard or looked into before, but the Titanic story is disputed in how much it contributed. In any case, boiling these horrific events to one moment or one mistake, even if probably other related moments existed in the museum, is bonkers! I was already struggling through the boring characters and stupid romance but this soured the book and I couldn't continue after that.

Someone else will love this, but I'm not that person.

Wow, just wow! Water Moon caught me completely by surprise. It is downright stunning, and this novel completely swept me away. I was hooked from the very first page; it pulls you into a world where love crosses borders, destiny and fate are two different things, and the supernatural element is blended perfectly.

How can I sum this up? Imagine a Spirited Away setting with an Inception concept. Honestly, that’s the easiest way I can describe it, the story is so unique there’s nothing else like it!

The writing is poetic and atmospheric, and the imagination put into this is incredible. Yambao’s talent for world-building is something I haven’t seen for a while, and the emotional edge to everything is tangible – I found myself thinking about it long after I turned the final page.

For anyone looking for a novel that’s immersive, and unforgettable, this is a must-read. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

This is an extremely imaginative book brimming with ideas and things to think about. The two main characters are very engaging and the other world in all its strangeness is very well realised.

In atmosphere and form the book reminded me of the Claire McFall book Ferryman. There is a dreamlike quality to it which, for me, meant that I felt I was always watching from a distance rather than being fully engaged with the book.

I would advise the reader to read carefully and pay attention because seemingly throwaway remarks and happenings take on greater significance as the story progresses and I had to go back to the start and skim not once but twice to reread bits whose significance I had missed.

I was a bit puzzled by some of the plot lines - I am not entirely sure that I understand Takeda's story and I don't understand how the sake lady knew that if she had made different choices, she would have had a child. There is a bit about a lady giving birth in a lift. I wondered if this had a particular significance but if it did, I did not catch it. I would have liked to hear more about Kei's mother and father - was his father Jungchiro? I would have liked more about the night market. And who would not want a bag like Hana's?

In my opinion, the (mercifully) short sex scene adds nothing to the story and I think it sits awkwardly with the dreamlike quality of the book.

All in all, I very much enjoyed the experience of this book and some parts of it will stay with me.

Thanks to NetGalley and RandomHouse UK for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a review. All the opinions are my own and I wasn’t paid to write this.

We start the book following Hana in her dad’s pawnshop, it’s the night before her father is due to retire. It’s not like any other pawnshop though, they trade in choices instead of trinkets. We then find out that Hana’s mother passed away a long time ago for stealing a choice, and her father doesn’t want her to make the same mistakes. Hana’s first day as the owner of the pawnshop arrives and she doesn’t find her father doing his usual morning routine, so she goes to open the pawnshop and finds it ransacked, a choice missing as well as her father. In walks Keishin, who agrees to help Hana look for her father.

I loved this, it’s one of the best books I have had the pleasure of reading this year. The story was gorgeously written and included a lot of beautiful imagery, it was also a perfect read for this time of year. I am definitely purchasing this book when it comes out, if you can, please go and read this. It’s a beautiful story.

What a magical book! I have never read a book like this before and I loved it. The world building was magical and I was emotionally invested in the characters. I've seen a few reviews saying it reminds them of Studio Ghibli movies and I totally agree! This needs to be picked up and made into a Studio Ghibli movie.

There are a few twists that keep me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't put it down. It really is a unique world 🩷 The characters were just enough to not take away from the world but enough for your to be invested in them.

Would you rewrite your destiny if it meant losing a part of your past? This book had me thinking! This thriller will ensnare you in a tight grip until the satisfying conclusion. There were more twists and turns in this book than a roller coaster ride! Wow!...

My expectations were high - I kept hearing about and seeing this book all the time. I was expecting a mind-bending speculative fiction creation, that would challenge the way I think about the world around me (not sure I was expecting this though).

What I got instead was, unfortunately, not this. The story is tough to explain - a hidden pawnshop that reveals itself only to a special few is a doorway to a different world, that survives in parallel to ours. It's governed by odd rules, characterised by dreamlike landscapes, and has an unusually unsettling relationship with our world. On the basis of this a love story emerges.

This, in essence, together with pretty good writing and pacing, is what makes this book unique. The worldbuilding is special, and while reminiscent of e.g., Spirited Away and perhaps some other Japanese folks stories, it does it in a rather nice and engaging way.

What I really struggled with, though, is two things. First, the characters are just uninteresting - they don't evolve over time, their motivations are not super clear, and their dialogues are juveline (massively so). The love story between the two protagonists is cloying, predictable, and silly, making it feel more like a YA book, than anything more mature.

The second thing I struggled with is the logical leaps in the plot and the narrative. There are multiple events that, even in a fantastic universe, just didn''t make sense, and naively so. It's like the author really wanted to say something, and ignored the full extent of ramifications of that decision on what came before it was made.

I think it's a pretty good YA novel, but nothing more. For me - it was a waste of time.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this arc. Water Moon is a beautifully written book that transports you to a different world through creative means such as a pond taking you to a parallel universe or the means of putting your head on a pillow to only wake up in a land where a bridge connects you to another dreamland. It’s whimsical and reminds me of Studio Ghibi.

The story is beautiful, there is no doubt about that, but for me personally it didn’t hit the spot. That could be because of how lengthy descriptions were and how complex parts were. The novel is full of surprising twists and you can tell the author is brilliant at what they do.

Even though this wasn’t it for me it definitely will be for others. The imagery is amazing and I will definitely keep this author in mind and read their other work.

I don't think I've ever read anything like "Water Moon" by Samantha Sotto Yambao. I was expecting something similar to the Japanese series "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" where you are introduced to a series of characters and short stories, each contained within a chapter. This book was different. It started off similar but very quickly jumped into a world perhaps most understood if you have watched any Studio Ghibli animations. At one point, I even thought there were His Dark Materials vibes going on. Complex, fantasy, fascinating.

Water Moon truly transports you to a different world, where the laws of physics and logic don’t apply.

Unfortunately, this just didn’t hit the spot for me. The lengthy descriptions and complex lore lost me throughout.

However, it was by no means a bad book, and I’d be open to picking up another by this author

-eARC received via netgalley but opinions are my own-

This was a fun, studio-ghibli style adventure of a daughter trying to find her father after he mysteriously disappears and their fantastical pawn shop has been ransacked

I loved the different aspects of the journey - travelling through paintings and puddles, riding paper cranes and rumours - all with some very beautiful prose

While the characters could have been developed a little more, I liked the dual perspective - swapping between Hana's knowledge and Kei's awe made for an interesting way to discover the world