A really enjoyable read. I have never read or seen any Ghibli comics or films but this book is how I imagine them to be like. There are lots of magical elements some of them very dark but there will a moral at the end. Great characters too.

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao is a beautifully enchanting tale that weaves together fantasy and mystery in the heart of Tokyo. At the centre of the story is a pawnshop like no other—hidden from the eyes of most, it only reveals itself to those who are truly lost. Instead of material goods, this peculiar shop allows its visitors to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

The story follows Hana Ishikawa, who wakes on her first day as the shop's new owner only to find it ransacked, its most precious item stolen, and her father mysteriously vanished. Her life takes a further unexpected turn when a charming young physicist stumbles into the shop, offering help instead of seeking it, unlike the other troubled souls who frequent the shop. Together, Hana and the stranger embark on a mesmerising journey through a mystical world, traversing rain puddles, flying on paper cranes, and visiting a night market in the clouds.

As the pair draw closer to uncovering the truth behind the theft and Hana’s father’s disappearance, the stakes grow higher. Hana faces her secret and must make a choice that could change everything—perhaps irreversibly. The escalating threat from the Shiikuin adds a thrilling tension, as Hana and her companion race against time and reality, inching ever closer to a shattering revelation.

Samantha Sotto Yambao has crafted a spellbinding story full of imaginative twists, intricate world-building, and deeply emotional moments. Water Moon is a unique and inventive fantasy that captivates the reader with its dreamlike atmosphere and complex characters. A refreshing and well-executed tale that leaves you thinking long after the final page, it is a must-read for fans of magical realism and whimsical journeys. This book showcases the brilliance of the author’s mind, and I eagerly await more of her works.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

A Ghibli-esque adventure through another world. An easy to read, creative and whimsical story full of lyrical writing. However the pacing is off - something fantastical and crazy happens in every chapter, leaving little room for character development or fleshing out the romance between Hana and Keishin. Not one for me.

I was lured into reading this with the Japanese setting, and as I started it I thought it might be a bit of an interesting sci fi type story. Had I known it was magical realism, I might not have bothered (do we call this speculative fiction now? I don't really know...) but anyway, suddenly people are jumping through puddles into an alternate world (I think) and I got nervous.

It actually wasn't as bad as I'd thought...I decided to let the whole thing wash over me and not worry about what was going on. Even when someone got folded into origami to travel somewhere else I just la la la'd my way through. Mainly because of the physicist character, who I liked, and who I wanted to know more about. I like Kei more and more, and Hana less and less.

It's a strange, magical fantasy romance. I'm not sure about the ending. I wasn't sure about some of the middle. Some of it is great, and some of it was dull, but it kept me reading.

A little pawnshop in the middle of Tokyo. Only people who wonder over a choice are able to visit it. Here you can get rid of your choice and your regrets.But the day that Hana takes over the store starts with a shock. Her father and a choice missing, the store destroyed, and a customer at the door who appears to have a choice but offers help. Together they travel through a puddle and dreams to find her father and discover the secrets of her world. What sounded like a great fantasy setting in Tokyo became quite hard to read for me personally. It was just too much. Halfway through the fantastic setting I was tired of all the new things introduced. I've read some reviews comparing this novel to Morgenstern's Starless Sea, and this should have been an indication as I did not like that book. I found the Male Love Interest rather bland and the lovestory unnecessary. I am sure this title will find many fans and I think it was just bad timing for me to read this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

The story takes place on the backstreets of Tokyo: a magical pawn shop that can only be found by people who intended to eat at a ramen place but entered here to trade their deepest regrets and some life choices that needed to be changed in exchange for something that belongs to them. Regrets turn into birds to be caged in a vault, to be shared with shiikuins, who are wailing, scary people (somewhat supernatural entities) wearing masks.

Hana Ishikawa has been raised in this shop, learning to read people’s emotions, their resentments, and regrets with the help of her master father who reached her lessons by sending her scavenger hunts, leaving clues behind for her to solve the puzzles.

Now her father, Ishikawa Toshio, decides to retire, and this will be Hana's first workday, even though she wakes up with a terrible hangover-induced headache, finding the store intruded upon, everything strewn around, the furniture turned over, and the door that separates her from the outside universe (the real world) open! Her father is nowhere to be seen. It seems like somebody tried to steal something from the store because one of the acquisitions is missing, and her father might have followed behind the thief to catch him.

But the incident in the store seems staged, which raises more questions about the whereabouts of her father. And this is not the only struggle she has to deal with. A charming stranger bangs on the door, helping her to clean the ice cut at her feet, bandaging her, intrigued by the mystery of the pawnshop just like any other puzzles he likes to solve as an aspiring scientist. His name is Minatozaki Keishin, still talking to the ghost of a man who tried to save his life, getting attracted by Hana’s stubbornness and calmness.

Even though Hana initially rejects his help, she realizes she cannot bring her father back alone. They team up, revealing many secrets about her own life, and she realizes there’s a possibility that her mother might be alive and her father went missing to go after her. But this is not the only secret she finds that may change everything she thinks about her purpose, her family, and her meeting with Keishin in the pawnshop might not be such a coincidence.

What if the entire truth shatters everything into pieces and there won’t be a future for them to be together as their worlds get more apart at each second and the threat of Shiikuin gets escalated?

Overall, this is a creative, unique, well-executed fantasy with surprising twists I never saw coming. The world building was truly fantastic and magical! I loved the brilliant mind of the author and am looking forward to reading more of her works in the near future.

Water Moon
Samantha Sotto Yambao
Chapter 36 Page 289

||: Keishin set his fork down and looked at his stepmother as though seeing her for the first time. He had never heard her speak more openly or plainly. A part of him felt relieved to have her say those words to him. It wasn't that he didn't care for her. He did. And he knew that she cared for him. But being his father's wife did not magically transform her into his mother, and neither did him calling her ‘Okaa-san’ make him her son. Calling anything by a false name only made it feel less true and yet, there was another part of Keishin that felt sad to hear his stepmother speak this way. Their lie, like most lies, had been a balm to a truth that chafed. :||

Hana is doing her best to follow in the footsteps of her father, the pawnshop owner who buys valuable pieces, choices from his human customers, in exchange for.. Tea. Always the same. Green tea.
But Hana knows better than to question anything that is said or done within the confinements of her fathers little tea shop. Everything is not as it seems.

Just like the morning she woke up on her very first sat as the pawnshop owner. Meeting Kei, travelling the realms of her World, revisiting old haunts, dear friends and new faces, to face fears and cruel reminders. What has be.. Will never be again.

If only she could go back to the beginning where things were simpler. If only she had remembered what her father had taught her. She wouldn't be in a place that no matter what she chose.. broke her heart. At the end of the day a choice needs to be made. And Hana knows better than anyone'.. A choice should never be made lightly.

This book was sensational, it allowed my imagination to literally create the most wonderful places. It was surreal and yet the small girl inside of me ran around both Hana and Kie as they explored. Amazing book, for all ages!x

Thank you so much to Samantha Sotto Yamboa, Random House UK Transworld Publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and relay my honest feedback.

This book draws you in to a unique fantastical world. Full of whimsy, emotion and twists! I loved it.

i really enjoyed this book! i will have to reread it tho to fully appreciate it all over again! thank you so much for the galley 💖

A fascinating world that runs adjacent but entirely separate to our own, which interfaces only in the confines of a pawn shop (which can only be found by a certain few), which isn't all it seems... the magical world building was incredible, and I loved the inclusion of origami! I'd really love to see an illustrated version of this, as I'd love to see some of the scenes brought to life.

The romance was a little schmaltzy for me, and while not unexpected felt almost unnecessary; a friendship would have been better but each to their own on that kind of thing!

An incredibly creative, richly drawn fantasy novel that wears its heart on its sleeve. Yambao's world that parallels our own is bursting with life from every page, and she weaves into this fabric a fascinating story about the loss of a choice, and the road two people must take to retrieve it. While there were some very romantic moments between Hana and Keishin, I did find myself less compelled by their relationship than I was by some of the scene setting at play here. But all in all, this is a brilliant debut from a highly talented author.

I’ve not read a book like this before. The world building is amazing, the author’s imagination is incredible. I was hooked from the first couple of pages. The romance was unnecessary and the book would have worked as well without it bug it was a very interesting and engaging read. Looking forward to more books by this author published in UK.

3.5 stars

I was intrigued by this book from the cover and the plot. Well, I can say the strong points were the writing style and the fantastical worldbuilding, with Japanes culture and Studio Ghibli vibes. It was really a whimsical journey. But the weak points were the characters, they lacked depth and characterization, and the romance, which happened very quickly and was also very bland. I didn't feel the emotions between Hana and Keishin.

All in all, Water Moon was an enjoyable story that had the potential to be even better with some improvements.

Firstly I’d like to thank Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, for allowing me a e-arc of this wonderful book.
Goodness what can I say about this book, I was hooked from page 1!
The story is just beautiful following a father and daughter, in a pawnshop collecting “choices”.
The father retires leaving the pawnshop to his daughter.
The love flowing through the book, for all the characters is cute.
I will admit I did get confused on the last few chapters with where characters were, and were going.
I will most definitely we recommending this book.
Happy reading!

The world building throughout Water Moon is lush and intriguing, with each new tidbit of information we receive about the parallel world occupied by the pawn shop beckoning readers to immerse themselves into this tale. An adventure across the universe and the senses, with a secondary romance plot, this novel offers something for every kind of fantasy reader.

Loved this! So imaginative, fabulous world building, and what an original story. It had shades of Laini Taylor's 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' with it's overlapping worlds and the way they affected each other, Every page contained another marvel, what an amazing imagination that author has. This isn't usually something I would pick up but it was highly recommend by a friend and I'm really glad I did. Brilliant!

An enchanting and magical novel. Difficult to out down and easy to get yourself lost within. I absolutely recommend that.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy. I really loved the book and its characters. I can see that the author spent a long time on worldbuilding and forming 3 dimensional characters. This was already on my wish-list for the year, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. I loved the read and can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next!

From the beginning, Water Moon has a very mystical and dreamy atmosphere. Despite being set in a different, magical world, this world is very much still based on Japan and Japanese culture. The structure of this other world is very whimsical and creative as it doesn’t seem to follow the same rules of logic as our own world. This lack of normal logic is highlighted by Keishin, who is a physicist that wants to find the logical answer to everything around him. This contrast with Hana’s magical world and Keishin’s world of rules and formulas was fun to read as it not only helps the world building but it also gives us an insight into the characters’ personality.

Hana’s quest to find her father was enjoyable to follow. Although there isn’t an opportunity for the readers to solve the clues themselves, since a lot of the riddles and clues in this book only work because of the magical nature of Hana’s world, we get to follow Hana as she figures out these clues and explains them to Keishin. This is fun to follow as the riddles and mysteries that Hana has to solve have very unique answers to them and they lead them to progressively more unique and odd settings and situations.

For me, the least enjoyable part of the novel was the relationship between Hana and Keishin. Keishin is introduced early on in the book and he and Hana seem to catch feelings for each other instantly. This book is primarily a romance as well as an adventure book, although I personally thought the adventure part of the story could have worked very well on its own, at lease in the first half of the novel. If you enjoy romance being the central point of magical novels, then you may enjoy this, but I found that the romance was not convincing enough to justify it taking over the story.

Furthermore, I found Keishin’s character to be badly written in comparison to the other characters in the book, who were all unique and whimsical. Keishin does have a very well developed backstory and we read multiple flashbacks to his youth, but despite learning more about his character, to me he didn’t feel very real. The way he acted and spoke felt unnatural and he feels like nothing more than Hana’s love interest for the majority of the story.

Finally, sometimes, the mood of the book did not flow very well. In general, the mood of Water Moon is quite mystical and cosy, but at times it dipped into horror and quite dark ideas. Even though these dark ideas were interesting, they felt out of place. Perhaps if from the beginning the book took on a more sombre rather than whimsical tone, the darker parts of the book would have flowed into the story better.

Overall, Water Moon was an easy, magical, dreamy read. Despite the romance feeling rushed at times, it will likely still please those who like a magical, romantic adventure, especially if you have a soft spot for Japanese culture.

I honestly don't know how to write a proper review of this. I'm all feels now and my head is not head-ing.

I've never read anything like this. From the very first chapter I was entranced, and when I realized that I zoned out for a passage or two I just had to get back because I didn't want to lose one word of this story.

I'm unable to describe it, you'll just have to read it. There's a ramen shop that's also a pawn shop on another plane of existence. There's memories and tea, paper cranes and ponds, night markets and soulless kids. And at the heart of it a romance that does not take away from the plot at all and is very sweet and also heart breaking.

It's just 5/5 stars but please don't make me explain. Just. Read. It.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for the eARC!

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