Rated using the CAWPILE system from BookRoast.

Characters - 7/10
Found the characters to have the right amount of flaws, making them seem relatable but still having that fantasy element that brought the world together nicely.

Atmosphere - 6/10
I felt the atmosphere was stronger at the end than the beginning. I didn't feel much atmosphere in the pawnshop, more so in the fantasy elements which was a shame. The atmosphere when travelling between worlds, and building each of these elements I really enjoyed.

Writing - 8/10
Really enjoyed the descriptiveness and language used throughout the book. The version I read was not at all well-formatted for the Kindle which ruined the reading experience for me, but I assume this is something that will be fixed in production.

Plot - 7/10
I enjoyed the many twists and turns the book took and I didn't find the ending at all predictable which was really nice! It was also a very refreshing and unique concept, and I especially enjoyed hoe Keishin questioned how the elements of the other world would work in the real world, because as a reader this is exactly what I was doing. The ending however did feel quite rushed.

Intrigue - 6/10
I'd say I was less intrigued at the start and actually expected this book to be a bit of a slog but once we moved on from the pawnshop I felt myself more interested in what was happening next.

Logic - 7/10
It can be hard to rate this in a fantasy book but I felt it all flowed well and I could understand the thought processes of the characters.

Enjoyment - 7/10
Overall a nice read. The slow beginning I think resulted in a lower rating but the second half of the book was much more enjoyable for me. Looking forward to reading more by this author!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, and Random House UK for the ARC.

This dreamy story revolves around the adventures of the young owner of a magical pawnshop in Tokyo where clients can pawn their past choices and regrets.

The premise is inventive, and although it’s pitched as a romantasy it would also appeal to readers who enjoy cosy mysteries and immersive landscapes.

The writing is beautiful, it felt lyrical and so descriptive I could almost smell the bowls of ramen in the backstreets of Tokyo! The first few chapters felt a bit bumpy in places, it jolts between past and present tense and I had to wade through some of the narrative which felt slower or repetitive. But it quickly gathers pace and I soon found myself invested in Hana’s adventure.

All in all, I found Water Moon an inventive, standalone novel which I have no doubt will stay with me long after I’ve finished reading 🌙.

Water Moon is a complicated one to read and has left me conflicted.

Water Moon follows the take of regret. In a pawnshop where selected customers can trade in their regret, Hama wakes up on her first morning as the new owner with her shop ransacked and her father missing. She a box on a journey to find an item that went missing and figure out what happened to her father And of course she’s joined by a handsome, mysterious stranger.

This was a beautiful world to explore. It was magical and whimsical and it had a very nostalgic quality to it. It was equal parts captivating and slow. Which ultimately sums up the book.

The pacing was so off, but just as you lose interest in the plot, another piece of world building pulls you back in. You unravel this world in pieces and it was equal parts boring and fascinating.

The ending also missed the mark for me but I would recommend reading this book for the experience.

I would equate it to my experience with The invisible life of Addie la rue. In that it was beautiful but someone ultimately boring.

Thank you to the author, publisher and of course NetGalley for providing me with an etc for review.

I did not want this book to end, it is a beautiful magical world that really draws you in. In addition to this the story graps you. I would highly recommend this book.

Magical! Just magical!

This is such a beautiful book, creating a vibrant and fantastical world that has an almost filmic quality to it, reminiscent of Studio Ghibli. What makes this book so very special is Samatha Sotto Yambao's rich, confident world-building throughout. You really feel that the author is in complete control of every tiny detail of how this parallel world works, the history and culture which shapes it and the way in which is connects to our own world.

The plot is essentially that of an epic quest - Hana must find her father and discover the years-old mystery behind her mother's disappearance when she was just a child. There are fascinating characters along the way and with beautiful prose and story-telling, every scene, every change of location as the quest progresses, flows seamlessly into the next one and before you know it, one quick chapter turns into an all-night reading session!

Although I very much enjoyed following Hana's journey throughout the book, the romance side of it felt a little shoe-horned into the storyline and just unnecessary (that's the only reason I've not given 5 stars). Personally, I'd have much rather the focus remained on Hana's character development and her desire to find independence in a world where her life-path has essentially been pre-determined since birth.

That's just a personal preference though and I'd still thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys epic world-building, beautiful prose and magical story-telling.

Beautiful, magical world but found that the emphasis on the romantic plot made the book fall a bit flat for me.

Thanks: Received from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I was captivated by the story, the well thought out plot twists and a fantastical world that could be the backdrop of a Studio Ghibli film. It was a lot of fun getting to know the world and all its revelations. For everyone who likes worldbuilding that's a little stranger.

ARC review of 📚Water Moon💙🌙 by @samanthasottoyambao coming in 14th January 2025
5 ⭐️
"Knowing your future would have stripped you of every choice, every chance you could have turned left instead of right. You would lose the ability to dream and hope, to wish for an outcome other than what is written"😭💙✨️

Brief: A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

Review:
Amazing, enchanting , magical, dreamy ahhhh a dazzling journey ✨️. Loved it, devoured it, I am drunk on this book right now 🫠😚 a adventurous read with magic and high stakes. The pace of this book was perfect 👌. And the quotes just wow every line in this book was worth annotating 💕 the romance was soo sweet🤭🫠 Hana and kei are star-crossed lovers⭐️, also I love how kei wanted to be sure they're not walking into any traps and Hana just no we'll be swimming into it🤣🤭

What's funny and amazing is that after finishing this book I slept and dreamt of the world I read, in my dream I traveled through rain water puddle and went to midnight bridge which connects night and morning and the night market, the library of the lost, the museum of education, the station and every other places I read😭🫠we never remember the beginning or ending of a dream we just remember being inside one ,the feeling that's it.

As Dumbledore said (of course it's happening inside your head why should that mean that it's not REAL)

I felt soo happy and full of giddiness 😚❤️.
Thank you soo much @samanthasottoyambao for writing this amazing fantasy adventure book✨️📚🙃💖and letting me review it:)

Mark your calendar everyone January 14th 2025 Water Moon is coming to give you all a fantastical adventurous ride🫠✨️ A must read for everyone who loves sweet romance with magic and mystery✨️

Ishikawa Hana (21) takes over her dad Toshio’s pawnshop. The pawnshop trades in choices for the “normal” world and takes them to her world.
Keishin (scientist) accidentally comes into the pawnshop and decides to selflessly help Hana in looking for her parents. In a fantasy world where the reflection of the moon can transport you to other places and you can walk through a book, making you made of paper as well.
The pacing is really good, mostly narrated by Hana and Keishin.
The worldbuilding is really interesting and unique in ways I haven’t read before so that was delightful. While there is a current running through the book of tension, it covers a lot of moral quandaries and philosophical ideas.
The writing is beautiful and a very speedy read. This review honestly isn't covering how magical and beautiful I found this book, but I hope readers give it a chance. For readers who enjoy East Asisan magical realism, this is the book for you. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

I was already attracted by the blurb, but the book exceeded my expectations. What a beautiful, imaginative story! Samantha Sotto Yambao has a knack for characters and settings; there's not a single dull moment here. Absolutely a recommended read.

Feel incredibly grateful to have been gifted this thought provoking, fantasy parallel world to imbed myself into.

The first few chapters had me doubting if this book was for me but I soon became gripped with the whimsical tricks and plot twists at the heart of this book.

Each chapter created something simple into a dream world to lose yourself in.

The idea of parallel worlds, selling your choices and travelling through puddles sounds amazing!
However, in my opinion, this book was ruined by a very clumsily written love story. It made reading a torture, charachters seem to lack definition, their action often gave me the ick.. I didn't like how the story was jumping back and forth either.
But it's mainly the love story, it was horribly written. It outweighed all of the positives and I was reading just for the sake of finishing the book after I reached about 50%.

It's been 24 hours since I finished Water Moon and I'm still kind of hungover from it, my eyes still feel puffy. I was going to stop reading at around 10 pm because I just had to sleep but I stayed up till 2 am crying over this book and that's how I know it was one of my favourite reads of this year.

A fantasy romance, Water Moon follows Hana who on her first day as the owner of her fathers pawnshop finds it ransacked, her father missing, and the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen. Hana and Kei - a stranger, then go on a journey to find him and the treasure that was lost.

The story's main focus is of Hana finding her father but also in a way finding herself, that being said the ending was not one I hoped for which was funny because it tied into the major theme of the novel around choices and consequences. One of my favourite parts was I suppose of the 'villains' of the novel and how they weren't really villains there was just a way things were always done - so in a way the villain was the status quo. But it was also dark and sometimes very creepy, I enjoyed how the story went for very light and breezy one page to tense the next. I liked how fast paced it was not in plot I suppose but in setting as Water Moon is a fantasy romance adventure novel I liked how we kept moving from place to place it felt like a treasure hunt it also mean that Yambao was so creative in methods of travel, for example, by rumour but also in expression of scientific concepts like time travel and how they were showcased in the other world.

Water Moon felt like a Studio Ghibli film on paper and in my imagination. Water Moon reads warm, vivid and, lush, an expansive story neatly packed in 336 pages.

Thank you to Samantha Sotto Yambao, Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and, Bantam for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I loved the concept of this story! Could not put it down. The book had something special about it, the storytelling absolutely enchanting.

Water Moon is a fun and interesting fantasy romance book about the choices we make in life and their consequences. It wasn't what I was execting it to be from the description, I would have liked more about the pawnshops customers and their regrets. This was really an adventure story taking place in a fantasy world that is parallel to our own.

The magic was really interesting and varied, basically anything was possible but still had to be done in a certain way. To me it felt very similar to Mary Poppins and the kind of whimsical magic. Seeing how this world worked and how everyone had their own part in it was very interesting. It does focus a lot on freedom versus duty, the real world is seen as free but this world has everyones lives mapped out from the start.

The main characters were likeable but I don't feel like there was much development, they stayed almost the same the whole way through. Priorities did change but not really the characters themselves. The romance was cute and nice but felt a little underdeveloped at times.

Overall the story was interesting and the magic was cool but it wasn't really what I expected/wanted which ruined it a bit for me. It did however have some really nice quotes and messages throughout.

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher.

This was a lovely, beautiful, entertaining novel. It’s so surreal and whimsical. There’s a lot of Studio Ghibli vibes with this one but with quite a dark undercurrent. We have a pawnshop owner who is retiring and is passing over his responsibilities to his daughter. However this is no ordinary pawnshop. It appears to people looking for a ramen shop but when they are in need of it. They are offered the chance to unburden themselves of a choice, to learn to love their lives without it, without the constant feeling of what if? However although this appears to be a benevolent service, the truth is more disturbing.

I won’t say too much on plot because I really enjoyed having this unfurl before me with little knowledge of what was to come. Our main characters will go on an adventure, taking a magical journey and defying the set expectations of them to discover what they want from life. This was such an evocative story, so imaginative and beautiful and I would definitely recommend it!

Have you ever wanted to forget the choices you have in life... just live somewhere where everything you have to do, you want to do?? This is where Hana lives - but not is all it is cracked up to be.

This book made me really think, especially about free will and the 'sliding door' effect - what if you did this? would life be any different? what if I had chosen this path?
I really enjoyed the world building, however it was a little all over the place at times, and the romance element at times felt neglected in favour of this, otherwise it would have been a 5 star read for me.
The book overall is an interesting concept, and beautifully written, I will be looking out for other books but Samantha in the future - I will also be adding this to my physical book shelf as the cover is simply stunning in its beautiful simplicity.

Within the first few pages of this book, the reader is whisked away to another world. Hana lives in a place where people come to forget the choices they once had. On the face of it, this service seems like a good one - everyone has a choice they have made where they later wonder what might have happened if they had chosen differently. Hana and her father take that away, leaving the person with no memory of that choice ever having existed.

But here's the thing:what price is paid for that forgetfulness? It made me wonder if I would like to forget any possible paths my life might have taken. If I'm honest, I'm not sure I would. We are a product of the choices we make in life and if we forget those choices and the emotions tied up in them, I think we risk losing a part of our current selves.

The book also makes the reader question how we think about the universe. Most people spend much of their life running from one task to the next, myself included. I read this book at the end of a blissful week in rural France, where I did little but relax and read. I think this is the first time I've ever had this kind of holiday and one of the reasons it was so wonderful was because it was much needed. This has been a very stressful year and to have the opportunity to do nothing was very welcome. Time is a luxury we don't often have and we were determined to make the most of it. In the book, time can be bought but it has been gathered from the time lost by those whose lives were cut short. It is not only Kei who is brought up short by this revelation: it is a stark reminder to the reader quite how precious a commodity time is.

However, the overriding theme of this book is love and the lies it makes us tell ourselves and others. Love makes people cowardly, foolish, brave and everything in between. It has the power to bond people for life or tear them apart and every angle is explored here. The characters do the most awful things in the name of love, but it also inspires them to act more courageously than they imagined possible.

Samantha Sotto Yambao has created a terrifyingly beautiful world and whilst it's not one I would want to live in, it's one I was reluctant to leave.

It was a treat to read this one. Definitely gave Ghibli vibes and that's what I absolutely loved about this book.

The world building is exceptional woth characters the writer has brought to life. The writing did seem a little all over the place with the use of excessive adjectives and metaphors. Still, an enjoyable read that will transport you to a whole different world. I'd be thrilled with this book turns into an anime!

The story begins when Hana inherits her father's pawnshop shop. It's not an ordinary pawn shop, it's a shop that you find when you're in need - a need to pawn, not your valuable belongings, your choices and regrets. To Hana's surprise, her father goes missing the day she inherits the shop. With an unlikely companion, Hana embarks and adventure to find her father and a mother she has long forgotten.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was magical and I absolutely loved reading this ARC.

It is a standalone book set in a magical pawnshop in the back streets of Tokyo where only people trade their deepest regrets for tea. The regrets turn into birds which are caged in a vault and shared with "shiikuins".

Our FMC Hana was raised in the shop and learnt to read people's emotions and regrets.

Her father, who owns the shop, decides to retire and Hana will take over. On her first day she arrives to find everything had been strewn everywhere by an intruder and her father gone...

Hana must now go on search of him and uncover secrets with plenty of twists, turns and love.

Definitely recommend this book 😊