Unfortunately I DNF'ed this at 43%. The writing style kept me at arms length so I felt quite disconnected from the characters. I also found how the MMC dropped absolutely everything to go on this journey with a woman he'd just met a little odd.
Just unfortunately wasn't the book for me but I'm sure many others will love it.

Water Moon is a precious read, it’s beautiful and reads like a fever dream. I loved how cozy and mystical it is. Definitely has those Studio Ghibli vibes as it was visually stunning in my mind. The story is full of mystery and life questions. The pacing is a bit up and down and this suited the adventure. The end is sweet as we get a year after and then five years after the events. I adored the characters and their relationship was generally quite sweet but I would have maybe preferred a deep friendship. Overall a delight of a book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

It's difficult to condense my love for this book, Hana and Kei into a readable sized review, but I will try.

As main characters, they are brilliant, and I warmed to them instantly. They're just so believable, and the chemistry fizzes.

The world setting is exciting - you never know where you're going to end up next, and it is now one of my all-time favourite fantasy realms. I really want to read more stories set here.

Brillaint pacing, lots of suspense, and a few twists will have you page-turning and keeping you from whatever you should be doing for hours.

A Doctor Who joke made me laugh out loud, as well as several other jokes scattered throughout the book. There is plenty of humour in it.

I'm going out on a limb and placing this in my top 10 of 24. A beautifully written adventure tale.

I really need to read more of Samantha's books.

Thank you to @bantambooksuk for sending me a proof. (Ad/PR)

I loved Water Moon so much I pre-ordered the special edition from Goldsboro. It has a nice, cosy but full of adventure feeling. I liked how it combines science with out of our common world things and the writing style made it feel real.

4.5 Stars

Water Moon is about a pawnshop like no other in Tokyo, one you will not be able to find if you look for it, but that will show itself to you should you need it. Instead of pawning something material, here you can let go of choices and regrets of the past, the burdens on your should that you just can’t seem to let go on your own. We follow the new pawnshop owner on her first day, after inheriting the job from her father and things don’t go quite as planned so she has, for the first time in her life, to make a choice, something that is reserved usually for the shop customers.

This was a beautiful story about the choices we make and the regrets we live with and those that crush us under its weight. To all of us that think “what if” or sometimes would like to just forget the choices we made just to rid ourselves from its burden. It’s about feeling like you don't belong anywhere and expanding our beliefs and horizons to actually see what is right in front of us.

The premise of this book made me have have high expectations but they were all surpassed. The writing resonated with me to a point that I wanted to highlight the entire book, the references to Japanese mythology and folklore made this cultural rich and Sotto Yambao's world building is just exquisite, filled with breathtaking detailed magical elements: papercranes and a Nightmarket existing on the clouds held up by crows.

The only reason I’m not giving this book 5 stars is because I was not able to actually connect to the characters. I’m a character driven reader, so while I was able to relate to Kenshin at times, most of the times this book was playing as Ghibli movie in my head. I would have loved to be a part of it too.

Overall, this is a magical book that makes you think on one of those existential questions of our lives: What if?
And where do I sign to kindly request Hayao Miyazaki to turn this into a Ghibli Movie?

Thank you so much Bantam and NetGallery for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The idea of a door opening only to those in need, who have made a choice they regret, is tantalising. What happens to those choices, which are redeemed for a special tea, is intriguing, Throw in an evocative title, some sterling characters, time travel, all the elements of folklore and fantasy, with plenty-plenty action, elegant and often delicate writing courtesy of Samantha Sotto Yambao, and it becomes a really good idea to read ‘Water Moon’.
I was very taken with Keishin, his imaginary friend in the real world, and his dilemma as a scientist with the astonishing world he wanders into, filled with mind-bending events which challenge his experiences. Meeting Hana, who has inherited the shop behind the tantalising door takes him on a wild search that awakens deep love. And forgiveness.

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

I have absolutely fallen in love with Samantha Sotto Yambao's writing.
This whimsical book feels like an ode to Studio Ghibli works
It has the most beautiful writing and it feels like getting back home. Like I've read it a thousand times but was also discovering it for the first time

A ramen shop door does not always lead into a restaurant, sometimes it opens on to a magical pawnshop. There are quite a few Japanese novels that have a similar premise - a place that can only be found when you need to visit, but the magical realism remains fairly light. This book leans more into the fantastical elements.

When Keishin returns to Japan for new job, he goes to the ramen shop and the door opens on to the pawnshop. But rather than arriving during normal hours, he stumbles on to the new owner, Hana, in the middle of a crisis. Her pawnshop takes peoples choices/regrets and they leave with no memory of them. Hana has just taken over after her father’s retirement but when she wakes up the shop has been trashed, a choice has been stolen and her father is missing. Keishin and Hana journey through her world (a kind of spirit realm) trying to find her father, visiting strange places -like the night market that floats on clouds- while trying to avoid the creepy Shiikuin.

This is very Studio Ghibli - not just because it's a fantastical Japanese world but because it has those elements of whimsical peril and otherworldly wonder combined with the sometimes sinister - think magical origami that can transport you or squish you down into nothing.

This would make an amazing animation or movie. As a book, I would personally have liked more details and descriptions. Keishin and Hana skip between places quite quickly at times and I'd have liked to soak in the atmosphere of this magical place more. I also think that slowing it down would have allowed us to get to know the characters better and feel more attached to them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read, magical, whimsical but with a slightly darker side - it would make a good book for those not used to fantasy or moving from younger books to more adult fiction.

I get why this book is described as a cozy mystery. While it is definitely a mystery, it's also very... mellow. Calm. Maybe a bit too much so.
The beginning honestly kind of bored me. I felt very disconnected from the characters and while stakes do exist, I failed to really care about them. The plot wasn't even bad or boring, but nothing mattered to me.

But it got better. Once I had accepted that this book is more atmospheric and slow, I actually started to enjoy some parts of it. The world building was really nice. Not just the Japanese hints that I quite enjoyed, but the magical part of it. There were some really nice thoughts behind it, things that aren't that commonly used in fantasy books. I appreciate it.
Some parts could be slightly confusing - I recommend not to question anything and just let it happen. There aren't many explanations, you just take it as it is.
I also started to at least kind of like the characters. They aren't that deep - I would honestly struggle to characterize them. But they were nice.
I wasn't a big fan of their relationship though. While it does make sense after everything, it felt a bit too much like "destiny" instead of honest emotions and I prefer the relationship to actually slowly build up. That didn't stop them from actually being kind of cute, though.

Unfortunately, even after it got better, it didn't end up actually being good. It was a bit repetitive - Keishin and Hana follow a breadcrumb trail and everything was always just about finding the next destination and figuring out how to get there. There is a bit of excitement, but even that was nothing new.
The grand finale offers some plottwists - some of them were nice and I enjoyed them, some of them were a bit too much for me.

I was also confused about the passing of time. There is a deadline and it's quite a short one. I have no idea how everything that happened in this book would be able to fit into this deadline. Does time flow differently in the places they went to? They slept multiple times and things they did took up quite some time as well, so I have no idea how it could've worked out. To be fair, the linearity of time does play a role, but I was still confused.

As for the ending - I'm also not a fan. The solution seemed too easy and I also wished the author had committed to her choices more, instead of breaking some things down again.

Overall - a couple of very nice ideas, but it wasn't for me. The writing failed to capture me, the characters weren't interesting enough and the plot didn't make up for that. Still, a fine read if you're looking for something calm and thoughtprovoking.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a whimsy of a book. A magical adventure with a sense of wonder and enough cozy twists to keep anyone guessing. It feels perfect for the colder months.

"A sleepy whimsical magical read that feels like a Ghibli film is coming to life within its pages."
This was the vibe that I was being sold just from the cover and blurb alone, and it seemed like that was the general impression from others too.

I'm a huge Ghibli fan so I was overly intrigued to read this, however it didn't quite live up to my expectations sadly (and I think that one's on me!)

We follow two characters, Hana, a daughter of the owner of a magical pawn shop and Keishin, who does scientist related things.

The morning after her father tells her he will be retiring and she will be inheriting the shop, she wakes up to discover he has vanished into thin air. The store has been ransacked and one of the acquisitions is missing, and yet there's no sign of her father.

But she starts to question whether the incident in the store is all staged by her father, and starts to confide in an intriguing stranger named Minatozaki Keishin, a man who still has imaginary conversations with the ghost of a man who had previously saved his life.

Despite at first refusing his help, Hana realises she can't figure all this out alone and agrees to work with him to get some answers. But the journey she takes leads her to discover secrets about her life she never could have imagined.

This is a beautiful well executed fantasy but for some reason I struggled to really find myself captivated the way I had expected to. I have seen this book compared to The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and that was also another book that I couldn't get into, no matter how much I tried. Personally, though the world building is there, and it certainly lives up to its fantastical whimsy expectations, I found the initial plot hard to connect with and I wasn't altogether sold on the instalove relationship that formed between Hana and Keishin, it just never took the time to really develop - which I admit is a matter of preference as I prefer a good slow burn romance.

I also think the writing style may have also been something that didn't quite flow for me. I found it quite slow to kick off and really get into the meat of things, but also I just found I couldn't read it without getting distracted.
I do believe I'm in the minority though as this book seems quite popular with others.

I may have to re-read this at a time when I might be more in the mindset for cosy mystery fantasies with whimsical storylines lol.

This was not what I was expecting at all to be honest, it’s really different to the usual Japanese translated books I love. It takes you on a wild, bizarre, mind bending adventure - it gives Matrix vibes. I’ve honestly never read a book like this before - I just didn’t know what was going to happen next or how anything would turn out.

I enjoyed this book but I did find myself getting a bit lost in places- it’s a book that requires concentration - and I just wasn’t fully present for all of this - so that is on me to be honest.

Overall, a great read! Something different!

My thanks to Netgalley and Transworld, Penguin Random House for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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.