A whimsical and creatively fantastical journey beyond the real world into a pawn shop where regrets can be sold. When our main character takes over the pawn shop from her retiring father, she finds her father is missing. Together with a stranger from the pawn shop, she embarks on a journey through water, memories, and rumors to find her father and figure out what happened to her mother.

This was a cozy fantasy mystery with romance. I agree with the comparisons to Studio Ghibli - the whimsy, the journey, the fantastical magical realism, and the darker undercurrent. On paper, this book works, and even as an actual movie I think it would work, but unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me because of the romance. I'm not a huge romance reader and I don't mind light romance, but this felt like insta-love and I constantly questioned the main character's motivations.

I'd still recommend this for fans of cozy fantasies with the warning/knowledge that there is a romance that heavily impacts the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautifully written book. Whimsical, with wonderful world building. Both the title and the cover pulled me in and I loved the way this book started. Yambao writes beautiful imagery and a fantastical world.

I marked so many amazing passages and the ideas in this were so well done. Following Hana through her world was so much fun and I loved moving through the next surprise.

My only gripe was I felt just bit disconnected from these characters. While I enjoyed following the story, there was something that kept me from really loving these characters. I did wish for a bit more from them and the relationships that were shown and being built.

Overall, this was very well done and I would love to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher of the arc.

3.5 stars!!

Water moon. The desire for something you cannot have. That is how I felt as I completed this story. Once I finished, I found myself aching for a story that could have happened.

Water moon is a whimsical, magical story that provides the same coziness of a Studio Ghibli production. I found myself completely captivated. A land filled with paper cranes, star villages, memories in pearls, and the mysterious Shiikuin made me want to keep reading to see what magic would occur next! I was HOOKED!

However…despite the beautiful descriptions and fun concept…the writing was incredibly rushed and somewhat cluttered. Nothing was fleshed out. I would be reading about one location and the magic inside and then BOOM we would be at another….

Because of this rushed writing style…I couldn’t connect to the main characters, Hana and Kei. I wanted to love them. I wanted to root for them! But I felt like I hardly knew them…

I’m so bummed because the story had so much potential to be a beautiful display of Japanese mythology!! It just lacked so much depth!

A beautifully written and addictive story that had me appreciating the ability to make life choices. The expansive world building especially stands out and reminded me of Alice in Wonderland mixed with Spirited Away. Romance was sweet but I didn’t completely buy into the attraction and needed more to understand the characters’ motivations.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I did not mesh with the writing style of this book. Wish I could’ve liked it more, but the appeal was just not there for me.

Water Moon was a poetic fairy tale of a book. I was so intrigued at the start and this book kept me hooked with every new setting and reveal of the world around Hana and Kei. The magical setting reminded me of a Studio Ghibli film or the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once. So much beautiful prose in this book and it really makes you think about choice, free will, living in the past, and what it is to love. Gorgeous tale, I would love to see it as a film, particularly an animated film.

Reads YA for most of the book, however there is a romance/romantic scene and discussions around death, fate, and choice. This was beautiful and sad and unlike anything I've read before.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A whimsical magical realism story about a woman who works in a pawnshop that deals choices and regrets and her path as she hunts down the person who stole from the shop while being helped by a charming stranger who is unlike anyone she's ever met. Hana Ishikawa is the heir to a pawnshop... but it's not like any other pawnshop it deals in choices and regrets... and supernatural beings. When the shop's most precious thing is stolen and her father goes missing, Hana is determined to find them both back. What she doesn't expect is that a handsome and charming stranger walks into the shop and offers to help her and won't take no for an answer. Hana is determined to find her father and uncover why he left and when she discovers another family secret her life begins to spiral. From magical creatures to whimsical places... the story moves like a Studio Ghibli movie. The story kind of feels like a fever dream with the constant moving of both past and present, povs, locations, and things. It really does just feel like it would translate better as a movie rather than a book because the book is hard to follows and kind of throws you back and forth constantly. The writing itself was whimsical and the storyline is interesting, I just wish it could feel easier to follows and have a more coherent flow. The overall story has a unique storyline and I liked the mystery and the world that the author has built and would recommend this for anyone who enjoys Studio Ghibli movies.

Release Date: January 14,2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A recipe for Water Moon:
1. Combine the beautiful writing of Erin Morgenstern with a Studio Ghibli for adults magical fantasy setting.
2. Throw in a 21-year-old mystery that needs solving, a chase from evil magical beings, and a sweeping love story.
3. Sprinkle in Japanese culture, fantastical modes of transportation through a plethora of whimsical and wonderful worlds, and resonating themes of decisions, mistakes and regret, reality vs. belief, love, freedom, and standing firm in who you are.
4. Bake at 350, pick your jaw up off the floor from all the plot twists and wise words of wisdom.
5. Stare at a wall when it's over and think to yourself "what did I just read?".
6. Rave to all of your friends and family to read this incredible book.

Thanks Net Galley and Del Ray for this arc! Water Moon was the perfect blend of magical realism, star crossed lovers, and a mystery tied up in family secrets. As a lover of fantasy novels, this was one of the best I have read in a long time!

The more the story traveled through Hanna’s world, the more I feel in love with this book. The world building was magnificent and the plot kept me gripped until the very end. Hana and Keishin’s journey to find Hana’s missing father shatters everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.

I'd like to thank Samantha Sotto Yambao, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Water Moon follows Hana, a young woman left in charge of a pawn shop after her father's retirement. Unlike other pawnshops this place deals in regrets and choices. The morning Hana goes to open her shop for the first time as the new owner she finds it ransacked, her father and a choice gone, and so she decides she must find him, with the help of Kei, a young man who walked into her store.

It promises the charm of a Studio Ghibli movie and Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikaszu Kawaguchi, however it's unlike either of those. You can tell the author had some amazing magical realism ideas, but the worldbuilding lacked so much detail that it began to seem random when things were introduced, or akin to shock value. There were no titles for her world or Kei's world, but there were titles for a lot of what seemed to be unimportant things for the story. Things are briefly brought up and never mentioned again, and when the lore is mentioned, due to Kei being from the human world he acts as a reason to info dump for the reader to learn some information.

Speaking of Kei and Hana, there was an extremely forced romance between the two. They had no chemistry and the love between them was generally instant as they only know each other for 2 days by the end of the book. There was no real reason for it to be there, and was one of the reasons I thought about DNFing this book. The author also has a way of writing that I think others may enjoy but I did not, the introduction of Japanese words spelled out with English letters and then repeated as a question translated by another character, it got old very quickly. The dialogue was very stilted and awkward and seemed to try to be very quotable and deep, I think she shouldn't have tried so hard to sound profound since I did like the quotes Hana and her father said before the love interest was introduced, which is where I think most of the faults start. There are a lot of one liner sentences that give a dun dun dun feeling at the break of a chapter or at the end of chapters.

I think if this book had more time to rest, be edited and worked on just a bit more it could've been a lot more like what it was advertised to be. It's also very likely that this book will find is audience among romantasy readers and other people that sadly aren't me.

Trigger Warnings I Gathered: cancer, parent death, some sexual content, injury detail, dementia

A lovely read. Infused with magical realism and folklore. Easy to read and perfect to relax with. Lots of deep thoughts included.

I felt like I stepped into a Studio Ghibli movie when I started reading Water Moon. This whimsical adventure about Hana and Keishin traveling across a fantastical world had me hooked from the beginning. The premise of the pawn shop that collects choices was inherently unique and really stood out to me as something completely new and interesting. The world building had so much depth, and I feel like I learned so many life lessons by reading this book! Water Moon changed me for the better. Things aren’t always as they seem, and the smallest of choices can have a lasting impact. This book reminded me of the wonder of this world that we live in, and Samantha Sotto Yambao did an incredible job of weaving a beautiful story. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but I will definitely be reading her backlist now!

I gave Water Moon three ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you Penguin Random House and Net Galley for the ARC. These are my honest opinions.

This book was good and I enjoyed the story. The book started out good and fairly well paced. Figuring out the pawnshop, the ramen restaurant, the exchange and that “don’t evers” happened pretty quickly. But, then, the pacing fell off and a huge chunk of the middle of the book was really slow and repetitious. I was hoping for more world building as well.

Even though I feel like some things could have been done much better, it was, overall, an enjoyable story.

3.5 stars

Water Moon is a whimsical magical realism adventure reminiscent of a Studio Ghibli story. This book is overflowing with creative ideas and dream-like settings. Though I was pleasantly surprised by how everything came together at the end, there were a few things about the execution of the story that often had my interest waning.

Admittedly I am not a fantasy reader who gravitates towards soft, contemplative books. Though I found this whimsical book (that really is the only way to describe it) a nice change of pace, I wanted a bit more tension and agency from the story. The main characters are being chased for most of the book, yet it still feels like the story lacks tension. They are trailing after another, off-page character’s plot decisions while flitting between magical realms. This leads to odd pacing and an extremely convenient ending.

Hana and Keishin were a bit one-dimensional as characters and I really struggled with their instant connection. Though I understand that the quick escalation of their relationship was necessary for plot reasons, I struggled to suspend my disbelief. I often found myself thinking that this story would have been more impactful as a solo journey of self-reflection for Hana. Keishin and his ignorant wonder at the magical world dominated the story leaving little room for Hana’s character arc. Though Keishin’s role makes more sense in the end, the twists aren't enough to support the story.

Water Moon is a melancholy, reflective story about choice, identity, family, and regret. Some lines were beautiful and thought-provoking, but often the book felt like it was just trying so hard to be deeper than it actually is. The dialogue in particular was often awkward and stilted with some incredibly repetitive conversations.

I wanted to like this more than I did, but all of the whimsy in the world could not make up for insta-love.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing group for this arc of Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao.

In this novel, we dive into a world where a young woman, named Hana Ishikawa has to take over the family business, pawnshop, that happens to also be disguised as a ramen restaurant. That is, until one morning she awakes to destruction within the shop and her father missing. From there the adventure begins when her and a man named Minatozaki Keishin, who has walked in, go into the magical realm to search for her father. From here, so many secrets, learning lessons ,discoveries and love are uncovered.

Through this journey, as the reader, I felt like I experienced everything with them. From jumping in puddles, running from monsters, riding through the rumors and so much more. This was different from anything I've ever read and was truly delightful. I felt like I was not only experiencing the whimsical feeling of it but also felt like I was watching it. It brought warmth, comfort and even heartbreak. Such a dreamy and creative story that I'll be thinking about always. I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who loves adventure, finding yourself, learning your own way and just a magical time.

From this, I take the lesson of following your heart, changing your path for what it's meant to be, don't let what society, your family or anyone determine what's best for your life path. Also, that two individuals can seem like they are from different walks of life, but might end up actually being the perfect matches for each other. Everything is not always what is seems and it's what is inside your heart and what you believe is what matters and makes it true.

5/5 stars! such an excellent and beautifully delivered novel.

(1.5)

for me, water moon’s huge potential was undermined by its awkward writing and one of the least developed romances i’ve ever read. even though its plot and world work overtime in an attempt to save it, i spent most of my time with this book sighing and rolling my eyes instead of being swept up in whatever magical adventure the premise promises.

i’ll start with what i liked, if only so that i can complain without stopping later on. i think the world in this book is very original and imaginative. admittedly, people who prefer organized worldbuilding where everything has some logic behind it might not enjoy it, as there’s not much explanation, but i personally thought it was fun to read about all of the different realms that the main characters traveled through. i also liked the fast-paced and adventurous nature of the plot.

unfortunately, these things lost all of their impact due to the fact that the writing in this book is, in my opinion, absolutely awful. it’s so clunky and monotonous that it ended up ruining all of the book’s biggest moments for me because i never felt invested in the story. instead, i felt like the author was just telling me about everything that happened in the most lifeless way possible, with random interjections that try to sound poetic but end up being bizarre. there’s a part of this book that includes the words “the last few minutes of sleep were always thicker, creamier, and more delicious” and it’s still haunting me while i write this review. how can sleep be creamy? am i missing something that everyone else has understood this whole time? please let me know.

on top of that, water moon’s romance (which really takes up way more page time than it should) is arguably even worse than its writing. not once in this book did i care about hana and keishin. they are so boring that one of them could’ve exploded on the spot and i wouldn’t have blinked. i remember basically nothing about either of them, and i have zero clue why they’re even in love because they start sighing over each other and whining about how they can never be together about 0.2 seconds after they meet. despite barely knowing each other, they pine like they’ve been married for a million years and divorced for another million. their relationship was honestly excruciating to read about and reminded me a lot of the romance in sue lynn tan’s immortal (which i…did not enjoy, to say the least). i think i would’ve enjoyed this book a lot more overall if the characters had just been friends.

i really wanted to like this, so i’m disappointed to say that i (clearly) didn’t. still, i have to give the author her credit for coming up with such an interesting universe. for this reason, if she writes something similar in the future, i’ll most likely check it out (but only if there’s no romance in it).

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing this arc.

Water Moon is a beautiful, soft novel that manages to combine the coziness and whimsy I love in novels translated from Japanese with the magic and sharper edges I love in fantasy novels. It speaks to what free will is, as well as how the choices we make shape us while taking the reader on a magical journey alongside Hana and Keishin as they search for her missing father. It did sometimes feel like the story was lost now and then in the maze of world building, but I adored how soft and beautiful the storytelling is, and I loved how connected all the pieces are.

Hana lives in a world outside our own, where the only doorway into it is through the pawnshop her family has run for years, whose door is sometimes on the other side of a door to a ramen restaurant in Tokyo once in a while. She’s set to start her first day as the owner after her father retires, but discovers the pawnshop ransacked, her father missing, and, worse, the regrets people from our world have given up largely missing when the mysterious Shiikuin, beings who collect the regrets, are due to arrive in three days. At the same time, Keishin appears in her doorway, offering to help because he sees Hana needs it. He’s newly arrived in Tokyo, trying to reclaim memories from his childhood before his mother abandoned him and his father and they chose to move to the States before he starts his new job. He doesn’t count on being swept into a wholly new world, one where his scientist brain always scrambles to understand and explain everything and generate new ideas to use in his world, but Hana’s hiding something that could ruin both the friendship and the romance blooming between them.

Water Moon is just so lovely and soft that sometimes the terror of the Shiikuin hunting them sometimes didn’t feel quite as ominous as it should have, and yet the story never lets the reader forget that time is ticking, and sometimes blood is drawn. Hana and Keishin are running for nearly the entire novel, either to outrun the Shiikuin or to find Hana’s father. It’s straightforward, but following the clues while also running for their lives proved to make things a bit more complicated and tangled. I had terrific fun traveling with them, studying the clues, and looking for answers. And yet my brain never felt like it was working overtime to figure it all out. It enjoyed this trip through an unknown world, where whimsy and magic existed at every turn. It didn’t just inspire awe in Keishin; it did so in me. This world was fascinating and strange, but stopped just shy of explaining anything in our own world. It was beautiful in its own way, even as horror flickered around the edges.

There were times when I felt like I was more on a sightseeing tour than trying to follow clues. I wasn’t so much a fan of how the story sometimes bent to spend time world building as I grew weary of jumping into water with Hana and Keishin to reach a new area. Sometimes it felt like they were just jumping through in order to show Keishin, and the reader, something new and interesting. It did come together in the end, but I wish it had been done a little smoother so I had felt less like I was going sightseeing. What I did love, though, was how the thread of the story always felt like it was there. There was always a ticking clock in the background, even as Keishin took time to be in awe of everything in Hana’s world. I felt that awe, too, because Hana’s world is strange. It’s dangerous, but beautiful, with a touch of magic that lent whimsy and terror to it. Everything managed to feel both lovely and scary, and yet I loved the ideas in it and the way reality bent and could be bent. It was fascinating, and I found myself wanting to spend more time in her world.

But the story always tugged me, and Hana and Keishin, forward. There’s almost constant forward motion as they rush ahead to find Hana’s father. It’s a simple story, and it said a lot about what a husband and father will do for his family. There’s sacrifice and there’s desire, and, always, an exploration of what free will is, because the people in Hana’s world don’t have it. Hana and Keishin were such an interesting couple to follow through this novel because Hana only knows that her entire life has already been mapped out and Keishin only knows free will and the freedom to make choices. They presented an interesting dichotomy, making it sometimes difficult for them to really connect, but I also felt like they took something of each other and each other’s world with them the more time they spent together, and I really loved seeing them together.

Hana and Keishin, despite coming from different worlds, really felt like they fit together perfectly. Hana did sometimes feel a bit defeatist, which makes sense considering her entire life has already been mapped out, but I think Keishin had a really strong impact on her, and his hope, faith, and willingness to help and trust were exactly what she needed to grow and become the woman she needed to be in order for the novel to end the way it does. She wasn’t always my favorite character, and sometimes she was a little tiresome, but I did admire her strength and willingness to both lean and do what she had to. And yet she keeps an ace up her sleeve, and that was a little heartbreaking. Keishin, on the other hand, was perfectly lovely. I loved that he wasn’t two dimensional, serving as the supportive guy behind Hana. He had his own hurts, his own needs, and yet he stands so steadfastly by her side, staying true to his heart throughout the entire story. I loved his amazement of her world, and how enthusiastically he threw himself into it, and I absolutely understood his wonder and thirst to know and experience more. Despite the hurts from his past, he really turned out well, and I adored him.

Water Moon isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful. I loved the softness, the whimsy, the magic, and the soft connection between two souls. It somehow felt both cozy and a little ominous and cutting. There’s a part towards the end that broke my heart, but it really spoke volumes about the lengths to which family will go for family.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I needed an escapist, cozy hug of a book to soothe all of life’s rough edges. Water Moon delivered famously. A perfect pick up for fans of

Immersive Japanese culture
Outsiders who never fit
A mystery / quest
Just enough slow burn
Magical, cinematic worldbuilding

This dual narration follows K, returning to Japan he has spent his entire life using physics to explain the universe around the hole of his missing mother and Hanna who has just inherited a magical pawn shop. They meet on the day that K wanders into the pawnshop looking for ramen when Hanna discovers the pawnshop ransacked; her father missing; and one of the most valuable choices runaway. The panshop trades relief for customers who no longer want the consequences and heartbreak of decisions that have burdened their life.

Just enough slow burn to give depth to the characters but not enough to distract from the magical, cinematic, live in your brain world building. Hanna and K travel INSIDE the story written in a scroll, to a teahouse you can access only thru dreams inside a giant autumnal tree interior cozily lit by fireflies, ride a rumor to an impossible destination often using puddles as portals. I loved everything about this book .

Perfect for fans of stories that investigate whether fate decides for us and how much we control; curious about the choices not take and especially fans of N. Gaiman’s “totally average human steps sideways to an alternate universe” stories. Added perk: chapter titles like:

The Pawnshop of Almosts and Ifs
Tuna Casserole, a Blue Tie, and a Stranger in a Box
The Sky, the Sea, and a Song

One of the first books of 2025, I anticipate this five start read will end up in my" best of" list at year end.

Whimsical and strange, Water Moon whisks it's readers into worlds that will both enchant and inspire!

Readers follow Hana Ishikawa as she wakes on her first day of inheriting her families peculiar pawnshop. As the day unfolds, Hana soon learns that her father is missing and nothing about the disappearance is what it seems. Together, with a charming and mysterious stranger, Hana explores her families past by barreling head first into mystical and unexplored realms.

For my taste,a great story is all about balance and Yambao presents a masterclass in just that with Water Moon. The writing is lush and lyrical but the story still has a sharp and gritty edge. The characters are nuanced and well developed while still maintaining a touch of mystery. The plot is unencumbered from convolution with it's simple quest like narrative and yet it stays engaging through the final page. I found myself dreaming of this world and it's characters each time I had to stepped away from the story, a telltale sign of something spectacular.

I try very hard not to play the comparison game but I think it is safe to say that fans of The Night Circus and The Starless Sea will find this well suited to their liking. Magic Realism, done to this caliber, is hard to come by and I am so pleased to know that I have another auto buy author to add to that specific genre list!