Name: Water Moon
Series: Stand Alone
Author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
Publisher: Transworld Digital
Format: Kindle
Genres: Adult, Cozy, Magical Realism, Mystery, Fantasy, Romance
Noted Tropes: Inherited Legacy, Slow-Burn
Spice Rating: Glimpses & Kisses 🌶️
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
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.
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.
Review:
“Happiness has little to do with what you have, and everything to do with what you do not.”
Water Moon was one of those purchases made because the cover is beautiful (though I did end up buying the kindle book as it was on sale and reading that)… but you know very little about the story within the pages. Then I read the synopsis and I really wish I hadn’t done that, but instead had gone into the story blind. I can’t help but wonder if I’d have enjoyed it more that way.
Once I read the synopsis, I had it in my head that I knew what this was going to be about… I thought it was about a shop that dealt in regrets. A shop that traded you something for your deepest regret. I suppose I expected something along the lines of Brimstone’s shop in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Which was not what we got.
What we did get was a pawn-shop, inherited by our FMC, that takes a choice & regret off your hands so that you can let go of the pain / what ifs / regret holding you back. Though it’s rather secrative about why or what for throughout almost all of the book. Hana and her family who came before are not like us. They aren’t from our world – and the only thing I can think of to explain their world is kind of… dream like? I’ve seen the internet describe it as ‘Ghibliesque’, thought I can’t comment on that for sure.
There were certainly parts that I was intrigued by – for example they introduce the idea of the people from Hana’s world having their whole lives mapped out on their skin as a tattoo – so they know every aspect of their lives from the get go. But there were just a lot of aspects that were confusing to me and kind of got lost.
One of the best aspects of Water Moon, for me, was the relationship and slow-burn romance between Hana and Keishin. Though I did have to kind of ignore the ‘from two worlds’ aspect in order to enjoy it the way I did. And personally, if I have to ignore an aspect of the book in order for me to find enjoyment or for it to make sense, then I don’t think the book was for me.
The twist of the book was legitimately so sad and well thought out, I loved that… but then the ending of the book fell flat and again felt like it got confused. But again that could have been a me issue. And that was ultimately what led me to an average rating of 3.5. Although the ending fell flat, I enjoyed what I read, but only because I ignored aspects of it in order for it to make some more sense to me. I wish that hadn’t been the case, but sadly it was for me. I do think it’s worth a read, and as long as you’re more clued into the whimsical, dream-like nature of this ‘Ghibliesque’ book than I was, you should have a good time!
“Rude people can rip the smile from your face. Kind ones can give it back. I have learned that there is nothing to be gained from stealing other people’s happiness.”
Reading With Tyler 
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