#samantha sotto yambao

[quillandqueer]

Weekly Reading Update | 19th January

Finished Reading

Dogs of Summer: 166 pages of intense, unceasing obsession with genitals is a lot to deal with. 2/5

Scarlet: Meyer really put her whole entire Team Jacob fantasy in this one (and I ate it up) 4/5

In The Valley, A Shadow: A trans western sci-fi with diverse characters, Felix has my whole heart. 5/5

A Prayer For The Crown-Shy: This really didn't hit the way Psalm did, and I found Sibling Dex extremely annoying. 3/5

Currently Reading

Physical Book Count Last Week: 345 This Week: 335 (I had a mini clear out of some middle grade books I was no longer interested in reading)

[bloodmaarked]

water moon // samantha sotto yambao

first published: 2025 [to be released 16 january] read: 13 august 2024 - 18 august 2024 pages: 376 format: e-book [ARC]

genres: fiction; fantasy; romance, (new) adult, cosy favourite character(s): kei and hana, hana and kei least favourite character(s): hana's dad

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 thoughts: you know the subgenre of fiction where a person ends up stumbling upon an unassuming establishment - perhaps a library or a café - at just the right time in their life, where they will obtain knowledge that will reset their perspective and change the course of their life? so it goes with water moon, in which the establishment in question is a pawnbroker fronting as a ramen restaurant, and in which the knowledge they receive - or in this case, give away - is a regrettable life choice. now, in all honesty, i eat up this concept every time, having read several and with many more on my tbr. it seems to be hitting peak popularity at the moment and goodreads has already recommended me yet another based on this book. but water moon subverts the general formula early on and instead embarks on a sprawling and heart-warming fantastical adventure. it took me where i didn't expect me to go, made me feel things i didn't expect to feel, and is genuinely a reading highlight of the year so far.

as much as i didn't have massive expectations one way or the other before starting this book (this is my first introduction to sotto yambao's work), i was pulled in pretty much from chapter one and knew it would be good. the writing was so gorgeous and evocative. i felt immersed so early on and it only continued to grow. the magical world of Ikigai was joyful to be introduced to. not just the fantasy of it, but also its use as a foil of our own world and the way it was used to explore themes like choice and free will, and concepts of time; i found it so interesting.

i loved the cast of characters, and hana and keishin worked especially well as main characters. hana was perhaps a little harder to relate to, but we also see how kei experiences the same thing as she's very much a closed book. i think the dynamic of them both bouncing off of each other worked very well; hana might not have worked as well as a standalone character, unless perhaps the story was told from a first-person perspective.

this was such a good read. so cosy and whimsical, and also emotional in the best way. and i'm just in love with the cover. i'd definitely recommend reading this once it comes out early next year - and i might have to grab myself a physical copy!

massive thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam, and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review! also, shoutout to @gabibookworm, without her post i might not have come across this book in the first place!

[theaologieslibrary]

Water Moon is one of my most anticipated releases this year! I am so hoping it’s good because imo this is one of Illumicrate’s most gorgeous editions

[jetwhenitsmidnight]

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Release date: January 2025

Genre: adult fantasy/magical realism

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

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.

Content warnings

Parental death, grief

Child abandonment

Violence, blood, mentions of torture, injury

Sexual content (mildly explicit)

Review

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

Not gonna lie, I am not the biggest fan of magical realism, and I find it to be pretty hit or miss. Mostly misses.

The writing style feels flat to me, and I couldn't connect to the characters. I had zero investment in their romance and I don't feel like they had a lot of personality. I don't think the characters lacking personality is necessarily a drawback though; I find that magical realism as a genre tends to focus more on the magic and whimsy.

That being said, I was really not a fan of the whimsy here. Maybe it was my mood while reading this, or maybe I just lack whimsy in general, but I just could not bring myself to care about this world. I'm very aware that this is a me problem, and not a problem with the book. There are a lot of strange and wondrous settings that other readers would probably love, but I just couldn't vibe with it.

This review so far has been mostly complaints. HOWEVER. I absolutely LOVED the last 30% of this book! The plot as a whole moves really slowly, but it picks up towards the end, with crazy reveals I did not see coming. Each reveal is crazier than the last, it makes me glad I decided to keep going. I literally cannot emphasise enough how much I love this plot.

I have seen a lot of people describe this book as having whimsical Ghibli vibes, and it does, but like Ghibli, there are pretty serious themes being explored, and it actually gets pretty dark in certain places. I love how the darkness contrasts the whimsy, and it makes this world feel a lot more grounded.

All in all, I didn't vibe with Water Moon's... vibe. But I'm so grateful to have read this.

[meeghanreads]

Top 5 anticipated books of Q1 2025

Hello friends!! Welcome to the first Top 5 Tuesday of 2025!! This week’s topic is top 5 anticipated books of Q1 2025!! Q1 being January to March 2025. Friends, it’s a new year, which means a new list of promises for me to break later in 2025. How exciting!! I will try not to break TOO many though… Well, I say this now. Who knows what September will look like. Picking only five books was weirdly…

[theliterarymess]

‘Water Moon’ by Samantha Sotto Yambao. Out January 16th 2025

‘Water Moon’ is a whimsical and immersive ghibli-esque adventure through the choices we make in life, the importance of free will and living for our own happiness.

Hana is about to take over the magical pawnshop hidden within a ramen restaurant in the backstreets of Tokyo once her father retires, but when she wakes up on her first day she realises everything is not what it seems. Along with scientist Minatozaki Keishin from our world, Hana jumps into puddles and travels through rumours to hunt down the choices that will lead to her father. But pawnshop owners are excellent manipulators, and important choices shift as easily as raindrops on skin…

This story was well-written and unpredictable from the very beginning. It’s a great fast paced read to get you out of a reading slump. Sometimes it felt as though the story moved too fast to keep up with, but this seemed like an intentional device used by the author to reflect the universe Hana lives in.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray for the opportunity to give an honest review on this story. ‘Water Moon’ releases January 16th 2025.

[judgingbooksbycovers]

Water Moon: A Novel

By Samantha Sotto Yambao.

Cover art by Haylee Morice.

[insomniac-dot-ink]

2025 Anticipated Book Releases

My reading goal for this year is the same for last year in that I want to read 70 books! And hopefully a few more nonfiction, as always. BUT my main 2025 New Years Resolution for reading is to read less broadly. I read very broadly last year which was good, but it kind of made me sad in the sense I wasn't reading as many books that are "for me." So! More fantasy this year.

January

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Jan 14th): Set in a pawnshop where people can sell their regrets and past choices. I am always a sucker for a slower magical realism story when done well.

Breath of the Dragon by Fonda Lee and Shannon Lee (Jan 7th): I usually strictly avoid YA at this point but adore Fonda Lee so I'll be reading everything she writes. This is an Asian-inspired fantasy work with dragons.

The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom by Nancy Reddy (Jan 25): I am always drawn to gender dynamics that are a little more invisible and have thought there is some absurdity to the idea it's "always the mother's fault." A nonfiction on socially constructed motherhood.

February

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Feb 6th): !!! Probably my most anticipated read. The Tainted Cup was such a breath of fresh air in fantasy last year and the combination of epic fantasy and fun characters was perfect for me personally. This should me another murder mystery and I can't wait.

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde 3) by Heather Fawcett (Feb 11th): I have already read this since I got an ARC but I did adore the ending! This installment started quiet slowly but ended on a much more high fantasy note than I expected in a good way.

March

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (March 18): I was surprised by how much I enjoyed John Green's nonfiction essay collection since I found his fiction a little rote. But his essay collection had a bittersweet thoughtfulness I really appreciated. As such, I am very interested in his next nonfiction work.

April

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April 25th): I am among the masses that have followed Emily Henry ever since I read "Book Lovers" and discovered her dialogue. Her work can get a little repetitive after a point, but this had such an interesting premise of two writers competing to write the biography of a reclusive famous author. I'm seated.

Authority by Andrea Long Chu (April 8th): An essay collection on the nature of authority in a world where "everyone thinks they know everything." I am fascinated by this topic.

May

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman is one of my authors. I read A Man Called Ove at such a challenging time in my life that it hit like a freight train and I've been following Backman's work ever since. I love when things hurt nicely--and a book about friendship from Backman? I am ready to hurt nicely.

OTHERS

Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher, a Snow White retelling (!!! another one of my authors, I adore Kingfisher)

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by Victoria E. Schwab (I've always been lukewarm on Schwab, but toxic lesbian vampires has my damn ears perked)

You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney (I LOVE the Normal Gossip podcast and will be here for this)

------------

If there are any books you think I'll like, lmk! I'm always on the look out for stuff like Jade City or Naomi Novik's work.

[sera-thrandulian]

Thought Provoking Books & Books That Have Important Voices! Pt. 3

21. Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum (Coming-of-Age Novel/Life/Death/Carpe Diem/Poetry/Self-Expression/Power of Writing/Education/Rebellion against Conformity/Suicide)

22. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Fiction/Short Story/Gothic Fiction/Feminist Literature/Horror/Mental Illness/Gender Roles/Self-Expression/Treatment of Women in Medicine)

23. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Magical Realism Fantasy/Regret/Power of Personal Agency/Japanese Cultural Influence/Coming-of-Age/Japanese Mythology)

24. Persephone Rises, 1860-1927: Mythology, Gender, and the Creation of a New Spirituality by Margot K. Lois (Literary Criticism/Greek Myth of Persephone Reinterpreted in Victorian Age to explore Contemporary Societal Issues related to Gender, Power Dynamics, the Female Experience/Gender Study/Cycle of Life and Death/Spiritual Perspective)

25. Cackle by Rachel Harrison (Horror/Dark Comedy/Self-Discovery/Societal Fear of Feminine Power/Societal Issues)

26. On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the U.S. by James LaRue (Complex Look at Censorship/Importance and Role of Libraries/Book Banning/Library Perspective)

27. Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Truer (Non-Fiction/Native American History, Culture, Identity/Indigenous Voice/Young Readers/Politics/Gender Roles/Tribal Enrollment/Terminology, Religion, and Societal Issues and Activism/Informative)

28. Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World by Brandon Keim (Science Book/Animal Lives and Human Relation to Them/Animal Rights/Empathy)

29. How to Protect Bookstores and Why: The Present and Future of Bookselling by Danny Caine (Non-Fiction/Books About Books/Politics/Business/Roles of Bookstores/Community Gathering/Source of New Ideas/Power of Small and Local Business)

30. Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatahil (Essays/Memoir/Relationship Between Food, Memory, Identity/Heritage/Nature/Personal Reflection/Botanical Facts)

[pagesandpothos]

Anticipated Releases: January 2025

January 7th

The Haunting Between Us by Paul Michael Winters | YA Horror 🏳️‍🌈

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan | Fantasy, Romance

A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young | Magical Realism

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold | YA Fantasy 🏳️‍🌈

January 14th

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor | Science Fiction

Lightfall by Ed Crocker | Fantasy, Horror 🏳️‍🌈

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao | Cozy Fantasy, Romance

The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill | Fantasy, Books about Books 🏳️‍🌈

The Baby Dragon Café by Aamna Qureshi | Cozy Fantasy

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix | Horror

January 21

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives | Historical, Mythology 🏳️‍🌈

The Broposal by Sonora Reyes | Contemporary Romance 🏳️‍🌈

Motheater by Linda H. Codega | Literary Fiction, Horror 🏳️‍🌈

January 28

I Think They Love You by Julian Winters | Contemporary Romance 🏳️‍🌈

The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell | Fantasy

We Could Be Rats by Emily R. Austin | Contemporary Fiction 🏳️‍🌈

What books are you looking forward to in January? I'd love to hear any suggestions or recommendations!

[bloodmaarked]

➫ monthly book round-up: august 2024

books read: 8 [=] average rating: 3.75 [-6%] average speed: 13 days [+65%] total pages: 2,396 [-22%] yearly goal progress: 55/50 [110%] best of the month: crime and punishment, fyodor dostoyevsky worst of the month: leave the world behind, rumaan alam

4.5* reads:

empireland: how imperialism has shaped modern britain, sathnam sanghera

water moon, samantha sotto yambao

crime and punishment, fyodor dostoyevsky

the hound of the baskervilles, arthur conan doyle

3.5* reads:

family lore, elizabeth acevedo

the vanishing half, brit bennett

2.5* reads:

leave the world behind, rumaan alam

in search of the perfect peach: why flavour holds the answer to fixing our food system, franco fubini

currently reading:

an african history of africa, zeinab badawi

the muse, jessie burton

the body in the library, agatha christie

[stareaterreads]

Water Moon: A Review

Book: Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao ⭐ 9 /10

DISCLAIMER: I want to thank Penguin Random House for gifting this ARC to me as a bookseller. I was not paid to do this review, I have only received this free as a gift in exchange for an honest review of the book.

I cannot remember the first time I ever watched a Studio Ghibli film. It has always been something that has been wrapped in my late childhood; one of the movies I would watch again and again - my particular favorite had been The Cat Returns, which is likely the start of me becoming a furry. Notably, some big favorites are Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, both of which have a unique style of world-building that draws you in every time you watch it; it could be the 82nd time you’ve watched it and it’d feel as wondrous as the first.

Water Moon felt a lot like those two films, its world-building using an almost child-like sense of wonder to create a whole new world that one would feel only exists in dreams, yet when it’s painted on a movie screen or written in the pages of a book, it feels realer than real.

As I went through this book, it left me curious with every page, introducing new things all the time yet never so much it felt overwhelming. I was very impressed with how good Yambao is as pacing the information the reader receives through the book, letting the adventure truly lead you along gently like a dream.

The imagery and symbolism present throughout the book, along with a stunning amount of foreshadowing (that I personally did not clock at all at first), combine into a fantastical story that really immerses you into a whole new world as if each moment you were truly experiencing every moment of amazement, pain, joy, curiosity, grief, sadness, or otherwise. Speaking of emotions, Yambao’s writing turned my heart into an ocean being pushed and pulled into different emotions and experiences like the tide guided by the moon telling a tale - making the title fit on so many extra levels I never could have imagined going in.

Like a storm rolling in with its towering clouds enchanting a person on the shore to watch its beauty, the slow increase in tension leading up to the climax of the book had me unable to put the book down - and even after, I found myself desperately gripping to read the resolution, the fallout after.

There is a romance present in the book - though it isn’t the main focus of the book at all, but the story also wouldn’t be the same without it, I feel. It was sweet and, like the rest of the book, nicely paced. Their bond and affections felt like it naturally developed within the story, and allowed a strengthening bond between myself as the reader and them as the main characters quicker than I caught onto.

I am not one for spoilers, so as a very minor spoiler - the twists and turns this novel took me through had me reeled in like a fish on a hook. The ending didn’t feel rushed and actually felt very gentle on my heart, wrapping up the story rather nicely. I feel content whether this book will receive a sequel or not.

Do I plan to read more fantasy from Yambao? Abso-fucking-lutely. Sign me up! This was an incredible read and I couldn’t recommend it enough. I’d suggest this to any fans of Studio Ghibli films, or someone who may need a new, adventurous dream in their life.

In any case, thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog. I wanted to take a moment to thank Penguin Random House for gifting this ARC to me as a bookseller. I also want to thank Samantha Sotto Yambao for brightening the real world with the elements of a new dream world with childish wonder in this awesome novel. Last but not least, I want to thank you and remind you, dear reader, that in this curious and dream-like universe, you matter to me. Remember to take care of yourself, try out something new today like a new snack or a new hobby or a new breathing technique; just remember to be kind to yourself. Until next time, I’ll be reading!

If you’re interested in this book, buy it from one of these links here! Bookshop.org - Barnes & Noble - Libro.fm [audiobook] or from your local bookstore which you can find on IndieBound! Alternatively, support your local libraries by signing up for a library card and finding these titles on Libby!

[bucolicbook]

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao 

Pub date - 1/14/25

This grabbed my attention from the start and held on tight. The magical realism and world building was spectacular and I read each page with enjoyment.

Recommended! 

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the DRC 

[whisperingofthepages]

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Pages: 384 Publisher: Del Rey Released: 14th of January 2024 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…

[bevioletskies]

january 2025 TBR

posting my TBR here to make myself commit for once instead of scrolling through libby for half an hour every time lmao

currently reading:

get the picture by bianca bosker

welcome to the hyunam-dong bookshop by hwang bo-reum

the jasmine throne by tasha suri

new releases:

water moon by samantha sotto yambao

i am not jessica chen by ann liang

death of the author by nnedi okorafor

and the rest:

she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan

all in her head by elizabeth comen, m.d.

beautiful country by qian julie wang

lesser known monsters of the 21st century by kim fu

when women ran fifth avenue by julie satow

catfish rolling by clara kumagai