Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Water Moon

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

14 reviews

chrissy22's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A whimsical, Studio Ghibli vibe throughout. The world-building was descriptive enough that I could picture everything. The writing was lyrical. I did think the characters and their growth could’ve been more fleshed out and their development more poignant. I feel it could have had more adult themes when it came to development. I also deducted points for it being insta-love. It happened way too quickly without any build or struggle which made this, along with not enough risk taken for character development, feel more YA than adult. I also thing climax and main conflict could’ve been more fleshed out given how it was so centered throughout the plot. A lot happened off page.

Overall, did really enjoy this book. It was magical.

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sirpandacat's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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afrenette's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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clothildev's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sooooo many twists and turns, you never know where you're going to end up this was a wild ride
Amazing imagination from the writer!

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rathergoodbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a story told in magical realism with Japanese folklore elements.

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almostqualified's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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ceereading's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ghibli-esque, but not just in whimsy, but in tone. Grief and regret and choices, and a spiraling narrative with many plot twists. I regard this the same way I found The Boy and the Heron: dense in some parts, but lovely.

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fozzybookmouse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

5.0

Such a beautiful and evocative book.

And a surprisingly romantic book.

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sol_journal's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

**Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Posted to: NetGalley and The StoryGraph

Posted on: 16 January 2025

3.9 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.

This is another one of those titles that I thought was going to rank lower than it did based on my grading metric. I am nothing if not honest though, and while I had my minor bone to pick here and there, I also can admit that the world building and the overall plot itself saved this read for me. I think the points in these categories really pushed the overall score up, because otherwise I don’t know how well this book would have done with me.

Let’s just jump right in (get it- cause they used puddles to travel in the book… Okay, I’ll see myself out…)

I want to start off by saying that this book snagged me in pretty early on. I had just come out of a different arc read that left me wanting (especially after being my first DNF at hardly 10%) and I was losing traction on this beta read that I had the honor of completing (no reason here, just a mild book slump that had left me struggling to finish reads). So I knew I needed a breath of fresh air, and Water Moon was just what I needed. It had a beautiful world unfolding before me, so vividly enough that I could see it (but the writing style itself wasn’t too flashy and over the top). I hadn’t even gotten to 10% here when I knew that it would be a keeper.

And then the romance came in…

I don’t know why I have such a bone to pick with romance lately! For this story specifically though, I think I know what the issue was. Hana and Keishin falling in love was cute and all, but there was a thread that steadily unraveled and I realized that I just couldn’t forgive this character for it. SPOILER BENEATH THE TAG FOR THIS

If you must know/have already read the book so this won't be such a spoiler- it was the fact that Hana was already in an arranged marriage and Haruto was such a sweet guy. I mean, I had to put the book down to stop myself from crying when his last scene came up! What do you MEAN he says "Dying while I remember you is better than living a day without knowing your name." HELLO??? If he had been a b*tch or just an uninterested guy, then maybe this last scene could have been his moment of redemption, but all Haruto did was love. I miss him, dear reader. I hope he has a different ending in another life :(

So yeah… That and its almost insta-attraction base, it would have been fine. Again, the world and the plot was SUCH a lifesaver for this book. The writing leaned on the simpler side, but it was still able to lend this depth to the story that really gave it the push it needed to keep rolling. There weren’t any snags in the plot that made me stop (from what I can remember) and everything did solve itself pretty nicely while also making sense. Water Moon definitely does carry the vibes of a classic Ghibli film, and that really helped me find the wonder and the want to sit in this world longer and longer. I mean, there’s teahouses you can visit when you dream, paper houses of origami creations, the ability to travel on a song- everything was so unique and beautiful to me that I really did find myself falling in love with this new world! I have never wanted to see something in film more before than this!

There’s also the themes that the book tackles. I think what helped the main characters click with each other was the shared fact that both of their mothers were gone from their life somehow. That fact lended me a sliiiiightly less critical lens against the romance as it did give them a kernel of connection that they were able to nourish. Alongside this though, there’s deeper traumas and regrets that feel more universal and touching. It was all lit in a sort of dim, warm light that you wouldn’t be able to realize its importance until the growing brightness suddenly blinded you.

Water Moon held a lot more beyond its beautiful cover than what met the eye. It told a story that I wasn’t quite expecting set within a lush and lovely world that felt like I was dreaming. Truly, pushing all my issues with the romance subplot aside, I enjoyed this read. It had everything within it that I needed to avoid falling over the cliffside edge of a deep book slump.

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burch727's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This was really disappointing. I was really looking forward to a whimsical cozy fantasy, but this book was a chore.

I think most importantly, it needed editing. If you have 50 cool ideas, that's super great for you but you can't cram all of them into one book. It felt like the author just thought of as many whimsical fantasy elements as possible and then underdeveloped all of them instead of choosing a few and really making those few ones good.

I also found the characters to be very underdeveloped and lacking in personality, and their relationship makes no sense for two people who literally just met.

By the end I was so bored and frustrated and strongly considered DNFing.

Also not a fan of parenthood/pregnancy themes so I didn't love that.

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