★Sotto Yambao, Samantha. Water Moon. Del Rey: Ballantine. Jan. 2025. 384p. ISBN 9780593724996. $28.99. FANTASY

Hana and Kei meet at the sole intersection of their disparate worlds: Hana’s pawnshop in Tokyo, where the lost can sell their regrets. Hana is desperate to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, and Kei can never resist a puzzle. He is a man of science, while Hana’s anime-inspired fantasy world breaks all the rules by which he has lived his life. He can’t resist the mystery of her, and she can’t help but charm him into being part of her dangerous quest, even though she knows it will end in bitterness and betrayal—unless the magic has one last impossible gift to give them both. Hana and Kei can’t help falling for each other in spite of the tangle of secrets and lies pulling them together and tearing them apart. VERDICT Readers who have been swept up in the cozy charm of Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee will fall hard for the mix of magical realism, fantasy mystery, and star-crossed romance in this novel from Sotto Yambao (The Beginning of Always). Highly recommended.