Photo of Samantha Sotto Yambao
Photo credits: Charm Cataag

At OwlCrate, we work with fantastic authors whose books we feature as special or limited editions. The books featured in our monthly boxes are always new releases from a range of diverse authors.


This article is a spotlight on Samantha Sotto Yambao, the author behind Water Moon, the book in our January 2025 Adult Fantasy box. Read on to find out more about her!

ABOUT SAMANTHA SOTTO YAMBAO

Samantha Sotto Yambao is a Sunday Times best-selling author currently residing in Manila, Philippines, with her family and four pets. She enjoys writing speculative fiction, magical realism, and fantasy books. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading.

BOOKS BY SAMANTHA SOTTO YAMBAO

To date, Samantha Sotto Yambao has written 6 books across the speculative fiction genres, blending them with fantasy and other subgenres.

The Elsewhere Express


“To be everywhere is to be nowhere”


Page count: 432

Published: January 2026

The Beginning of Always


Page count: 335

Published: June 2020

A Dream of Trees


Page count: 326

Published: July 2019

Love and Gravity


Page count: 277

Published: February 2017

Before Ever After


“It appears that you were meant to be mine 

only for a little while.”


Page count: 296

Published: January 2011

OwlCrate Editions Of Books By Samantha Sotto Yambao

WATER MOON

Book cover
Photo credits: @a.o.tales on Instagram

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao was our January 2025 'In Another World' OwlCrate Adult Fantasy book choice. Water Moon is a mesmerizing fantasy book about a magical pawnshop, where regrets can be sold — but always at a cost.


On a back street in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Only the lost ones will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets. Hana 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. Then, into the shop stumbles a charming stranger offering help instead of seeking it.


Together, they journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father. 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.


This OwlCrate edition features:

  • Signed by Samantha Sotto Yambao
  • Exclusive redesigned dust jacket by @lilittwang
  • Reversible dust jacket designed by @art_by_benni
  • Printed hardcover case designed by @_yodaka
  • Foiled end page designed by @zsjun111
  • Stenciled edges designed by @lilittwang
  • Signed by the author on a page designed by @divineliterary
  • Author letter bound into the book⁠
  • Bonus content
  • Book dimensions: 5.5" x 8.5"

“Losing your way is oftentimes the only way to find something you did not know you were looking for.”

Want to read more books in this genre?

 Check out OwlCrate’s Adult Fantasy 

Book Only Subscription.


Every month, you’ll receive an exclusive edition of a newly released hardcover adult fantasy book featuring exclusive design elements including things like redesigned covers, sprayed or stenciled edges, foil designs on the hardcover case, reversible dust jacket artwork, fully illustrated endpapers.



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