First off, with apologies to author Meg Shaffer, this book cannot be reviewed without comparisons to the masters of the fantasy/adult fairy tale genre: JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lewis Carroll, LF Baum, and more recently Stephen King. Shaffer holds her own in this esteemed cadre with her recent offering The Lost Story.

It’s a story of boys lost and found, love lost and found, queens, princesses, art, truth, good and evil. Shaffer manages to wrap these concepts into a riveting tale that takes place in “West, -by God- Virginia!”.

The story starts when two boys, who have been missing and assumed dead, suddenly appear along a hiking path. Rafe and Jeremy go their separate ways for 15 years. Rafe a sullen artist and Jeremy, an investigator who is able to locate missing girls. They are reunited when Jeremy is enticed by Emilie who implores him to help locate her missing sister.

Thus the three begin a journey that takes them to places some had forgotten and others cannot imagine except in their deepest dreams.

I’m sure that generations from now young and old alike will have shelved this book along with their other classics of the genre. Kudos Meg Shaffer, you’ve given us another winner.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for an eARC

Another book I did not see coming!! A very solid even four stars and definitely an addicting read.

This book wasn’t on my radar but when I saw it available to request, and the fact that it draws inspiration from The Chronicles of Narnia, I was intrigued. But I still wasn’t expecting to like this as much I did!

This book had strong Stranger Things vibes but with more whimsical rather than gothic fantasy elements. In the best way possible. I mean I was truly obsessed with the writing and the flow of the story since the very first chapter. The only thing that didn’t push this to a full five stars was that there were a few parts in the book where the description felt to go on too long and my interest would waver.

I have to say all the characters in this had my whole heart. Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie were so complex as protagonists and the dynamics between them were so well written and fleshed out. I loved them so much!!
Jeremy and Rafe as two best friends who go through a traumatic experience together, and then being reunited through Emilie, where they reconcile their memories and discover everything that truly happened in that traumatic time period — SO GOOD. Like, so much to love there, I was so emotional.

Of course, the whole world in the forest was so unprecedented to me when I started reading this, but it was such a treat to read. My HEART with Emilie and Skya, I just loved the whole thing so much. The bond over years between Skya, Jeremy and Rafe was so heartwarming, and seeing Emilie build her own with all three was just so beautiful to witness.

The plot itself was very compelling; the truth behind the kids going missing was such a good way to go about that beginning, and the journey with Rafe gradually remembering things, and them finding the forest kingdom, as well as the decisions they made with respect to it — so so much to love.

I loved everything here, and it was just tied up so well with that ending too. Really, really good. The Lost Story was one of those underdog books for me that will go down as a book that’s a definite recommend for sure.

The overall concept and whimsical nature of the book was exciting and I anticipated a fantastic read. Sadly about halfway through the magic faded for me.
The main characters are supposed to be 30(s), but they don’t act that way and can be annoyingly dense. As a lover of good literature, the references are fun. The storytelling was very fast paced (too fast) and a lot of the plot was predictable. I liked it enough to finish it, but do not have the need to revisit it.

As high school boys, best friends Jeremy and Rafe vanish in a West Virginia state park and are missing for six months, until they mysteriously reappear with no explanation of how they survived.

15 years later Jeremy is a famous missing persons investigator with an uncanny ability to find lost girls and Rafe is a reclusive artist, bearing scars from their time away but no memories of it. Jeremy remembers though and has kept it from Rafe to keep him safe.

When Emilie comes to Jeremy to to try and find her long lost sister, it kicks off a journey to a hidden magical realm where Rafe and Jeremy first disappeared.

"For you can always walk away from magic, but if you turn your back on it, it may never offer you another chance."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The Lost Story has influence from The Chronicles of Narnia, but with pieces that reminded me of Fairy Tale from Stephen King and a magic all it's own. I'm not surprised as I also enjoyed The Wishing Game from Meg Shaffer (there's a small nod to the Clock Island series in this story). Grown ups can have fairy tales too.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for an egalley on NetGalley.

One of my favorite book series I’ve read is Lev Grossman’s Magician series. While reading this, the same energy, whimsy, and heart poured from the pages. What happens when two high school boys are lost in a forest and mysteriously appeared again much later unharmed? When they reunite again to help find a girl’s half sister, the magic they tap into starts an adventure full of heart, and is so addicting.

Meg Shaffer has a way of creating magical worlds that are a fabulous combination of reality and a little magic, starting with The Wishing Game and continuing that magic through The Lost Story. Described last he "Narnia for adults", it truly was a little escape from reality that had a bit of humor, love, and loss mixed in.

I found myself interested in the story right from the beginning. A bit of mystery combined with the hope for adventure, I really found myself wanting to read more. The characters were lovable as well - each had their own past, quirks, and skills they brought to the team. While a lot of the adventure was fun to read, there was also depth to the story that added an emotional component mixed in with the humor and adventure. I really like the world building as a concept, the descriptions of each small place within the world were very good and I could picture myself in them. I found it hard to visualize the world as a whole so the travel within it got a bit confusing, but that does not detract from the story in any way.

Overall I enjoyed the story, characters, and the escape, and I hope to read more from this author in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Absolutely in love with Meg Shaffer’s writing. I grew up watching Narnia as a kid, and what drew me to this book was the comparison to Narnia. I loved the world. I love the mystery behind it. I loved Rafe and Jeremy’s relationship and how they were able to grow together and work through their past trauma together. Would highly recommend this book

I enjoyed this fantasy story. I felt transported. The characters, love story and reminiscing about Narnia hooked me. I look forward to the authors next story.

3.5 stars, rounded up!

I was so excited to hear that Meg Shaffer was writing another story, The Wishing Game was one of my favorite books last year! The premise of The Lost Story was intriguing to me, I love the fairy tale feel and the nods to Narnia.

Jeremy and Rafe went missing 15 years ago and come home drastically changed. Jeremy is able to find lost people and things and Rafe is secluded in the woods. When Emilie approached Jeremy about finding her lost sister, he was hesitant at first when he finds out it's in the same woods he was lost in. What follows is a story about love, loss, and family dynamics.

The story got off to a little bit of a slow start for me, laying the groundwork for what was to come but it was engaging enough to keep me reading. Once they started to get into the details of what happened when Jeremy and Rafe went missing and we learned more about their past, I was more and more intrigued. I loved the idea of a lost world and the fantastical piece of the story but it did feel a little corny at times. I feel like some details could have been written differently to make it a really penomenal story!

Once they finally did get into the fairy tale kingdom, things went so quickly and the story lines felt super rushed. I wish they could have spent more time there instead of building the story in the real world. It was also pretty easy to predict what was coming and even though that is annoying to me at times, it made for a cozy and gentle story instead of fast paced and nerve wracking.

So if you're in the mood for a cozy read, make sure to pick up The Lost Story! Thank you Netgalley and Meg Shaffer for my very first ARC!!

The Lost Story is about Jeremy and Rafe, two men who went missing in the Red Crow Forrest for 6 months when they were 15 years old. Only Jeremy can remember anything from the time they went missing but refuses to tell Rafe any details about their experience in the woods. Jeremy now spends his time finding lost women and girls while Rafe leads a much quieter life painting in a cabin in the woods. When a young adopted woman named Emilie asks Jeremy to find her missing sister, Jeremy and Rafe reunite to venture back into the woods and reclaim their past.

I absolutely loved this charming book and all the characters it contained. The queer love story was a particular highlight for me. Meg Shaffer is a great writer and fans of The Wishing Game are sure to enjoy this tale as well. Her writing brings the world to life and kept me entertained from the first to the last page.

Highly recommend for anyone looking for a lovely magical story about friendship, family, love, and adventure!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine Books for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Received the ARC from Netgalley. (It was offered to me, I did not request it- but I'm happy I agreed.)

This book was honestly really cute. It was kind of a soft story, nothing huge and epic, but it had a lot feelings mixed in. It was both fantastical and realistic at the same time.

Oddly I though the 'storyteller' was fun. I don't love when narrators pop in and out of books usually, but in this case they had some really good lines that made me laugh and I'm not mad about them interrupting.

I didn't love Emilie's POVs. I did like her, just not her POVs. She felt oddly unnecessary despite being important somehow.

I would 100% recommend this book if you're looking for something a bit lighter. (Though, it does have a few dark themes- abusive father, specifically.)

Like many others, I came to this book because I absolutely loved The Wishing Game. Now with her second novel Meg Shaffer has definitely proven herself to be a great story writer. Much like the Wishing Game, The Lost Story really takes hold of your heart. It is always a breath of fresh air to read a book that doesn’t rely heavily on excessive violence and shock factor to try keep the reader’s attention.

I could have done without the Storyteller Corner. I don’t think the book would have been lacking at all without it.

I would recommend The Lost Story to any former kid who wished they could have stepped out of this harsh world and into their favorite fantasy realm. I hope that maybe one day Meg Shaffer will find a way to take us back to Shanandoah.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! It was a pleasure to read and review!

This book was everything I hoped for and more. It has the same heart and more magic than The Wishing Game with all the whimsy and hope you could want. Truly combining a fairy tale with West Virginia, I wish I could go back and read this again for the first time.

The concept for this novel was one that I really enjoyed, and the prologue took my breath away. I absolutely could not wait to dive further into the magical world that Shaffer was creating. However, unfortunately the rest of the novel did not live up to my hopes. For how beautiful and impressive the writing, world building, and character building all were in the prologue, throughout the rest of the novel all three were kind of hit or miss. There were moment of good writing, moments of bad— moments of excellent world building, and moments that made me have to reread a page multiple times to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding something, and ditto for characterization. As I said, I really liked the concept for this novel, but the execution for me was a bit lacking. I think it was just too much to pack into a sub-400 page book. It wasn’t a bad book by any stretch, I just think it tried to do too much at once and because of that didn’t get to do anything to the full extent that it could have.

After loving “The Wishing Game” last year, I was so excited to read Shaffer’s next book! Unfortunately, I thought this was just okay. I knew this was a loose Narnia retelling going in, and ultimately I think I might’ve liked this more if I had been more of a Narnia fan growing up. The novel itself is very sweet, but it felt very juvenile to me. The dialogue and interactions between the characters seemed best suited for pre-teens, not characters who are supposed to be in their late 20s/early 30s. I also struggled a bit with pacing; I felt it took too long for the trio to return to the enchanted kingdom, and then once we were there the story raced through world building and plot at breakneck speed. That being said, I did enjoy some of the themes explored, especially the often complicated relationship between parents and children. Overall this book was filled with whimsy and nostalgia, it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

"The Lost Story" was a fun and creative book. I enjoyed the origin story for the land of Shanandoah. The story of Jeremy and Ralph (Rafe) was interesting and enjoyable. Fifteen years ago, they disappeared in Red Crow State Forest, only to reappear six months later, with no explanation for their absence. Rafe was confused when found, and he had some nasty looking scars on his back, but both boys looked muscular and well-fed, which made no sense. If they had been living in the woods, they should have been malnourished and weak; and if they had been kidnapped and escaped or been released, their physical condition should have deteriorated as well. Rafe has no recollection of what happened during those six months; Jeremy seems to remember something about their time in Shanandoah but is not willing or able to share it with anyone, including Rafe. This will lead to Jeremy and Rafe becoming estranged, although through their mothers, they will still have some knowledge of each other's lives. Rafe has largely become a recluse, secluding himself in his dad's cabin in the woods of West Virginia and focusing on his art -- sculptures and paintings. Jeremy has made a career out of finding lost girls and women (but only girls/women), having an uncanny knack for being able to find people who are lost but want to be found. What will bring Jeremy and Rafe back together is a woman (Emilie) looking for her lost sister. When Jeremy sees the picture of the missing sister, he realizes he knows her, and the secrets he has been holding onto for fifteen years are ready to be revealed. For you see, Jeremy and Rafe are very familiar with Shanandoah and Queen Skya, but the circumstances that led to their return to the real world required that one person would remember Shanandoah and the events that occurred there but not remember how to return, while the other person would have no recollection of Shanandoah but would know how to return (though this knowledge was useless by itself, as there would be no reason to try to return to a place one could not remember).

The existence of Shanandoah came about from the love of fairytales and fantasy, but also as a way to escape the evil and unpleasantness of the world; however, evil and unpleasantness could not be kept from Shanandoah either. Jeremy and Rafe's initial unexpected journey to Shanandoah was also brought about by a desire to escape a bad situation. Rafe's father was abusive, physically and mentally, and did not approve of Rafe spending so much drawing and spending so much time with his best friend, Jeremy. What Rafe had never been able to admit to Jeremy was that he was in love with him. However, seeing the drawings of Jeremy by Rafe, his father figured out how Rafe felt about Jeremy, and that was something he could not tolerate. He justified his actions by telling himself that he was just protecting his son from future harm by others (and identifying as gay in West Virginia would certainly have posed some risks), but in reality, he posed the biggest threat to Rafe. Jeremy felt the same way as Rafe, although he also had been afraid to admit it, not knowing that his feelings would be reciprocated. In Shanandoah they were able to share and act on those feelings, which made leaving that much harder, as Jeremy still had all the memories, but could not share them with Rafe or act upon them in the real world.

The return to Shanandoah will bring lots of positives, most significantly, enabling Jeremy to share with Rafe what he has been keeping secret for fifteen years. However, it will also bring danger and potential heartache and loss, as there is a serious threat facing Shanandoah, and it is directly related to Rafe.

Right now I am still thinking of the rating.

There are so many good parts of the book, I am by no means a professional, however I have read mt far share of books.
The Lost story follows Emilie who is on a quest to find a sister she *never* met. This is when Jeremy and Rafe come in.

I overall LOVED the premise of this book, a bit of mystery with fantasy/magical realism. The format of the book I additionally enjoyed. I will not not diverge a ton of information at this time, however there are bits of romance, mystery, fantasy elements, and NOSTALGIA.

Towards the mid-end of the book you start getting information regarding how this all came to be, I LOVED this concept of dreaming of a place you would rather be. Something that was completely made by you. I love the long lost romance between two of the characters. If you like found family this will also be a good choice!

At times I did find the book hard to follow with the pacing, times there wasn't much happening, and other times there was almost too much. However, this overall is a solid book!!!!! There are a ton of different elements that appeal to everyone, will tug on peoples heartstrings. Meg Shaffer is a great author and continues to write excellent stories!!

Another enchanting book from Meg Shaffer! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to preview The Lost Story. I requested this book based on my love for her first book, The Wishing Game. I'm happy to report that The Lost Story lived up to my high expectations.

The premise doesn't sound unique at first; two boys go missing in the woods and struggle in their adult lives after their ordeal. What makes this story so different is that Jeremy and Rafe weren't lost, they were having adventures in the magical land of Shanandoah. Fans of fairy tales and fantasy will find lots to love here.

Like The Wishing Game, his was an easy read and had me engaged immediately. The characters had issues that felt real and reacted to them (usually) like real people would. This is a great second offering from Meg Shaffer, and I can't wait to see what she does next.

“All books are magic. An object that can take you to another world without even leaving your room? A story written by a stranger and yet it seems like they wrote it just for you or to you?….Yes, books are magic. Maybe even the strongest magic there is”.

This right here sums up this book perfectly. It’s pure magic the way it transports the reader to another world, making them forget everything for a while. The book is about two boys lost and then eventually found with no explanation of where they were or how they survived. When the boys grow up they aren’t talking anymore and each living their own lives. Jeremy finds missing girls and women so when Emilee asks him to find her missing sister he takes the job but only if Rafe joins them. What happens next is the stuff out of the best fairytales and most enjoyable books.

This is my second book by this author and I loved everything about it. I can’t wait to read her next one and thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

The Lost Story is like taking a trip down memory lane to my childhood. Meg Shaffer's books have both easily become some of my favorite. This has The Chronicles of Narnia vibes, but for adults. I was immediately drawn into the story and loved escaping to the magical world of Shanandoah. I fell in love with the characters and the world-building. Do not miss out on this one! Even if you're not a big fan of fantasy, give this a go and you won't be disappointed!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.