I am disgusted with how misleading the description is for this book. I really enjoyed the author’s last book so I was excited for this one but it’s nothing like the description. This is a gay romance. Why leave that out? It just ensures you anger viewers who never would have read this and it doesn’t attract the readers who would want this. I don’t know how this is written by the same author as Wishing Game because this reads like really bad YA. It is pathetic to even have this book mentioned anywhere near C.S. Lewis. Obviously could not finish.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is an ambitious story inspired by C.C. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. In this novel, Jeremy and Rafe go missing as young teenagers in a vast West Virginia state forest only to mysteriously reappear six months later. Rafe remembers nothing of the time they were missing and Jeremy distances himself from his childhood best friend for the next fifteen years..until they must return the place they vanished from.

I so badly wanted to get lost in the pages of this book. The concept was strong but the execution was not. The author stuffs a 7 book series worth into 300 pages; it had far too many components that were never explained and thus left the reader to "read between the lines".

The things I struggled with:

The Dialogue Rafe and Jeremy are meant to be in their 30s while Emilie is meant to be 23. However, every single character in this book speaks to one another as if they are 16 years old. I was exhausted with the attempt to blend the maturity of the characters age with setting of a magical forest but lines like "Magical horses are whores for berries"is so beyond misplaced. Concurrently, Jeremy calling a 23 year old young woman he just met "princess" gives me the ick (even if she is in this parallel hidden realm, she doesn't know it yet and you should probably save that for another time!)

The relationships While I can appreciate the LGBTQIA representation in this book, I don't feel the author sets up Rafe and Jeremy's relationship well enough for me to be in love with it as a reader. This is supposed to be a "fairy tale for Adults" but there is little to no adult connotations that make me fall in love with the characters connection to one another. Simultaneously, because this book is so fast-paced, Emilie and her sister Shannon's relationship falls flat in so many ways. I have an older sister myself and I did not once feel the sisterly bond between these two. Constantly calling your 23 year old younger sister a "brat" misses the mark. When you don't find the characters lovable, relatable, or enjoyable at any point, it's hard to love the book itself.

The lack of world-building Do I have to say it? This is supposed to be an inspiration from Narnia. An adult fairy tale that makes you feel like a you're reading your favorite fantasy novel as a kid again. So why is there no world-building to immerse you back into that environment? The first half of this book we spend with just Emilie and Jeremy devising a plan to go back to Shannondoah. Only in the latter half are finally introduced to this enchanted world & even then the pages are filled with messy banter from the characters.

To put it simply, The Lost Story reads more as a YA book that I would have perhaps enjoyed more in my Middle School days. The "story-telling" injections were a confusing addition that I didn't care for. Was I supposed to understand that there was a narrator/re-telling component? Lastly, Meg Shaffer tries to cram too much in too little. I understand the intention and see them so clearly at times but overall it feels too ambitious with little to no editing or refining of the timeline.

📖 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫

I had no idea what to expect going into this book but I was HOOKED by the mystery of the first sentence.

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢, 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

This story kept me guessing in the best possible way. It’s told through different individual’s perspectives which added to the mystery. We also have a narrator that pops in throughout the story.

I loved all of the characters but especially Jeremy. He was such a fun character that knows more than everyone. His friendship with Rafe was the freaking sweetest. There were so many times throughout the story that my heart broke for the things that Rafe had to go through, but he always had Jeremy. Even when he didn’t think he did.

This is a closed door romance with only kissing on page. It’s seriously the freaking sweetest childhood friends to lovers.

“𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘴.“

If you loved watching The Never Ending Story, or reading fantasy books growing up, you will LOVE this magical read! Add 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫, to your TBR today!

I was so excited to find out that BOTM had this one as a pick for July. I can’t wait to add a physical copy of this amazing story to my little library!

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴:
✨ 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮
🦄 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺
💗 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺
🦋 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺
🫶🏼 𝘔/𝘔 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
🚪 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
🕸️ 𝘔𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘗𝘖𝘝

This book was everything I wanted and more.

Once again, Meg Shaffer has delivered a book that hit me right in the heart. "The Lost Story" is a book I didn't want to put down, but I also never wanted it to end. And yet, like most good things, it had to.

The world she created, the characters who populate it, and the humor that ran through the book were all done with such tender care that this felt like a gift, well-wrapped, just for me.

I feel like I could say so much more, but I don't want to overdo it. So, I'll keep this review short and sweet.

I'd like to thank Netgalley for this ARC. This review is honest and entirely my own.

15 years ago Jeremy & Rafe went missing in Red Crow State Park. When the returned 6 months later, Rafe couldn't remember anything about where they went or what happened to them. Now, Jeremy is a world renowned search and rescuer and he's tracked down by Emilie to help find her sister who disappeared in Red Crow 5 years before he and Rafe did.
Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie make their way back to Red Crow to uncover the truth of their time away - they were in the magical world of Shanandoah, ruled by Queen Skya - Emilie's missing sister. Similar to Seanen McGuire's Wayward Children series this book examines what those who are spirited off to other worlds do when they return, and the toll it took on those they left behind.
There's a lot I liked about this book. I think examining the ramifications of portal fantasy on those who travel and those who are left behind is super interesting and this book does that really successfully. Jeremy and Rafe have each found their own ways of coping, and it's interesting to see how not remembering has affected both Rafe and their relationship.
I found Shanandoah very charming and whimsical, it really was exactly what i would have written as a teenager wanting to go to far away worlds.
The things that brought my rating down were the pacing - i felt like we allowed so much time for the build up of getting to Shanandoah and rediscovering that world and then once we got there we raced through it and didn't really get the emotional climax because it felt like we'd rushed to get there. I also found the interludes from the 'narrator' distracting rather than charming, it was a little too 'wink wink' tongue in cheek for me and took me out of the story. Tonally it felt separate from the rest of the book.
I do want to note that I also didn't love the idea of taking the Shenandoah River name, something named for the displaced Native peoples and coopting it to 'make it more mine' into Shanandoah. Again, it does feel like something a teenager would do, but the coopting left me disenchanted with the name.

This is a story inspired by Narnia, which I haven’t read or seen, but I don’t think you need to in order to appreciate this. Two boys get lost in the woods. When they’re found months later, one has no memory of what happened and the other won’t say but knows the truth. The story picks up fifteen years later as they attempt to go back to help a young woman find her sister.

This book was great! A truly cozy, charming fairy tale. The story grabbed me right away, and the storyteller interludes are so entertaining. It’s a feel-good book with characters you’ll root for. I’d like to know more about this magical world. It comes out July 16. Thank you to Ballantine and Netgalley for the eARC.

I was extremely intrigued by this book because I loved Meg Shaffers book, "The Wishing Game."

Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell go missing in a West Virginia Forest. After 6 months of being missing they are referred to as "The Lost Boys". This story started at the mysterious reappearance of the lost boys taller and stronger than when they went missing.

The story then skips 15 years, Rafe is living in a forest. Jeremy is a missing person investigator. Emily approaches Jeremy to help her find her missing sister. This brings them back to the mysterious forest that Jeremy and Rafe went missing in to find Emily's sister.

I loved the book and Meg Shaffer's writing. I adored the characters, humor, connections and vulnerability.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is a fairy tale for adults set in West Virginia. Two teenage boys go missing in the forest for six months. When they return, one has no memory of what happened and mysterious scars on his back, and the other boy doesn't say what happened. Years later, they must return to where they had been for six months—a fantasy land ruled by a queen. What ensues is a beautiful adventure story that looks at what it is like to have returned to the "real" world after living in a place that felt more like home and what home truly means. I quickly fell in love with the characters and their magical land. The Lost Story is a book for everyone who has searched in wardrobes for Narnia. Please note that there are content warnings for abusive parents.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Meg Shaffer for allowing me to review this unique book. I have never read anything like this book before. It is such an original story inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia. I loved the magical and mysterious elements that kept me reading. However, I think if it had been for a YA audience I would have enjoyed it more as the writing style and word choices seemed a bit YA. The writing style was very unique and absolutely reminded me of the Chronicles of Narnia. The overall feel of the book was also very similar. It’s very hard to rate such a unique book. I enjoyed many aspects of this book but also struggled to connect due to the YA writing style. I am a big fan of the unique stories Meg Shaffer brings to the world and I cannot wait to read what she comes up with next. Thank you again for allowing me to review this book.

For those of you who wished you would one day find a fairy tale world in your back garden, or through your closet door, this book is for you. 15 years ago schoolboys Jeremy and Rafe disappeared in Red Rock Forest in West Virginia and were found six months later. Jeremy went on to have a career finding missing persons, Rafe became an artistic recluse. Then, like in any good hero story, they need to confront what happened to them.

This is a story about family, friendship, and loyalty and has a lot of heart and humor. Like her first book, The Wishing Game, the book mixes heavy topics (in this case broken families) with lighter fantastical elements. The juxtaposition can seem jarring at times but for anyone who experiences difficulties in their lives, don’t we all wish for a magical land to escape to? Meg Shaefer gives us that moment of letting go of adult problems and returning us to the carefree dreams of our childhood.

This book is charming and fun, but I did struggle with the pacing. I wanted more time in Shanandoah (the books magical land) and more time getting to the know the characters there. I think this is a good escape read when you need a break from heavier material. It had shades of The Magician without the depth or darkness, and definitely gives a hat tip to The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Wizard of Oz stories.

Rafe and Jeremy were teenagers when they went missing for months deep in the forests of West Virginia. Fifteen years have passed, and the boys, now men, have drifted apart. Rafe lives isolated in a cabin, painting, and hunting, and can’t recall much of his time lost. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become known for finding lost girls, having almost a superpower to find them.

Emilie has just discovered she had a half-sister she never knew. She went missing years before Jeremy and Rafe, but in the exact location. Emilie enlists Jeremy to find her sister. When Jeremy hears Emilie’s sister’s name is Shannon, he insists they need Rafe to come along.

All those years ago, the boys had found a magic portal into the hidden Kingdom of Shenandoah, where herds of unicorns roamed, and Queen Shannon had Valkyries as guards. But like any good fairytale, darkness is present. Lost souls reside in Ghost Town, and the evil little bright boys feast on your fear; they are a constant danger.


This is magical, playful, and even humorous, with literary and pop cultural references sprinkled in. It offers suspense and action, with sword fights and archery skills. Yet it does touch on some emotional themes, such as abuse and grief. The concept of a magical portal is not new, nor is an enchanted kingdom, but it is easy to get drawn into this world. There is a touch of romance, but what I enjoyed the most was the sweet and caring friendships forged in this magical world.

Thank you @penguinrandomhouse for this gifted digital arc via NetGalley.
Thank you @PRHaudio for the gifted audiobook.

"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 they wrote it just for you or to you? Loving and hating people made out of ink and paper, not flesh and blood? Yes, books are magic."

For all grown-up lovers of fairy tales, this book is perfect.

In the Red Crow State Forest in West Virginia, people tend to get lost. First, it was Shannon. Then, five years later, it was Ralph and Jeremy. Ralph and Jeremy came back after six months of being lost, and the community rejoiced. But they also questioned. Ralph remembers nothing. Jeremy says that they lived off of the land until they were able to make it back to a trail they recognized. These are reasonable assertions, except for the fact that the boys came back taller and broader and well-fed, and honestly, there's not enough of Red Crow State Forest for them to be lost for six months and not be found.

Fifteen years later, Rafe lives a life as a recluse. He still remembers nothing, and feels that Jeremy abandoned him after they got back from the woods. Jeremy finds people who are lost, with an uncanny ability to rescue injured hikers, kidnapped children and missing family members.

Emilie has a missing person she needs to find - her half sister Shannon. Emilie was adopted when she was a baby. She respected her mother's wishes and didn't do a DNA database like 23 and Me while she was alive. But after her mother's death, her curiosity and desire to make connections with her biological family lead to her submitting her DNA. The match she finds is to a missing girl named Shannon, who disappeared at Red Crow State Forest 20 years ago. She reaches out to Jeremy, who drops a bombshell on her - when they were lost, they saw Shannon. More than that, they lived with Shannon in another world. And he wants to take her to her sister, but they need Ralph's help to do so.

Then the fairy tale begins, and like all fairy tales, there are good guys and bad guys and magic and the power of stories to shape a world. I fell in love with Jeremy and Rafe (Ralph) immediately. Their love for each other and for their family (biological and chosen) is the balm my heart needed this week. Likewise Skya (Shannon) and Emilie's love for each other, even though they barely knew each other before they were separated, makes me want to call my brother and really reconnect with him.

This book has many echoes of The Chronicles of Narnia and other well-loved fantasies, but it has created a wonderful world of its own. I'm adding Shanandoah to my list of fantasy worlds I'd like to visit (along with Narnia, Hogwarts, Neverland, Oz, Middle Earth and Wonderland).

This is the second book I've read of Shaffer's, and both have been absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to see what she writes next (and hope that there's a sequel to this book, because there are still things I need to know and "see").

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

OBSESSED. Meg Shaffer is one hell of a story teller. Her characters are jumping off the page and they are so so lovable. The magical realism elements are SO WELL DONE that it kept me fully enthralled in the story. The premise of the story is so incredibly unique in the best way possible. Lastly, the queer love story was unexpected but beautiful. No surprise that I loved The Lost Story because I was equally as obsessed with The Wishing Game.

I wanted to like this but I had a really hard time getting invested in the story, I DNF’d it after 34%.

Loved this one!!! Felt like an adult fairy tale and was completely drawn in with the first chapter. It was the perfect amount of character and world building. I need to see this made into a movie!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
While I had some issues with Meg Shaffer’s previous book, I generally enjoyed her homage to the magic and whimsy of childhood classics, but in an adult book, and was interested in trying something else from her. The Lost Story delivers a poignant homage to several “lost children” narratives, including most particularly the Chronicles of Narnia, focusing on the lingering psychological impact their disappearance and return had on them, as well as how it affected their relationships with people in the real world, in a way CS Lewis only briefly gave nods to.
I love the whimsical way the story developed, with the separation between the mundane, real-world and the fantastical. And there’s also interstitial bits from a mostly off-page storyteller (whose identity is revealed as being relevant to the plot by the end), and while some of these bits felt a little info-dumpy, I liked how they sometimes conveyed backstory or otherwise conveyed intrigue about the magical world. I do have mixed feelings about the blatant appropriation of the Native term “Shenandoah” (as in the river), taken from the Native term for “daughter of the stars,” which Shannon/Skyla blatantly says she “changed…to make it mine” to “Shanandoah.” She does acknowledge this was a product of her youth, having been thirteen when she named the fantasy place this, but it’s still weird to me that a white kid took a name from indigenous culture and perverted it for her fantasy kingdom where she rules with other white kids.
And with its central characters and the bonds between them, the relationships unfolded in a way I did not expect. Having been jaded by the turn taken in Shaffer’s prior book, I fully expected something to happen between Emilie and Jeremy and/or Rafe romantically, and it to occur in some canned, rushed way. But instead the focus was instead on how Jeremy and Rafe needed to re-excavate their past within Shanandoah and with each other, which was really sweet as their initial departure led to their estrangement, although it was also tinged with some trauma focused on Rafe’s dysfunctional past relationship with his father. As for Emilie, I feel like she did play second-fiddle once they got to Shanandoah. However, her journey was mostly done once she found her long-lost sister.
The narrative feels simultaneously fantastical and grounded within its reality. Things took a strange turn by the end, with a turn for the ambiguous, which I’m not sure what to make of, but given how things end up for the characters, I like how it also leaves things open for more adventures, whether they materialize in book form or not.
This was a beautiful book, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for a book that captures the nostalgia of childhood fairy tales and fantasy classics for the adult reader.

"Inspired by C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes - just in case - from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they'd gone or how they'd survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons' investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie's sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie's sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months - for only then can they get back everything and everyone they've lost."

It's not just Narnia I'm looking for, it's secret passages!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer. All opinions are my own.

Two boys go missing in a forest in West Virginia, and then return six months later without much of an explanation. For fifteen years Jeremy and Rafe have little to no communication with one another. As an adult Jeremy can find missing people, and Rafe has no memory of the six months they were missing. Our third main character Emilie hunts down Jeremy to help her find her long lost sister. Jeremy might know a little about "this long-lost sister", but he will need Rafe's help to bring the sisters back together. All three must return to the enchanted, magical world that Jeremy and Rafe lived in for those six months, to make this happen.

Meg Shaffer states that her book is inspired by Chronicles of Narnia. That is really all I needed to hear to become very intrigued to read The Lost Story. Right up front I will say that if you're looking for a cozy, magical, fantastical, heartwarming read, well, then you found it. There is a love story, long lost siblings, enchanting characters, and so much more. You will find yourself rooting for everybody to get their happy ending. I did read the author's first book, The Wishing Game, and enjoyed it, but The Lost Story is really special. This one releases on July 16th and was picked for the July Book of the Month subscription box. Happy Reading!

I’m just gonna be honest, this book just wasn’t really for me. It hooked me in from the beginning, but then it just kind of went downhill and didn’t keep me engaged or interested.

When I saw this book described as being for adults who still knocked on the back of wardrobes looking for Narnia, well, I had to see what it was all about. And boy, was I glad I took a chance on this one.

Going into this I thought it was going to be a mystery, but it was very much a fairy tale for adults, and definitely reminiscent of the Narnia books. The descriptions of Shannandoah were magical, and I was really able to imagine it clearly in my mind. The world building was just top notch, and I was able to really immerse myself in the magical world of Shannandoah.

I loved the exploration of what it means to be lost and found. Jeremy and Rafe lost so much, one of them knowing what was lost and one having no idea, and them finding each other again was magical. Rafe also lost pieces of his childhood, and was able to find them again and help mend the trauma of his childhood.

I also loved the exploration of magic, and how we can create magic on our own. As always, I appreciate the sensitive and caring LGBTQ representation.

The writing style here was very simple, as befitting a fairy tale. I think that adults in their 30s and 40s would really relate to the characters. All in all, this book was such an enjoyable summer read. I didn’t want to put it down because I had to find out what happened next. It was my first book by the author but it won’t be my last.