I will dive headfirst into any world that Meg Shaffer creates. I grew up reading and rereading The Chronicles of Narnia. The idea of a secret, magical world has been a piece of my heart my whole life. The Lost Story felt like coming home.
Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie's stories captured my heart and made me feel like a child again. Thank you Netgalley, Meg Shaffer, and the publisher for this ARC. The Lost Story comes out July 16th, but while you're waiting, go read The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer.

4 1/2 stars
Two boys go missing in the West Virginia forest only to reappear unharmed months later. Years go by and the boys are men. One is a struggling artist and the other finds missing girls and together they will help a woman find the sister who went missing in the same area as a child. A dark thriller with a monster hiding in the woods? NO! Instead this is a magical ode to all the cherished childhood classics a secret land where a gentle knight saves the princess while secretly being in love with the prince and where a benevolent queen happily rules a land where adults don't belong. Once again, Meg Shaffer brings us back to our favorite childhood hideaways - Narnia, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, Dorothy and her little dog finding their way in OZ. She cleverly uses whimsey and a bit of fairy dust to shake off the adult and bring out the hopeful child. This is the perfect book to find a hammock or treehouse and get lost in. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet and earnest story, the characters are interesting and compelling. While it could be a bit cheesy/cringy at times, the story and characters more than made up for it. If you read the Raven Cycle and Summer Sons, I am sure you would like this story.

This book was... This book was cake, but it maybe should have been a meal? It was lovely, well-crafted, and appealing, but, by the midpoint, the reader is pretty sure all the wishes will be fulfilled. And on the one hand, I wanted them to! The characters are multidimensional and likable, and I wanted good things to happen to them. And I enjoyed not feeling like I needed to brace myself against the inevitable tragedy, but the stakes could have been a smidge higher. Everything turned out so perfectly that there were no hooks left for the story to get stuck in my brain. The trick to a good portal fantasy is creating a world the reader can continually return to in their own imagination. Shanandoah doesn't quite get there.

For my personal taste, the story also suffered for being a children's tale masquerading as one for adults. Or, maybe wanting to be a book for adults that captures the remembered feelings of the stories that enchanted you as a child. At that, it succeeds masterfully, actually. But I was hoping to be transported in a story that would bear the weight of who I am now. Nothing happens that explores the depth and nuance of adult consciousness, but instead settles for redemption on a silver platter. I also completely bounced off the 'Storyteller Corner' interludes, but that is purely a matter of opinion over a style choice.

Overall, my feelings are extremely mixed, leaning toward positive.

Nobody does nostalgic reads like Shaffer! I absolutely loved how The Wishing Game made me feel like a kid again and The Lost Story didn’t disappoint! This took me back to being a kid and reading Narnia!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an eARC in exchange for my review!

The Lost Story is a fantastical, whimsical story about getting lost then found again. Reading this felt like being in a fairytale. I felt like I was falling down the hole in the tree and into Shanandoah with Emilee, Rafe and Jeremy.

Giving this thriller meets realistic fantasy a 4.5 out of 5. Thank you Ballantine Books for inviting me to read this story and NetGalley for the ARC.

At first, The Lost Story would not be the first book I grab off the shelf and while reading it I feared I would be proved correct. But boy was I wrong. The first half of the story reads like a mystery/thriller, where Jeremy, an infamous lost boy in Kentucky, finds lost persons across the globe. However, about halfway through the CS Lewis style fantasy and whimsey comes into play and I was here for every second of it. Calling the romance subplot "romance" feels like a misnomer because the pining between the two is so bittersweet (I won't spoil more).

My only critique is that the ending felt a bit abrupt. I'm not unhappy with how it ended, and in a lot of ways found it satisfying from character development point of view, but I feel like it could have been expanded on a bit.

Overall loved this book and can't wait to recommend it!

4.5 - I truly loved this book! Inspired by C.S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Naria, this adult fairytale was so encapsulating that I forgot about reality. The story was whimsical, unique, and filled with magic and mystery.

Fifteen years ago Jeremy and Rafe go missing in the forest of West Virginia only to reappear six months later better off than when they disappeared. Since their reappearance, Rafe has stuck to being a recluse and Jeremy has taken on a career of finding missing people. Longing to find her sister who went missing twenty years ago, Emilie tracks down Jeremy to help. The only problem is, Jeremy must convince Rafe to help find Emilie’s sister seeing as she went missing in the same forest they did all those years ago. From there, we go on a journey through the forest and into a magical world where the lost are found.

I could not put this book down! Meg Shaffer is now an auto-buy author for me and I couldn’t be happier to support a local author!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

I wanna take a moment to think NetGalley as well as the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book and exchange for an honest review.

If you like books that have mystery to them as well as some magic then I would definitely recommend picking up this book. I really like the difference between the two characters as well as how they coped with how things happened in their past that they could not explain. So if you are looking for a book with mystery and suspense that I definitely think you should pick this one up.

3.5 stars! I really wanted to love this more. This was a creative premise, but an ambitious story to tell in 352 pages, which resulted in parts of the plot feeling rushed, characters remaining underdeveloped, and the overall world-building simply lacking at times. As with Meg’s previous novel, The Wishing Game, there were themes of abandonment and trauma stemming from abusive parents, with the trauma lasting into adulthood. I found the characters themselves to be somewhat juvenile and naive for being in their early 30s.

Aside from those critiques, what I loved and was most invested in, was the relationship between Rafe and Jeremy. I hope that Meg one day writes a romance novel, as this is where I think her strength as a writer shines. Although this isn’t a YA novel, I can see this story resonating with youth who are questioning themselves and their sexuality. Lastly, I'm not sure why, but the person I pictured as Jeremy in my head the entire book was Jacob Elordi... I wasn't mad at it!

“And fairy tales also begin with, “Once upon a time . . .” and end with “They all lived happily ever after.” And of course, fairy tales are fiction. Always. Well, except for this one.”

If you liked The Wishing Game or you are a fan of Narnia, Bridge to Terabithia, you will love this book.

This book is full of whimsical happenings, deep relationship struggles, and enough mystery to keep you guessing.

I particularly loved the role of the storyteller in this story. Their viewpoint encouraged readers never to get too comfortable with what they are being told, that there is always something more than what they are being told.

This book is sweet, sorrowful, and so easy to fall in love with.

I highly recommend this book.

3.5 stars
This was definitely a weird but enjoyable read. The novel starts like a contemporary fiction novel with elements reminding me of My Absolute Darling or even (slightly) Where the Crawdads sing.

The novel opens with Jeremy and Ralph (or Rafe as he's known throughout) being found in the woods after having gone missing for six months. The book then jumps to the future where Jeremy has made a living (and become a minor celebrity) finding missing girls and giving talks about how he finds them. Its at one of these events he meets Emilie and this is truly where are story gets. Emilie's sister has been missing for more than twenty years and disappeared in the very same forest Jeremy and Rafe disappeared into all those years ago.

Unfortunately for everyone Jeremy needs Rafe's help and the two haven't spoken in years. Jeremy and Rafe must confront their difficult past to save Emilie's sister's life. The summary could end hear and while I don't want to spoil anything everything above is just the surface layer. The novel soon takes an abrupt turn from contemporary fiction to fantasy and readers are along for the ride. Part of the magic of the novel is seeing the fantastical unfold along with the characters so I will save that for everyone to experience themselves.

The novel is beautifully written and I honestly could have stayed immersed in that world longer. The relationships between Jeremy and Rafe and Jeremy, Rafe and Emilie were so heartfelt but I do enjoy a found family story.

I feel like this book works as a standalone but there is also enough material and probably interest for a sequel. I think my only issue is that the novel ended a little abruptly or just felt like there could have been more.

Overall I really enjoyed and I will definitely check out more of Shaffer's works.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley

This is one of the best books that I have read in awhile, I was not able to put this one down. I was pulled in by the story tellers and the parallel world. I hope there will be a part two.

This book reminds me of why I love fairytales. Two boys went missing as teenagers and 15 years later, a woman asks them for help to find her missing sister. It caught my interest in the first few pages. It takes you on an adventure and you feel like a kid again. It also reminds you of how precious life is. Things happen, good or bad, but we don’t make the rules.

As a lifelong fan of the Chronicles of Narnia the description pulled me in. And this book does not disappoint. A love story of many levels this is a delightful read.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC! I absolutely loved this book, even more than her first. This is an absolutely beautiful and intriguing world. This is like "The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe," only gayer. Jeremy and Rafe were lost at the age of 14, in the woods of Morgantown, WV. Friends from school, Jeremy had more privilege. HIs mother is a PhD and a professor at WVU, whereas Rafe has an abusive father and his family is the salt of the earth. After returning, they are separated by years and miles. The first 40% of the story is setting up the characters, the action happens when they return to Shanandoah, where they once were. Absolutely a fantasy novel. The "storyteller"
intercedes every few chapters with some narrative and exposition that helps the story along. Every character is believable, and the narrative takes the reader deeper and deeper into the story. I hope there will be a sequel, I need more to this one!

I really enjoyed <i>The Wishing Game</i> by this author, but sadly this one was a miss for me. The first half was very different from the second half, which changed drastically. None of the characters really stood out to me and I had trouble telling them apart. Other reviewers have said that this reads like YA even though the characters are adults and I would have to agree. It felt very young to me.

This book was so cozy and fantastical and magical. It genuinely felt like reading a childhood fairytale again as an adult. Each character was so distinctive and felt real and the romance between Jeremy and Rafe was phenomenal. Also love Emilie and her Stevie Nicks obsession.

I have not read a book so fast in a really long time. It was the perfect book at the perfect moment for me. Part suspense/thriller (sort of) part fantasy. There was creativity and humor, friendship, betrayal?, love and unicorns. I probably could have lived without the romance, but I'm always one who can live without the romance.

I adored this book, probably my first favorite of 2024 and absolutely recommended for anybody who loves Narnia. It is not perfect, but who cares? It's pure fun.

West - By God! - Virginia!

I enjoyed The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer so I was excited to pick this one up. The story follows two boys who got lost in their teens for 6 months. One of them now helps find missing women - this is where the third main character comes into play.

The three go back to the world the boys found in their youth to find Emilie's sister. I enjoyed the story, but I really wanted more detail and story about the world. It focused on a love story between Jeremy and Rafe, the two lost youth. While a nice addition, it seemed to take over the story. That was unexpected from a story that referenced Narnia in the description.