If you want to feel like a kid again diving into your fantasy novel, pick up this book. This story gives you all the feels of entering into a new fantastical world that you may not want to come back from. I loved the characters—Rafe, Jeremy, and Emilie and they search for Emilie’s lost sister. I’ve also moved up West Virginia to top ten on my list of states that I need to visit. Meg Shaffer is now an auto-buy for me after the lost story and the wishing game.

I received an ARC from netgalley and the publisher.

This story made my jaw drop, it was beautifully written with fantastic characters. The story will take you on a roller coaster of emotions with a magically element that will warm you heart. I highly recommend this book and will probably buy a hard copy for my shelf!

I just finished this arc of The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer releasing July 16.
This is a fairytale … the most brilliant of all fairytales . It is like Narnia for adults. Two boys get lost in the woods for six months. When they come out, nothing is the same. One has no memory of the event and the other is whisked away by his mother. 15 years, separate them from the day they were found and the day they go back into those woods again in search of a lost girl. there’s a magical land, a palace, a queen, a prince, a knight , a Ghost Town, and adventures beyond your wildest dreams. It will give you so many feelings, and you will not want the story to end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you like fantasy and fairytales, and you wish for a happily ever after this book is for you ! 
Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me an early copy of this book!

I have always been a fan of retellings and reimagining of classic stories so when I heard that Meg Shaffer’s next book was going to inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia series, I was curious to see what the story would be. I had really enjoyed The Wishing Game, so this book was one of my most anticipated reads of this year.

In this story, you are introduced to Jeremy and Rafe who as teenagers went missing in the woods, only to reappear six months later in perfect health but with no explanation of where they have been. The story continues fifteen years later after their reappearance and you see what the boys have been up to and how a girl named Emilie brings them back together after all of these years. I won’t share more of the plot from then on but can promise it is a magical experience.

In terms of the book itself, the story and the characters pulled me in so quickly and I immediately had to know what was going to happen next. I really loved these characters and how they interacted with each other, and they were created it such a way that you cheered for them when they succeeded and cried with them throughout their difficult moments. The world-building was also incredible and was crafted in a way that you could immediately visualize everything the characters are seeing. I also really enjoyed the pacing of the story as there was world-building but it never felt overwhelming and the jumps between characters during some chapters also was easy to follow and I liked how they tied together.

I think anyone who is a fan of magical escapism, found families, and the power of stories will like this book. I know I enjoy those things and I loved this story and already want to reenter the world of Shanandoah.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Books for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for an ARC for an honest review.
If I could give this book a hundred stars, I would. It was such a whimsical easy read. I couldn't put it down. This book reminded me of why I love to read, how important it is to see other perspectives
Seriously, highly recommend picking this up when it comes.
💖Found Family💖
💖LGBTQ+ rep💖
💖Friends to Lovers💖
"Joy is quieter than people think it is. Especially the joy of getting back something you thought was lost forever"

Wow! This is a really good read. Took me in from the first page to the last. Rafe and Jeremy have to travel great distances to find and make each other complete. Storybook tale of real life heartache. Recommend this well written book. I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review.

I was so excited about this book as The Wishing Game was my favorite read of last year. This one was a struggle and I ended up not finishing the book. The book is very juvenile and reads more like a YA adult than anything. I'm sorry to say that this one just wasn't for me.

From the first page I loved this story with its sardonic all-knowing narrator and the mystery that pulled you into the deep West Virginia woods. The characters were complex and unique and their back stories teased you into reading hungrily.
My only criticism was the sexual element which developed gradually but eventually became center stage. The two best friends who are more than best friends is fine. I just prefer my fairy tales with a single chaste kiss to awaken the princess. This definitely turns this into an adults-only story, and I was hoping it would be a family read aloud. And it is not the same sex angle. I would feel that way if either young man paired with a girl..
You may welcome this modern aspect of a classic literary tale, but I wanted to give you a fair warning.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is her sophomore book following her debut, The Wishing Game. I adored The Wishing Game, flying through it and also not wanting it to end. This book involves more magical realism and is inspired by The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. However, it does not contain religious allusions like the inspirational text.

This novel begins with the story of two teenage boys who went missing on a hike and suspiciously reemerged from the woods not worse for wear six months later. Rafe and Jeremy have since gone their separate ways. Now, Emilie seeks out Jeremy who has become a bit famous for finding missing people to help her find her kidnapped sister whom she has never met.

Ramping up at about the halfway point, this novel had a slow start in my opinion and then a rushed conclusion. I would have liked more time with the wonderful cast of characters together and more depth for each of them with tighter exposition to open the story. That said, I had a good time reading and was happy when this book ended in a set up for a sequel or potential series.

CW: kidnapping, child abuse, toxic family relationships

This was such a fun read! It really did feel like a fairytale for adults. Shaffer says the story was inspired by Narnia, and that definitely comes across in the tale! The writing was lovely and the characters were so easy to root for. This story includes found family (a trope I never get tired of) and beautiful representation.

I did find the storyline to be pretty predictable, but it didn't really detract from my enjoyment at all! And it took me a minute to get used to the Storyteller interjections, but by the end I found those endearing as well.

Overall, a wonderful fairytale (unicorns included), and I hope there's another installment!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you, Meg Shaffer and NetGalley, for the ARC. I leave this review voluntarily and happily. Also, thank you publishers for your hard work!

There is a lot to unpack here. The imagination that went into this, the imagery, and the overall story was fantastic. Getting into this, I was wondering where it was going, and I'm so glad I stuck with it till the very end. I loved that there were little interruptions between chapters by the storyteller.' It was just something different I haven't seen yet and really enjoyed throughout the story. It's also cleansing in a way, going from the real world to a world of fantasy the way it did then back.

This book will have you wondering what happens to those who get lost. Do they really disappear, or are they just someplace else? Not only that, but this book explores what it means to fight fear and to believe in one another. Don't let fear bring you down, have the courage to do things, and if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. This book has so many good teachings in it. Though there is some abuse in it, it's resolved in a wonderful way.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. Of course, it's not my favorite by this author, yet I can not wait to see what's in store in the future.

eARC
The Wishing Game was one of my absolute favorite books of last year, so I was so excited to get access to this one. I didn’t read much about it and went for it, and I’m so glad I did. This book was like a warm hug. Shaffer’s writing and storytelling takes me back to my childhood reading days of spending time in stories that completely engross me and are so fun. There is lots of depth and some darker elements here. But I absolutely loved the magical elements and how they played into this story. I loved the narrator portions, how grief was explored, and the relationships between all the characters. I am so jealous of people who get to read it for the first time because it’s a magically wonderful story.

Books are magic! I could not wait to read this book and follow up to The Wishing Game. The cover alone will make you pick it up. What I really loved about this book and Meg Shaffer is that you are transported back to the magic and enchantment of childhood and reminds me of the magic of reading all those childhood fantasy books we enjoyed, and during the story pays tribute to them along the way. Described as a fairy tale for adults, this book did not disappoint. It is magical, beautifully written, telling the story of 3 friends, Rafe, Jeremy and Emilie who take you on a journey to an enchanted world with princes, knights, queens and magic. It has everything you look for in a really good fantasy book: friendship, family, secrets and especially all the of kinds of love we can feel in this world. I particularly enjoyed the whimsy of the narrator chapters along the way, that provided some lightness, wit and humor. You really do need to read this book especially if you are like me and were a lover of Narnia. Again, I will read anything that this author writes.
Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read this unique, beautiful story.

Jeremy and Rafe disappeared fifteen years ago in a large state forest, making a magical reappearance six months later. Jeremy has now become well known for being able to find missing persons, and a young woman named Emilie needs help finding her sister. This leads them back to the forest they disappeared in many years ago.

I would not peg myself as a fantasy reader, but man this drew me in! I loved how this story was told with magical elements, but nothing that seemed too “out of this world” where I second guessed reading. I would love to visit this magical world! I do feel Jeremy and Rafe’s exit from the forest was abrupt and I was sad for them, but the author leaves room for a possible sequel I’d definitely read!

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

It's not often, at almost 34, that I muster up the mental and physical stamina to marathon a 330 page book. But I read this in one-sitting, late into the night, like a teen that can afford to be half-asleep during first period.

I've read some great books so far this year, even books that evoked a similar sense of comforting nostalgia. But this is easily my favorite.

For fans of: Terry Pratchett, Dianna Wynn Jones, Douglass Adams, T. Kingfisher, Martha Wells, Neil Gaiman, Lemony Snickett, Seanan McGuire.

I flew through this book.

This book covers so much more than just a trip into a new world. The main characters are Em, Rafe, and Jeremy on a quest to find Emilie’s long lost sister, and what they get is a whole magical world, of which the boys had been to 15 years prior, and only one of them remembers what happened.

This magical world is one of my favorites I have ever read. The writing style and imagination had me swooning because I could vividly imagine every aspect of *said place* and it is stunning. I love a good fairytale and I’d say they were right - this is an adult fairytale. This was a fun, adventurous, heartwarming read. It does cover some difficult topics, like grief and abuse, but handled with care. Other parts have you laughing so hard you cry! The banter between Emilie and the boys is hilarious. I annotated so much in this book so that when I get my hard copy I can go back through!

What I did not expect in this book was an LGBT romance. It just sounded like more of an adventure book based on the description. Though I’ve read things like Addie LaRue and The House in the Cerulean Sea and LOVED those, that’s not my preferred reading when reading a romance just because that’s not how I relate in romance. If you do not prefer reading LGBT books I would skip this one as it’s part of a central theme here, not like the previously mentioned books. If you don’t mind/ like/ even prefer LGBT romances AND fantastical whimsy then you absolutely must buy the book. It will easily become a favorite.
That aside, this story is just amazing and beautiful and whimsical and unicorns.. *sigh* ✨🩷

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I will update my instagram post link as I share it to insta in the next day two!

I recently discovered Meg Shaffer from The Wishing Game. I absolutely fell in love with her ability to blend reality and fairytale! The Lost Story is no different, Meg seamlessly blends adult themes with an enchanting fantastical world.

Rafe and Jeremy were 15 year old boys who went missing in West Virginia State Forest. Only to return alive and healthy several months later. The boys were irreparably changed from their experience in “The Crow”. Rafe became a recluse living out in the woods. Jeremey became a search and rescue expert, saving young girls from the ill fate of becoming lost.

We then follow Emilie whom is grieving the loss of her mother. She is looking for any connection/ family she can find. Emilie discovers she has a half sister who went missing years ago in West Virginia’a state forest. She enlists the help of Jeremy to find her.

Inspired by Narnia and every child’s dream to escape to a world full of magic. The Lost Story paints a whimsical world full of magic, mystery and love! I enjoyed every moment of this story. If you need a cozy fairytale-esque fantasy, this is a must read!

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer from Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine/ Ballantine Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Mixed emotions here. As a hardcore fan of The Princess Bride and The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Hobbit, and oh, well, all of it, I so wanted to like this book more than I did. Especially because it was set in West Virginia and the way people communicated with each other seemed awfully real, and everything seemed very plausible at the outset.

Alas, it went down like YA treacle at the end.

So. Umm.

Hate to keep ending my Book Reports like this, but I probably won’t read anything else by this author.

PS
I am writing this at about 7p on the 16th of April of 2024. And there is a heavy and really weird and unexplained smell of chlorine in my home office (we have not yet opened our pool for the summer and I don’t have any windows open). So if I turn up missing tomorrow….


DESCRIPTION
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.

“This wildly imaginative book speaks to every reader who yearns for a more magical world.”—Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon, a Today show Read with Jenna pick
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.

To me this is a perfect companion novel to the Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire. Rafe and Jeremy's story was about what happened after they got lost into another world, and how they navigated after coming back. But unlike McGuire's teenagers who are dealing with their recent returns, it's been a long fifteen years for Rafe and Jeremy. And only one of them remembers what happened.

That premise created real intrigue. I was completely absorbed into figuring out the details of what happened to them, and how they navigated all these years since. I find it fascinating how they dealt with the real world, the loss of their magical kingdom, and their hopes to return.
It was also interesting to follow adults who were still dealing with childhood events and traumas. Unfolding everything from their past was my favorite part.
Emilie's quest to find her sister, and figure out what happened to her, also added a lot. I loved the dynamic of the main trio, and that it didn't go into certain cliches when there's a woman and two guys. They really felt like a little found family. And the romance was beautiful.

I still enjoyed the part in Shanadoah, but it was very much Narnia's-esque and felt like I'd seen this everywhere. That's when I felt the book could have been edited down a bit. But the confrontation with the main villain brought a satisfying conclusion and rounded up the story nicely.

I haven't read Meg Shaffer's The Wishing Game yet, but now I want to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine for this ARC.

I found the premise of this to be really interesting. The dynamic between Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie was really interesting at the beginning as they got to know and understand each other. I didn't really mind the storyteller interjections. The dialogue was pretty funny and engaging as well. Weirdly, once they actually entered the fantasy world, things got... duller. I'm not sure how exactly to explain it. It feels like the fantasy world was too colorful, almost to the point of silliness. And maybe that's the point -- after all, it was a fantasy world imagined by a teenage girl. But the enemies and titles and different whimsical fantastical elements took away from the characters. Emilie and her sister Skya became quite boring and also extremely affectionate to each other despite years of estrangement and not much historical connection to go off of. Jeremy and Rafe's relationship felt more contrived. Etc and etc. The resolution of darker themes and serious topics felt underdeveloped.

Received a free copy from Netgalley.