Book Summary:

Antoinette (Antsy) is familiar with loss. It all began when she lost her father – not literally, but he is still very much out of her grasp, so effectively, it's the same thing. When her world continues to change, and not for the better, Antsy realizes it may be time to do something for herself.

That something just so happens to be running away. Her running takes her to a door. A very peculiar door. And with it, Antsy finds herself in a new world – where lost things go.

My Review:

She's done it again. Seanan McGuire sure knows how to deliver a compelling read, doesn't she? The Wayward Children series has some of the best worldbuilding around, and I am pleased to announce that Lost in the Moment and Found is no exception. If anything, this may be one of my favorites thus far.

I'll admit that I felt a bit of trepidation when picking up Lost in the Moment and Found. There's a forward that warns readers of some of what is to come (see my trigger warnings down below). I knew those scenes would hit hard, and it would have been an injustice to try and diminish them. Yet I can see why they were a necessary foundation for everything that follows.

Lost in the Moment and Found is dazzling and emotional, throwing readers into a dozen worlds and mini-adventures yet coated with a sense of unease. It is a masterclass storytelling showcase, and I can't wait for the next addition to this series.

Highlights:
Magical Doors
World of Lost Things
Part of a Series
Worldbuilding

Trigger Warnings:
Gaslighting
Grooming
Death of a parent
Childhood trauma
Self-harm (brief, described as a form of testing something)

Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children #8) by Seanan McGuire was one of my most anticipated January releases and I so glad I was approved via NetGalley. As expected this novella is a new favorite and easily a five star read. It's a bit darker and harsher than some of the previous installments, but I loved getting to know Antsy (aka Antoinette), her world, and her journey. I can't wait to read the next two upcoming installments of this series.

I've read all the other entries of the series and this was by far my least favorite. I wished more time was spent in the world and less on building up to Antsy finding her door.

I knew, from the moment I heard the synopsis, that this book was going to be something special. I started crying from the moment I read the dedication and author's note. This book is dark and goes places Seanan McGuire hasn't been in this series. It includes trigger warnings of grooming and child abuse, but it is handled so well.

The world this book is set in is so fascinating and a full book still wouldn't be enough to cover it all. I also love that we get to see so many other new and interesting worlds in this book. I loved Antsy as a character. I thought she was so strong and so wise for her age. Over, I think this is my new favorite book in the series!

I'm always excited to get lost in the next installment of the Wayward Children series. Lost in the Moment and Found takes on heavy topics (which this series tends to do). In this story, readers meet and follow Antoinette, a little girl who tragically loses her father. When her mother remarries, Antoinette's home becomes unsafe, so she leaves and finds herself on the other side of a door of a shop where lost things accumulate.

This novella is dark as it deals with death, grooming, and gaslighting. Antoinette finds her door and is able to escape her unsafe home. Her door leads her to The Shop Where Lost Things Go, which allows Antoinette to travel to a multitude of other worlds, but Antoinette slowly learns that going back and forth costs more than she has been led to believe.

As mentioned before, this book is heavy and deals with trauma. I admittedly went into this book not knowing what it was about and even though the author warns readers about its subject matter before the story starts, I was still caught off guard a bit. I highly respect Seanan McGuire, her writing, and all the things her stories explore. She states that this book was very personal to her and I'm glad it exists for others who may find themselves in it. This book hit me harder than I expected it to, so I finished the story with mixed feelings. I love this series and the ideas or themes McGuire is able to tackle with magic, and most importantly, care. I would recommend this, but I would not recommend going into it without being aware of its subject matter.

I can't say I LOVED Lost in the Moment and Found but I respect it as part of the Wayward Children series and I'm glad it exists.

Bolstered by a content warning leading into the novella, the first quarter of Lost in the Moment and Found is deeply upsetting as Seanan McGuire introduces readers to Antsy, a small child who had a very good life until her father died and her mother remarried to a man who was not…good. Because this is a Wayward Children novel, she leaves. She runs. She finds a door and she is sure.

Where the Drowned Girls Go introduce another school that is run very differently than Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children. Throughout the series, McGuire has alternated between the present day at the schools and the backstory of a child who doesn’t belong finding a door. Lost in the Moment and Found is a story of a child escaping into a door, but moreso than any other novella in the Wayward Children series it expands the universe far wider than anything McGuire has revealed thus far because Antsy’s door doesn’t lead to another world, it leads to a shop between worlds, a nexus as other characters described it.

This is to be appreciated because while a long running series can be comfortable in formula, those moments that break the formula or escalate the story beyond where it was before are to be treasured. Lost in the Moment and Found offers that moment once the reader is allowed to breathe.

I am so happy to be able to keep reading this fantastic series. Every book continues to delight me, and this one is no exception. This book follows Antsy, who becomes one of the Wayward children after her father passes away and has a new stepfather with all the bad vibes. The way McGuire is able to build the tension in the first half is terrific. I felt skeeved out and gross, waiting for something terrible to happen. The middle is filled with whimsy and feels very much like Howl's Moving Castle's magical door mixed with other fantasy tropes. And, of course, it ends on a not-so-happy note, as many of her stories do. I hope we see more of Antsy and see her deal with her trauma. I really liked her door and world, and we learned more about some of the magic in the world. I can't wait to go back and read more of this series. I definitely recommend this to fans of this series. It is one of the great stand-alone ones.

This book is the next in the Wayward Children's series, which is consistently intriguing! I enjoyed Antsy's story, the look into more worlds, and a little explanation about the doors. I will definitely continue reading this series as long as it's written and published!

*4.5 stars
This instalment of The Wayward Children series was so emotional because of the topics involved and the writing spoke to me. This is my second favourite, my first being Down Among The Sticks and Bones. Our main character escapes to a world where lost things end up and she can walk through different doors. We visit new worlds but also we visit some familiar worlds that I was excited to see. Seanan Mcguire also gave us some answers about the world and how it works which she hasn't done in the other books. I just wished this book was longer but that's the beauty of The Wayward Children series, it always leaves you wanting more.

Wow. The Wayward Children series continues to captivate me with each additional entry. LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND is no exception. This novella is perhaps my favourite in the entire series so far next to DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES. While likely the heaviest, most difficult book in this universe so far, it’s also an incredibly powerful story.

Our protagonist in LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND is Antsy. The novella begins when Antsy witnesses her father dies suddenly and unexpectedly in front of her. This leads to a series of events that necessitate the content warnings provided at the beginning of the novella, including grooming and adult gaslighting. Tough Antsy runs before anything happens on page, I found the beginning incredibly difficult for this reason, so please heed these content warnings if you’re sensitive to this subject matter.

When Antsy finds her door, however, we get an intriguing world reminiscent of Howl’s Moving Castle. Antsy finds herself in the Shop Where Lost Things Go. It’s a magical place full of treasures from countless realms, all of which are brought through a series of doors that can be opened by children. But as with most things, the doors exact their own price.

If you’re looking for a jumping point for this series, LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND is one of the novellas that can be read as an independent entry into the series. And I would, if you haven’t already, highly recommend both this series and this particular entry in it. McGuire delivers the emotionally cathartic, compelling blend of bittersweet the Wayward Children series has at its best in LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND.

Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

This is another solid book in the Wayward Children series. In this book, we get the story of Antoinette (Antsy), who I'll admit I don't remember from the previous book but I wish I did.

Antsy is a child running away from the potential of a bad situation with her stepfather (CW/TW here, see McGuire's own note about this at the beginning of the book), who ends up where the lost things go. But the shop has things to hide, and it's more than things that are lost.

I loved this book, and I'm so excited that we continue to get more from this universe.

Thank you to netgalley for the eARC I received.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this review copy. Another incredible entry in the Wayward Children series. I truly hope this series never ends, each book is as wonderful as the last.

This book had a much more heavy topic to discuss, with how adults often steal children's childhoods through their actions. I was pulled into the story though and finished it in one day. The idea of a shop full of lost things that people can come to get things back was fascinating to read about. This series just gets better and better with every book.

CW: grooming, gaslighting

3.5 stars

This was a very different book to the rest of the Wayward Children series. It was a lot darker than the others, both in the story that leads up to Antsy going through her door, as well as her life once she went through the door. Still good, but very dark.

I've been in love with the Wayward Children series for a very long time. As soon as I read "Every Heart a Doorway", I was hooked. They speak to a part of me that goes unspoken and it feels like I'm finally understood by someone else. Even if that person is a stranger I can appreciate it. This is the eighth installment and while I did enjoy it, it didn't live up to the past couple. It was shorter and could have gone into more details following Antsy growing up. I like that McGuire brought up normally taboo topics like grooming and other types of child abuse. I can relate to a lot of what Antsy was going through. The world was beautiful, as usual. The writing was wonderful, as usual. I usually end up bawling in the last parts of her books but this one didn't demolish my heart. That is probably the major reason that keeps it from being a five star read. I still loved it but I wasn't emotionally tormented. Anyway I think everybody should read this series.

Lost in the Moment and Found is a novella which manages to balance a story about grooming, escape, and gaslighting with a story about choices and knowledge. The ways children pick up on things, plot holes, glances they can't quite decipher, yet know are wrong. The beginning parts of Lost in the Moment and Found broke my heart. All the lengths adults will go to discount the feelings of children. To continue living in a fantasy in fear about what these words could mean.

I’m feeling pretty melancholic after finishing Lost in the Moment and Found. Most of the books in the Wayward Children series have an edge of horror or sadness to them, but Lost in the Moment and Found really drags you down. There are a few glimmers of hope, but it continually keeps you submerged in the depression.

From the first page, Antsy is everything little girls should be: wild and free with no threat of adulthood and no sense of fear or apprehension. But it drastically changes so quickly and then continues to get worse from there.

I don’t usually look to McGuire for uplifting or happy books, but I wasn’t quite prepared to end feeling so sorry for Antsy and her lost childhood. On top of the sadness I feel for Antsy, after reading eight books in the Wayward Children series, I can't believe there isn't a next book to reach for. It looks like there should be another two books coming out in the next few years, and I can only hope there are even more to come so I can once again escape into this incredible world.

Thanks to Netgalley & Macmillan Tor-Forge for the ARC of this book!

I can't believe this is #8 of this series, and it's official...I'm definitely not sick of it yet. Each of these small novellas follows a different character; each child just doesn't quite belong in our world. After stepping through a doorway labeled "Be Sure", they are transported to a new world.

While I enjoyed the world building around Antsy's new world, it didn't quite live up to the standards of previous books. In An Absent Dream and Beneath the Sugar Sky remain as my favorite worlds in the series thus far. Antsy's journey though, was what separated this book from its predecessors. There's a theme running through the series that most worlds do have a price to exact, but Antsy's was definitely the saddest price to pay and it was a small twist that I wasn't expecting. I'm hoping that this book sets up another book that takes place in the Home. I enjoy the standalone books, but am still just as invested in the larger storyline. I also feel like it's been awhile since we've had a book focused more on the Home and the larger cast of characters, although that could be my imagination.

I know that eventually this series is going to wind down, but I hope we at least have another 5 or so books. I'm not sure when I'll get bored of this series, so far its kept my attention and I'm always eagerly anticipating the next chapter in the story!

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This Wayward Children book is very good for what it is. There isn't so much magic and adventure in it, but that's all right because it seems some of the best magic is often the quiet, stable kind.

There's a bit of trauma in here that may hit close to many people's homes. It's not just gaslighting and emotional abuse, but the potential for a whole lot worse.

Getting back into the core of Wayward Children is the need to escape, after all, and I think this does the job admirably.

Sometimes finding oneself is everything.

4.5/5 stars

TW for: grooming, gaslighting, childhood sexual abuse, death of a loved one, trauma in general

Thanks so much to Macmillan and Netgalley for offering me an early copy for review!

Every time I read one of these books, I'm immediately transported into the weird and wonderful little worlds. They're short, sweet (or not so sweet, sometimes), and really pack a punch despite their length. I think that really pays homage to the author's storytelling--she really has a knack for it. This story, however, hit harder than the rest of the ones I've read by her.

I've had my fair share of trauma to deal with re: CSA, so at times this was difficult to process and I took a lot of breaks, but I really loved the way that the author touched respectfully on triggers in the beginning of the novel. I related to the main character and her struggles, and was thankful to the author for illustrating her in such a sensitive and hard-hitting way.

All in all, this was a wonderful story that I am going to treasure forever. I can't wait to get my finished copy and I hope Seanan McGuire continues to tell these stories, because there are so many people out there yearning for them!