4.5 stars

*Please, please, please read the author’s note/content warning at the beginning of the novella*

This eighth book in the Wayward Children’s Series begins with Antsy witnessing her father’s untimely demise (which was very traumatic and visceral), and then dealing with abuse and grooming at the hands of her new stepfather. After all of this, Antsy finally finds her door into this magical antique shop when she runs away.

I’m a HUGE fan of the series, and I think that this may now be my new favorite of the bunch! This is incredibly dark, heavy and hopeless. but I think I loved it because I related so much to our main character, Antsy. I think anyone who grew up with any form of abuse will relate to Antsy and her journey, and I also think that’s why I finished this in less than 24 busy hours. I could not put this down - it was so engaging and well-written that I just flew through this!

This is such an important story to tell, and the author has made it clear that she has personal experience with grooming and child abuse. Because of this, the themes were handled very well and respectfully. This fantastical, magical realism story was very dark and raw, and a metaphor for how any form of abuse or trauma can shape young minds and steal their childhood.

If you’re not in the right headspace for this, I would avoid this until you are ready for a deep, thoughtful, emotional ride. Just because this isn’t a full length novel does not mean it won’t punch you in the gut and make you cry. This is heartbreaking and powerful, and I would prepare yourself for such an emotionally intelligent book that can hold so much grief and pain, yet all of the wonder and enchantment of this world with magical doors.

P.S. We also find out more about the Doors, and there are some Easter eggs for the other books/worlds!

TW: Child Abuse, Death of a Parent (Graphic and Visceral), Gaslighting, Grooming, Psychological Abuse

**Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review**

i am a fan of this series but there have been a few duds, and this is one of them. i don't like how the prose adopts the child's 'voice' in a way that seemed contrived and old-fashioned.

This has been my second favourite book in the Wayward Children series - the first being 'In an Absent Dream'. I adore the episodic style books.

In this we follow Antsy, a young girl who runs away from home after a traumatic event with her step father (TW: grooming and the implication of sexual abuse). When she enters through her door she discovers a shop of wonder. In it is a place where all the lost things go, an older woman who mentors Antsy, and a talking bird. Waiting for her door to return home to appear, our protagonist fills her days with stocking the shelves and travelling to other worlds for merchandise. But not all is as it seems in the shop, to be there is to lose something great.

I loved this. I will always pick up the next one in this series as even when one lets me down, the next is a hit. Very up/down reading experience, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I received an ARC for this book, and am giving an Honest opinion about it.

CAWPILE SCORE
C-8
A-9
W-9
P-7
I-8
L-8
E-10
TOTAL-8.43/10

[

CAWPILE
Characters
Ansty is a wonderful character! I loved every second with her. Her wonder and her growth, just amazing. Her relationships are beautiful.

Atmosphere
The land of the Lost was great.

Writing
Great writing. Simple yet effective. Clear and precise. You can tell that Seanan McGuire put a lot of care into how it reads on the page.

Plot
The Plot is great. As a Story of Lost things, this story flows perfectly.

Investment
I loved the extra little bits of lore that we get around doors and their workings.

Enjoyment
I enjoyed this book so much. Definitely one of my favorite books in the series

Lost in the Moment and Found is the newest installment in The Wayward Children series! I absolutely love The Wayward Children series and this is no exception. When Antsy’s father dies unexpectedly, the last thing she wants is for her mother to remarry. Yet she can find no tangible reason to protest, aside from a sickening sense of dread. When the threat escalates, Antsy is forced to run away from home and straight into a world where children who have been threatened by an adult may find sanctuary. Yet all is not as it seems in this fairy-tale world…

Seanan McGuire is an expert at infusing horror into the bones of a story, without anything explicit happening on page. The ominous threat is enough for readers to immediately understand Antsy and wish for her protection more than anything. I definitely recommend you check the trigger warnings, but as Seanan McGuire says in her opening note: Antsy runs before anything happens.

I quite literally couldn’t put this book down and read it in a single sitting. The Wayward Children series feels like coming home. In a world of magical Doors, Lost in the Moment and Found explores a new adventure where travelers can slip between worlds from the confines of a mysterious shop. This magical shop holds things that people across worlds have lost and may come seeking. Antsy is such a fierce and determined heroine! I was spellbound watching her uncover the toll of the world she landed in. In classic McGuire fashion, there is always a twist and magic always comes with a price. Antsy is one of my new favorite heroines in the Wayward world. I cannot wait to see how the story continues!

This story could be read as a standalone, but I would highly recommend reading the entire series. Lost in the Moment and Found is perfect for readers who love portal fantasy, dark adventures, and brave heroines. I would highly recommend it to anyone! Thank you so much to Seanan McGuire, Tordotcom, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to start the review out strong and say this is easily my favorite of the prequels from the Wayward Children series.
As with all of the books, the even numbered books are prequel books about the student’s time in their Doors and the odd books are quests that take place with the group of kids from Eleanor West’s School after they’ve already exited their doors. This book follows Antsy, a character that was just introduced in book 7.
Antsy’s story is one of the harder hitting stories of all of the Wayward Children in my opinion. There is a content warning at the top of the book for “themes of grooming and adult gaslighting” that causes Antsy to find her door in the first place. She finds The Shop Where the Lost Things Go, one of the most unique places we’ve seen in the series.
This book also gives us Doors lore that is still presented in a whimsical way. The Shop Where the Lost Things Go that Antsy lands in has the unique quality of interacting with other Doors and Worlds in a way we haven’t seen yet. Don’t be afraid of the magic being explained away; there’s still a lot that is still unexplained.
Because this is a novella, I’m going to stop the review there. I gave this book 4.5 stars. It is a phenomenal story about innocence and lost things that you should absolutely get excited to read.

This was a whirlwind but not specifically in the right way… This is easily my lease favourite book in the Wayward Children series.

The main issue I had with this book was the wall that seemed to be between Antsy’s life before & after she goes through her first door. It felt very disjointed in my opinion. Everything that she was struggling with or had gone through just vanished once she got through the door and I feel like none of it was really dealt with.

Considering her father had recently died and she had witnessed it happening (in the very first chapter, in detail, I might add, so be aware of that if that’s something that could be triggering for you) plus the man her mother married was gaslighting and grooming her, at age 7, you would expect that would come through somewhere as to how she was dealing with all that mentally. Some form of trauma or sadness, but nope. It was just never mentioned again until she briefly mentioned it in the end. Even then there wasn’t really any emotion or anything around discussing it, seemingly for the first time since coming through the door. You would think there would have been some more emotion but nope.

Besides that divide I did enjoy both sections of the book on their own. The before was hard to read but mostly well written. I do think there could have been more grief/trauma discussed considering what she witnessed at such a young age. I did appreciate how the grooming/gaslighting section was written. It was clear enough the issue but also how Antsy herself was trying to understand it felt very realistic. She was 7 when she ran away and went through her door. At 7 you very likely do not have the words to explain why his actions made you feel uncomfortable. So for that reason I think it was handled well. I also appreciated that the author did have a warning in the beginning of the book discussing that grooming & gaslighting will be present, though I’m not sure why death wasn’t mentioned in this section considering… It was the very first thing in the book and pretty detailed.

The second half was interesting enough and I enjoyed exploring another world or two. Though considering she went through many doors in the time she was at the shop I feel like we could have gotten a little more details! This section was interesting but a little bland for my liking. In comparison to the high stakes chaos of all the other books in the Wayward Children series this one was a little lacking. I wanted more action, more chaos, more doors and just more. The last 10% was interesting and the first 10% after coming through the door was fun and interesting but everything between that was a bit bland.

I probably would have enjoyed this more if it was a standalone that I went into with no expectations. However, as a sequel to the Wayward Children series it left me wanting more. As the 8th book in a series you automatically have certain expectations as to what you will find in a sequel but it didn’t live up to it’s predecessors.

I adore Seanan McGuires writing. All stand-alone but still connected. One day I hope to open a door she describes.

I'm a big fan of this series and this book was a really interesting addition. For one thing, it is incredibly clear how personal this story is to Seanan McGuire. For another, *spoiler alert* we see nothing but a glimpse of a couple of characters we've ever met before. I love most of the characters in this series but it was a surprisingly nice breath of fresh air to read something that was more of a standalone than some of the rest of the series.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have loved every installment of the Wayward Children series and Lost in the Moment and Found is no exception. In the 8th book we are back in one of the porthole worlds. We follow Antsy as a young girl, after the loss of her father and her Mother's marriage to a man Antsy can't like for reasons she doesn't understand. When she realises she is not safe living with this man she runs away and finds herself in the place Where Lost Things Go. This story has the usual whimsy and fairytail adventure expected in a Wayward Children story but balanced with emotional depth. It is a story of loss in all its forms. I loved Antsy as a character along with those she meets in the place where lost things go. I also really appreciated the further exploration of the Doors and how they work.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

4,5 stars
Lost in the Moment and Found is a story about the loss of innocence. It is a story that packs an emotional punch.

I've missed a few books here and there in the Wayward Children's series but that isn't important to read this story. This is the back story of Antionette or better known as Antsy. As a young child she lost her father to a heart attack as they were together in a store. One can imagine how traumatic that is. Now imagine adding an another man after 8 months that you don't trust in your house.

It is a lot to deal with for Antsy. And when it becomes clear that as the is growing up, the man has other intentions with her than just being her stepfather she runs away from home. I really appreciated Seanan McGuire's trigger warning page before the story where she promises the really bad things don't happen because she runs. And I'm so glad she ran.

She runs straight into the shop Where The Lost Things Go. And while it initially might seem like a refuge, there is something not quite right there either. She runs from one thing right into a place where she gets used too. Where she gets betrayed.

It was interesting to get a bit more on the doors as they door hop in this story. And it was great to get a good idea on how the shop was created and who did that. Mostly this story makes me want to return back to the beginning and rereread the start.

This book was just as fantastic as the other books in this series. Seanan McGuire has such beautiful writing. I really loved getting to see the little shop of lost things and all the doors that go to different places. I thought it was a great ending as well. This is one of my all time favorite series and each book is just as good as the last one.

I have been a huge fan of this series since the very first moment a friend pressed 'Every Heart a Doorway' into my hands and I look forward to each new release as it is announced. Lost in the Moment and Found is no exception.
I will forewarn readers excited for this book that it is worth looking up content warnings before starting to read (Seanan McGuire actually includes an authors note as well). While the books in this series have never shied away from the theme of parents letting their children down I would say that this book walks even deeper into those realms in a way that can be very difficult to read.
That being said, as an addition to the books in this series exploring worlds beyond doors I found this to be a fantastic read. I felt like we were beginning to see some of the ways in which the universe of this series works, almost peeking behind the curtain in a way that didn't feel like it would totally change future books but I can see the series building from this point onwards.
I will say, I hope that we get to see more from Antsy, the main character, in future books as I did feel like her story came to quite an abrupt end - this book feels like the balance between the origin world and the world through the door is slightly different which I think I felt most in the ending coming so quickly - but I trust that Seanan McGuire wouldn't leave me hanging in this way.
Overall I think fans of the series will find this a welcome addition to their shelves. If you haven't already started the series my personal recommendation would not be to start here but know that you very much could if you wanted to.
My rating: 4/5 stars
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This isn't a trigger warning, per se, but it is an advance notice: this review will discuss child exploitation and therefore is less humorous and more angry than any of my other reviews. Nothing graphic lies in this review or in Lost in the Moment and Found, but this latest installment of the Hugo-Award-winning series is focused on the unfair ways the world costs children and extracts from them. The Wayward Children series is a set of linked novellas about children who stumble into doors that take them to new worlds at critical moments in their lives, only to be spit back out into their original reality years later. Many of the children suffer from trauma or neglect before finding their doors (Christopher has advanced bone cancer, Jack and Jill are neglected by their parents, Cora was bullied, etc) and find worlds where they feel they fit better before being forced back out. Most of these children find a home at Eleanor West's school, where they can commiserate with other who understand and look for a way back to where they feel they belong. The earliest stories in the series center around the school and its inmates, while later stories spread the action further away.

Antoinette lost her father very young, and when her mother brings home a new boyfriend, her family dynamics change rapidly. The six-year-old immediately feels uncomfortable around the boyfriend, who begins to drive a wedge between mother and daughter and developing a narrative of Antoinette being untruthful. By the time he arrives in her bedroom, saying she should "be good to him" because of the power he holds over her life, Antsy (and the reader) are aware of just how much danger she is in. She runs away, and finds The Shop Where Lost Things Go, a haven filled with magical doors to other worlds. She goes through many doors at the urging of the new adults in her life, propping them open so that she can return with supplies for each new world. When she finds out the cost to opening so many doors, however, she discovers just how much has been stolen from her, and how even the people she thought were safe were using her.

This is easily the most depressing of all of the Wayward Children stories, and I'm including the one with multiple murders. It is tense and crushing, really, to see Antsy so alone and vulnerable, to see her find a place that isn't exactly welcoming but seems secure, only to discover how unsafe it is for her. There is no happy ending for Antsy, no realm of magical friends, and, as the reader discovers at the end, no way for her to return to her mother. The artistry of McGuire's plotting and prose is evident in just how deeply Antsy's story carved its way in my heart, though I'm not willing to reread it. A scene where the boyfriend makes dinner with the only ingredient Antsy won't eat, then shames her for being ungrateful, is anxiety inducing even to think about. When he paints her as a liar by ordering her to break a house rule and then denying everything, my heart stopped (it so closely resembled an incident in my own life, I had to put the book down to cry for an hour). The insidious nature of abuse, the way abusers isolate and control their victims, are well known, but McGuire brings it all to life. Forgoing a happy ending, or even a relief for Antsy beyond the last-page discovery of Eleanor West's school, may be realistic but is painful for the reader. Sharp and shattered as broken glass, there is beauty in this story, and while I think people should read it I won't pretend it is without cost.

I think that Lost in the Moment and Found might be my favorite of the Wayward Children series. I really appreciated the author's content warning at the beginning, as I might have had to put it down otherwise. The story was really beautiful though. I felt so much for Antsy, she was wonderfully written. The pacing was perfect, I couldn't put the book down. Everything about the way the story went just felt right for this story, I was so engaged and enthralled the whole time. It was great to get to see a little different side of how the magical world of the Doors works. This installment felt so fresh, which I'll admit is surprising after seven other books. I would HIGHLY recommend this book, and this series, and I can't wait until the next wayward child's story.

*This review will be post on TikTok closer to the book's release date.*

This seems to be an unpopular opinion of sorts, but man, I LOVE the one-off adventure installments of this series. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the core group of kids at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, but I absolutely eat up the books that follow a single kid going through their door.

This book follows Antsy, a young girl who loses many important things in a short period of time. Eventually, she finds herself lost and entering a door to The World of Lost Things (aka the world of every thrift shopper's dreams). Here, both Antsy and the reader discover the mysteries of the ever-elusive Doors that appear in this series, and Antsy eventually realizes that things lost in this world cannot always be found.

I consider this to be the saddest book in the series, perhaps tied with Lundy's adventure in In an Absent Dream. Before the book even begins, Seanan McGuire warns the reader about the gaslighting and grooming that's explored in the book. So I thought I went in prepared, but there's an absolutely devastating scene that kicks off the novel that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT, and I was in tears 5 pages in.

Seanan McGuire, man. God damn.

McGuire sets the standard for what I consider to be an excellent novella. I've read plenty that I put down going, "that was good," and then swiftly move on. But almost every book in the Wayward Children series punches me in the gut and lingers with me, and Lost in the Moment and Found is no exception. I absolutely loved this one, and if you haven't picked this series up yet, you're only doing yourself a disservice.

All lost things have to go somewhere. Most of the time, it’s behind or under furniture, or in your other pair of pants, or left behind, or eaten by the dog. But what about the things that we never end up finding, even after we find a replacement (how I usually find things I’ve lost)? Seanan McGuire’s Lost in the Moment and Found, the eighth installment of the Wayward Children series of novellas, proposes that the things we lose and never find end up on the other side of a door, in an infinite junk shop. Our protagonist, Antsy, even manages to find her lost sense of safety in the junk shop.

Antsy is not a lucky child. When she’s a scant six years old, her father dies of a heart attack while on an outing with her. Within six months, her mother remarries to a man who makes Antsy’s skin crawl. Even if she can’t say what she doesn’t like about this man, it’s clear to us readers that this man is a monster. He drives a wedge between Antsy and her mother, making Antsy’s mother think that her daughter is a liar. And then he reveals why he wants no one to believe Antsy. I threw up a trigger warning for this book; so did Mcguire in the forward. But I want to assure fans of the series that nothing physical happens to Antsy.

On the night when Antsy’s stepfather reveals his purpose, Antsy bolts and, like the other Wayward Children in the series, finds a door that takes her somewhere unexpected. In Antsy’s case, that place is a seemingly infinite labyrinth containing everything ever lost (including pets!). The junk shop (for lack of a better term) is maintained by an old woman and a talking magpie. They spend their days cataloging and organizing the things that turn up in the shop and, when they get a chance, visiting other places when doors appear. Lacking anywhere else to go, Antsy signs on and finds that she has a gift for finding doors.

The premises of many of the worlds Wayward Children find themselves in sound charming—a world of sugar and animated desserts, a world of talking horses, a world of mermaids and sea creatures—but they are all dangerous, in their own way. The trick is figuring out what that danger is and if it’s worth the price of staying. I won’t reveal what the price is for Antsy. Instead, I’ll say that Lost in the Moment and Found is another fantastic entry in the series. McGuire has a gift for originality and creating psychologically complex characters of any age. I really wish this kind of honest young adult literature had been around when I was a young’un.

Antionette, or Antsy, watches her father die suddenly on a shopping trip, and then months later runs away from home when her new stepfather makes unwanted advances. Her unhappy life takes a new direction when she stumbles into a magical shop containing lost things, as well as Doors that serve as portals into other worlds. Antsy loves this new, magical life, but then finds that the shopkeepers - an old lady and a talking magpie - have hidden an important secret from her. Not a whole lot of world-building here, and much is left to the reader's imagination. But McGuire infuses the enjoyable story with a sense of mystery and whimsy that turns to melancholy when Antsy finds out the price she has paid for her new life. Readers will be left pondering whether they would be willing to pay that price too.

I really loved the first few Wayward Children books but the last two I found pretty disappointing. However, this one brought me right back to loving the series. We learn about the Doors. The. Doors. I will admit that I had to take a break while reading because the beginning of the book is heavy. Even though there is an author note before the book starts that lets you know it’s going to be okay; I still had a hard time reading that part. But it was worth it. There were so many callbacks to other characters from the series and the ending was so good. I cannot wait for the next book. I want to see more of Antsy and I want to see her interact with the other Door touched.