Wow. What a complete delight this book was. I had high hopes after loving The Wishing Game so dearly and Meg did not disappoint.

This story was such a ride, bridging a very gritty real world and all its problems with a totally fantastical fairy tale. There were so many layers of love that had me squealing with delight and made my eyes misty at times.

And as someone who married into a West Virginia mountaineer family, that tie in was a fun surprise.

Meg Shaffer proved herself as a magnificent writer of magical places with enchanting details in “The Wishing Game.” After blessing us with Clock Island, we now have Shanandoah, and the book is following the “recipe for a fairy tale,” which include the rule of threes, a princess, a hero, villains, oddball creatures, and must begin with “Once upon a time” and end with “They all lived happily ever after.” There’s also a Storyteller willing to interrupt for wise quips, backstories, and deeper context. The book is obviously influenced by C.S.Lewis and the Narnia chronicles, but as a grown-up romantasy.

Knowing that there *should* be a happy ending, it’s easy to dive into the narrative even though it starts outside a mystical fairy tale setting with an account of two lost boys, Jeremy and Rafe, in the Red Crow State Forest of West Virginia who reappear mysteriously six months later. Fifteen years later, a young woman named Emilie approaches one of those now grown boys, asking for help with finding her missing half-sister, Shannon, who disappeared into the same woods they did twenty years ago, but never reappeared.

And so a thrilling adventure begins to return to the forest amid fifteen year old memories to find Emilie’s sister. All the thrilling fairy tale components are here including sword fights, evil boys, and herds of unicorns. At its heart is a delicate romance that reminded me of TJ Klune’s sweet “The House on the Cerulean Sea.”

Meg Shaffer has done it again — if you loved “The Wishing Game” you’ll definitely love “The Lost Story” as well. 5 stars!

P.S. I loved that the author’s Storyteller shares my opinion that anyone who has watched an animated Disney movie knows: “When you read fairy tales, you’ll learn fast there are only two types of mothers you’ll meet in those stories. One—good and dead. Two—bad and alive.”

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Jeremy’s hazel eyes contain green and gold, and there’s a mermaid with bright green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Anything goes in magical enchanted forests, including red crows.

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

I thought the way that the story was told was very unique. Having the storyteller break in throughout to provide context or clarity was a fun idea in theory, but it became jarring after awhile because the writing style between the two was wildly different.

Also, it felt like this book was just trying a little too hard at the beginning to convince me it was a fairytale when it did not feel like one. Did it eventually fall into that category? Yes. But not until 50% of the way through the book.

Now, when it did become like a fairytale, it felt like a COMPLETELY different book from the first half. Tone changed, writing changed, characters kind of changed - which again was a bit jarring

The story itself was a great concept, and I liked the idea of an adult Chronicles of Narnia but this just fell short for me.

(And for awareness, this is an achillean story.)

Just when I thought Meg Shaffer couldn’t write a book as amazing as The Wishing Game, she made me a liar. The Lost Story was absolutely phenomenal with its captivating prose and unique storytelling. What Shaffer manages to do that no other author has done before is make me feel every single emotion along the journey of her novels.

I will be raving about this on online in anticipation for its release and am looking forward to more of her upcoming works.


PS: All the Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac references made my heart happy.