I enjoyed her first book better. This book was still good. I really liked the sister relationship storyline but wished it went a little deeper. The humor and the banter between characters was my favorite part.

(4/5 stars) Once again Meg Shaffer delivers a book that is so easy to get lost in! And in this case, I mean that in more ways than one. I honestly felt like this book went SO fast and I could have read even more about the crew's adventures in Shanandoah. Others have used the word "whimsical" to describe it and I absolutely agree! Shaffer writes such wonderful found-family stories, and if you enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea, it's likely you'll enjoy this one as well.

An incredibly immersive, whimsical, and magical story!

I enjoyed this book, cover to cover. It was a light read, yet very far from superficial. The main characters were layered, and the banter among them was perfect, The world was unique, and Shaffer did a fantastic job at feeding details that created such immersive imagery. Although I was unsure how I felt about the Storyteller Corner aspect of the novel, I came to enjoy that additional pov. The ending turned in a direction that had me stupidly grinning, and left zero desire to throw the book against a wall. Iykyk ;)

Do you ever read the first page of a book and just know it’s going to be one that sticks with you? The Lost Story was that for me.

A missing person story turned magical fairytale with some romance for good measure. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a read that felt like ‘home’, but this one hit the spot. Meg Shaffer is a literary wizard; from the characters you fall in love with to the world building - everything was so vivid and immersive. It’s magical, emotional, whimsical, heartwarming and I really didn’t want it to end.

This book was exactly what I didn’t know I needed. I devoured it, hated putting it down and already know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. I was either giddy & kicking my feet, or crying happy tears! The Lost Story is a perfect cozy read headed into the fall - I’ll be recommending it to anyone who will listen! Definitely a book of the year for me.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has all the ingredients for a five star read — loveable characters, a magical realm, an intriguing mystery, and a love story. Meg Shaffer has such a gift for writing characters that feel so real and relatable that you can't help but want to be friends with them. I was so looking forward to reading this book but I didn't get into it quite the way I was expecting. I would have loved to have experienced more of the magical world — We don't really get there until half way through the book, and when we do, there wasn't much world building and things felt disjointed. The magic didn't jump off the page for me, and I had trouble picturing many of the scenes. Despite the reservations I had, The Lost Story is charming and full of heart and whimsy and I look forward to Meg Shaffer's next book.


Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I think that the book accomplishes what it advertises, I think overall I was not the target demographic, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. At times it did seem to slow for me, but generally the parts that were not as fun to read set up for great payoffs.

Two high school best friends go missing for six months in Red Crow State Forest and yet live to tell the tale, except once they are found, they are no longer friends. Rafe, who can't remember anything from his six months missing and his best friend, Jeremy, skipped town just days after they were found. Jeremy shows up on Rafe's doorstep 15 years later asking for help while offering no explanations for his behavior in the past only saying, "trust me".

This book had me hooked. While I don't generally dip into fantasy, I absolutely loved this modern fairy tale. Think Narnia or Wizard of Oz, or even Alice in Wonderland, this book pulls from its literary sources. Clock Island even gets a shoutout and that's the first Meg Shaffer book I read and I can't wait to read more of her work.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is a unique portal fantasy standalone about secrets, love, and conquerring fear. It honestly is a little difficult to explain and I could try to go through the sypnosis but I'm sure you can read it for yourself so I'll just get to the vibes and details.

There are unicorns, royalty, and beautiful nature that you couldn't even think of until you read the words. Everything was so bright, colorful and enchanting in my mind's eye.

This book was a mixture of emotional and humorous, something I don't read often and want more of.

I'm pretty sure Emille has ADHD or is Neurodivergent and I honestly love that. And she has a pet rat (as someone who's has had many rat pets, this was amazing for me to read).

There are lots of secrets (too many in my opinion) and kind of slow for the first third of the book. It was also one of the most magical bedtime fairytale books I've read. Sadly sometimes it felt too childish, but if you were in a fairytale world as a young teenager you probably would be seen as childish also.

Thank you Ballantine Books for this Arc. I enjoyed it and will be reading more of Meg Shaffer's books in the future.

Another winner from Shaffer! I loved all the references to the MG/YA fantasy I read growing up and the unique spin it put on the fictional world. I loved all the characters and their various journeys and also the promise at the end. A beautifully crafted story and I can't wait to see what she has up next for us,.

I absolutely loved this story! It’s definitely on par with the Chronicles of Narnia but for adults! Hoping this becomes a series because I would definitely read more!

Meg Shaffer is officially one of my auto-authors. I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially the narrator's perspective.

I'm so disappointed to admit that I couldn't get into this one! I agree with other reviewers who indicated that it felt more like a YA book in writing style than adult fiction. I know that it's a grown-up fairytale, so that may contribute to it, but it just didn't land for me. The dialogue felt cheesy and the prose was clunky. I just couldn't find myself growing attached to any of the characters. As a big Narnia fan, my expectations were super high--maybe too high. When your comp is literally Narnia, it's hard to reach that bar!

All that being said, I do think this might be a ME issue and not a book issue, so I'm rating it around average. There is a lot to like here! It's a quick read with a cool premise. I haven't read The Wishing Game, but everything I've seen indicates that if you were a fan of that, you'll probably like this one too. It's a unique story, and I'm all for more magical realism based in interesting parts of the United States. Give it a shot and see what you think!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.

“Imagine if someone from your past showed up on your doorstep after fifteen years of silent treatment and asked you to go into the woods with them? Would you go?”

Meg Shaffer's novels are proof that adults need fairy tales, too. I think I will read anything this woman writes. In The Lost Story, she offers the reader a hilarious cast of characters. Emilie (and her pet rat, Fritz 😅) is on a mission to find her sister who disappeared several years ago. She seeks out Jeremy, a man who vanished himself and reappeared six months later to become one of the most renowned missing persons' investigators of his time. Jeremy is reluctant to help Emilie, but he finally agrees on one condition: his old best friend Rafe must accompany him to the woods. The three make for a rowdy bunch, and I loved reading Rafe's journey to uncover his lost memories. While the ending was a bit abrupt and seemed to come out of left field, the novel had a lovely message. I am hoping for a sequel so we can see what the queen and princess of Shanandoah are up to.

**Book Review: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer**

*The Lost Story* by Meg Shaffer is probably going to land in my top five books of 2024. Having absolutely loved *The Wishing Game*, I’ve been eagerly anticipating this new novel by Shaffer.

Similar to *The Wishing Game*, *The Lost Story* has an innocent, child-like quality that is so rare. Reading it gives you that wonderful nostalgic feeling.

I’m becoming a bigger fan of the fantasy and magical realism genres. I tend to be drawn toward fantasy books that don’t require much world-building, and *The Lost Story* definitely meets that qualification.

I loved the pace of *The Lost Story*; it moved quickly enough that I was fully absorbed but not so quickly that details were lost.

The audio narration was incredibly well done. I don’t tend to reread books often, since my TBR shelf is long enough as it is, but I can see this being a book I come back to again and again.

I had very high hopes for this book and while I did really enjoy it, it was not quite as good as I was expecting or hoping it would be.

I love the concept of a Narnia type story with a different world the characters escape into. When we were in that world, I loved the bits that we got to see, but it felt like not a lot of time was actually spent exploring and learning about the world. I wanted to be completely immersed in it, and I felt like I only got some snippets of what it was.

I did love the overall story and really enjoyed all of the characters. I would still highly recommend this book, I would just advise that you adjust your expectations some if you have the same expectations that I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

When I saw this one on NetGalley I needed to request it. I absolutely loved her debut novel, however this one was a different story. At first I was super intrigued with Jeremy's gift to find missing girls and that hooked me, along with the back and forth narration between the story and a book narrator. But that hook was very short lived and I found myself growing more bored with each page. I was never pulled back into the story unfortunately and this one fell extremely flat.

The Lost Story was not what I was expecting. I went into it not knowing anything about it. I was really enjoying the story of two boys who went missing in the woods and are not found until six months later when they suddenly reappear. Then the story takes a turn I was not expecting. The story turns to a fantasy aspect.

While I was not expecting this turn to the story, I still loved it. It's like an adult fairy tale. It's kind of like I went into the book with expectations that weren't met, but found something even better. I'm always in mood for something new and exciting even if it isn't my normal genre.

Don't be afraid to try something new, it might surprise you like it did me.

Thanks to netgalley and Ballantine Books for the ar.

Meg Shaffer has written an adult fairy tale that is well worth reading. If you are a big fan of C S Lewis type stories, get this book!

What an interesting book. It pushed me outside my reading box which i appreciated. It’s Narnia inspired but knowing Narnia is not a pre-requisite to appreciating the book. i really enjoyed reading it and as I finished I understood that the author was among other things illustrating how fiction and pretending can help us deal with ‘what life throws us’.