I had no idea what to expect from The Lost Story, but I’m so glad I gave this book a chance! Full of great characters, a fantastical plot, and a sweet romance, The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer has a lot to offer.

>> ❤️ What I loved: *The Lost Story* reads like a fairytale in the best way. It felt like tucking in with a bedtime story, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Despite some serious subject matter, the story overall had a lighthearted quality that kept me hopeful and kept things from feeling too heavy. The omniscient “Storyteller” character (narrating through interstitial chapters) was a fun way to keep the story moving and made the book even more endearing. I loved all of the characters and was rooting for everyone’s happily ever after!
>> 💔 What I didn’t love: While I appreciated the pacing of this story being pretty consistent, some of the transitions felt a bit abrupt. I would have liked things to linger a bit more, especially at some of the more intense emotional moments in the book so that we could really “feel” them a bit more.

I would highly recommend this book to adult readers who love fairytale fantasy and adventure and are looking for a quick read. I hope that we get a continuation of this story from Meg Shaffer to see how things turn out for these great characters!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4-4.5)

Acknowledgments & Disclaimers
✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Meg Shaffer, and Random House Publishing/Ballentine Books, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book.
✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

Dear Meg Shaffer,

Please continue writing whimsical magical adult novels for those of us who have always dreamed of being transported to another world, and have never let go of that dream.

XOXO, Another Meg

Shaffer did it again. She was able to capture the essence of story that has meant the world to me. I have loved Narnia forever, so much that I have taught it to my students and made Turkish Delight for them... So much that I do look for retellings or different interpretations of that have given me those feeling again. THIS STORY DID THAT.
Jeremy and Rafe were the best protagonists. Their story is moving and you are on board with both of them feeling mad and confused and hopeful. Emilie and Shannon's story was so heartbreaking and redemptive. The layers of their tale were so beautifully woven through every part of this story. I hated the Bright Boys. I hated the all of the other characters you were supposed to hate. That being said, I ABSOLUTELY loved the characters you were supposed to love and were able to forgive. I know that this is kind of all over, but honestly, it is super easy to spoil this story.
This is highly recommended for fantasy readers, magical realism readers, CS Lewis lovers. I honestly would reread it again right now. This book is FULL of Easter Eggs.

The premise was what instantly drew my attention. Anything resembling Narnia and I will be there. The mystery and intrigue of what happens to the boys also was so appealing. There were parts on the book that reminded me of Adrienne Young's beautiful, lush and whimsical writing. The writing at times was so immersive that I was lost in the book reading. But it was the dialogue of our characters that I found very weak. While in there 20s and 30s, they spoke as if they were teenagers. It felt very jarring to go from beautiful descriptive writing to immature dialogue. Overall it was a great idea and concept!

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the digital review copy via NetGalley!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rafe and Jeremy get lost in the forest of West Virginia when they are boys. 15 years later, Emilie is asking them to go back to find her sister. Jeremy returned home with the ability to find anything and anyone and Rafe returned home absent of all his memories but both men are needed to find Emilie's sister who also disappeared in the state forest several years earlier. But to find Emilie's sister everyone is forced to face what made them long for a different world to begin with. This is a magical tale of facing our demons, finding family and love and booping danger on the nose.

All these characters are so charming! Down to the rat there was not one character that you didn't grow to love almost immediately. This novel uses fairy tales (in a very obvious way, it's kind of the whole point) to tell the tale of a one boy falling in love, another accepting himself, a girl doing everything she can to find a family, and a woman who created a who different world because she didn't care for the one she was in. If as a child, you ever had cause to wish your way away from your life or your family this book is going to touch you in a really special way. You're never too old to hope and wonder.

While the story drew me in immediately, I did have some issues with how camp the story attempted to be. They were easy to overcome but while the narrator is revealed at the end of the book, I don't feel that the story breaks added anything to the story. Another criticism that I've seen often and is totally valid is that no matter the age of the character, they all talk like they are 16. This one was a little annoying but in my head I just kind of aged everyone down to make it more palatable to me. The pacing of the story was a little weird as well. It's almost as if she spent too much of her energy writing the start of the story so at the end she just had to rush through. I hated that it took 40% of the book for them to go back to Shenandoah then the big conflict was in the middle of the book so the end was this weird 15-day summary of them having a good life in Shenandoah. If I could criticize anything about this book it would be the weird 15 days summary. We (the reader) read 300 pages of buildup, let us savor our happy ending a bit more.

4/5

he Lost Storyby Meg Shaffer was a wonderful and whimsical summer read. The story follows three main characters as they unwind the struggles and deep understandings of their past with a heavy focus on their childhoods. But the method for coping is through entrance to a secret world in the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia, where the uncover the imaginings of their childhood stories. The twist is that Rafe and Jeremy have been there before when they were the Lost Boys of West Virginia, but what caused them to return to the land of the normal and why are they headed back?

For my second Meg Shaffer, I absolutely adored this book and the elements of fairytale storytelling. She always knows how to enrapture an audience with her sense of magical realism to create a story that all audiences can relate to - while using elements that are reminiscent of Narnia and Peter Pan. The reason for the one star deduction is that it felt like there was a lot going on with some of the characters at some points and it made it hard to follow when some of the small threads tried to come back together. Overall, I will definitely pick up whatever this author writes next1

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really really enjoyed how different this book was. I needed something unusual, quirky, whimsical and this did the trick. It took a bit to get into the more fun and magical stuff-I was surprised a lot of this didn't start to unfold until about 40% in. That first part of the book did seem a lot different than the second half, which was hard to kind of transition into. I loved all of the characters and the fair tale aspect of the book. Some things were a bit confusing. Sometimes it felt like characters were just telling, instead of the reader experiencing those moments. But overall, I really liked this one. I liked it more than her other, The Wishing Game. I would continue to read from this author! Her books are just so unique.

I loved the first part of The Lost Story and was so excited to see where it would go, but I started to lose interest when Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy “crossed over”. Without giving anything away, I felt like something big happened way too quickly, and I wasn’t as excited about their mission. The fairytale world was fun, but at times I felt like I was reading a middle grade book (which I love), but it wasn’t what I was hoping for as far as world-building. The romance was fine, but again, it wasn’t really what I was expecting when the book first started. I’ll totally give this author another chance because I adored The Wishing Game, but this one fell flat for me.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Being a fan of Meg Shaffer’s first book, The Wishing Game, I was ecstatic to hear she had a second novel coming out. And The Lost Story did not disappoint. In fact, I liked it even better! Touted as a fairy tale for grown-ups, it successfully balances the whimsy of childhood classics, like The Chronicles of Narnia, with more adult topics, like lost love and trauma.

I was honestly nervous that the “magical realm” mentioned in the summary would end up being a metaphor and was overjoyed when the wonderful MCs journeyed to a beautiful and fully realized hidden world. SO MUCH YES!! As someone who grew up hoping she’d stumble across her very own secret portal, this book read like a childhood wish come true.

But it’s so much more than a fairy tale, exploring themes of loss, sacrifice, and resilience, including the inner and external battles we must fight to find our true selves. There’s also a beautiful queer love story at the center of this novel, and seeing that representation warmed my heart.

My one critique is that the book ended with a few loose ends and a cliffhanger vibe, which left me feeling just shy of 100% satisfied. I’m crossing all of my fingers that there’s a sequel in the works because I’d love to get my questions answered!

If you’re an adult who still believes in magic, finds joy in storytelling, and gives the back of every wardrobe a thorough search, then this may be the book of your dreams!

This book was just such a weird experience. Even though it is adult, the dialogue and the character's inner dialogue read a lot like middle grade; I kept getting whiplash. I had to keep reminding me that Jeremy and Rafe were almost 30 years old and Emilie, 23. They read like small children, especially Emilie - I kept thinking she was 9, but she kept saying she worked at a vet clinic and she lived alone.

The author tried to write whimsy but she just made the characters extremely cringeworthy and unbelievably young. All 3 of them felt like manic pixie dream girls from 2000's indie romantic movies. And that is so weird because she managed to create a whimsical book with The Wishing Game. That made the characters so annoying to me.

And the plot was just so predictable from the beginning.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

I wanted to like this. I expected to like this. I really enjoyed the author’s debut novel, The Wishing Game. I was excited for the fun to continue with this, marketed as an adult fairytale, inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia. But, nothing about this felt adult. In fact, it felt very juvenile. We’re to believe the main characters span from ages 23 to 33, but the dialogue reads much younger.

The world building, story and character development were lacking for me. Ultimately, this had a cool concept, but it was poorly executed. That’s my opinion. I truly hope others who choose to read it disagree and have a more enjoyable experience, although I wouldn’t recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC. This book has been published and is now available for purchase.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
by Good Book Fairy | Jul 1, 2024 | Fantasy, Fiction, LGBTQA+, Magical Realism / Dreams, Sisters, Year 2024 | 0 comments

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer book cover features a majestic looking tree.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

ARC from Ballantine Books and Netgalley for an honest review

Book Blurb:
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. 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.

My Review: 4 stars
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The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is a magical and fantastical story that will ultimately feel like a trip to an adult’s version of Narnia, but through a forest, rather than a wardrobe.

Going in, I had no idea that this book would be mostly fantasy. I’m a mood reader and I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get into this genre when I started reading. Luckily, Shaffer is a skilled storyteller and was able to let me just, well – go with it. I’m so glad I did.

I found myself most intrigued by the three main characters and the growth of their friendship. Rafe, Jeremy and Emilie were a trio to root for, even before they went on a search for Emilie’s sister. Their banter was spot on, and they fell into a comfortable ease with one another. Jeremy’s skill at finding things and Rafe’s artistic ability seemed so amazing until they went into the forest and the reader learns some of the other things they excel at.

This book read more like a YA (young adult) novel than adult fiction. I can’t put my finger on why, maybe the lost boys? I’m not sure. I appreciated the LBGTQ angle and felt like it worked perfectly in the story. I think many Narnia fans will love this book, or fans of any type of magical worlds.

I am so bummed to DNF this one. “Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia”… yes please!! Except… not at all.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and it was categorized “Romance / Sci-Fi Fantasy / Women’s Fiction.” It should have also had an LGBT tag. The two main characters are two men (who were lost together as boys) who are in love, and the book is following their relationship (or lack thereof at the time I put it down because one has had his memory wiped). It’s one of the •main• themes, not a side plot or smaller part. To be clear, I don’t put down every book that has a gay couple in it—that is part of the time in which we live, therefore I expect it to also be in some books today as well. However, I would not choose to read a book with a gay couple’s romance/relationship as the •main• theme to be chronicled.

Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.\

I loved the premise of this story, gave me very bridge to Terabithea vibes. Unfortunately I just wasn’t captivated by the story 🤷🏼‍♀️ the characters were lovable and I loved the premise of a fantasy land but I just couldn’t get into it as I had hoped.

Title: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
Publication Date- 07/16/24
Publisher- Random House Ballantine
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Story Review: Man has this been a few bunch of disappointments. I know now not to request, or buy cozy fantasy they rarely work for me. So, this review please take that into consideration, as I’m learning my taste in books and these new sub genres.

I really enjoyed the start of The Lost Story. I loved getting to know Jeremy, Rafe and Emily, all coming into this shared new adventure from unique places. I loved the heart, the determination to overcome and the comradery. However, once they got into the woods, without spoiling anything, we entered into a new world. The story started to significantly slow down for me there. I ended up DNFing this at 60 percent.

I was invested in the investigation and the unique ways that JErmey finds missing women. I was also invested in his and Rafe’s story as well as feeling hopeful Emily would find her sister. I personally, and this is where the cozy fantasy subgenre just stops working for me, I needed more from the plot and something else driving the story, just slightly higher stakes.

To be fair in my review, if you like cozy fantasy, you will enjoy this book. Meg Shaffers other book “The Wishing Game,” is one of my favorite stories and actually made me tear up. Her writing in the Lost Story is amazing, she has a unique way of storytelling and is just a beautiful writer.

I sadly think this is where my journey of cozy fantasy ends, as much as I want to like it I just don’t. If you do, pick up The Lost Story.

Meg Shaffer's sophomore novel is centered around a magical world that exists outside of reality. In this story, Jeremy and Rafe return to Shanandaoh as adults and get to experience the joy they found there as teens when they were ‘Lost Boys’.

The Storyteller Corner was an excellent device to use to cover time skips, introduce characters, and fill in backstory. It was a very entertaining voice to have jump into the story to avoid info dumps and gaps in worldbuilding that would otherwise have bogged down the story.

Recommended for: readers that never want to grow up

Content warning: child abuse, physical and emotional; mental health crisis

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

I was a girl who grew up on Narnia. I still hope I'll open a wardrobe and stumble into a world of magic. The books that sort of evoke Narnia can be hit or miss for me since they held such a significant place in my childhood. But I truly enjoyed this book! I loved the characters. Seeing how their time in another world shaped them, watching as their pasts unraveled, it was really beautiful! I think the author handled some difficult topics very well.

Something about the end of the book didn't work for me. I think it was the tone shift? It went from feeling like an adult book dealing with adult themes in the through a whimsical child-like lens to a middle grade book.

But overall, I really enjoyed it! Enough that I plan on looking into the author's back story!

2.5⭐️

Thank you netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review, I was so excited to get this book after LOVING the wishing game.

I do feel like Meg Schaffer’s books are written for readers if that makes any sense. The vibes were magical as this was a Narnia retelling.

I do feel like the action in the book left a little bit to be desired, it didn’t have me rushing to continue reading.

I did love the storyteller aspect woven throughout and the analysis of what makes a story a fairytale.

I loved this ode to fairy tales. It truly made me wish I could be there too. The author captured most everything I can think of in the fairy tale kingdom. I do like how she crossed the real world with the fairy tale world. The characters had depth and real life issues. I especially enjoyed Rafe and Jeremy and have my hopes for their future.

This novel may not be geared toward older adults like myself but it was just the lovely read I needed at the time. I would love to hear more stories from the kingdom. Thank you netgalley for the chance to review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I want to preface this entire review by saying I went in with high expectations.

I LOVED Meg Shaffer's first novel, The Wishing Game so much - it was filled with loveable characters that made me feel so much, magic & wonder, tons of book love, and an overall story that captured my heart.

This book at the surface has all of that. Literal magic and wonder, a fairy tale world, book love, and characters that I thought would steal my heart - but I just didn't get there. I never felt invested as much as I expected to be in the world and the characters and the story. It started off so strong with characters I was immediately interested in and I was excited to be on this journey with. It reminded me a bit of Fairy Tale by Stephen King where I LOVED the scenes set in the real world the most - but in that book, I was 100% invested in the characters and the journey of a boy and his dog in a magical fairy tale world. In this one, once the characters enter the fairy tale world, I found myself less and less invested for some reason.

This story had a strong sister storyline as well - and as someone who loves my big sister so much, I expected to find more emotion in that part of the story, but it fell a tad flat for me. The main love story as well was enjoyable and I was rooting for the characters, but again, I found the emotional connection for me not as strong as I expected.

It was still a strong story and I do love Shaffer's writing and her ability to make you see a world that is different from the one we live in - but if I am being completely honest - I was let down by this one. Where I devoured The Wishing Game and couldn't put it down and found myself wiping tears from my eyes at the end - I just never got emotionally connected as I feel I should have been to this one.

Again, I went in with high expectations - I have seen a LOT of love for this one and I am so glad for that. I believe this may have been a me problem of just expecting more than what I ultimately got in the end.

I do appreciate her as a writer and storyteller and can't wait to see what she does next. I hope readers love this one - I truly do. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the novel that did in fact hit me on an emotional level as a book lover:

"All books are magic. An object that can take you to another world without even leaving your room? A story written by a stranger and yet it seems they wrote it just for you or to you? Loving and hating people made out of ink and paper, not flesh and blood? Yes, books are magic. Maybe even the strongest magic there is."