Beautiful love story with friends, family and forgiveness. Plus swords, royalty, and rats. Lots of amazing fantasy elements and superbly drawn characters. I don’t feel like the narrative was fully fleshed out, but it was still enjoyable. I think you’ll love the adventure, the slow burn romance, and the satisfying resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

After learning about her biological sister, Emilie is determined to find her. She enlists the assistance of famed finder, Jeremy. Fifteen years prior, Jeremy and his estranged friend, Rafe, had disappeared, and it seems they must return to the Crow for this mission. Though they are searching for a lost woman, this may actually help them find their way back to themselves and each other.

The Lost Story was everything that was promised in the book summary. It was indeed a fairytale for grown ups with nods to classics such as The Chronicles of Narnia. It was magical with a fully formed enchanted land. It was there, in Shanandoah, where we find all the action, adventure, and magic that we loved in the fantasy novels of our youth. But I found myself more invested in the relationship between Rafe and Jeremy, and the circumstances and fallout surrounding their disappearance as teens.

We learn of this beautiful friendship that was shared between Rafe and Jeremy, but after they were found in the forrest following their disappearance, the relationship was strained, and eventually, non-existent.

The search for Emilie's sister drove Rafe and Jeremy back into each other's worlds, as Jeremy cannot make the journey back to Shanandoah without Rafe's help. Slowly, I learned what drove the boys into the woods, where they went, what they did, why they returned, and also why their friendship fell apart. It was all sort of sad, but being back in Shanandoah brought back the memories that Rafe had lost, and it was beautiful seeing their friendship heal and grow stronger.

There were quite a few weighty topics at the center of this tale, but Shaffer managed to balance that out with humor and a touch of playfulness. I was a big fan of the storyteller who injected their thoughts into the story from time to time. The voice was pitch perfect for a fairytale narrator, and often filled in some gaps in a way that I thought was efficient and entertaining.

I didn't quite get the closure I was looking for from the ending, but the story was filled with so much emotion and nostalgia that I was not too disappointed.

Overall, this was a beautifully told story of friendship and love that was made even better with a bit of magic and whimsy.

I was really intrigued as I began to delve into this story. With a premise that promises a mix of magical adventure and emotional depth, this book attempts to offer a fairy tale for grown-ups who still hold onto a sense of wonder. The novel’s central plot revolves around Jeremy’s quest to help Emilie , whose sister has gone missing in the same forest before. The twist is that Jeremy knows a fantastical truth about the disappearances that he has kept hidden from Rafe for and the world for a long time: the boys had spent those missing months in a magical realm of beauty and peril. As the search for Emilie’s sister progresses, Jeremy and Rafe must confront their shared history and the secrets that have long divided them.

This was a beautiful story, but unfortunately did not capture me as I had expected. Some of the interactions felt child-ish and cheesy. I was pulled out of the story too often and found it hard to get back in. I enjoyed this author's first novel much more.

After intensely disliking The Wishing Game, I'm not sure why I decided to read another book by this author -- but I'm glad that I did as I really liked this one. It seemed that many of the issues I had with The Wishing Game were completely shifted in this book. (Basically, The Wishing Game says if you run off to a fantasy island, everything will automatically be perfect and you'll live happily ever after.) This book really examines what it means to run off to a fantasy world and what happens when that world is not all perfect and happy and what happens when maybe the fantasy world doesn't give you everything you desire or need in life. It feels more realistic while at the same time having some whimsy. And I really cared about these characters.

An enjoyable adult fairytale. This book has all the elements you'd expect, yet you don't feel like you're reading a story for kids. The mix of real world and fantasy worked well, as did the explanation (to a point) for how it all happened. The characters could have used a little more depth, but they were reasonably likable. Overall, this is a novel I would recommend to anyone wanting an escape.

“Sometimes miracles happen…Sometimes you want a story to be real so badly, you almost believe wanting it can make it come true.”
What a fantastical story full of magic, acceptance, love and found family. The writing style was so lyrical and transported me into a fairy tale full of wonder and believing.
After reading some reviews upon completing the book, I do agree this could be classified as more of a young adult novel and the main male characters did seem a bit juvenile, however I still found myself caught up in the magic and fantasy of it all.

I had read Meg Shaffer’s debut The Wishing Game last year and absolutely adored it. That story was an imaginative, bookish take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that was both charming and endearing. This time around, with The Lost Story, Shaffer takes her inspiration from another children’s classic, The Chronicles of Narnia, while also paying tribute to fairy tales and the world of make-believe in the process.

In all honesty, I don’t have words to describe how I felt reading this beautifully written story – one that drew me in from the very first page and I never wanted to end. This was such a fun, delightful, charming story – truly a fairytale in every way, from its structure (with its storyteller who begins the story with “once upon a time” and ends it with “happily ever after”) to its magical, make-believe world consisting of castles and unicorns, heroes and heroines, knights in shining armor, villains that disappear and reappear in puffs of smoke, animals with the intelligence of humans, huge thousand feet trees with leaves in every color of the rainbow, etc. – yet on the other hand, this was also a very “adult” story that dealt with some very real and difficult issues (such as abuse, discrimination, bullying, for example). Just like in a fairy tale, there was a deeply profound and meaningful moral lesson buried underneath the fantastical elements, but everything blended together so seamlessly that, at times, it was easy to get lost in the tale itself. There was so much to love with this one: the characters were wonderfully-rendered and I actually loved all of them (Rafe, Jeremy, Emilie, Skya, as well as all the supporting characters) from the moment I met them within the first few pages, but I especially loved the way the characters interacted with each other; the descriptions of both the real and fantasy worlds were breathtaking and so well done that I definitely felt like I was completely immersed in a different time and place; the humor was also wonderfully done and there were so many scenes that had me laughing so hard, I started getting stomach cramps; most important of all however, was the underlying “lost and found” storyline (especially the one involving Rafe and Jeremy) that was both powerful and moving.

This was no doubt an emotional read for me – a roller coaster ride that had me laughing one minute and crying the next. At the same time, I also couldn’t help feeling a bit nostalgic and wistful due to all the memories that this brought back from my childhood – as an avid reader, I of course read everything I could get my hands on, but I especially loved fairy tales. One of my favorite books growing up was a special hardbound edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that I had read so much that it eventually fell apart to the point that I was forced to get rid of it (which still pains me when I think about it even now). The fact that I essentially stopped reading fairy tales after that incident (plus my reading tastes after I became an adult were markedly different from what I used to read as a child), made the nostalgia feel even more poignant. Getting the chance to revisit this aspect of my childhood through Shaffer’s story was definitely a welcome escape from all the craziness that has been a part of my life in recent months.

I don’t want to say much more about this book because revealing too many details would spoil the magic. If you loved Shaffer’s debut The Wishing Game as much as I did, definitely pick up this sophomore novel of hers – it’s written in the same vein, yet also vastly different in many aspects. Even though I ended up loving this one just a tad bit more, both are amazing reads that I highly, highly recommend!

Received ARC from Ballantine Books via NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a free digital copy of The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer. This author wrote The Wishing Game, and I absolutely loved it. I didn't really enjoy this one. The writing was very good and the story fanciful and filled with magical realism. But I just didn't connect with it like I did The Wishing Game. I missed seeing more of the sisters, Skya and Emilie, together. I would still give anything this author wrote a chance though!

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast," said the White Queen to Alice in Through the Looking-Glass.
Fair warning: If you've never believed any impossible things before, now is a good time to start."

Ever wanted to read The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time again? Me too and this is as close as I've come to doing so!

Red Crow State Forest contains so much more than meets the eye, and only if you're lucky enough to be written into the story do you get a glimpse behind the curtain.

This was such a fun story of a world where the only rules it follows are its own. I loved the Storyteller popping in through out addressing the reader and the quotes from authors of other great worlds. I really liked The Wishing Game, but this one was even better with more fleshed out world building details that I loved!

DNF; I absolutely loved this author’s book “the Wishing Game” however this book fell a bit flat. Maybe I’ll pick it up another time but, couldn’t get into the story line

I thoroughly loved The Lost Story! Where do I even begin?

Teenagers Jeremy and Ralph (Rafe) go missing from a school trip in the Red Crow State Forest, in West Virginia. Somehow, they reappear six months later, unscathed, and healthy. What happened to them, and how did they survive out there for so long?

Fast forward to fifteen years later, Jeremy becomes a missing persons specialist, where he has a knack for finding missing loved ones. Ralph (Rafe) is somewhat of a loner, living in a reclusive cabin. Emilie seeks out Jeremy to help find a sister she never met, who went missing. Jeremy agrees to help the Fleetwood Mac obsessed Emilie, but needs Rafe as well.

The author built an incredible world, inspired by fairy tales, and the Chronicles of Narnia. I especially loved the interjections of the 'story teller'. I had high expectations for The Lost Story after reading The Wishing Game last year, and I was impressed with yet again another great book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC! I highly recommend!

Wow!! This is such a beautiful adventure that all stemmed from a child's imaginations. I love that a teacher's influence and a unicorn pencil built a wonderful world where love knows no bounds. My favorites were the Valkeries and I would love a story from them. Meg Shaffer did it again, I can't wait for her next book.

A new break-out favorite! This portal/quest story is filled with unexpected delights, beautiful connections and characters, and lovely storytelling. Highly recommended.

Meg Shaffer has done it again with a book that connects reality and fantasy in a way that makes it feel like it could happen to you! The Lost Story is like an adult/young adult version of The Chronicles of Narnia, only this time -- Narnia isn't through the wardrobe. The characters in this book are very well developed and easy to relate to, there's suspense that makes the reader want to keep reading. I will say the first half of the book presents more as backstory development and a missing person mystery but it keeps you hooked wanting to figure out when and how the characters end up in this magical realm we're expecting. When I started reading this advanced digital copy from NetGalley and Random House Publishing I expected heavier world building for the fantasy aspect but I would encourage readers to think of it as a fairytale retelling. Overall I really enjoyed Meg Shaffer's newest book - The Lost Story and wouldn't mind heading to this magical realm myself. - posted to the Target website

Goodreads review:
fter reading Meg Shaffer's novel The Wishing Game last summer on a girls trip I was thrilled to see her plans to release another novel! I wasn't sure what to expect of The Lost Story, partly because the synopsis can only tell you so much, and partly because my ADHD makes it really easy to forget the synopsis very quickly. That being said, I knew The Lost Story would be a must add to my TBR. Thanks to Random /house Publishing Group - Ballantine Books and NetGalley I was able to move The Lost Story to the top of my TBR with an advanced digital copy.

If you're finding this review, chances are you're on a site that also has a synopsis of the book, so rather than sharing that myself, I'll let you read that from the publisher and I'll stick to sharing my review below.

I would consider myself a mood reader, but also a season reader - meaning each season I tend to stick to a particular genre. More often than not I lean towards mystery/thrillers and fantasy year round but in the summer I like to go for literary fiction and the occasional romance - The Lost Story somehow Meg Shaffer managed to hit all those categories at least a little bit throughout the book.

At the beginning of the book I was hooked because it was almost like a missing person mystery - two boys go missing in the woods and come back six months later with no recollection. Next thing you know, it's been 15 years and Emilie's on the search for a sister she didn't know she had with the help of Jeremy.

While I could go on about the storyline, I don't want to add any spoilers for future readers. Overall, I loved the first half of the book - the character development, the missing person mystery feel and suspense of trying to figure out when and how these characters end up in a magical realm. Meg Shaffer shares a lot of imagery and builds solid backstories for all of the main characters that help readers connect with them and want to keep reading to find out how it plays into the story. While I loved the premise of the plot and the story in the magical realm, there were moments where it felt like it jumped around or more specifically where I would've loved to have more imagery and world building in this other realm - but that could just be coming from a reader who loves fantasy for the worlds fantasy authors build. The magical realm definitely seemed like a place I would like to escape to and Shaffer did a great job of connecting the real world to the magical realm and connecting all the character focuses in the story. One thing I found interesting is her use of the a narrator that existed as the story of this fairytale, while there were times I didn't like the narrator I cannot figure out how I would've made the story work without them.

Overall, I really enjoyed Shaffer's newest work The Lost Story and would love if the author wanted to continue on writing about their latest magical realm they've created. The book had me wondering if she was going to take an Alice in Wonderland approach but it's more of a Narnia approach. Additionally, if you're wondering what type of fantasy this is - if you go into reading this book like a fairytale you'll really enjoy it. I also really appreciated the LGBTQIA+ representation.

Thank you again to Random House Publishing for the advanced copy

I grew up loving The Never Ending Story and this book of magical realism was everything my heart needed. It’s hard to even put this book into words. It had a little bit of everything in it for everyone. Found family, mystery, LGBTQ representation, and magic. THE LOST STORY makes you believe in fairytales. Meg Shaffer writes so beautifully that it gives me goosebumps. This is a book for every reader.

The Red Crow Forest in West Virginia has some stories to tell. Emilie’s long lost sister has been missing for twenty years. Jeremy, once lost himself, helps find others who have gone missing. Rafe, who cannot remember his time gone, struggles with understanding. The one piece that knits them all together is quite the tale and the storyteller is ready to share.

This is a wonderful and uniquely written novel. I really enjoyed the set up and how there is a storyteller that invites you along to read the tale of Emilie, Jeremy, Rafe and the Red Crow Forest. Each character is interesting and has a story thread that draws you in. The reader ends up feeling like they really know these people and are right there with them as they navigate their journey. And, like all fairytales, you might just get a happily ever after. 5 stars.

Review based on a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley. Thank you!

A fairy tale for adults, yes please! Oh my this book was so great. It had a bit of a slow start but once it got going I could not put it down. I loved the random storyteller injections. Thank you NetGalley, Meg Shaffer, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine for letting me read this book. I adored the relationships between the characters and the great bonding of friendship and more. I will be thinking about Rafe and Jeremy and their time in the woods for a long time after reading this!

Seeing that The Lost Story was inspired by Chronicles of Narnia, its no surprise that it is a fairytale made for adults. From the beginning of the book I was slowly drawn into the story until I couldn't put it down. Aside from the magical story, I enjoyed the main characters as they get to know each other, reconnect and explore a magical world.

I am of mixed feeling about this book. I enjoyed it and got into it quickly. I felt it became very formulaic and predictable as it went on. There was never really any sense of danger for the characters. It was safe. It leaned to heavily on romance and too lightly on real backstory for literally everything else. At the end they kind of quickly explained the whole other world. The world building was robbed of its excitement. I liked but did not love this story for that reason. Fun magic. Interesting otherworldly dimension stuff. Characters I could like. But still a little bit flat.

Meg is easily an auto buy for me now. Her writing flows and envelops you. I loved the “narrator” approach. Well done!