I LOVED this book. The characters, the world, and just the general vibes were incredible.

This book is basically about what happens when two friends disappear into a Narnia-like world in their childhood, only for one to have no memory of this and for them to return fifteen years later in order to find a girl's lost sister.

This story was so beautiful. You love all the characters and the way that they care for each other. It depicts beautiful family, friend, and romantic relationships. This book is much more character driven than plot driven, so if that's your thing you might really enjoy this book. The writing style of this book is whimsical and fairytale-like, and it's the kind of book that would help you feel better after a rough day.

Basically, read this book if you grew up on Narnia, love found family, and want to read a beautiful love story.

I cannot wait for people to read this and realize how good it is. I highly highly recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!


4.5 Stars

I really loved this novel. I have read both of Meg Shaffer's novels so far and I intend to read them all. I love Rafe so much. He was a stand out character by far. This novel was a bit of a slow start but once we got rolling I couldn't put it down. I loved all of the fantasy elements. It felt so whimsical. Beautiful story!

When they were boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in the vast woods of West Virginia, only to reappear six months later with no recollection of where they were or how they survived. It was clear something about the boys had changed, but they couldn't put a finger on what. Now, fifteen years later, Rafe is a reclusive artist and still can't remember anything from that time but bears the scars of his journey, both mentally and physically. Jeremy has made a name for himself as an investigator specializing in missing people, specifically missing girls.

During a safety talk, Jeremy is approached by Emilie Wendell, who begs him to help her find her sister, who went missing in the same forest as Jeremy and Rafe. At first, Jeremy declines, but then he sees a photo of Emilie's sister. Jeremy knows where her sister is. He and Rafe spent six months with her as boys in a magical world far from their own. It's been years since Jeremy and Rafe have spoken, but now it's up to Jeremy to convince his former friend to go on one last adventure to help Emilie and get back the life Rafe has lost.

The Wishing Game was one of my favorite reads of 2023, so my expectations were sky-high going into this latest release. I'm happy to report that they were more than met. I adored this. It was wonderfully whimsical and felt like a modern-day fairytale. It's inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia, but it also gives off the same vibes as The Princess Bride and The NeverEnding Story. The writing managed to be both tongue-in-cheek and serious. Shaffer created a world that was so playful yet dark, and I felt like I was on this quest along with our characters. Some moments did feel very convenient, but it played into the whole fairytale formula, so it didn't bother me too much. Shaffer has solidified herself as an auto-buy author for me, and I can't recommend this one enough.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer Review by Shirley W. 2-28-24

The author, Meg Shaffer has a unique, sweet style of writing. I, like many, love fairy tales. She bent several fairy tale “rules” by having a Storyteller Corner at several places in the novel to explain a few things that you might not understand. Helpful and unusual for a modern fairy tale. There are the usual characters, a favorite tame rat, a prince, a Queen, a Knight who is a great swordsman, and two sisters who have wanted to be reunited for a long time. There are evil, bad guys also and the characters have a mission to finish.

The story begins with two young missing boys, Jeremy and Ralph, being found 15 years after they went missing! There had been an extensive search for the boys in a large forest. As the author explains, first they are missing, then lost, and finally forgotten. The story continues with their lives after they returned and a Mom who won’t give up on her son. Secrets keep the boys apart and they finally join forces to go back into the forest to find a young woman’s sister who also went missing in the same forest 5 years before the boys. I liked the novel for it’s uniqueness and careful writing, but some of the content was not really of interest to me.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

I absolutely LOVED The Wishing Game, so I was over the moon when I got asked (not even requested, I got asked!) to review an ARC for The Lost Story. And now, after having finished it, Meg Shaffer is squarely in the category of "Auto-Buy" authors for me.

This book is fun, sweet, full of love, and celebrates the magic of a good story. It calls back to beloved classics like Narnia, The Princess Bride, and the Wayward Children series (a personal favorite of mine).

You have 30-year-old protagonists dealing with a loss of magic from their teenage years, and how they struggled to cope either with or without the memories. As a 30 year old myself, this tugged at my heartstrings. We all wistfully look back to our younger years, wishing for a way to get some of that magic back, and this story brings that feeling to life.

I loved the interruptions from "The Storyteller", and the little moments of fourth wall break. It was a fun way to add in foreshadowing, speed longer stretches along, and generally just comment on the format of a story. For anyone who grew up loving books and fairytales (and likely never grew out of it), this made for a very sweet touch.

This story at times got a bit darker than Shaffer's first book, The Wishing Game, but for every bit that it was dark and difficult, it was even more so full of heart. Talking through family trauma, class divides (which can run so deep in a place like West Virginia), and how it is so painful to lie to the ones you love that sometimes it's easier not to speak to them at all. All of this built on the love that was so deeply rooted in every page and every word of this story.

Meg Shaffer's books fill your heart, make you believe in love again, and remind you to find light in a world that can often feel so dark. I look forward to reading everything she writes in the future.

A huge thank you again to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for an eARC of this book.

Another great story from the author that brought us “The Wishing Game”

Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia this book will have you wanting to reread it over and over as it gives you that feeling, in my opinion, that all the books of Narnia gives me everytime I go to pick one up. I will say that I did not know if I was going to like this more or less than “The Wishing Game”. Safe to say that I liked it more! The story telling wa amazing and it was definitely more in the fantasy realm which is more in my prefereance. I really can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy of the book as only having a digital will not be enough for this book goblin!!

The Lost Story
by Meg Shaffer
Pub Date: July 16, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.
For all those who loved the Wishing Game, you'll enjoy The Lost Story just as much.
Teenagers, Jeremy and Rafe, go missing one day while they're art Red Crowe State park. It's safe to say that everyone immediately thinks of the worst-case scenario. Out of the blue, 6 months later, they turn up with no memory where they were or how they got there. They claim that they have no idea what happened. All everyone knows is that they come back in better shape than when they left. With all the commotion and mysterious circumstances, it's safe to say that these boys would need each other more than ever now, but Jeremy goes to live with his grandmother.

Time passes, and our is now 15 years later. It's safe to say that these events helped shape these two men into who they are now. Rafe is more of a hermit but an artist, and Jeremy is an investigator for missing people.
What a fun and mystical ride this was!! I could not put this down.

In West Virginia, Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell vanished during an end-of-school field trip to Red Crow State Forest. Their disappearance lasted so long that people stopped calling them missing and started referring to them as lost. Mysteriously, they reappeared six months later in perfect health, looking taller, stronger, with bright eyes and clear skin. The question lingered: How did they survive?

Fifteen years later, Jeremy has become a missing persons investigator, while Rafe is a reclusive artist living in a cabin in the woods. Rafe bears both internal and external scars but has no memory of how he got them.

This book was an absolute delight!

The world it transported me to was breathtakingly beautiful. Here’s a glimpse into the Painted Sea’s enchanting description: The shore of the Painted Sea was a swirl of colors, resembling a child's jar of rainbow sand spilled everywhere—pinks, blues, greens, and purples. The water was so clear it looked like a window to the sea bed, where small silver dolphins and lazy rays played in the surf.

The trees in this world soared a thousand feet high, with trunks a hundred feet wide. The leaves came in every color of Easter—pink, green, blue, yellow, and white. They looked like the fantastical trees a child might scribble with fat Crayola markers. These were the trees of a child's imagination brought to life.

Inspired by C.S. Lewis’s *The Chronicles of Narnia*, this incredible novel is an adult fairytale. Having loved the author’s previous book, *The Wishing Game*, I adored this one even more—it became my favorite adult fairytale. All the characters were wonderfully developed and unforgettable.

I want to thank Netgalley and Random House Ballantine Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What would you get if you combined the back-of-the-wardrobe world of Narnia with a true crime search for a missing girl and a dash of childhood trauma? You'd get this book.

The Lost Story is Meg Shaffer's second novel, and once again, the uniqueness of her work makes for a standout novel! The story follows three main characters--Emilie, Jeremy, and Rafe--whose pasts and presents are intertwined with the mystery of Red Crow State Forest. These three have a unique relationship that grows and matures as the story progresses, and the banter is a lot of fun. Emilie is exceedingly plucky (almost to the point of annoying), but she means well and is working so hard to be brave. Jeremy and Rafe have been significantly impacted by their six-month disappearance in Red Crow fifteen years before, and readers will relate the most to Rafe as he struggles to recover his memories from that time; important truths are revealed as Rafe is reintroduced to the magical world where he and Jeremy spent their missing months, and the very basic and detailed explanations help clue the reader in on what is happening.

Much like Shaffer's debut, The Lost Story is whimsical, fast-paced, and filled with great characters. I wish the ending would've been wrapped up a bit more neatly, but as it is, it feels very much like a Narnia book in that the open-endedness leaves room for more adventures. A fun ride from start to finish, The Lost Story is another great novel in Shaffer's repertoire, and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

I really loved the idea of this one, but to me the execution of this one (particularly in the second half) fell short. It felt so rushed in the second half and seemed like a lot of steps were skipped in getting to the resolution of the story. I also wish we had more time exploring Shannondoah. It was such an interesting world and I think a lot more could have been done with it.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book.
4.25 out of 5 stars.

This book is precious. I was caught up within the first few pages and couldn't put it down.

When they were 15, Jeremy and Rafe got lost in Red Crow forest in West "by God!" Virginia. Six months later, they are found. Rafe is suffering from apparent head trauma as he cannot remember the last six months, nor can he explain the vicious scars on his back. Jeremy remembers, though, but Jeremy and his mother move far away, and it is fifteen years before Jeremy reached out to Rafe to ask for help finding a woman's sister...in Red Crow forest. Despite Rafe's heartache at being shut out of Jeremy's life for so long, he agrees to help, and together, they three make their way into Red Crow forest, where we find out what really happened to the lost boys all those years ago.

I loved this story. It is heartbreaking and precious and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on a hard copy of the finished product.

I loved the concept of Lost Virginia. It was like the upsidedown in Stranger Things. However, it created a huge plot hole. If Shannon/Skya created the world, how are the lost souls of the real world end up in Ghost Town?

I also felt like it could have done without the storyteller. I feel like the storyteller was included for page count purposes. I didn't think they added anything at all to the story.

There is a part with a woman in rags and a pile of leaves that will stick me for the rest of my life. So crazy. The imagery was vivid and haunting.

See my full video review here: https://youtu.be/pRSOp295AW8

Thank you so much for the arc! I love this author’s writing and the worlds she creates. Can’t wait for more!

Meg Meg Meg. This book description had my hopes up super high then FAR SURPASSED THEM. I didn’t want to put it down, and flew through it. Phenomenal job. I can’t wait to read it again ❤️

Meg Shaffer’s first book, The Wishing Game, topped the list for me last year. I highly anticipated her second book, but found myself muddling through this story at times. These are two completely different genres of books. There is heart to this story and it is beautifully written; however, The Lost Story is much more fantasy mixed with a dash of reality. I did wind up enjoying it even though it didn’t quite surpass The Wishing Game for me. I loved the Storyteller Corner breaking the fourth wall and the humor intertwined with some very heavy themes.

Thank you to Meg Shaffer, Ballentine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This book publishes on July 16.

Beautiful storytelling. This book was a lot more fantasy heavy than “The Wishing Game” and I wasn’t quite expecting the path the book took. Once I realized this was going to be fantasy, I was able to enjoy it for what it was. The premise was fantastic and completely unique. Worth a read if you enjoy fantasy.

MY OH MY. I would have never picked up this book on the basis of the summary, but I’m so glad I did. I loved the Wishing Game, and The Lost Story was just as great. Thanks so much for the advanced copy. I will be thinking of this story for a long time.

ARC Review: The Lost Story, by Meg Shaffer
3.5/5 Stars | Fantasy, Magical Realism

Thank you to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for the ARC access to this book in exchange for my honest review.
Meg Shaffer's debut novel, The Wishing Game was one of my favorite books I have read in years. The world of Clock Island was so fleshed out and compelling, and after reading the book I had such a strong desire to devour the entire Clock Island series - the only problem was that it doesn't exist in real life!
When I learned that Meg Shaffer was coming out with a second book and that it would be a Narnia-style fantasy book, I was so excited! I thought this was just about as close as I would get to reading a book as exciting as the Clock Island series sounded, and I couldn't wait. When I decided to try my hand at ARC (advanced reader copy) reading, and this was the first book I was approved for, I was beyond excited! 
Though I have admittedly never read the Narnia series, I have spent a lot of time getting lost in other fantasy worlds. I grew up reading pretty much every book Roald Dahl, read all of the Harry Potter books multiple times, and as an adult immensely enjoyed getting lost in the Narnia-style world of Lev Grossman's The Magicians series. 
The Lost Story is available today, and centers around two men, Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell who seemingly get lost in the woods of West Virginia as teenagers. Except, they weren't lost, they were transported to the magical land of "Shanandoah." The heart of the novel is written around their return to Shanandoah to help a young woman named Emilie find her sister.
For me, the world of Shanandoah was somewhat of a letdown. As a whole, I did not feel that the fantasy world was as fleshed-out as I would have liked it to have been. Perhaps the story spent more time exploring Rafe and Jeremy's life in the real world to leave much time for dropping a lot of Shanandoah lore. 
The story, at least, seemed self-aware as it had a built-in mechanism to explain why much of the magic and rules of Shanandoah didn't make sense - it was a story written by a child who later became the Queen of Shanandoah. Queen Skya (formerly Shannon - hence the misspelling) wrote a fantasy story as a child with a magical unicorn pencil given to her by her teacher, and it somehow came true.
Throughout the story, the plot is interrupted by a "Storyteller's Corner" (revealed in the end to be Skya writing a second story) which feels entirely unnecessary and never furthers the plot or adds much value.
I felt the strongest part of this novel was when Rafe was remembering and exploring his childhood trauma. It was an interesting take to explore repressed memories through the idea of his "lost story," a book of memories that Rafe was unable to access once he left Shananoah, but ultimately the fantasy world did not seem strong enough to make this metaphor work. I wanted to be wrapped up in the magic and fantasy of Shenandoah, and it just did not get me there.
The story is left open for continuation. I thought the story ended somewhat abruptly and could have been wrapped up in a few more chapters, but perhaps Meg Shaffer wants to develop the story even more into a second book, or even a series. Hopefully if there is a sequel, the world of Shanandoah will be explored in more detail and the world-building will feel more strong and confident. Building a fantasy world, after all, is no small feat!
The ARC that I read of this book clocked in at 291 pages, but I've noticed that the publication information seems to indicate the final copy will be around 336 pages. I do wonder if the Shanandoah lore was more developed in the final draft, or if the ending was expanded a bit. I think I will try to listen to the audio of the final version and report back after I have consumed the final version!
Overall, I do have hope for the world of Shanandoah. It wasn't uninteresting, I just wanted more from it! I am eager to see what changes were made before publication and interested enough to read a sequel or second book if this becomes a series. I want to know more about what happens to Jeremy, Rafe, Emilie, and Skya after the end of the story. This story doesn't seem complete yet, and hopefully, Meg Shaffer has more to explore in this world!
If you enjoyed The Wishing Game, or if you are a fan of fantasy worlds, I would recommend giving this book a read.

3 stars

I love narnia!! Loved that this was inspired by it. I really enjoyed the magical realism, the journey, and the adventures. The writing was very lyrical and that was hit and a miss for me. It comes with pros and cons. Fast paced and cute at times.

So what could have been better?
• I struggled with the dialogue when it came to the characters. It felt very one dimensional and not much of a development.
• Also not much happened till half way down the line and I just found myself kinda bored sometimes.

Overall this was okay!

After the death of her mother Emilie discovers she’s has a sister. But her sister has been missing since she was a teenager. Hoping to find her body she enlists the help of Jeremy who is known for finding lost girls and women since he came home as a missing teenager. At first Jeremy agrees to help but they need the help of the other boy who went missing with him as a teenager. This is a sweet fairy tale for adults that doesn’t have some big elaborate world building or complicated story behind it. This is a good read for adults who want something a bit fantastical and escapist but don’t want to have to think to had or spent hundreds of pages reading set up and world building. I loved the characters, story and the bit of mystery. My only compliant was I felt the last bit of the book felt a bit rushed.

The Lost story is an adult fairy tale, found family, mm romance that focuses on the story of Rafe and Jeremy, two boys, and then men from West Virginia. When the novel begins, we meet Jeremy who seems to have a magical power to find missing women and girls, and Emilie, who tracks him down in order to find her half sister who went missing 15 years ago. We quickly learn that Jeremey and his best friend Rafe got lost in the same woods that Emilies sister did years ago, and were found months later, not only in good shape but stronger, taller and healthier than when they got lost.

The initial set up had me immediately interested, and I enjoyed learning about our characters, and the relationship between them. Once the trio goes searching however, the novel turns into a fantasy novel, not just the magical realism that we had in the authors first novel. It also felt a bit like a YA novel, but that might just because I do not normally read fantasy or fairy tales, but I picked this up because I enjoyed the authors first novel so much. Never the less I found myself immersed in the land of Shanandoah and its magical creatures, and the relationships between our 4 main characters. There are also some serious issues addressed here including child abuse, if that is a trigger for you.

If you enjoyed the wishing game, and are willing to expand into the fantasy, world building genre, then this one will be for you too. Thank you to net galley for the e galley for an unbiased review.