I really loved the found family element of this book, the queer representation, the continuous element of grief and difficult family dynamics, abuse, etc. It touched on a lot of heavy topics, but the fairy tale element of the story really lightened it up.

Sometimes the story and characters almost seemed too simple, too perfect. Their dialogue a little cheesy, the plot a little easy to predict. But that, I think, is the point. Those instances are what the characters wanted, needed, hoped for. A perfect place where they could run away from the hard parts of their lives and find simple, enduring love. The “fairytale” was written by a teenager and it showed. The parts of the book that were “real life” and not the fairytale were less cheesy, a little deeper, more real life. It was an interesting juxtaposition.

Things I loved: Fritz the rat, the unconditional platonic love between characters, the queer romance, West—by God—Virginia!, the art (painted and written) and the storyteller corner between chapters.

Some of the characters, Skya, were not explored as in depth as I would have liked but I’m guessing maybe we will explore her character more deeply in a sequel? Overall, I really loved this book. It was unique and I really enjoy Meg’s writing.

Favorite quotes:

“If you had died in Red Crow that day, she said, all the paintings you ever could have painted would have been lost. You kill an artist, you kill all their unmade art too. Why don’t people think about that before they hurt each other?“

“Joy is quieter than people think it is. Especially the joy of getting back something you thought was lost forever.”

“Grief and joy warred in his heart. Joy of rediscovering what was lost. Grief when he thought of the past fifteen years and what he’d missed out on.”

For lovers of Alix E. Harrow, Seanan McGuire and Simon Jimenez

I love portal fiction, books where our heroes go through a door or a wardrobe or a pond and find themselves in another world.

This was fantastic. I picked it up because I’d read and liked The Wishing Game. This one is 10x better: the prose itself is much stronger, and the story just feels like one that Shaffer was dying to tell. It comes together really well, and the characters felt like real people.

Years ago, two boys disappeared in the woods and were found again months later. In present day, one has a preternatural ability to find people who are lost while the other is a reclusive artists who doesn’t know where the inspiration for his art comes from. They haven’t spoke in 15 years.

They are brought back together to help a young woman find her sister, who disappeared into the same woods they had.

The story moves along quickly—I finished this in two settings—and the love and support between the characters was beautiful. I definitely recommend this one for anyone who likes portals, fairy tales, cozy romance stories and the motto “scared is a feeling, not an excuse.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books!

From the author of “The Wishing Game” comes a new adventure that unites the wonder and imagination of childhood with the harsh realities of growing up. As high schoolers, Jeremy and Rafe went missing on a class field trip to a state park. Presumed dead, the pair mysteriously reappeared six months later. Since then, the best friends have hardly spoken.

Fifteen years later, Jeremy is renowned for his ability to locate missing persons, and he’s sought out by Emilie Wendell to look for her sister, who disappeared in the same forest Jeremy and Rafe did. While Jeremy is in the spotlight, Rafe keeps to himself in a reclusive cabin, working on his art and trying to piece together what happened all those years ago.

Jeremy knows the truth of their disappearance but can’t tell anyone – who would believe they were heroes in a magical world they happened upon in the forest? To find Emilie’s sister, Jeremy knows he’ll need to involve Rafe, because as beautiful and wild as the enchanted land was, it hides many dark secrets as well. Can this adventure reunite Emilie with her sister and help Rafe and Jeremy heal from their pasts?

I loved this book! A fairy tale for adults with creatures from our childhood fantasies meeting real life darknesses that everyone experiences in some shape or form. Meg Shaffer has another hit on her hands!

A million stars. This book is perfect. I wouldn’t change a single word.

This book is billed as an adult fairy tale, and I would 100% agree with that. To paraphrase Fred Savage's grandfather, this book had everything - swordfighting, princes, knights, unicorns, mermaids, chases, escapes, true love, magic. The feeling I had while reading this was so reminiscent of the feeling I get every time I re-fall in love with reading (and if you think that sounds overly romanticized, you're absolutely right - but it does not make it any less true.)

Thank you Meg, for writing a story that felt like it was written just for me.

And thank you to NetGalley + Random House Ballantine for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I felt like this story was a continuation of another story. I wanted a prequel to what happened with Skya and how she came to be queen. I wanted more time in this fantasy world and more details about the magic surrounding it. The reader picks up in the middle it seems where we are just supposed to accept that this world exists and Skya is the queen because she wrote about it in a notebook with a magical pencil. I needed more world building and the story itself fell flat for me. I didn't see Emilie's relationship with the boys fleshed out enough but suddenly she deeply cares for them like brothers.

Let me begin by stating that I absolutely loved Meg Schaffer's 'The Wishing Game.' I feel the need to state this because I had such a different reaction to this novel. I'm not sure if it is because the bar was set so high, or because this novel just had characters and themes I could not relate to as well. Since there is not a label classifying this as LGBT in the description, I think that would help people know if it is in their normal wheelhouse. I generally enjoyed Schaffer's writing style in this, but there were points that it felt like she couldn't necessarily match the tone to the moment and the character's bandied back and forth between seemingly responsible adults and crass children. The memory loss thing impeded the love story in a way that, I suppose, made sense in the story line, but just felt odd. It also felt like the characters were put in traumatic situations only to kind of brush off the trauma. I don't really know how I feel about this book or that it sort of seemed like it was resolved enough to stand alone, but open enough that there could be a sequel. If there is a sequel, I doubt I will read it, but I will continue to look forward to other Schaffer stand alone books. I wanted to love it, but I'm just left feeling kind of torn on whether or not I liked it.

This book is not just about magic, it is magic! It is a beautiful fairytale about love. Romantic love, family love, friendship love. Meg Shaffer has a gift for writing characters you’ll care about in both real and whimsical settings. I was hooked from start to finish. Highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to escape into a magical world and feel the warmth and love of human connection. 5 out of 5 bright stars.

I really enjoyed Meg's last book so I was so excited to see she was releasing a new book. I am not a Narnia reader/fan so some of the magic goes over my head but it was still whimsical and enjoyable. It doesn't top the last book for me, but I loved the coziness and hope Meg continues to write in this style and genre, because it definitely fits a niche that is lacking in adult books currently.

This was an absolutely enchanting story. As someone who reads primarily fantasy novels, this fairy tale set in reality was so charming and the perfect change of pace. Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lost Story appeals to adults who still hold out hope of magic and dream of dragons and unicorns.

Not only was this was fairy tale, but it was a tale of two lovers finding love and paving a path forward through fairy tales and reality.

I also adored the storytellers corner and got so excited when I found one tucked between chapters. Highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book! I felt an immediate attachment to and investment in the main characters. I loved the whimsical fairytale world of Shanandoah but I also like that it dealt with difficult topics such as abusive parents, homophobia, loss of a parent, and more.
I will strongly recommend this book to others and I hope that maybe there will be more to this world someday!
Thank you to NetGalley, Meg Shaffer, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Meg Shaffer has done it again. Another magical realism/fantasy book that had me sucked in from the first pages! Her easy-to-read writing style kept me hooked from the beginning. I really enjoyed the characters and plotline of the story. The integration was seamless and just so interesting. I don't want to give too much away (how can you really describe the book without giving away all the elements?) but this is one you cannot miss.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
Publishing date - July 16th 2024
Rating (4/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books for this e-ARC. The Lost Story is a fairy tale about the power of love, the magic in books, and the gift of forgiveness. Strong Narnia vibes (the series is even references it in the book). Overall a fun read! If you loved The Wishing Game by this author , I think you will enjoy this one too!

Two friends went missing together as children, but they were found a few months later totally fine with no recollection of what happened. Now after much time has passed they both have taken different roles in the community. A girl has gone missing in the same forest where the two boys previously went missing which will lead them back to the fantasy world that previously captured them! This is very different from what i typically read, and I enjoyed a break from the norm. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books for a copy of this book for an honest review.

“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 make out of ink and paper, not flesh and blood? Yes, books are magic. Maybe even the strongest magic there is.”

Oh, this was so magical. Truly such a fun read that made me feel like a kid again. It had that feeling of when I first read Narnia - this kind of awe-inspiring story that made me want to daydream and write more, ya know?

My only complaint was the dialogue. I actually thought the characters were quite funny, but sometimes it felt very surface level compared to how deep (and sometimes dark) the topics, or events around them, were… and it felt like the characters felt comfortable almost instantly with each other which took away from the validity from it. But then I remind myself that this is literally a fairytale LOL and it’s not supposed to be that serious? Even though I could have easily gobbled this up if it was longer and written in more depth.

Thank you sooo much NetGalley for the ARC, it’s books like this that make me feel so blessed!

Having read The Wishing Game I was very excited for the opportunity to read Meg Shaffer’s newest book. It did NOT disappoint. I loved it even more than her first book. Brought back wonderful memories of all those fantasy/fairy tale books I loved as a kid. With all the stresses that come with adulthood, it was great to escape into this story!

The Lost Story
This book was very creative and different. The cover and the blur got my attention. I love fantasy and books with a magical element, so I was very excited to read this book. The thing that initially sucked me in was that the author got her inspiration from C.S Lewis. Unfortunately, apart from a few mentions of CS Lewis and children being lost in a magical world that is where the similarities end. Usually I read books pretty quickly, but this book took me a while to finish. It did not keep my attention I felt like I had to finish this book not that I wanted to finish it. I did enjoy the mixture of real life and a magical world but I did not fall in love with any of the characters (other than the unicorns) & I did thoroughly enjoyed the storyteller chapters in between the story and that particular character. I would recommend this, but I did not love it as much as I thought I would.

Thank you, NetGallery, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

2.5 stars || I wanted to love this book. i love the idea of stories like The Chronicles of Narnia.
This fell flat. It felt like reading someone’s memories more than learning about and experiencing the world. There was no discovery - it just was.
I was taken out of the story every time there’s a “Storyteller Corner”. It felt unnecessary and a prime example of the author telling you what to think vs showing you.
The buildup of the story falls flat. It goes for this grand story but the climax ends in a single chapter and then the book drags on.
The plot got lost in this book and I’m still not sure which direction it was supposed to go in - missing sister to lost lovers to broken fatherly relationship but it gets jumbled and none feel well fleshed out.
The only true comparison to Chronicles of Narnia is a portal to a “magical world” with unicorns. That’s it. Nothing else. The world building was mediocre at best and lacked anything to make me attached to this fantasy realm. Don’t compare something to a great piece of literature unless you know it’s going to be another epic - this was not.

This took me back to being a kid and feeling absolutely lost in wonder at the fantasy worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter. It was sweet and had that element of childhood magic that can be so hard to capture. The bond between the characters felt so pure from start to finish. The interjection of the storyteller was such a fun aspect to the story. I'm really hoping this isn't a stand-alone story - I'm already excited for the sequel.

During their childhood, Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell vanished in a vast West Virginia forest, only to reappear mysteriously six months later, leaving behind unanswered questions. Now, fifteen years later, Rafe, scarred both mentally and physically, has no memory of their time away, while Jeremy has become a renowned missing persons' investigator. When vet tech Emilie Wendell seeks Jeremy's help in finding her missing sister, who disappeared in the same forest, he reveals the fantastical truth about their disappearance and believes they must return to the magical realm to find Emilie's sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark for reasons unknown, but as they embark on the quest together, buried secrets resurface, and they must confront their traumatic past to reclaim what they've lost.

I didn’t love the book, it was just meh to me mostly because of the writing style. It was very YA and I wasn’t expecting that. I felt like the story had so much potential as it is a good idea and would be SO interesting but it just feel so flat for me.

I was blown away by this book. Its like a grown up version of every fantasy book you read as a kid and wished you could have been a part of. Meg Shaffer really brought the West Virginia vibes alive with her thoughtful prose and attention to detail. I relished how all her characters found peace among the trials, traumas, and triumphs. Go buy a copy now!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for an honest review.