Meg Shaffer's "The Lost Story" promises a journey akin to C. S. Lewis’s beloved Chronicles of Narnia, but unfortunately falls short of its mark. The premise, reminiscent of childhood adventures and mysterious disappearances, holds initial intrigue, but ultimately the plot fails to deliver on its potential.

The story follows best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell, who vanished into a West Virginia forest as boys, only to return months later with no memory of their experiences. Now, fifteen years later, Jeremy, a renowned missing persons’ investigator, holds the key to unlocking the truth behind their disappearance. Alongside vet tech Emilie Wendell, they embark on a quest to find Emilie’s missing sister, leading them back to the enchanted world where Jeremy and Rafe spent those lost months.

While the novel starts with promise, the plot begins to unravel as it progresses. The narrative relies heavily on exposition rather than immersive storytelling, leaving much to be desired in terms of character development and depth. The main characters lack dimension, and the anticipated moments of revelation or climax never materialize.

One notable aspect that detracts from the story's flow is the inclusion of vignettes by an unknown “Storyteller,” which feel distracting and unnecessary. These interruptions disrupt the narrative momentum and fail to add significant value to the overall plot.

Despite the author's imaginative world-building and writing ability, "The Lost Story" ultimately fails to captivate. While it may hold nostalgic appeal for readers drawn to references like Ale 81, the execution falls short of the lofty expectations set by its comparison to classic works like The Chronicles of Narnia.

In conclusion, "The Lost Story" begins with promise but ultimately disappoints with its lackluster plot and underdeveloped characters. While Shaffer demonstrates potential as a writer, this particular novel fails to live up to its premise, leaving readers longing for a more fulfilling experience.

Overall, I would not recommend "The Lost Story" for readers seeking a truly immersive and engaging fantasy tale.

What a beautiful, powerful book. It's a fairy tale for grown-ups and also so much more. This is a book I wanted to get lost in for hours. Such a gorgeous, wonderful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Admittedly I wasn’t sold on this book from the start. It may have just been getting situated into a new story, but I struggled to like Emilie at first. After a few chapters, however, I quickly fell into the flow of the story and it was hard to put down!

I went in with little to no expectations other than the blurb on NetGalley, and I walked away having really enjoyed this book. It definitely has Narnia vibes and another reviewer called it Stranger Things with a more fantasy than sci-fi twist, which I completely agree with.

A thoroughly enjoyable fairy tale! I especially love the small chapters explaining fairy tales to the reader. Shaffer seems like she really gets the need for feel good fiction!

Thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me an advanced digital copy of this book. This review was voluntary, and all opinions are my own.

This was a fun, enjoyable book, but I was left wanting a little more from it. I really loved Shaffer's The Wishing Game, and this book promised to be even more up my alley - but somehow this book, although a fantasy, delivered less magic. The Wishing Game was so moving and emotional, and I got a lot less of that in this book.

I will say the strongest part of the book for me is the times when we see Rafe and Jeremy and Emilie all together, and it's sad that we got relatively little of it. Their banter was excellent and I felt the book really shined there. We did get plenty of Jeremy and Rafe time, and I thought their dialogue was so well-written; they really did feel like childhood best friends and partners in crime. The storyteller interludes were fun, but I probably could have done without them. They felt a little YA to me.

If you, like me, were a kid who knocked on the back of wardrobes, just in case, you probably will enjoy this book. The literary references were wonderful, and I loved all the callbacks to some of my favorite childhood stories. However, some authors have the ability to really evoke a sense of magic in the way they describe the setting, and this book didn't really give me that.

Overall, it was a fun read, but not one of my favorites. The premise of the book had so much promise, and I just wish that either the character development or the plot or the setting had been stronger; I think that could have made the book truly spectacular.

So…I literally screamed out loud when I received this ARC. I loved The Wishing Game and based on the premise of this book, I was pretty sure that I would love The Lost Story, too.

And guess what?! I did love it! The main characters are interesting, the magical world is beautifully described, and there is a sweet love story. Much like The Wishing Game, this book also celebrates the love of books, which is definitely something avid readers can connect to. While this book was inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia, I do not think that the reader needs to have a deep knowledge of the inspiration piece in order to enjoy The Lost Story. I certainly did not. However, I’ve read that fans of The Chronicles of Narnia will pick up on a few easter eggs throughout the book. I’m definitely considering reading The Chronicles of Narnia after reading this.

This was a quick read, but all topics are not light. The characters have experienced various traumas and are each confronting those traumas. The magical world, Shanandoah, is both beautiful and dangerous. Through these challenges, friendships are built, love grows, and families are found.

4.5 stars – a wonderful read that I highly recommend!

A big thank you to both NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, who provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Story
By Meg Shaffer

This is the second novel by the author of "The Wishing Game". I loved her first book and hoped not to be let down by her second. I have to say that I loved this one too!

This is a fairy tale – at least we are told so by the Storyteller. Two young boys, Jeremy and Ralph (or Rafe as he is known), go on a school field trip in the Red Crow State Forest in West Virginia. But they apparently are lost, not to be found by subsequent searches. It is only six months later that they mysteriously reappear in the forest. Both boys claim to have no memory of what happened to them – but only one is telling the truth. They are separated shortly after, when Jeremy is whisked away to England by his mother – and they stay apart for 15 years.

During that time, Jeremy becomes the finder of lost females with great success. How he does it – and why only females - is anyone's guess. In the meantime, Rafe has not adjusted well to being back home. He is tormented by his loss of memory and he pines for his friend Jeremy. He has become a recluse.

It is only when Jeremy meets Emily, a young girl searching for her missing half-sister Shannon, that the story begins to come together and the boys are reunited.

This is a story about friendship and love, hate and fear, and most of all forgiveness. It is cleverly done with a wonderful ending – or is it an ending? Only the Storyteller knows!

I can't wait to see what Ms. Shaffer writes next. With her extraordinary imagination, I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Meg Shaffer has easily become one of my all-time favorite authors. When I say that The Lost Story is pure magic, I mean it. This story completely came alive in my mind & I loved every character so much, I can’t even begin to put my feelings into words. A part of me will forever live in Shanandoah.

Do yourself the biggest favor ever & please read this book!!!

“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.“

Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC of this beautiful book.

SYNOPSIS
- Rafe and Jeremy disappeared for six months and returned with scars and no memory of what happened.
- 15 years later, Jeremy is now a famous missing persons' investigator and believes that Emilie's missing sister is in the same magical realm where they were. However, secrets emerge as they embark on the quest to find Emilie's sister, and the former lost boys must confront their shared past to get everything back.

MY THOUGHTS
- I have heard really great things about this author, so I was excited to give this a try.
- Overall, it was just okay to me. It felt more like a YA book to me & geared toward a younger audience.
- It felt strangely paced. The beginning was slow, but the time spent in the other world was confusing & jumbled.
- There wasn’t much depth to the main characters. I kept waiting for a big moment to happen, but nothing too big ever happens.
- I did appreciate several of the themes explored. I liked the idea of finding people & spaces that allow you to be yourself and that you feel comfortable in.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️this one was just okay to me. read more like YA.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on July 16, 2024.

Two boys get lost in the woods, then find their way home again six months later. One boy moves away and never talks about it, the other boy can't remember anything about that time or what happened. Years later, a girl comes along, needing these two boys (now men) to help her find her long lost sister. Thus begins the heart of the story.
Jeremy and Rafe, along with Emilie, set out into the woods to find Emilie's long lost sister (like 20+ years lost!). Jeremy says he knows her and can find her, because he knew her when he was lost in those same woods as a teenager. Rafe was there too, but he can't remember any of it.
They trio set off and find their way through a magic portal into an alternate world. The adventures really pick up from there.
It reads like an adult version of The Chronicles of Narnia.
They encounter unicorns, battle demons, find love. A little bit of evything. It is cute, fun, whimsecal.
Did they find Emilie's sister? Well, no spoilers here - you'll have to read it if you want to know that.
And like most fairytales, it does come with a fairly decent happily ever after at the end.

It's not Meg's best book, but it was a cute, easy read. Her debut book, (In my opinion, her debut book The Wishing Game was much better.)
I do like her writing style, it is warm and engaging.

"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."

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer starts with the return of two boys, Rafe and Jeremy who had disappeared for six months in the wilderness of West Virginia, then skips 15 years to find them in their early 30s, having not spoken since they were rescued. Emilie, whose sister disappeared in the same woods, five years before the boys is looking for her and turns to Jeremy to help find her. Jeremy reaches out to Rafe and their search takes them to the magical kingdom of Shanandoah, where Emilia's sister is queen. Shenanigans ensue and I read through this novel in a day, it was so intriguing! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4⭐️: Meg Shaffer is my newest auto-buy author! I love all the child-like fairy tale aspects of her books, and The Lost Story does it so well! The characters and their friendships were so heartwarming to read. The book was so well written, the foreshadowing and hints dropped in the beginning and the quotes were so good! I can’t wait to read more from Meg Shaffer!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

The Wishing Game was one of my favorite books last year so I was so excited to read this. The beginning of the book was amazing. I thought I’d finish it in a day based off how it started but the middle was very slow and the ending very rushed. The book is very juvenile and reads as a YA book.

The adult FMC is one of the most annoying characters I’ve read in a book. She’s obsessed with Stevie Nicks and it comes up way more often than it needs to, has a pet rat she carries in her pocket and “boops” people. There is queer representation which is very important. I don’t think their relationship was well executed but happy that it’s there nonetheless.

There is a storyteller that interjects every so often for almost no apparent reason as they’re just repeating what has already been said. I would have loved this part but it was unnecessary the way it was executed.

There is no world building, I wanted to be able to imagine this place and feel like I was there. I didn’t fully understand what the point of the antagonists was for and why they were enemies… so much didn’t make sense to me. Overall, I’m disappointed and think this could have been amazing. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Jeremy and Ralph disappeared in the woods for six months when they were teenagers. After they came home they didn’t talk to each other for fifteen years. Enter Emilie, she needs to find her sister who went missing five years ago. She seeks out Jeremy who is able to locate missing women and girls, but in order to find Emilie’s sister they need Ralph’s help.

They follow a red crow into the hollow of a tree and enter the magical world from which they spent those six months all those fifteen years ago. The Lost Story is everything that a fairytale is- magical world, magical creatures, queens princes knights and even the evil that resides in the magical world.

Meg Shaffer has this amazing ability to create these magical worlds you just want to get lost in and characters that you want to be friends with. There’s always a deep devotion of friendship and love between them. The adventure to this world and through this world was a magical ride I never wanted to get off of.

Thank you Netgalley for the ebook ARC of Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story!

The first chapter was so gripping. I was engaged right away. Meg Shaffer's ability to successfully blend classic fairytale elements with modern day humor is the perfect balance for this story. For fans of portals into another world such as the Chronicles of Narnia with present day incorporated.

We are introduced to two young boys, Jeremy and Ralph "Rafe", who become lost in the woods and turn up after 6 long months seemingly unharmed. Fast forward to adulthood where Jeremy has now created a name for himself as the person to call for finding lost girls and is introduced to Emilie who is in search of her long lost sister.

I'm here for the BA princess vibes, the unusual animal sidekick, the likeable characters, and the heavy topics conveyed in a light manner.

Personally, I feel neutral towards the side narration of the storyteller. The blurbs were short enough that they didn't over power the story, yet I don't know that it was needed. This story was beautiful without.

A delightful follow up to The Wishing Game, The Lost Story is enchanting without being saccharine, clever without being cynical. Fans of TJ Klune, The Chronicles of Narnia, Stevie Nicks, and whimsy will love this one.

On paper, this book has all the elements of a story I would really enjoy, and I didn't dislike it, but I found the execution underwhelming. One of my biggest pet peeves in reading is when third person limited is done incorrectly - e.g. switching back and forth every other sentence between different characters' 3rd-person POV - and that runs rampant in this book. The writing in general wasn't very elegant, and the characters felt a lot younger than the 30-ish they were supposed to be.

All that being said, I did like the characters and both the real-world and fantasy setting. The storyline in Shanandoah was a bit simplistic and I preferred the start of the book set in West Virginia.

Overall, an enjoyable read but could've been better executed in writing style and plot.

This was a modern take on a childhood classic and I couldn't have been more thrilled when I received this ARC! Who else loved C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia?! There were certain movies and shows growing up that I adored and completely fantasized being in and that was one of them.

Two boys, Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell, went missing in a West Virginia state forest only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no memory of the events during those six months or how they survived. Fifteen years later, Jeremy is now a missing persons investigator and Rafe is a reclusive artist. When the sister of a vet tech goes missing in the same forest, she seeks out Jeremy, the only one she thinks can possibly help.

I love magical realms stories! This story starts off a bit slow and we don’t quite experience that whimsical realm until around halfway which was kind of disappointing but this was still a decent story exploring human and family dynamics, loss, and love. We have found family and an LGBTQ romance. The pacing was a huge shift from beginning to end though. Where it was slow to begin with, it almost felt rushed towards the end.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Definitely a nostalgic kind of story but also a story that carved its own name as The Lost Story.

I liked this for the most part. However, it was a little slow after a strong start and ended up falling a little flat for me in the end. Loved The Wishing Game though!

I liked this book. It was cute and cozy and had some very interesting concepts. Meg Shaffer knows how to do cozy fantasy. It's not deep. The world building is flimsy at best, but at the end of the day it is an easy and charming read. It reminded me of the books I enjoyed when I was young. I would recommend if you're looking for an easy and cozy queer friendly book.