Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Quercus Books for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: child abuse, abuse, kidnapping, injury, mental illness, mentions of suicide, trauma

Fifteen years ago, two boys and best friends, Jeremy Cox and Ralph (he prefers Rafe) Howell, went missing in the enormous vast forest named Red Crow in West Virginia. Six months later, after numerous searches had been abandoned, they emerged from the trees, covered in scars with no explanations of where they’d been, how they survived or what happened. Rafe had no memory and Jeremy refused to speak about it. Rafe is a reclusive artist living in a cabin who sculpts incredible statues from dreams he believes are from their missing time. Meanwhile, Jeremy has established a career as a missing person’s investigator- one who always finds what or who he’s looking for. When he’s approached by Emelie, a vet tech seeking the long-missing sister she never knew about until after her adoption, he finds another case; Emelie’s sister Shannon went missing in the same forest he and Rafe did years earlier. Jeremy has always refused to say what happened when the boys went missing, but now he will if both Rafe and Emelie come with him: when they disappeared, it was into a magical, terrifying realm where he’s sure they met Emelie’s sister after her kidnapping. Despite everything, Rafe and Jeremy reenter the forest alongside Emelie to find Shannon, even if it means the full truth coming to light. As their adventure gets more dangerous, traumatic memories threaten to tear this team apart before they can get back to reality intact.

This book is inspired partly by Chronicles of Narnia and it reads so beautifully, but from the perspectives of two very broken adults who experienced something in childhood that changed them. One aspect I really enjoyed was that there’s a storyteller directly narrating to the reader at times, which makes it feel even more like a fairytale. Rafe and Jeremy are so different to each other but that’s what I found really worked in this book, especially considering how much time Rafe has lost without the truth. There are parts of this book that worked better than others for me, I think the characters of Emelie and Skya were a little flat and there wasn’t enough world-building for my liking. As a fantasy story set between two worlds, and one influenced by childhood fairytales (the world was built for a thirteen year old girl) it worked well, I just think it was too fast paced in parts and the characters weren't well rounded enough. If we'd seen the experiences of Rafe and Jeremy in the other world, rather than just hearing about them I think I would have enjoyed it more.

I loved this story. The world building was beautifully done and you just want to keep reading to discover more.

Jeremy and Rafe are by far my favourite characters. Their growth throughout the book from young boys to damaged men. Seeing them finally get their closure was part of the magic of the story.

Thank you to Quercus Books, NetGalley and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pitched as an adult 'Chronicles in Narnia', I was so excited to pick this up - and I was not disappointed! This is truly a lovely story. about dreams coming true and open hearts, and I would have loved to have been able to travel to Shanandoah. The author has the gift of being able to tap into your nostalgia, filling this magical world with unicorns, princesses, palaces, magic apples made of sunlight, dragons, shimmering oceans, stairways built into trees.... I adored every minute of being in this world.

The characters of this story have my whole heart. Jeremy, Rafe, two boys who got lost in the woods fifteen years before for six months, before returning with seemingly no memory of what had happened; and Emilie, the young woman who finds them in the present day asking them to help her find her missing sister, who she's never met. Despite these characters having been through some truly awful, tragic events in their lives, I adored their connections, the humour they shared, the wonder and joy they experience with each other on this journey.

This is incredibly whimsical and comfortable and gorgeous. I cannot wait to read the author's first book, and all her books to come.

To set the stage: I absolutely adored Meg Shaffer's book "The Wishing Game". It was love at first sight, and I went on to recommend it to everybody I knew.

So when I heard that she's written another book AND that it was inspired by C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" series I was so excited! I grew up with that series, and have read them too many times to count. It couldn't have been more perfect!

... except that this meant my expectations were <i>way</i> too high, and that the book itself unfortunately couldn't deliver. It was perfectly fine, but since I had expected heart-eyes, "fine" just didn't cut it.

At the end of the day the book had a lot more shades of "Mio, My Son" or "Brothers Lionheart" (both by Astrid Lindgren) than it did of Narnia, and while I could see the charm of the story, I actually preferred the part that took place "here" over the part that took place "there" -- which kinda negated the charm of the book.

All this to say that this is definitely a case of "It's not you, it's me" ... possibly combined with faulty marketing.

I loved the beginning of this book - even the whole first half, but then I wasn’t sure.., things got **too** magical and too weird and felt like a completely different book? Strange. I’m on the fence, and only because I really loved the quote at the end.

This book absolutely broke me. Usually, when I say that a book moved me to tears, I mean a few silent drops trickling down my face as I’m reading. This book made me ugly sob so hard I had to put it down and compose myself before I could read on. It also filled me with joy and delight, making my face hurt from beaming, so it was the literal definition of an ‘all the feels’ read for me.

If you loved Narnia, Oz, Neverland, Wonderland, Mythologia and other classic children’s fantasy adventures, with mythical creatures and strange lands, princesses and knights and magic, then this is the adult fantasy adventure for you. It is full of nostalgia for all of those beloved worlds mentioned (and probably more I didn’t spot!), with the whimsy of The Princess Bride and Labyrinth, and retuned to be age appropriate for adults who love all of the above.

In addition to the portal fantasy, there are elements of horror – fantastical and realistic (trigger warning for child abuse and abduction), and a deeply compelling LGBTQIA soulmates love story woven through the storyline, perfectly balanced with exploration of familial and friendship bonds too.

The whole book is just a beautiful, magical story about love and friendship, and family, and facing your fears, and following your dreams and your heart… there wasn’t a thing I didn’t adore about it. I am treating myself to a beautiful hardcover copy as soon as possible, so that I can keep it and read it again and again, just like its childhood predecessors.

So the reason I wanted to read this book is because the synopsis sounded amazing and I saw that it was under the LGBTQIA category and we all know how much I love queer storytelling so I applied for it. I'm not going to lie friends, the start of this book is a little slow because it is getting us to learn more about our 3 main characters but please give this book a chance and power through it because the ending is so worth it. This book honestly made my heart so happy and took me out of a little reading slump that I was having. One of my favourite things about this book was the "storyteller's corner" and I've never seen something like that implemented in a book before and I found it so fun to read through. This is the first Meg Shaffer book I've ever read and I will 100% be picking up her other book (as well as this one) when I next go to the bookstore because her storytelling is stunning! It was nice to have a mixture of mystery and fantasy and so much happened that I was just not expecting. Other than the slow beginning, I loved every moment of reading this book and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a good mystery/fantasy!

West - by God! - Virginia!

Of lost children, magical realms and the power of stories.

15 years ago, two boys go missing in the Red Crow nature area in West Virginia. They reappear after 6 months, seemingly no worse for the wear, though one of them has no memory of where they've been and the other refuses to say.

Current day, Emilie is looking for her long lost sister, who disappeared in the same area not long before the boys. She approaches one of the former lost boys - Jeremy, now a famous finder of lost things and people - to help her in her search. She finds much more than she bargained for.

If you were that kid who obsessively re-read The Chronicles of Narnia, and are still kind of hoping that one day you'll open a wardrobe and find a magical land, this book is for you.

It was mostly the last 10% that elevated this from 4 to 5 stars for me. I was so invested in the characters and moved by their story, and the ending felt inevitable, bittersweet and hopeful, which is a hard thing to pull off.

I do feel like it took too long to get into the magical realm part of the book (almost half way), and we all know we're heading there, so I got a little impatient, though I did enjoy getting to know Emilie, Jeremy and Rafe.

The "interruptions" from the Storyteller mostly work well and didn't break my immersion - though I tend to enjoy this kind of stuff.

Another minor niggle from me is the fact that it seems time doesn't pass differently in the other reality and I feel like they had too big an impact on the magical world for only having spent 6 months there - it felt like they should have been there for at least a couple of years - though I vaguely remember 6 months feeling like an eternity as a teen.

Also, with both a Gilmore Girls and a Firefly reference, I feel like Meg Shaffer and I could be friends. Those are two of my all-time favourite shows.

Fifteen years ago, teenagers Jeremy and Rafe went missing in a West Virginian forest for six months. They never provided an explanation, and no longer speak to each other. Jeremy, however, makes a living finding missing girls – and now Emilie has approached him to ask for help in finding the missing sister she’s never even met. Jeremy – the only one who remembers the events from all those years ago – realises that he’s about to be pulled back into the world he visited as a teen, and to do so he’ll need to enlist Rafe’s unwilling help.

I picked this ARC on a whim, fancying something a bit lighter and sweeter than some of my usual reading. And, I’d say that’s exactly what I got. This is a book for those of us who grew up with Narnia, and fantasy worlds at the other end of the rainbow – but before that, it was surprisingly ‘modern’, reading more like the start of a psychological thriller about missing people. It’s not dark, exactly, but there is a deep vein of darkness touched upon throughout, so maybe ‘content warnings’ about terrible, abusive parenting, and homophobia.

Of course, the point is leaving the real world and moving into a fantasy realm, and I have mixed feelings about this part. On the one hand, it’s very difficult to have unicorns and such and not sound a little childish. On the other, I think the author does reasonably well with the balancing act of not tipping that scale too far, and still maintaining a ‘grown up’ accessible story.

I liked all the main characters: damaged Rafe, burdened Jeremy, and ditzy Emilie. I wasn’t quite so keen on Skya, or quite sure about the backstory to those missing six months – it all felt like a lot for such a short time, and a bit… well, romance with spare wheel, not entire sure about the implied ages, just overall ‘fantasy world for kids’ somehow that didn’t seem like it would stand up to any close looks. Emilie also goes from appealing no-filter ball of energy, into a much more background role very quickly and I missed the quirkiness.

I did, however, really like the element of the ‘narrator’ chipping in between chapters, with amusing little comments.

Overall: this is very much going to be down to a reader’s own tastes on the balance of elements. I thought it was a great idea, mostly well executed, but maybe lost (pun intended) just a little bit for me on the childhood fantasy world part. Still an enjoyable read.

I love fairytales, I love fantasy and I loved EVERYTHING about this book. Masterpiece! Fav read of the year,

Whether it was chasing a talking rabbit down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, landing in Munchkinland and following a yellow brick road to the Emerald City, opening a wardrobe to step into Narnia with its talking lions and fauns, climbing up the Faraway Tree to ever-changing magical lands above the clouds, or being whisked away by a flying boy to Neverland with mermaids and eternal youth, I was always hooked by magic portal fantasy stories.

I think also what really got me was the leap from the mundane to the fantastical.

And it turns out I still apparently have a soft spot for these types of tales, judging by how much I enjoyed this book. It feels both familiar and refreshingly new, with:

• Found family,
• MM romance, and
• What seems like a possibly neurodivergent female main character, at least in my interpretation, based on her quirks and traits, though it's not explicitly stated.

Plus, it's sprinkled with enough Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks references to make any fan swoon. (Disclaimer: Don't hate me, but I'm not a die-hard Fleetwood Mac lover myself. But if you are, you might appreciate the references in this book more than I did.)

Anyway, the story unfolds in a third-person narrative, alternating between the perspectives of FMC Emilie and once-estranged high school besties, MMCs Rafe and Jeremy. Together with Emilie’s antisocial pet fancy rat, Fritz, they form a motley crew on a quest for answers about Emilie’s vanished sister and Rafe’s missing memories of that time he disappeared for six months in a forest with Jeremy, which funnily enough, happens to be in the same place that Emilie’s sister went missing.

To be honest, the first 40% of this book felt like a bit of a slog. It was all foundational story set-up in the mundane real world, and I may have been a bit impatient for the magic to kick in. But no spoilers here—since it’s a portal fantasy, we know the MCs eventually step into another world. That’s where things really switched gears for me. I guess pan-dimensional red crows, cyclops owls, silver-skinned mermaids, unicorns and rainbow sand beaches in a kingdom that doesn’t take itself too seriously could have that effect.

If the above sounds a bit too whimsical, twee, or even like a psychedelic trip (and you’re not into psychedelic trips), then this might not be the book for you. However, it’s more than just a feast of vivid colours and cosy whimsy. At its core, it’s a tale of found family, deep friendships, enduring love, limitless possibility, healing, forgiveness and a heartfelt reminder that what’s lost can be found.

All things considered, this feel-good story left me both satisfied and charmed. Yet, don't be fooled, there is also profound depth and meaning. It’s a tale that balances heartwarming moments with serious and relevant themes. Be aware of the trigger warnings: Mention of prenatal substance abuse, domestic and family violence, mentions of depression, suicide, and mental illness, mention of the death of a parent/s, as well as an implied homophobic character. Spiders too.

This was my first Meg Shaffer/Tiffany Reisz experience, but won’t be my last! If you enjoyed the effervescent enchantment ofThe House in The Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune or any other portal fantasy stories, there is a decent chance you will be delighted by The Lost Story too. Highly recommended!

My heartfelt thanks to Quercus Books | Arcadia for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This book has been published and is available to read now.

I’ve never read <b>The Chronicles of Narnia</b> because by the time I discovered the series, I was already <i>too old</i> for fairy tales. Fortunately, I’ve now reached an age where I'm old enough to read them again, and while I keep saving Narnia for the future, I’m always drawn to books inspired by it.

<b>The Lost Story</b> has all the elements a fairy tale needs: princes and princesses, knights, magic, special animals, villains, unicorns, found family, romance, second chances, redemption, and, of course, a happy ever after.

This story has one of the most gripping beginnings I’ve experienced in a while, and I was ecstatic to dive into it. We follow Emilie, who, in search of her big sister, contacts Jeremy, a formerly lost boy with a special talent for finding girls in need. From there, we are introduced to a cast of lovable characters, learn their stories and secrets, and enter a magical world full of wonder and Fleetwood Mac.

For no particular reason, I was expecting this to be a fairy tale for adults and was anticipating something a bit darker. However, this is a fairy tale for everyone, which is exactly as it should be 😊.

<i>I would like to thank Quercus Books | Arcadia and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review</i>

"Where did you go?" she asked Jeremy. He looked at the boy on the ground, then at her, and his one-word answer was frightening enough that she asked him nothing more. "Far."

Meg Shaffer is a new-to-me author, so I was excited to take a deep dive into The Lost Story kindly provided to me by NetGalley. And I was so happy I did!

The Lost Story was an absolute palate cleanser compared to the dark, MM contemporary romance/sports romance books I usually read. Pitched as an 'adult fairytale' and very loosely based on the Narnia stories, this was an enchanting tale of lost and found, and hidden memories that somehow stay forever.

Whilst this does have a MM romance woven throughout, it is very much 'fade to black' on any romantic scenes between our fabulous MMCs, Jeremy and Rafe, with the fantasy element and overarching storyline taking priority. Nothing here for fans of smut!

There are some strong FMCs too, in Skya and Emilie, and a gorgeous fantasy world in Shanandoah to get lost in.

What to Expect:

❣️Fantasy romance
❣️Alternate/parallel worlds
❣️MM best friends to lovers
❣️Strong FMCs
❣️Mental health rep
❣️Some dark themes
❣️HFN

Really enjoyed this one!

4 stars

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is the perfect book for anyone who grew up loving stories filled with magic and adventure. Reading it made me nostalgic and reminded me of the childhood summers when I was transported to Narnia or Oz or one of countless other magical lands. This book gave me that same sense of escape and I loved every last word.
The book opens with a mystery, two boys disappear in the woods only to return six months later unable to explain what happened or where they had been. Fifteen years later one of them, Jeremy, works as a missing persons investigator while the other, Rafe, is a reclusive artist. They have not seen or spoken to each other since they left the woods, but when a young woman pleads with Jeremy to help her find her sister who disappeared in the same woods they vanished in all those years ago. reluctantly he agrees, but only if Rafe will come two. It turns out that the trio are connected in an unexpected way which is revealed when Rafe and Jeremy finally admit what happened to them in the woods , and they head off on a magical adventure that may give them back everything they have lost.
This is a really beautiful book about love and friendship and for it to work the reader really needs to be invested in the characters and their connection. I absolutely was, from the gripping opening to the surprising twist in genre to the gradual revelation of what really happened in the woods all those years ago, Rafe and Jeremy absolutely had my heart. I loved the incorporation of a narrator character too, it really added to the fairy tale feel of the book.
This book was an absolute joy and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Every once in a while a story comes out of the blue that sweeps you off your feet, in the best of ways. The Lost Story is one of those stories.

As a lover of well-written thrillers I was eager to see how this story of two boys lost in the woods as teenagers, then found six months later, would turn out, especially since there may have been other children missing at the same time, too, and now - fifteen years later - one of the lost boys is a grown man who looks for lost people for a living. This book turned out to be so much more than I first thought it would be - this is a book about the lost and the found, sure, but this is also a magical mystery, a fantastical fantasy, and a beautiful tale of love and friendship. I was hooked from the beginning, enjoyed all the twists and turns and the wonderful banter, and was unable to set the book down before I had all the answers.

Thank you Quercus Books and the author for the advance copy of this enchanting story, once lost but now found.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this book and it is definitely a departure from my usual chosen genres, so it could have gone horribly wrong, haha!

I absolutely LOVED it! I was hooked from the very start, where the book has thriller vibes as the two boys return home as missing persons, and then it became the perfect escapism as we travelled to Shanandoah. The book is described as "Narnia for grown ups" and yes, it is that, but it's so much more.

Jeremy, Rafe and Emilie are the main characters and are so well developed, combined with the stunning writing and captivating descriptions, I really felt like I was tagging along with them into the forest. I loved the process of gently peeling back the layers of Rafe's lost memories and the unwavering support Jeremy and Rafe share from a lifetime of friendship and love.

Utterly wonderful, just read it!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Meg Shaffer and Quercus for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you Meg Shaffer, the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read the book in advance!
I'm in awe with magical realism books lately and this story has so much to talk about...
Just the fact of entering something and going to a completely different world is a sold for me. I was intrigued from the beginning with how and why Tage forgot everything, how Skya became to be what she is and then of course the creation of the world itself.
As the answers to my questions were being revealed and everything was making sense and fit in the puzzle of this great story, I was mesmerised with all the details of this book. How every single one of them were so unique and had its place in the story, how all of it and the revelations of the desapearances fit.
Need to mention that I loved the author's chapters and it was really refreshing in the book!

I couldn't complete the book.
Nowhere in the blurb does it mention that it is a gay romance, it does however mention "From the author of the bestselling novel The Wishing Game comes a Narnia-inspired fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobe doors . . . just in case."
The Narnia books are famous for being written by a Christian so I found this in the blurb to be very misleading.
I was so disappointed. The beginning is great and I was really enjoying it, I chuckled along at Emillie's thoughts and thought the prologue was beautifully written.
I don't want to post a review anywhere because I know this is just my personal take on the matter, and I don't want to leave a low star rating for that reason. Without that part it would definitely have been a 5 star review.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to read and review.
Sincerely
Tracy

The lost story

3.5 stars!
I really loved the concept for this book. I think my hopes were set a little too high when this was referred to as ‘Narnia for adults’. Despite being a book for adults, I felt it read very YA.

I was hooked from page one of this book. I was very keen to know more about the lost boys and where they had been. However, it was a very slow burn before finally getting to the other world and I found the way the characters interacted in the situation they were in to be super unrealistic.

The last 20% really redeemed this book for me! I loved the character developments, the way they dealt with the complications, and the relationships between characters.

I would love to have seen an epilogue of how they all reunited in the end!

Reading like a true fairytale, this novel weaved whimsy into every page. Its unexpected wit and the incorporation of heavier topics grounded it in reality, but it never lost its sense of magic and hope.

I loved the writing style. The brief interludes from the fairytale narrator made the story even more immersive. The plot had a strong sense of adventure and found family, which made it a joy to read. It was surprisingly funny, but could also be quite dark (yet never dour).

I liked all three main characters, but particularly Jeremy and Rafe. Jeremy was unflinchingly loyal and supportive, and Rafe was innately noble and brave. I loved peeling back the layers of their past, learning about their shared history, and coming to understand their vulnerabilities. I couldn’t guess why Jeremy never told Rafe the truth about their experience in the magical forest, but when his reason was revealed, it all made complete sense.

I knew there was going to be a romance between at least two people in the core trio. The love story that eventually played out was achingly romantic!

Some elements did feel a bit too childish, and others felt too drawn out, but this didn't diminish the novel's ability to enchant and delight. I would definitely recommend. It was the best kind of fantasy... one which you will secretly hope is real.