I was really looking forward to this one because I really enjoyed The Wishing Game. Meg Shaffer knows how to warm this cold cynical heart. As someone who has been a huge fantasy fan since childhood, I really appreciate the strong nods to flagship children fantasy stories and series (think Narnia, Willy Wonka, The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, etc.)

The Lost Story takes place on a dual timeline, past and present, and highlights the relationship between 4 “lost” people. There is a strong nod to childhood trauma and child runaways in both of Shaffer’s books and the escapism into fantasy worlds that helps some children heal from said trauma. In a small West Virginia town, teenagers have gone missing in the vast forest on two separate occasions. A young woman, abducted and assumed to be dead, who was never found and two young boys who went missing for 6 months, assumed runaways, but returned with no memory of where they had been, or so we are to believe. These three lost souls have a relationship that transcends reality and they work together to find one other lost soul, who cannot be found until she wants to. 

The Lost Story is magical, heartwarming and sad all at once; and includes a LGBTQIA romance. Alongside our four main characters, we have our Storyteller POV (reminiscent of The Princess Bride ala breaking the fourth wall throughout both timelines past and present) and most importantly the cutest fancy rat mascot. 

The Lost Story comes out on July 16th and is a perfect cozy magic realism/fantasy read for the summer. Thank you to Random House Group - Ballantine and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book; all opinions are my own.