As children, Rafe and Jeremy disappeared into Red Crow Park for six months. When they returned, Rafe had no memory of their time away and Jeremy refused to speak about it. Now, 15 years later, a young woman name Emilie comes knocking at Jeremy's door. He has made a name for himself as the finder of lost women and girls and Emilie needs his help locating her missing sister who disappeared twenty years before, from Red Crow. Jeremy and Rafe must work together to find the missing girl and possible everything they lost during their missing six months.
The Wishing Game was my very first read of the year and it was also my first 5 star, so when I saw that Meg had written a new book, I had to get my hands on it. The chances of it being a BOTM pick were highly likely but I didn't want to wait until then so off to Netgalley I went and wouldn't you know, I was approved!! (Thanks Ballantine and Netgalley)
I was at dinner one night with some other booklovers and I brought up this book. I said that I think Meg Shaffers writing speaks to our generation because of the books that we grew up on. We learned to love to read through Judy Blume, The Boxcar Children, Chronicles of Narnia and The Babysitter's Club. Many of our favorite reads featured magical realism before we ever even knew what it was called. Meg returns us to that time, to the joy of childhood reading with her prose.
You kill an artist, you kill all their unmade art too. - Skya
The Lost Story begins with a finding. Rafe and Jeremy have been missing for six months when a young nurse spots them while hiking in Red Crow. When next we see the boys, they are adults and haven't spoken in fifteen years. I really enjoyed the way that their history together unfurled and that Rafe learned about their past along with us. While I became lost in the lives of the two boys, I completely forgot about the girl. Emilie's character felt fairly flat for being the catalyst for the two connecting again. I totally get that this book was their book. It is Rafe and Jeremy, but Emilie felt less real than the world that they traveled to.
I had so many ideas of where I thought that this book was going to go, but it didn't. I have been reading far too many mysteries and thrillers lately because I totally expected this book to end in a completely different way than it did. I am so glad I was wrong. I really truly enjoyed the journey the two boys/men went on in The Lost Story. If C.S. Lewis and TJ Klune had a baby, it would be this book. My only complaint being that Emilie was as much of a side character as her rat Fritz even though her role seemed to have intended to be much bigger. For that The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 from me.
This book will make a fantastic read for anyone who enjoys Alice Hoffman, TJ Klune, and The Chronicles of Narnia.
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