Book Review: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

The Lost Story
by Meg Shaffer
July 16, 2024
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ASIN: ‎ B0CL65K16X
ISBN: 9780593598870
As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

It has been a few years since teenagers Rafe and Jeremy return to civilization after vanishing in a West Virginia state park. Rafe never remembered where they were or what happened and Jeremy never said a word. Until one day, a young woman named Emilie, whose adopted mother had died, wanted to fined her older sister, who had vanished too. She hired Jeremy who found lost people as a job.

If you enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia and the Witch World series by Andre Norton, then you will enjoy this story, a modern take on fairytales and classic fantasies. For it is more than two lost boys, but about lost stories, the one we hold in our hearts.

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I gave The Lost Story 5 sheep.





Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney

 About the Author:
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Meg Shaffer is a part-time creative writing instructor and a full-time MFA candidate in TV and Screenwriting at Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri. When not watching Hitchcock films, she's reading Star Trek novels. When she's not reading Star Trek novels, she's napping. Her debut novel "The Wishing Game" is available now from Ballantine.

Book Review: Blood Fury (Black Dagger Legacy) by J.R. Ward (no spoilers)

Blood Fury (Black Dagger Legacy)

by J.R. Ward

January 9, 2018
Ballantine Books

Pages: 432

A vampire aristocrat, Peyton is well aware of his duty to his bloodline: mate with an appropriate female of his class and carry on his family’s traditions. And he thought he’d found his perfect match—until she fell in love with someone else. Yet when his split-second decision in a battle with the enemy endangers the life of another trainee, Peyton has to face the idea that his future, and his heart, actually lie with another.

Novo, as a female in the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training program, feels like she has to prove herself to everybody—and she has no interest in being distracted by falling in love. But when Peyton proves to be so much more than a rich playboy, she is forced to confront the tragedy that has broken her soul and closed her off from love.

As the two grapple with Novo’s past and Peyton’s present, another couple must contend with a connection that is unparalleled—and potentially scandalous. Saxton, who has had his heart broken, discovers in himself a deep-seated attraction to Ruhn, a new member of the household. But will the other male explore the connection? Or will he close his mind and his heart to what could be true love . . . and cost Saxton everything?

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Peyton has always been a rich playboy that has never taken anything serious even when he joined the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training program. Peyton was sure he had found a perfect love until she mated with someone else. Even though he knows that he can’t have her, he still pines away and puts another trainee in danger due to his actions.

Novo is a strong female who feels like she needs to prove herself to everyone and does not want to be distracted by things like love. When she catches Payton’s attention she is sure they can just use each other to scratch and itch and both find themselves in unchartered territory.

Saxton, the solicitor for the King had his heart broken and is absolutely sure he will never love another until he notices a connection between himself and Ruhn. Saxton is sure Ruhn is not gay and tries to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself.

This was more of a romance novel than Ward’s other books. Usually there is a good dose of romance, sex and passion that goes along with the main story and fighting but this was pretty much just two romance stories. The writing was still excellent and the book was good but not the what I normally expect from a book from this series.

Review: Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy #1)
Review: Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)

Getting 4 sheep

Denise B

About the Author:
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J.R. Ward is the number one New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series of vampire books. She is a winner of the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA award for Best Paranormal Romance and is a multiple RITA nominee. A graduate of Smith College, she was a double major in History and Art History with a medieval concentration in both and she still longs at times for a return to those days sitting in dark lecture halls, looking at slides of old triptychs and reliquaries. Prior to becoming a full time writer, she was a corporate attorney, serving for many years as the Chief of Staff of one of Harvard Medical Schools premier teaching sites. Her idea of absolute heaven is a day filled with nothing but her computer, her dog and her coffee pot and the Brothers, of course.