The only way I can describe this book is whimsical. It's a book for the ones who grew up with Narnia and forgot about it. Or as C.S. Lewis wrote it perfectly, "Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."

And people! Meg Shaffer has an uncanny ability to drag me back to this nostalgic time in my childhood where my parents and teachers would read books to me about kids running into wardrobes to end up in a magical world, flying out of the windows to fight pirates or simply clicking ruby red shoes three times to return to Kansas. The Lost Story gave me that childhood feeling again that I didn't know I missed until it was given to me.

If I was sticking to the typical way I review books, a star would have been dropped because the writing wasn't the strongest. In a weird way, the writing felt like when you’re laying in bed at night and making up scenarios with not the best dialogue but you don't really care because you got a plot to go through. The age of the characters and the dialogue felt off in a sense where it was almost childlike and kind of edging towards YA to the middle school range where the intended target audience is for adults.

I point this out as the only thing that felt a bit odd to me but the crazy thing about this was, I didn't care. The story and the ideas was there and that took me on an incredible adventure where magic is still a thing.

From the prologue, I knew that this will be as an enjoyable read as Meg's first book The Wishing Game and I wasn't disappointed. The prologue gave me goosebumps from the start and the characters were easily loveable. I love the world of Shanandoah and the story created was light but filled with emotion.

Overall, if you're looking for a book that can bring you back to a sliver of your childhood, I'd recommend The Lost Story. Again, I would advise that the writing isn't the most solid but I think you'll find yourself in a fairytale where the writing didn't matter that much because you're enjoying the story.