As teenagers, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in West Virginia’s Red Crow State Park and mysteriously reappeared six months later. Fifteen years later, Rafe can’t remember anything about what happened, and Jeremy has become a missing persons investigator. Now, vet tech Emilie Wendel needs their help finding the sister she never knew she had. Unfortunately for the men, Emilie’s sister was lost in the same woods. If they are to locate her, they must return to that unsettling place that others know as the Red Crow Woods, but for them will always be a magical kingdom where sword fights, archery, doorways for discovery, and fantastical creatures reveal truths and hold adventure. Though narrator Jorjeana Marie nails her portraits of Emilie and the omniscient Storyteller, the men’s voices sound very much alike, to the point where the characters start to blend together. VERDICT Shaffer’s (The Wishing Game) second novel presents a marvelous fairy-tale world, channeling the nostalgic wonder of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia. Despite some similarities in the characters’ voices, this enchanting portal story is highly recommended.