This book had a profoundly different feel than others in the series. While Seanan McGuire has never shied away from the brutality of childhood in this series. But Lost in the Moment and Found goes a step even further. The main theme of the story is the loss of childhood. Antsy's innocence is first chipped away when her father dies in front of her, and again when her mother seemingly replaces him by dating and remarrying a year later. It's chipped again when Tyler lies to Antsy's mother, about small things and she doesn't believe Antsy. It's completely shattered when Tyler comes into her room at night and tells her they could be friends, and she doesn't fully understand how, but she knows she's in danger. So she runs. 

I would like to thank Seanan McGuire for the note at the beginning of the book. Although I bought it when it first came out, it took me weeks to build up the courage to actually read it, even though I trust Seanan McGuire with my heart. 

This book was different from the rest, because it is the only one where adults so totally fail. Antsy is let down in every way a child can be let down, by every person who has the chance to. And why I love this series so much is that it truly does encompass the spectrum of children. And these stories are important, too--the stories of children who have been failed in every way. 

The only reason it's gone down a half-star for me is that I always feel like these stories start a thread, and lead you down a path but never take it to its conclusion. I want to know if Antsy ever loses herself again well enough to find her way back. Not only that, but the "villain" introduced in the previous book, Where the Drowned Girls Go we never finished what happened to Cora's story and her friends. 

But I have to keep reminding myself that I trust Seanan McGuire. She hasn't let me down yet. 

★★★★½ painful, betrayed, important stars