The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
288 Pages (Hardcover)
Disney Hyperion
August 2, 2011
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him. As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.

    If you only do one thing this week, I suggest you read this book. It was freaking amazing!

   The story takes place in an intoxicatingly small town where everyone knows everyone else and their business. The people of Near are stuck in their ways, they don't like visitors and they don't like listening to anyone else. When children start disappearing the day after a stranger comes to town, the stranger immediately has the town after his blood. But Lexi thinks she can solve the mystery, and the stranger might be the only one who can help her.

    This book was great in so many ways. I loved the plot, I loved the setting, I loved the characters - I really just loved every little thing about this book. Set at the perfect pace, is was adventurous, intriguing, suspenseful, creepy, frightening and consuming. As much as I wanted to know what happens, I didn't really want the story to end. This was one freaking fantastic debut, one that has me eagerly awaiting a day when another book by Victoria Schwab is in my to-read pile.

   I don't really have much else to say except - read it, read it, read it!