The Near Witch

The Near Witch
Author: Victoria Schwab
Pages: 288 pages
publication date: August 2 2011





Summary:
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.






Review:

I’ve heard amazing things about this book I was a little disappointed while reading but still liked none the less.

The Near Witch is one of those books that have an original plot, strong characters, romance, action, suspense. All those things are important for a novel but somehow lacked something. I felt bored at times, and couldn’t connect with the characters. After saying this I should also say that while it was lacking, Victoria created a beautiful novel, she definitely has a way with her words.

The Near Witch starts off with Lexi looking out her window and finding a stranger that looks almost ghostlike standing far away from her window. The next morning she went into town and heard everyone gossiping about the stranger, the protectors of the village wanted to capture him, they thought the stranger was bad news, they heard someone was hiding him. The only one that would take him in would the sisters, witches that live right outside of town.

Lexi knows that the sisters are hiding him, she goes up to their house and looks around, she found him, but he didn’t talk much, soon kids starting disappearing. The hunters went out in search of the kids and everyone assumed the stranger was kidnapping them. They were wrong, Lexi and Cole (the stranger) started getting to know each other better and they tried to find the missing kids, but there were no leads.

Soon more and more kids were disappearing and everyone was worried, soon Lexi was caught with Cole and they were both punished. Lexi, being the strong character that she was went and solved everything.

While reading this I had no idea that this book was set back in the older times, it surprised me when I started reading it. I thought this was going to be more of a modern setting.

I loved the romance between Cole and Lexi, it was so sweet, and they tried so hard to be together, while everyone was trying to hunt them down. No one trusted the stranger, and even more they were the ones who thought was kidnapping the kids.

This book was slightly boring at times, but I kept on reading and before I knew it I was finished. Two of the my least favorite genre’s are about witches and ghosts, but yesterday I read a book about ghosts, and today I read a book about witches, and I surprisingly liked both of them , I have to give these genre’s more of a chance.

If you love paranormal/witch books then this book is for you.

3/5 stars