Mundie Moms

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Blog Tour/Book Review/Giveaway: The Near Witch

Published by: Disney Hyperion
To Be Released on: August 2nd, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher/author to review
5 stars: A Beautiful Debut

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.

Take a beautiful love story and mix it together with an engaging fairy tale and you have The Near Witch. I am in love with this debut! Victoria's writing is spellbinding and her story is hypnotic. I could not put this book down. I loved everything about it, from her richly developed characters and setting, to the mystery surrounding the story's lore and everything in between. It's a story that flowed well and really came to life for me.

I adore Lexi. She's an independent, strong, courageous girl who's determination, fierce protective nature of her younger sister really won me over. I could really relate to her and I really admired her character. She's not afraid to defy authority aka her Uncle nor is she afraid to do things or trust in other people who are considered out casts in her village. I loved that she wasn't a helpless girl and even makes a few comments to her Uncle that just because she's not a boy doesn't mean she couldn't do something. Then there's Cole, and the this wonderful mystery that surrounds him. I couldn't get enough of him and I really liked the way Victoria kept hooking me with Cole. Every time a big reveal was going to happen, she'd create another diversion with the villagers causing me to resist the urge to quickly tare through the story to find out more about him. The best way for me to describe Cole is to say he's a well written, quiet hero, and he's definitely on my list of favorite fictional characters. The romance between Lexi and Cole was addicting! I absolutely loved the way their chemistry was developed. It's the type that leaves me sighing, satisfied and wanting more.

Victoria did an amazing job at bringing her beautiful setting and lore to life. I felt her attention to detail made it very easy for me to picture the village, the moor and the outlining forest in my head. I love it when a story's setting easily comes alive for me. I fell in love with the timeless feel of the book. I like that while I tried to pin point a time frame in history this story could fall into, I quickly found there really isn't one, which added to the classic fairy tale feel of it. This is a book that will make you fall in love with it's in-depth, flawed, relatable characters, it's beautiful love story and will leave you wanting more of it's folklore. I highly recommend picking up The Near Witch when it's out. It's a wonderful, clean cut book and I can not wait to read more of Victoria's books.
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To celebrate The Near Witch being our debut book of the month for August, we're giving away 1 ARC! In the coming weeks we'll have an interview with Victoria, live author chat and more giveaways. Thank you to Disney Hyperion & Victoria for today's giveaway.

To enter, please fill out the form below:
* This is open internationally to everyone 13 yrs & older
* 1 entry per person, per email
* This giveaway will end on August 26th, 2011


Thank you to the The Teen Book Scene for asking us to share our review for The Near Witch as part of their blog tour, which you can follow here. Tomorrow we'll have our last stop on their tour with a visit from Victoria.

14 comments:

  1. Still sending you kisses for the international give-away *smooch* *hugs*

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  2. Yay!!! really want to read this. Thanks for the giveaway !!!

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  3. I'm totally hoooked! Thanks for the chance to win a copy.

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  4. thanks for the chance to win you guys are awesome! I retweeted http://twitter.com/#!/mel_91284/status/95898805727264768

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  5. You're welcome!

    Melissa- Thank you for the RT!!

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  6. This book looks so awesome! It's definitely one I'm going to get!

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  7. Thanks for the giveaway. I really want this book.

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  8. I'm dying to read THE NEAR WITCH... count me in!

    Thanks for the giveaway! You guys rock ;D

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  9. Ahhh, this is a book I'm dying to read, even more now! Love story + fairytale = win! Thanks for the giveaway :D

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  10. I think I was hooked from the first line of your review. It sounds like an amazing tale with great characters. Can't wait till it comes out. Thanks for the great review. :)

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  11. Thank you for all your comments. Good luck to everyone!! We'll have another giveaway next month as well. :)

    Alexa- Thank you!

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  12. Great review. I reaslly want to read this.

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  13. Love the review. Sounds to me like you were actually in the book!

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