The Near Witch

Quick, before I get to my post, I want to remind you that my 1313 Twitter contest, in which THREE winners will each get a signed copy of Personal Demons runs through whenever I get too tired to read entries anymore. (Sometime tonight.) If you haven't entered, make sure you follow me (@LisaDez) then watch the Luc trailer in my sidebar and Tweet me the name of the book that Luc is reading to Frannie. Include the hashtag #PersonalDemons so I find your entry! Good luck!

So...there's a book that I'm dying to read coming out next year. Way back a year ago, when my truly fabulous agent, Suzie Townsend, offered representation, she knew I was deciding between a few different agents. She gave me the names of some FinePrint clients she'd worked with as references. That's how I met Victoria Schwab. We (that, once again, would be the royal we) are almost at 666 amazing followers here on the blog (at which point Luc has mandated that there will be an EPIC Personal Demons contest) but I'm pretty sure Suzie and Victoria were my very first blog followers. Victoria has been a great friend and a source of support as I made my way through the publishing jungle.

So, the reason for this post...

Victoria's book, The Near Witch (Hyperion, Aug. 2011) is getting closer to publication and she just got ARCs! That means she can now show us her cover! Yay!

For those of you who haven't heard of The Near Witch, here's the scoop:
"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.
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."

I couldn't get the youtube embed code to work, so here's Victoria with her book

And here's the link to her YA Rebels video so you can see how pretty her cover is! And the link to the Amazon pre-order page!