Near Witch by Victoria Schwab Goodreads link Publish date: August 2, 2011 Stars: 3.5/5 One sentence synopsis: In the village of Near a stranger has arrived in town, and the children of Near are disappearing. This one was high on my TBR in 2011 list. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I love a good ghost story. I love a good witch story. I love stories that are set outside of time and here we are isolated in the village of Near, which is bordered by spooky moors. The writing is beautiful: "In my dreams, someone is screaming. The voice cries out and gets caught in the wind. It's tangled, faltering. And then it changes, stretches long and thin, pulled taut before it breaks, and all is quiet." (e-galley pg 247) Gorgeous, gorgeous prose! A fiery heroine! A tortured innocent! And somebody is stealing the village's children. The problem with this story is that it is 50 pages too long. And repetitive! Three times, Lexi's mother bales her out of trouble with her l...