The Witch Hunter Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

I'm super excited today to be a part of the promotional tour for The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker, a young adult fantasy title releasing tomorrow from Little, Brown. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know I've been on a fantasy kick for about the past two years, and as soon as I read the synopsis for this one I knew I needed it in my life. I absolutely adored everything about it (my review will post later this week) and I'm going to have trouble being patient until the next book comes out. Virginia was nice enough to answer a few questions for me, so I hope you all enjoy the interview!

If Elizabeth were asked to teach a class in witch hunting, what would the first order of business on the syllabus be?

Unconventional Fighting Methods. Elizabeth is small, but what she lacks in physical size she makes up in her creativity: eye gouging, leg sweeps, hidden weapons, chokeholds, elbow and knee strikes. As the only female witch hunter she knows a thing or two about mastering the unexpected and using it to her advantage.

If tomorrow you woke up and found yourself accused of being a witch, what one YA character would you most want to team up with to prove your innocence?

I would team up with Dorian from Melissa Grey’s The Girl at Midnight. He’s not silver tongued so he wouldn’t try and negotiate my innocence, but he’d storm into whatever place I was held, weapons ablaze, break me out and kill whoever was in our way. For all that, though, he’s also nurturing: I’m confident he would sweep me to a comfortable safe house, make sure I had something to eat and a nice place to sleep. Plus, he’s pretty to look at, always important in a rescuer. *wink*

One day Elizabeth finds a book set in our modern reality and gives it a try. What might she find most fascinating or terrifying about the world in which we live?

Elizabeth is a skilled cook (she did, after all, work in the palace kitchen for seven years, with several of those years cooking for the king) so I think she would be fascinated by the concept of a supermarket. So much food, all in one place! She would probably buy too much and cook too much and force everyone else to eat it. She’d also love the idea of a dishwashing machine: she’s used to a world of washing wooden trenchers and polishing pewter plates by hand.

I’m not sure I’d want to live in time when the whims of kings could see me burned at the stake, but at the same time witnessing court life in its heyday would be hard to resist. If you could travel back in time to the court of any one royal, which would it be?

Anne Boleyn. She’s hands down my favorite queen, Tudor or otherwise. She’s smart and fascinating and she manuevered her way through the politics and wildness of her court…until she didn’t. I want to know what she looked like, what she sounded like. How she enchanted the king she stole him away from his wife of ten years. I want to witness her relationship with Thomas Wyatt and Henry Percy. I want to witness her fashion sense. I want to witness the catfight (the one in my imagination) between her and Jane Seymour. Though I would prefer not to witness her execution, because I like to remember her being the one who always had the upper hand.

Let’s say for 24 hours you’re granted the ability to write anything into being, able to create and craft a real world the way you did the fictional world of The Witch Hunter. What’s the first line you’d write?

“I board the train in San Francisco bound for New York - I would be there in an hour.”

Thanks so much for stopping by Virginia!

• • • • • • • • • • •

THE WITCH HUNTER

The magic and suspense of Graceling meet the political intrigue and unrest of Game of Thrones in this riveting fantasy debut.

Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.

But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.

Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut.

Amazon • B&N • iBooks • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • •

VIRGINIA BOECKER

Virginia Boecker recently spent four years in London obsessing over English medieval history, which formed the basis of The Witch Hunter. She now lives in the Bay Area, California with her husband and spends her days writing, reading, running, and chasing around her two children and a dog named George.

In addition to English kings, nine-day queens, and Protestant princesses, her other obsessions include The Smiths, art museums, champagne, and Chapstick. She is represented by the incomparable Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Pinterest • Instagram • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

10 lucky winners will receive a finished copy of THE WITCH HUNTER! Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below. US addresses only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

6/1/2015- Supernatural Snark- Interview

6/1/2015- Addicted Readers- Review

6/2/2015- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

6/2/2015- Mundie Moms- Review

6/3/2015- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Interview

6/3/2015- Bookish Serendipity- Review

6/4/2015- Once Upon a Twilight - Guest Post

6/4/2015- Fiktshun- Review

6/5/2015- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Interview

6/5/2015- Me, My Shelf and I- Review