Source: ARC via
FFBT & Netgalley
Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this funny, action-packed novel about a coven of witchy babysitters who realize their calling to protect the innocent and save the world from an onslaught of evil.
Seventeen-year-old Esme Pearl has a babysitters club. She knows it’s kinda lame, but what else is she supposed to do? Get a job? Gross. Besides, Esme likes babysitting, and she’s good at it.
And lately Esme needs all the cash she can get, because it seems like destruction follows her wherever she goes. Let’s just say she owes some people a new tree.
Enter Cassandra Heaven. She’s Instagram-model hot, dresses like she found her clothes in a dumpster, and has a rebellious streak as gnarly as the cafeteria food. So why is Cassandra willing to do anything, even take on a potty-training two-year-old, to join Esme’s babysitters club?
The answer lies in a mysterious note Cassandra’s mother left her: “Find the babysitters. Love, Mom.”
Turns out, Esme and Cassandra have more in common than they think, and they’re about to discover what being a babysitter really means: a heroic lineage of superpowers, magic rituals, and saving the innocent from seriously terrifying evil. And all before the parents get home.
I’ve been excited about reading The Babysitters Coven since I first saw the title and cover many months ago. Then it was compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my favorite late 90s/early 2000s TV shows, and my anticipation went up about a hundred notches. When I saw the opportunity to join the blog tour, I knew I had to do it, and I was thrilled when I got the email that I’d been chosen to participate! So, first things first, thanks to the FFBT team, the publisher, the author, and Netgalley for making this blog tour and book review happen.
Now, onto the review.
From the beginning of the book, the parallels with Buffy the Vampire Slayer were really clear. Instead of Slayers fighting vampires, we have Sitters fighting evil, and I am 100% here for it. Esme and Cassandra reminded me a lot of Buffy and Faith.
I really enjoyed Esme as a main character. She doesn’t fall into a lot of the stereotypical YA main character pitfalls and instead comes across as a really average teenager. Even with all of this crazy stuff going on around her, she’s still worried about normal things like her mom’s illness, getting her drivers license, and avoiding the school bullies.
There were two things that really kept me from rating this higher than three stars, and they’re both things that are specific to me as a reader and I don’t think are necessarily problems in general. First, there’s a lot of modern slang in this book, and as I was reading, I imagined myself having to explain to my future child what “I was wrong AF, and now I am sorry AF” means. The only other thing that I didn’t love was how the book just kind of… ends. The action really ramps up a lot, then it’s all over with and the book is over too. I know there’s a second book in the series coming out next year, but I wish there would have been at least a little bit more closure.
All in all, though, this was a super fun book! It was cute, it was weird, and I can’t wait to see what Esme gets up to in the sequel.
About the Author
I’m a YA write or die, originally from Kansas but now living in California.
I’ve written for Cosmopolitan, NYLON and Seventeen, amongst other magazines, and worked with brands including Urban Outfitters, Vans and Calvin Klein.
The Babysitters Coven is my first novel, but fingers crossed it won’t be my last.
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Enter the giveaway!
Win a finished copy of The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams!
(US Only, ending September 25, 2019)
Have you read The Babysitters Coven? Is it on your TBR? Can you think of any other witchy books you’ve read recently? Let’s talk in the comments!
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