The Babysitters Coven (The Babysitters Coven, #1)

by Kate M. Williams

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 cooking. 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.

• ISBN10: 0525707409
• ISBN13: 9780525707400
• Publish Date: 25 August 2020 (first published 17 September 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Ember
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525707400

Reviews

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 4 Stars

Man, this was laying the nostalgia vibes on THICK! BUT I LOVED IT! I am what you may call a buffy super fan. I grew up on Buffy; literally my mom and I watched it together every single week, and I own every single season on itunes from the BNF (Before Netflix) Era lol.

This was so fun! It was a delightful romp that was in that mid YA range, a cool, fun, little mash up between Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The Babysitter's club (which I don't remember too much of though,) as well. I loved the whole "Chosen Sitters" stuff lol.

I feel like your odds of liking this are greatly affected by those shows & what they mean/ meant to you, because this is a bitttttt cheesy (but in a really good way for me at least). This may be a 3-3.5 star read for those less invested in Buffy, for all I know

[leahrosereads]

The first half of this book was good. It was a fun time, and I was enjoying it...then the second half of the book happened. And that was NOT a fun time. It became too farfetched and honestly a bit cringe inducing.

That, with the text speak and a magic system that made no flipping sense, made this book just not the book for me.

[kalventure]

A quick note before we dive in: as a reviewer, I strive to be critical yet respectful because I know how much work goes into writing a book. I prescribe to the belief that no two readers read the same book and I make an effort to highlight positives about the book, be clear about the reasons why I didn’t enjeoy it, and to the extent possible share who may enjoy it. I originally was going to rate this 2 stars, but after sorting through my feelings and writing my review I realized I personally cannot recommend this book. I think there have got to be better witchy reads out there without harmful stereotypes and creepy adult behavior for teens to read.

Believe me, no one is sadder than I am that this book didn't work for me. The cover is absolutely eye-catching and "Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a phrase I didn't know I needed until I heard it. I wanted to love this book and it was one of my most anticipated Fall releases. But unfortunately, I was left wanting for character development and worldbuilding and found the narrative at times questionable and uncomfortable.

There seems to be this trend which relies heavily on nostalgia but isn't written for the generation who would be most invested. Last year it was Hocus Pocus & The All-New Sequel, and sadly this year we have The Babysitter's Coven. The protagonists are seventeen years old, but honestly, this reads more on the lower-end of YA. Which is fine but there is a clear disconnect given that the marketing heavily leans on the nostalgia which people in their early-to-mid thirties have for these childhood stories. Ultimately, this was really never a story written for me, but unfortunately, this is not a case of "right book, wrong reader" in my opinion.

If this book were written as-is in the late 90s, I would have loved this when I was thirteen years old. I definitely would qualify this as a solid lower-YA read (for which I am not the target audience, and that is totally okay) if it weren't for the outdated references that I don't think teenagers in 2019 would relate to and the uncomfortable internalized biases I will touch on later in this review.

In terms of the plot, not a whole lot happens which made for a rather lackluster read for me because I didn't relate to the characters at all. Not to mention that The Babysitter's Coven is heavily inspired by both The Babysitter's Club and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to the point where our narrator Esme talks about how she is left with being the Mary Anne of the group despite having terrible handwriting and referencing the Buffyverse on multiple occasions.

I never connected with the characters. Cassandra is very much the 'Faith' character to Esme's 'Buffy,' but neither of them felt fully fleshed out to me. The romance, if we can even call it that, felt contrived and forced. I did, however, enjoy Janis and her sense of style (I'm sure she's going to be a more fashionable Willow) and I appreciated that we had three characters of color in the book.


The writing is fast-paced but at times jarring because the narrative literally uses chatspeak like 'LOL,' 'IRL,' and 'IDK' in-text and conversation... and no one talks like that. Especially teens today who tend to use laughing emojis instead of writing 'LOL.' And as much as it pains me to be so critical, the worldbuilding we do get feels like words changed in the Buffyverse lore. The Hellmouth becomes a Portal, Slayers become Sitters, Watchers become Counsel, and The Council becomes the Synod. The main difference is Sitters don't kill, they Return the monsters to the Portal. Oh, and they use magic because ~witches~.

I hate to be so critical of a book, especially a debut. But I would be remiss to not mention how uncomfortable the text reads at times. The first-person narrative voice of a teenager is difficult because let's face it: we can be catty bitches in high school and our thoughts are unfiltered. But Esme is not a nice person and she is someone who I struggled to want to root for when she is the one being bullied. And let's talk about the choice to make the main bully overweight and have Esme refer to her as both a hippo and fat cow. Of making fun of Stephani for not having an 'e' at the end of her name. It's just unnecessary.

The whole Counsel situation and the circumstances for them actually kind of learning about who they are and their powers is... it's creepy as hell and quite frankly uncalled for. Especially because it goes unchallenged? Like who the HELL would go with an angry person in their car under "get in the backseat or I will make you" duress (this is a literal quote. I am not making this up.)? The whole exposition-in-the-creepy-basement thing made me so uncomfortable. The dude basically kidnaps them but it winds up okay apparently because he's supposed to be their paranormal teacher.

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me at all, but it may work for a younger reader who especially loves the 80s and 90s and isn't as into Buffy as I am. But given some of the cringey and uncomfortable things in text, I am not really comfortable recommending a young teen to read this book. I really wanted to love this one, and Williams has a lot of quirky ideas that will likely develop in the series as she hones her craft, but I won't be continuing with this series.

Many thanks to Delacorte Press for providing me an electronic ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Quotations taken from an uncorrected proof and may change upon final publication.

Cover reveal first impressions: "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."

I never knew I needed this book before this moment but THIS IS THE MASHUP CHILDHOOD/TEENAGE FAVES I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!

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[layawaydragon]

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Happy Sunday everybody and congrats on surviving the harvest moon Friday the 13th. Today's all about The Babysitters Coven, a YA paranormal that's Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy. How could I resist that?!? I couldn't obviously so check out my review, and enter the giveaway below!

About the Babysitters coven:

Check out the excerpt on Penguin's website here!

IMHO: the Babysitters coven

The first half of the Babysitters Coven is all about Esme's life and its downward trajectory as mysterious things keep happening and Cassandra integrates herself inside it. It takes that long to get past the blurb & into new territory but there's always something happening so I honestly didn't notice until I wrote this review. The we get some training, a PowerPoint demonstration, and a racing against the clock show down on Halloween.

Here's the run down:

• Cute.


• Snarky


• Vintage fashionistas BFFs


• BFF is the one local black girl who's too cool for her


• Not an angel heaven & demon hell set up


• Doing the right thing is innate feels simplistic and naive to this jaded adult but I understand the appeal. Hopefully this will be fleshed out later, especially given the differences between Esme and Cassandra


• Stupid boys are stupid


• Mean cheerleaders


• Small town football


• Unexpected ending.


• Old spellbooks


• Hot older brother love interest


• Single dad


• Horror movie fans

If there's any negative, it's that I would've gone with different explanations for pop culture "coincidences". But there's a lot more going on here obviously and that opinion of mine might change with the next installments

The Babysitters Coven is a fun romping adventure perfect for fans of YA paranormal like Undead Girl Gang and A Blade So Black with content recommendable to the younger end of the YA readership.

About the Author:

Giveaway:

Prize: Win a finished copy of The Babysitters Coven (The Babysitters Coven #1) by Kate Williams (US
Only)
Starts: 11th September 2019
Finishes: 25th September 2019
Embed Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

This review was originally posted on The Layaway Dragon

[katie]

Actual rating 4.5 stars
Full review to be published on Sunday at http://kaitplusbooks.com as part of the FFBC blog tour!

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Esme was content with her babysitting gigs and planning her daily fashion statements, but the tides were a-changing. First, there were the inexplicable babysitting events, as well as a chain of strange accidents that occurred in Esme's presence. With the arrival of a mysterious new girl, Cassandra, she began to discover more and more about her mother's past and how it affected her present. Together, Esme and Cassandra assumed their roles as babysitters, but would they be able to fulfill their destiny?

I have a thing for books featuring present-day witches. Maybe it's all the episodes of Charmed I watched back in the day or it could be my love for The Craft, but I always tend to enjoy these witchy stories, and I can say, I had a fun time reading about Esme's adventures.

Initial Impressions

I adored Esme. I am all for the snark (as long as it's not directed at me), and Esme was well-versed in the art. Her observations and musings were quite amusing. I laughed a LOT as I was being introduced to her and her world.

What I Liked

• I had a great time getting to know the ins and outs of Esme's daily life. Her dad and her dog were top-notch. Her father had a lot on his plate, but he tried to be as present as possible for Esme, which was a challenge, given their situation. And, you know, the way to my heart is via the pet. Piggy was a great sidekick, and Williams let the dog shine quite a bit.

• Janis was a delight. She was a good friend, and she really surprised me later in the story.

• Esme and Janis' passion for fashion was too much fun. I loved waiting to hear about their daily outfits, which were so outrageous, and I had the best time shopping with them.

• The spells used to activate their kinesis were rather amusing. They often had to gather quite an interesting array of items, and I got a hoot of trying to figure out the connection to the power.

• There were a few interesting reveals, and I thought the idea of the babysitters, the lore, and their mission was pretty cool.

• I liked that Williams acknowledged the Buffy vibes head-on, and the story did seem to go for the camp of the original film. I remember reading a part, and thinking, "This reminds me of Buffy," and on the next page, Esme directly drew the comparison. I am a huge Buffy fan and was not sad to see those allusions, though there were these "vibes, I felt like this was still very much its own story.

• When I read a series, I like when there is an overarching story arc, and one that is exclusive to each book. That was how this story was structured, and I am always grateful for any amount of closure I can get.

What I Didn't Like

I wouldn't say there was much I didn't like. As far as criticism goes, it did take quite a while for the whole idea of the babysitters to be revealed, but once we delved into that world, things really took off.

Overall

I think it's important to understand, that this is the first book in a series, and I didn't expect to learn each and everything about the babysitters in this book. With that said, I am looking forward to learning more about Esme and the other sitters and seeing them restore order to their world.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[lisacee]

Disclaimer: I have never read the Babysitters Club and I got this as a free arc from Edelweiss+.

This book was really fun. It's not fine literature, but I enjoyed reading it and I can't wait for the Sitters next adventure.