The Babysitters Coven reads like a love letter to 80’s and 90’s cult classics. It’s entertaining, funny and engaging while remaining fairly self aware.

It’s pitched as Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I can see 100% and is mainly the reason why I decided to pick it up, along with the cover art. Let’s take a second to admire that amazing cover.

The plot does read a lot like a Buffy half-season arc with the promise of more “Big Bads” but the ending kind of wraps itself up in a pretty bow without much wiggle room. I’d be interested to see where the series goes from there.

I did enjoy Esme and Janice’s friendship even though there were points in the book where it did dip into the whole “these three girls are cool, all the others are kinda mean.” trope. Cassandra was just enough of a Faith-like character without going overboard. Her personality really added to the story, she was my favorite character by far.

There were a lot of older pop culture references that might fall a bit flat on the younger generations unless they were heavy into the 80’s and 90’s. I understood all of them, but I’m also in my early 30’s.

All in all I did enjoy it and found it entertaining once the plot began to pick up. I don’t know if that was just a pacing issue or a character development issue, but I felt like there was a bit of a lag where the second act and third act kind of bled together.

I think it’s pretty fun and modern. Something a little more tongue in cheek for the Riverdale/Sabrina crowd with a 90’s twist.

"I, Esme Pearl, high school junior with a mediocre GPA, one friend, no driver's license, chin acne, and zero college prospects, had special powers. Supernatural powers."

This book was EVERYTHING I have ever needed in a fluffy, witchy read. It was just so much FUN! It includes everything I love: a setting in a small town during fall/Halloween, witches, a very lovable dog character, a little mystery, and some great pop culture references. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours, and I would have consumed it a lot quicker if stupid things like work and sleeping didn't get in the way.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Esme Pearl is your typical 17 year old girl, and that's not just because she discovers she has supernatural powers. She is a little bit of an introvert, but her wit is absolutely amazing, and I think that's why I love her so much. She has her one and only BFF, Janis (who I loved as well), and then they suddenly meet the strange new girl at school, Cassandra Heaven. You discover that Cassandra and Esme have quite a bit in common, and everything takes off from there.

I don't want to give away too much, but let me tell ya: If you like old school horror movies, anything to do with Halloween, great friendships, and don't take this book too incredibly seriously, it will be one of your new favorites. It is definitely one of mine and I can't wait for the next installment!

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Like most people, I was drawn to the super cute cover and the promising premise. I mean who wouldn't love to read about Buffy inspired babysitter witches? However despite this being one of my most anticipated releases of the year, what I found was a story with not just one or two problems, but a book where every aspect of the novel is lackluster and needs work. 

The first chapter is deceptively well-written—excluding the use of the slur m*dget—and sets the tone for a spooky and humorous read. But then what little intrigue we're given almost immediately fizzles out, and it doesn't begin to pick back up until about 60% of the way through, with only the last 20% delivering on the "action-packed" promise mentioned in the synopsis. Unfortunately, from there the story dissolves into absolute ridiculousness. 

I think the best way I can describe how this reads is to say that it reads like mediocre early 2000s paranomal YA. We all have probably more than one series that comes to mind when reminded of that unfortunate period. This came complete with everything from the I'm-making-strange-things-happen-but-I-don't-know-how-or-why to the bland, barely present love interest. 

Honestly the only thing that kept me from DNFing this was the strong desire to save anyone who was as excited for TBC as me the disappointment of having to read it.

There are a few specific aspects of the story I want to talk about before I go into my general grievances. Topic number one is the characters. Our protagonist, Esme, is as generic as they come. I could get past this because, hey, someone being boring as hell isn't necessarily unrealistic, right? Except we're expected to believe Esme's ~not like other girls~, and that her constant outfit descriptions somehow equate to her having a personality. They don't. 

In addition to this—and maybe I'm not being fair here, but sue me—Esme just annoyed the hell out of me. It's really hard to enjoy a book when the perspective you're forced to read from has you rolling your eyes every other page. She has a very negative outlook that's just unpleasant to read from, and she has a judgmental and self-righteous attitude towards those around her. 

And the side characters I feel I can't even talk about because there was so little substance to them—they were caricatures rather than characters.

Where the characters were underdeveloped, the magic system was nonsensical. First and foremost, this is not the "witchy" book to pick up if you're looking for legitimate pagan or witchy rep, the magic in this is more on the corny side. 

Basically, Sitters are young (presumably) women destined to be protectors. The magic they can perform are spells meant to aid them in protecting the world from evil by giving them supernatural abilities. Sounds cool, right?

This would have been so much more engaging to read about if there was any kind of limitation whatsoever put on Sitters. Or even just some level of genuine effort required. Instead, Sitters are essentially "chosen one's" who can theoretically obtain unlimited power by performing quick, simple spells using household ingredients. No real work required, no struggle, no risk, nothing. I've actually never been less interested in a magic system before. 

The world building is decent, but to be fair I'm sure its easy enough to build a semi-fantastical world when you're essentially just recreating a world that someone else has already created. 

The last major thing I'll complain about is the general writing in terms of the crafting of the story. Now to be fair, in a written novel writing is pretty damn important, so I don't think I'm being unfair here.

This novel suffers from weak writing. This wouldn't be a problem if this were a first draft or a manuscript, but this is supposed to be a near-finished copy, to be published within a few months time. 

The pacing bounces between logical and, more often than not, rushed. There's little to no transition between time jumps, and while reading, I frequently found myself wondering why we were skipping past days at a time during an important point in the character's story, but then at other times slogging through the mundanity of the MC going through a normal school day. 

This story is riddled with scenes that lend no purpose, but then at other critical points in the stories development, we breeze through the scene. Any buildup we get in suspenseful or tense scenes is wasted on anticlimactic endings. And I don't even know if I should call it "buildup" because it doesn't actually build up—we're supposed to feel that a scene that one line ago was perfectly calm, is now an intense moment because that's just what the character is telling us. 

When I use the term anticlimactic what I mean by that is scenes where suspense is built, but then completely cut off. It's like watching a horror movie and getting to the suspenseful ending, just to turn the movie off and walk away. 

Unfortunately this also suffers from two of my biggest pet peeves in books. One being problems that solve themselves, and the other being telling and not showing. 

It's hard to feel the risk of a situation when there really isn't any risk at all. Though numerous problems come up for Esme and Cassandra, it seems like they work themselves out with no effort needed from either character. Either the problem is resolved by someone else—which we are told, but don't actually see happen—or the problem simply vanishes. This is definitely a story where the characters are not driving the story forward, but rather are having things happen to them.

As far as telling and not showing, the way this particularly irks me is when we're expected to believe something about a character—like they aren't the person we believe them to be—but there's nothing throughout the story to suggest that what we're being told about them is true. 

For example, if you write a character so that they're an ally to your protagonist, but then reveal they aren't, but you never put any kind of suspicious behavior or other indicator throughout the story so that, at the end, it makes sense to the reader to then view them as the "bad guy", then it makes that character development feel undeveloped. And that's something readers will notice, no matter how critically they read.

And this type of switch, where we're supposed to believe characters we know are not who they seem, is something that happens with quite a few characters in this. But there are only a couple characters where it's written so that it actually makes sense. 

When we get to the basics of this, everything in this feels either underdeveloped or borrowed from somewhere/someone else. This only took me a few days to get through, but if this were a longer read I would be seriously annoyed that I'd wasted time on it. 

Instead of recommending books based on this, as I typically would, I'll be recommending witchy reads to pick up instead of this as I believe with the amount of witchy books being published right now, there are much better options out there.

Rec number one is These Witches Don't Burn, which I picked up in the hopes I'd get the witchy vibe I thought TBC would be, and I cannot recommend it enough. Of the other  witchy books I've read, I recommend: Strange Grace, The Price Guide to the Occult, and Undead Girl Gang.

As this is intended to be a series, the sequel is planned to be released in fall of 2020. At this time I don't plan to continue in this series. I don't believe this story is beyond saving, but unless I see reviews mentioning that the sequel reads as though it's actually ready for publication, I won't bother.

I was really excited to read this book, the description, the cover... it was all very my aesthetic. It just really missed the mark for me. I really tried to enjoy it but I found the writing a little annoying, almost like the author was trying to sound relatable to current readers but instead sounded like a parent trying to be cool.

The humor was inconsistent for me. A whole chapter on boys farting in a car? I could have done without that.

Esme wasn't a very approachable narrator, I had a hard time getting into the book because of that. It's not that I need to like a character to enjoy a book, but if I'm spending all my time judging what the character is saying/doing/describing, I'm not going to be sucked into the plot.

This book is probably better for tweens than teens maybe 11-14.

Thank you Net Galley for giving me the chance to read this book, it was one of most highly anticipated books and I am so appreciative for the gift you gave me.

The publisher described this book best when they said "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". This book did not disappoint! It is a YA book and reads like one so keep that in mind.

This was such a fun light read and perfect for fans of witchy things!!! I loved this read and feels like it was something perfect to take to the beach!

I think a little bit of everything about this book fell a little flat with me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, the plot was too slow and then too quick, nothing entirely made sense? The magic aspect was a little spotty and strange. The whole babysitters thing was also a bit iffy for me. The stuff with the coach was honestly just random and misplaced, I felt like. And Dion was meh. I thought it might have been a stronger story if there was some kind of romance plot between Esme and Cassandra (which is honestly what I thought we would be getting going into this book) because that would have made more sense than half the things going on here.

Alright. I gave this book two stars basically because there is more that I do not like about the book, than more than I do. It would make for a decent read if there were so much more!

The first thing I want to say, is that this book made me laugh, literally out loud from the start, and even throughout the book, so I loved that! I have to admit there's some pretty funny stuff in there. But then, it gets into Esme, the main character, who finds out she has powers at seventeen. I do love her as a main character, but she was very calm of the whole idea of finding out that she's a 'Sitter'. To be honest, or should I say 'TBH' (another thing I didn't like about the book, the amount of abbreviations) the whole witchy world and characters in the book were just weird. I wish there could have been more detail, better magic! Things kind of just happened, with very little explanation, so it just didn't keep me interested.

I believe this book is more for an audience that would be in middle school, or people that like to read things that are just a little more G-rated, I guess?

I did love that the book made me laugh so much, a book never does that. But this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in an exchange for an honest opinion.

The narration of the main character flowed nicely and was charmingly realistic. I can honestly say I have not read a book quite like this in awhile, which was a breath of fresh air.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Esme started a babysitters club with three friends when she was 12. Now 17, she and her friend Janis are the only two left in this club where they mostly use it as an excuse to hang out together while babysitting occasionally instead of getting a traditional job.

Strange things, however, start happening to Esme and Janis while they are babysitting. One charge ends up on the roof with no idea how she got there. And someone breaks into the house another night.

Strange things also begin happening to Esme. She finds that she is able to make things happen by thinking about them, but at first, she’s not sure what’s going on.

Enter Cassandra, new to town, who knows exactly what’s up with Esme. They both have powers.

As alluded to in the official plot description from the publisher, the two of them discover that they have lineage as Sitters who are protectors of the normal world. And something is definitely up in their town, and they may be the only two that can stop it.

The Babysitters Coven is a fun read, a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Hocus Pocus. Stories with a paranormal element aren’t usually my cup of tea, but this made it really fun to read.

As a final note, one of the disappointing things was the use of the word “crazy” thrown around to describe Esme’s mom. Esme tried to say that she was reclaiming the word from all those people who called her mom “crazy,” however, you cannot personally reclaim a word if you aren’t the person directly affected by it.

Overall, a fun read and one to check out when it releases in September 2019.

I received this ARC for review from Netgalley and Delacorte Press (Thank you!).

This book was awesome. Babysitter's Club+The Craft+Buffy= sign me up! And that cover! I really enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed the descriptions that the author gave in this book. I could see the outfits and scenery so clearly in my head. The characters were pretty great too. Although I didn't care for Cassandra's attitude and Esme's tendency to be slow at picking up on things, they were pretty believable as teens. I wanted more of Janice though and I wish she also had powers.

I would say that this book is worth your money and when it comes out you should pick it up. I can't wait for the sequel if there is one. I really hope their is, because I want a certain someone to get his just desserts.

Alright, you got me. I didn’t realize that Kate Williams was writing a book just to prank me and all my 1990’s sisters, but here it is. So I hear you watched The Craft, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the original Babysitters Club growing up? Let’s just throw all that shit together into a tongue-in-cheek smoothie, and out pops The Babysitters Coven.

This book is wild. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started it, and I’m not sure what I read after I finished it. I think I liked it. In fact, reflecting on it for this review, I’m almost positive I liked it. But that could be one of the Sitters casting a spell.

Here’s the gist: Esme is a stereotypical I’m-a-regular-girl girl. Her and her best friend Janis go through an exhausting amount of effort dressing for school everyday in their thrift-store outfits. The preposterous amount of time that Williams spends describing their style is perplexing, but I might have related to that were I still in high school.

Esme turns seventeen and develops powers. The new girl, Cassandra, catches her using those powers in gym. The big reveal is that Cassandra also has powers. They’re both part of a sacred secret inheritance passed down through the generations of women in their family. They’re Sitters--they literally babysit the Hellmouth (I mean the Portal) in the “Definite” (our world) that leaks monsters from the “Negative” (the demon plane) into Sunnydale. I mean, Spring River. Whatever, it’s just Buffy, and the characters acknowledge as much.

Of course, The Babysitters Coven goes a lot less hard than Buffy ever went. Their Watcher is a gym teacher named Brian who forgets to train them because football season is especially time-consuming this year. The spells they use to manipulate the world around them require treasures to cast---and these treasures are laughably the cutest part of the whole book. Their final boss spell requires: a “do not disturb” sign, a rose quartz crystal, a playbill from Wicked, cinnamon sticks, a clementine, seven hot-pink plastic army men, a dried-up wrist corsage, and a cucumber vape cartridge.

This book had me clutching my face in laughter and embarrassment. I’m not sure if it’s so silly that it’s frivolous (Esme casts a spell on her flatulent dog so that she can speak, but spends more time commenting on the dog’s stench) or so silly that it’s perfect (one of the characters gets stuck in the Negative, but talks to Esme through a Magic 8-Ball, one glowing triangle word at a time.)

This book looked like it would be the perfect book for me, and it was a good book, but it did fall short in a few ways. I’ll get those out of the way quickly in this review and then tell you why I think you should still read it! Much of what was disappointing about this book was that it felt like a first book in a series, and by that I mean that while there was a story arc it still felt like a lot of this was just set up for something bigger. That is understandable, it is of course the role of the first book to introduce us to characters and the trials ahead of them, but when you finish a book and it feels like you were just starting to get into things it leaves a bit of a frustrating feeling. One thing that will either endear the book to a reader or drive them a bit crazy is the use of slang. I do want the teenagers in the books I read to sound like teens, but sometimes it felt like the author was trying too hard to use that voice. That can also lead to trouble down the road when somebody picks up the book in 5 years and has no idea what AF means. A final small point is that a character in the book is in a mental institution and while I understand the desire to make it clear that it isn’t a fun place, some of the things that occur in relation to being institutionalized were very demeaning.

Now, with those things out of the way, here is why I will still be recommending this book! I did end the book wanting more, but there is already an announced sequel coming. I know I will be reading it, so that tells you that the story was compelling. The book has fun references to The Babysitters Club and Buffy which were fun along the way, and set the scene well. Esme, the main character, is a typical teen in many ways who hates school lunch, wants to avoid the bully in gym class, and is scared of driver’s ed. It is fun to watch her figure out what being a Sitter really means and watching her friendship with best friend Janis and new friend Cassandra. The magic is fun, because we can all immediately think of how we would use it in our every day life. And one of my favorite parts of the book? Esme’s dog, Pig, a pit bull who is a big ball of love! So, give the book a chance because I think we are in for an overall good series and I can’t wait for more!

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book has incredible 90s teen movie vibes, which is fitting, since it's pitched as Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a ton of Halloween vibes sprinkled in for good measure. Is it a little on the nose at times? Sure. But it is also a ton of fun? YES. There's something so familiar and cozy about it. Actually, it reminded me a tiny bit of Sweep, one of my all time favorite series, because it's got similar witchy vibes.

It definitely screams TEENAGER at you the whole time, to the point where you could sometimes tell this was clearly written by an adult trying to emulate The Youths™, but most of the time I didn't really mind at all, because Esme, the narrator, is pretty witty, so being in her head is a fun ride.

I did have some issues. First, the whole setup feels a bit contrived. [Like, why do they have to be babysitters? It would have been fine if a clear connection had been set up, but for some reason it wasn't, even though the connection was RIGHT THERE? It's very clear that these entities from The Negative feed on positive emotions that are generally found in children, so why not make that clear and establish that The Sitters pretend to be babysitters so they can be near children? This was such an obvious thing to me that I was really confused when the book never, ever pointed it out. (hide spoiler)]

The second issue relates to the character of Brian. [ That entire scene when he orders Esme and Cassandra to go to his house was just...A Mess. In so many ways. The whole time the girls keep saying it's shady for a grown man to be kidnapping them like that, and IT TOTALLY IS, and it doesn't endear you to Brian's character at all. And then he literally says, "I'm going to force you to do a lot of things" like??? I'm sorry??? I get that the narrative was trying to do a whole misdirection thing but it really just makes it seem like Brian is a total creep. And then at the end when he's fake!accused of having an inappropriate relationship with teen girls...I just didn't understand why this heavy emphasis on the potential inappropriateness of Brian. It was weird and uncomfortable and totally unnecessary and out of place in a book that's so light-hearted. (hide spoiler)]

Otherwise this was super fun. I got into it right away and couldn't put it down. (less)

This book was everything I was expecting to be, and more! I loved the direct reference to Buffy and how the characters relate their own story to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The parallels and the humor of the characters acknowledging said parallels was perfect! The characters were funny and I look forward to the sequel! There's witchcraft, fashion, drama, and strong Babysitter's Club vibes.

This is a great combination of the Baby-Sitter's Club (vaguely) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though some of the characters are more fleshed out than others, the book is a fun romp into demon territory. My only complaint is that I read this book as an ARC because now I have to wait even longer for the sequel!

I thought the first chapter of this novel was great. I was totally hooked! However as the story went on I found it wasn’t the semi scary vampire hunting story I had thought it would be. I think this novel would be perfect for the age range of 13-16 but I found it a little young for me. Which is weird because YA is my favorite genre. I loved all of the clothes the girls wore in this. Their sense of fashion is wicked! I enjoyed Pig, the pit bull. The cover of this is stunning and I loved the plot but the story wasn’t my favorite.

I am allllll for witches (I mean Sitters) being the new vampires. BRing on the GIRL POWER!

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the chance to review this title ahead of its release date.

This book was a fantastic opening to a series that really allowed you to understand the beginnings of the world without feeling overwhelmed. The book had the feelings of a superhero origin story, and I did not mind that at all. With a hint of romance that does not end how you hope it will and true friendship through great odds this book did a great job of developing both the main character and her best friend. The characters are genuine and real even with the magical mystical framework of this story and it make the narrative compelling to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a contemporary ya series to start a journey with!

Almost sad I read this book already because now I have to wait until fall of 2020 to see where Kate Williams can take this world. Will be honored to read that arc as well when it comes out!

PS Janis finds out again, right? because I need janis in the coven

⭐ARC from NetGalley in exchange for honest review⭐

This book pulled me in within the first few pages. It was a magical witchy like read that was beautifully paced and kept me wanting more.

I will be buying the book once its released! (because that cover 😍)

Now I will impatiently wait until fall of 2020 for the second book.

What an adorable first book to kick-off a new series!
Williams writes with such a youthful, quick tone, I couldn’t help but laughing at the girls’ dialogue and feeling like I was right there for the day to day high school melodrama. I especially love the descriptions of their outfits and even the shorthand IDKs & IRLs included. It was fun to have such a fresh twist on an old classic, too, with lots of homages to the old Baby-Sitters Club series but updated technology and a whole new aspect with the magic. The added depth of a teen dealing with a sick mother and a basically single-father while navigating drivers-ed and high school bullies made it more down-to-earth as well.
Janis was a perfect and hilarious best-friend character, too. Loved everything about her.
I genuinely look forward to the next book in this series and I’d recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for the old series, witchcraft, fashion, or teen drama.