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.

I’ve been extremely excited about this book since I first heard about it. Describing it as Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the best way to suck me in because who doesn’t love both of those things?!

I admit that I think I had preconceived notions about this book, which is probably why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think I expected more elements of adventure and less daily life and outfit references. I appreciated laying down the foundation and backstory, but after awhile, even once the powers were discovered, everything continued to move slowly. I kept reading though because the premise was still pretty cool and of course I wanted to find out what happened. The mystery of who the hell was showing up at these babysitting jobs was too juicy to give up. It wasn’t until about the 60% mark that everything started to pick up and from then the story snowballed and everything moved very quickly. I think that was my major drawback with this book: the pacing. 

I did absolutely love the story behind Esme’s mom. I had been wondering if my theory around that was right and it partially was, so that was great. The true villain, not the pawn, was a surprise which was also great.  Character wise, Cassandra was not my cup of tea, but I did like Janis and Esme. Their friendship was so cute  and I hope to see more of that in the next installment.

Overall, despite the pacing, once I adjusted my expectations I actually enjoyed this read. Were there some flaws, yes, but not enough to make me give up and definitely not enough to miss out when the sequel is released next year. Hopefully, that read will be even better.

3.5 Stars

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Characters **** I enjoy the different characters here. Janis is fun as are Esme and Cassandra. There are some other weird characters that didn't really work for me but I did like the three babysitters and their charges.

Cover ***** I mean, LOOK AT IT. It's perfect.

Pace ** This was one of those books that just went TOO quickly. And not like in an "I wish it had been longer because I loved it" way. I feel like from start to finish there just wasn't enough being gone over it just jumped from one thing to the next. However, we were 60% through the book before we even found out what the whole "babysitters coven" thing was. And I don't think it was meant to be a big reveal I just think it was held out far too long.

Plot *** While I liked the general plot of this, I do take issue with a few things. This book compares it's own plot to Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it's own characters to those from Mean Girls throughout the book. I take great issue with the whole relation to BTVS thing because it IS so much like BTVS. So much so that it kinda ruined the plot for me. 

Writing **** I did enjoy Kate's writing style and the overall voice of the novel. I do plan to pick up the sequel.

Enjoyment *** I read about 60% of this at the end of July and I set it down due to life being a dick. I honestly only really picked it back up because I felt responsible to do so because it was an ARC. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have come back to it. I'm glad I read it, it was fun but I just didn't LOVE IT as I had expected. I do plan to read the second book and will even pick this one up to add to my collection and that may just be because of the awesome cover. Who knows.

This book was sooooo good. I wish I waited to read it during October, but I’m so glad I read it. It was fun and spooky in all the right places.

The Babysitters Coven doesn’t have the story to back up its fun hook. A shallow series-starter that might have been more successful as upper-Middle Grade.

--

Esme and her friend Janice need money. They can’t seem to hold down jobs, so to maintain their ludicrous (and expensive) lifestyle, they’ve stuck with their years-old “babysitters club,” even as their friends moved on to other pursuits.

Why can’t these two supposedly intelligent, competent teenagers hold down minimum wage employment? Well, besides the fact that their fashion obsession leaves very little room in their brains for concentration… they’re just awful. For no reason.

Janice, we are told in a representative anecdote, was fired from Jamba Juice for publicly embarrassing a customer, yelling to the whole store that her order was “white girl special with an extra entitlement boost.” Esme tells the reader that this isn’t Janice’s fault: “She was just too woke for corporate America.” At first, I thought that line must be tongue-in-cheek–obviously, Esme means that as a joke, right? But as I read on, it became clear that author Kate Williams is totally serious about her characters’ adorable superiority to other human beings.

Maybe I truly am too old to understand YA, but I can’t imagine that teen readers will take away from that story that these girls are offbeat, edgy feminists. The book solidly establishes them as shallow, spoiled girls who can’t see two feet past their own internalized misogyny and self-absorption. And that would be fine–it really would be! As I often say when I rag on unlikable teen characters, the unlikability isn’t the problem. Lots of teenagers are shallow and self-obsessed. It’s realistic and, I think, valuable to explore that kind of character.

But reading The Babysitters Coven never gave me the impression that Williams was writing that sort of character on purpose. Everything about the book signaled to me that I was supposed to think these girls were quirky and cool. If Williams was interested in exploring a deeply terrible kind of teen girl… wouldn’t she have included characters who could contextualize those flaws? Wouldn’t she have had those characters grow in any significant way?

This is a deep problem. The book wants to coast by largely on the strength of characters that its fun to adventure with. When Esme and company are cruel and unpleasant–and never corrected for being so–it seriously disrupts the experience.

Also interrupting the adventure is Williams’ palpably sweaty attempt to replicate teen speech. Williams is careful to include slang on almost every page–characters unironically say “AF” and OTHER.

She overlooks, however, the equally important knowledge of what to leave out of characters’ speech. These supposedly contemporary teens still filter their observations through the lens of 80s movie stereotypes. Even characters like Esme, who Williams wants us to believe are third-wave intersectional feminists, use strikingly outdated language. At one point, Esme calls her school’s cheerleaders “thugs” to communicate their physical strength and disrespect for rules.

My patience with The Babysitters Coven was already wearing thin by the time Williams introduced the non-specific forces of evil. The book takes forever to explain Esme’s powers and heritage, but I still didn’t fully understand the rules and stakes.

The publisher logline tells us that Esme realizes her “calling to protect the innocent and save the world from an onslaught of evil,” and the book maintains almost that level of vagueness throughout the book. In lieu of worldbuilding, we get lots of common nouns capitalized to become proper and even more fixation on characters’ experience and style choices.

Between the glacial pace, the lack of specificity, and the way Williams wouldn’t stop lampshading her borrowing from other franchises (“Wow, this is just like Buffy/The Babysitters Club/The Craft!” characters constantly note), I had to push myself to get through it.

Babysitters Coven might have been a much stronger book as an upper-Middle Grade story. Esme and her friends are highly immature youthful, and one could rewirte them as 13/14 with minimal changes. A few changes to the story would have to be made (eliminating some gratuitous swearing and sexual references, eliminating the out-of-place serious plotlines with adult subject matter), but I think those are changes that should have been made anyway. The book’s repetition of plot points and careful pace would be more at home in Middle Grade. Pitched to a younger audience, the story could be the fun Buffy x BSC romp it wanted to be.

I received an advance review copy of this title from the publisher in expectation of an honest review. No money changed hands for this review and all opinions are my own.

DNF at 25 percent. I wanted to go on with the book. It was too much.

This book didn't work for me at all. If it did for you I'm more than happy. Just to be safe , read on and please know these facts before choosing this one.


Our protagonist Esme Pearl is a 17 year old directly from a 1980 teen movie. Her snark and her character wanted me to throw myself out the window. 

Why you ask?

Lemme say. 

For example , she says her superpowers are not deciding what to wear so she could save a lot time. But EVERY SINGLE NIGHT she thinks about what she wanna wear according to her schedule. Like... What?

She supposedly wears glasses. When she has a concussion (when she falls down in a sidewalk , no mention of glasses?! As a person who wears them , I know it would be broken or atleast dented?! )

Saying she's stupid and reckless makes the actual reckless MC to shame.

With the plot , we travel every single day with the protagonist. Until something weird happens. Traveling with her and her high school banters were really exhausting. I couldn't read without rolling my eyes every single paragraph.

I haven't hated any character (including side characters) this much. Esme was just.. a brat. A really annoying brat . And ofcourse , we follow her PoV.

I really hate giving books low ratings. So I'm gonna give no ratings .

I received this copy via NetGalley for FFBC blog tour. This is no way has affected my opinions

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm sad to say I had to DNF this book at 50%. I tried really hard to get through it and enjoy it but it felt like there was a whole lot of nothing going on. I liked the idea of the girls having powers, their moms were connected through some babysitters club thing but I felt like the plot could have been more exciting. The fashion part of the characters was also hilarious and I loved the dog! I hope other people are able to enjoy this book.

WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN WITH THIS BOOK???

The Babysitters Coven has definitely been the second most disappointing book I’ve read this year. There was so much wasted potential that I’m honestly having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around it all.

Before I get too far I want to let you know that I did DNF this at 60%. I wanted to finish it so bad since I was so far into it but I couldn’t do it.

Kate Williams writing was mediocre at best. The plot was so thin and the majority of the time it felt like Williams wasn’t sure where she wanted her story to go. It also seemed like she wanted to make this an empowering feminist book but she instead contributed to stereotypes. The cheerleaders? They’re bullies that start fights over boys.

Nothing in this story felt connected. Details would pop up and then be quickly forgotten. Sometimes they would reappear but it all felt very random. Nothing seemed like there was a purpose behind it.

If it’s supposed to be funny then where are all the jokes? Did they all go over my head? Did I somehow skim over them? I DON’T KNOW.

None of the characters were likable. They were all flat and one dimensional and none of their actions made much sense. Janis, Esme’s supposed best friend, was constantly mean to Esme. We need to stop showing teenage girls that friendships, where one person is abusive to the other when things don’t go their way, is okay.

Overall, The Babysitters Coven was a huge trainwreck for me. The synopsis promises so much and Kate Williams never delivered. I’m not going to tell you to skip reading this all together if it’s something you’re interested in but maybe check it out from the library or borrow it from a friend before buying it yourself.

3 for neutral.  This book looked so intriguing, but ultimately I felt it fell short and I could not keep interested enough to even finish.  I think there are important topics, but not enough was happening to hold my interest completely.  I am very moody; so if at a later date I’m able to enjoy I’ll update.

I think this book had a lot of promise! It has a great friendship and the look into the mental health of this family during a dark time is really important. It is not very plot heavy and I can appreciate the more intimate moments with the characters.

i was really excited for this (that cover! witches!) but honestly, it was...fine, i guess. i know i'm not the target age demographic for this book but it reads very young. i've read YA that is interesting and fun and doesn't feel quite so juvenile. it got a little grating (especially the text speak dropped in. do people really say "LOL" and "TBH" out loud?)

also, i was expecting/hoping it would be more witchy? i don't really know how to explain it; just not the vibe i was hoping for.

I wanted to like The Babysitters Coven. It has a fantastic, eye-catching cover with an illustration of a badass girl facing down some presumably nefarious multicolored clouds. I am always a sucker for a good cover design, so it breaks my heart when the book doesn’t live up to the cover.

The elevator pitch for The Babysitters Coven is The Babysitters Club meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’ve never read The Babysitters Club, but I feel like you don’t have to read those books to understand what they’re about. Buffy, though, is something that I obsessed over to the point of distraction a few years ago, and I’m always game for stories that play around with those tropes.

The book starts off well enough. The narrator, Esme, is a snarky misfit of a girl who meticulously plans and documents her daily outfits, curating clothes along thematic or referential lines. She runs a local babysitters club with her best friend Janis, another fashion plate. She lives with her dad and a flatulent dog named Pig, and the only real black spot on her life is the fact that her mom is almost catatonic and lives in a mental institution. The snarky narrator is a stock character in YA fiction, but Esme lands a few solid laugh lines early in the book and I highlighted one or two passages.

Esme’s life is fairly normal until the day that someone tries to kidnap one of her babysitting charges. If that wasn’t enough to freak her out, Esme starts to realize that she might be able to move things with her mind. Everything comes to a head when a mysterious girl named Cassandra asks to join the babysitters club and Esme finds out that she might not be the only one experiencing unexplained supernatural events. Further complication matters is Cassandra’s smoking hot older brother, Dion.

I started reading this book on May 10th, 2019 and didn’t finish it until August 21st, 2019. That’s a good three months and change. In the intervening time, I finished nineteen(!) other books. For whatever reason, I liked the book enough to want to keep reading, but I never seemed to make much progress until the last week or so when I decided it was time to power through and finish it. That said, when I finally got into a rhythm reading the book, I liked it less and less.

One of the biggest problems with The Babysitters Coven is that the pacing is deadly dull. After Esme and Cassandra discover their shared supernatural experiences, they noodle around without any clear goal for more than half of the book. The discover a written guide to basic magical powers, but they don’t receive an explanation for their abilities and responsibilities until past the halfway point.

When Esme and Cassandra finally meet someone willing to give them some guidance, their new mentor mostly serves as an infodump who speaks in cheesy jargon before disappearing for the rest of the story. The magic system seems ill-defined and without any real weight or consequences, but after the characters play with magic early in the book, they neglect to use any of their more complex powers during climactic scenes.

Williams jams most of the plot and action into the last quarter of the book, where everything falls apart and then resolves itself in short order. Esme and Cassandra don’t receive much in the way of training or information before they face a more serious threat, and then everything is neatly wrapped up in only a handful of pages.

To return to the subject of the elevator pitch, The Babysitters Coven is fully aware of its pop culture precedents. The Babysitters Club and Buffy are both name-dropped in the story, among other pop culture, as if lampshading the shared tropes will make it more acceptable.

I think it’s an interesting choice when speculative fiction interacts with some version of our real world via pop culture, but it has to be skillfully done so that the author is interrogating those tropes instead of just cataloging them. I’m sad to say that The Babysitters Coven is not that skillful.

The Babysitter's Coven begins with Esme on a babysitting job. Except after she's put the kid to bed, she hears a thunk from the room and goes to explore. When she finds the kid outside the window, standing inches away from the edge of the roof and insisting that David Bowie from Labyrinth tried to kidnap her, Esme realizes something weird is going on. Convincing herself that it was just a nightmare on the kid's part, Esme tries to go on with her life - and then she starts making things move with her mind.

This was an interesting book. The first 20% had me completely captivated, and a lot of that credit goes to how brilliant Williams wrote the protagonist. Esme's snarky, witty, humorous voice was established almost immediately. She was so funny that I found myself laughing out loud at her references and descriptions. But she was also really judgmental and it made for an interesting blend of un-likability and investment. Another thing the novel did really well was the relationship dynamics; I was completely invested in Esme's relationship with her father and her best friend, Janice.

The 'realistic' portions of the novel (i.e. babysitting, school, relationship, coming-of-age) were all handled perfectly. Even the paranormal aspects such as the magic system felt so fresh and different, because it was so rooted in reality. Imagine making spells out of everyday things like washing powder and chapstick instead of deer bones, or whatever, we're usually used to. I really enjoyed those parts. But a lot of the action and paranormal elements just weren't as compelling as other parts of the book.

It also became very clear that the author was putting in effort to sound like a teen, and it came off a little strong in the phrases being used. That kind of took me out of the story.

Overall, I enjoyed this, and I'm interested to see where the story will go in the sequel!

Low 2.5 stars

This book, as any reader will tell you, is The Baby-sitters Club (BSC) meets Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) meets The Craft.  And the reason every reader will tell you that is that the characters tell you that.  Early on, I'm looking at Esme's BFF, Janis, and thinking, "weird that you would have a book that almost certainly is going to recall BSC and have a friend who is known for her cool outfits, just like Claudia."  But almost immediately she talks about their mostly defunct babysitting club and how each of the people in it is like one of the characters from BSC.  And even though that was weird, I shrugged and said, "Fair enough."  Except this isn't the only time this happens.  When the book (finally) turns into BtVS (Sitter = Slayer, Counsel = Watcher, portals = Hellmouths), Esme once again spells it out for the audience, although her not-a-Watcher laughs it off and claims there's a difference.  When they have to find a group of four to do a spell, Janis points out that it's like The Craft.

(Disclaimer: it is very hard to sell me on anything that is *too* obviously BtVS these days.  I've been there, done that, and almost certainly loved it more the first time around.)

One of my main problems with the book is that anything that was worth doing once, was done at least twice (sometimes in quick succession).  The tongue-in-cheek calling-out of the ideas that came directly out of the inspiration sources was cute the first time, but make it twice, and that trick's been played.  Early on, we get two chapters in a row where Esme goes to class...both of them classes she was taking as a junior but were not meant to be junior classes.  She explains the circumstances behind being in these classes at such a late time in her high-school career, leaving me wondering why they weren't streamlined into one after they both serve the exact same purpose in the story.  She faces off against a bully with an S name in gym, and later faces off against cheerleader "thugs," all with S names (okay, one with a T).  She tells us how when she asked her dad if her mom was a babysitter, he said something like she did something with kids, and then they have that exact conversation later (I literally experienced deja vu over it).  She has an unreal conversation with one guy, followed by an unreal conversation with another guy... You get the picture.

The pacing also felt very off.  It was 59% before we actually find out what the plot of the book/series is.  Everything before that is school and babysitting and little weird things happening, followed by Esme and Cassandra trying out their powers.  Even after they're told that big stuff is happening, there's detours like Cassandra taking Esme to use their powers to shoplift.  There's also the time spent on describing, in detail, Esme's and Janis's outfits.  At some point, Esme says she'd like to do fashion design, but it is a dropped mention that seemed to be there to justify the expansive outfit descriptions.  One scene consisted of a description of Janis's outfit and a discussion of whether to go to a party; it was followed by another scene of going to the party with both outfits described...and Esme leaving the party after 3 seconds.  Because we didn't learn about the not-a-Slayer stuff until so late in the book, it was a serious crash course in what Esme and Cassandra's role is, and the developments related to that and the climax all felt very rushed.

I was disappointed to see the Big Bad brought down by a group of adults who stepped in at the end, instead of any of our main or major characters.

Finally, one character seemed cool up until the climax, at which point they became a legitimate idiot.  It wasn't even like they were putting on an act to fool Esme, it was like they devolved into a six-year-old (because the seven-year-old they were rescuing was more mature than that person).

There were some good things about the book.  

While I wasn't in love with her voice, Esme did seem like a teenager, and I think a lot of teens will like it.

I thought the magic system was cute.  Each spell required a series of modern items that seemed to be somewhat related to the spell, and often could be little more than toys or trinkets.  My only nitpick was that once they cast the spell with the ingredients, they apparently can do it at will, which makes it less cool to me.  One funny use of the spells, is when Esme makes her pit bull speak, and she speaks exactly like you think a dog should speak.  

Instead of being a librarian, the not-a-Watcher is a football coach who has been too distracted with the season to train Esme and Cassandra. It's a cute inversion of the expectation that a Watcher/Counsel must be bookish.  Again, a nitpick: it'd be funnier if he came by his football obsession naturally, but apparently it was magicked into him.

Obviously, this was not the book for me.  It had a great premise, but I felt that the pacing was off so that the blend of the two ideas/sources of inspiration didn't quite work.  Add in quite a bit of repetition and some weird choices regarding the climax and resolution, and I just wasn't in love with it.

Recommended for fans of: YA paranormal; stories heavily influenced by BSC, BtVS, and The Craft; repetition; unique outfits described in detail; interesting magic systems; love interests that go nowhere; pop culture references; pit bulls; Slimer (a la Ghostbusters)

Note: I received a copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I went into THE BABYSITTER'S COVEN with high hopes, as the idea of snarky and snappy teen girls with powers is always going to appeal to me. Especially since this book takes influence and inspiration from one of my favorite series as a kid, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB. For the most part, I found a good deal to like about this book. I liked Esme as a protagonist, as I found her to be realistic enough that she read in a believable way. I also liked her BFF Janis, and thought that their friendship was really fun and reflected a healthy teen girl friendship without the 'drama' that some stories like to highlight. I also liked that Williams has a very deliberate idea of the world and magical systems that she wants to build, and that she is looking to make unique mythologies within the world. There were a few weaknesses for me, however, and the first was that our other protagonist, Cassandra, didn't feel like she really grew or expanded beyond 'mysterious cool girl'. Even as Esme got to know her, I didn't feel like Cassandra really grew into our second main character. Along with that, a lot of this book was spent building up exposition, and a lot of the conflict and actual drama fell to the wayside until it was too far into the book. By then, the confrontation and conflict felt rushed. And finally, it did border a bit towards the 'aggressively quirky' with some of the characters, kind of like BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER but amped up a few degrees. I'm sure that it will work better for the target audience, but I didn't have as much patience for it, and it makes me think that this series (as there is at least one more book happening) isn't one that I will seek out as a priority as time goes on.

When all is said and done, I think that THE BABYSITTERS COVEN has some promise, and I could see it getting a fanbase and a devoted audience. Teens looking for witchy readings should definitely check it out!

This book was too self-aware for it’s own good, in a sarcastic “I hate everything that is cool and trendy” kinda way, in all the best ways. I mean it is pitched as The Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I cannot disagree. It is a book for the outcast and I know for sure my past alternative high schooler self would have really appreciated it! In other words, I though it was GREAT!

My favorite thing about the book is hands down the atmosphere. I really feel like this is the crowd I needed and only half belonged to in high school. The characters really moved the story along but ultimately I am now so pumped for autumn and Halloween that I am already lighting my Hot Buttered Rum scented candles and wearing thermals with heeled boots… in Texas… where the average temperature is currently 104… Yeah, the book is that good.

All of the hidden references were neat as well and if you are a fan of horror films, you will enjoy them even more (I don’t watch horror but they were well enough know that I understood the reference so no worries).

Character wise, they kept me on my toes. They really felt fleshed out and real in the sense that I never really completely liked all of the traits a single person had. They were human, they were flawed and they kept my guessing all while having believable reactions to the situations they found themselves faced with. I am a very character based reader so I enjoyed this aspect emmensly.

The reason I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5, is because I found it very slow build in the beginning and was not really looking forward to picking it back up until about 35% in. Everything after that keeps you speeding right along. I know some people are really into slow burn so that my not be a negative for you but I was just left waiting for the action (I promise it will deliver though). I am so excited for the follow up book already but it looks like we are going to have to wait until Fall 2020 for that one. I just can’t wait to see what the sitters get caught up in next.

*Review will be posted on my blog and Goodreads page September 4, 2019. Post is already written and scheduled.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Charmed meets The Babysitters Club. This book was a fantastic read, full of tongue-in-cheek humour and witty dialogue. I appreciated it from page one and the MC, Esme, was awesome. She deals with a lot of shit both normal and paranormal and takes it all in stride. She's a bit immature but she's been through a lot and she's still learning to overcome those issues.

I really wish this was a movie because I would watch it all the time. 

I love the relationship between Esme and her friends, and between Esme and her family. Her fashion savvy and horror movie love is a great focus on the hobby side of teens we don’t often see. Rather, sometimes they’re mentioned and never revisited, but with Esme they really feel loved in.

I don’t know as any part of the story felt like a twist to me, but it also didn’t really need to. Some books are just a fun ride. Very much interested to see where we go from here. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a great story and I liked the characters a lot! Esme and Janis were quite the pair! I loved the outfit names! I looked forward to what they would come up with next! It was a twist on a babysitting story, I found it keep my attention the whole way thru! Finding out Dion was well an idiot kinda sucked up it made up for it with total bada$$ chicks kicking butt!
I would definitely recommend this book. It was quick read and I hope there's more to the story of esme and her mom!

The Babysitter's Coven is just a fun read.  Is it the most perfectly written book?  No.  But it was really enjoyable and I would recommend it for anyone who likes The Babysitter's Club, Adventures in Babysitting, The Craft, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I laughed out loud a lot throughout the book.

Esme is a babysitter.  She only has one real friend, Janis.  When they were younger, they decided to start a babysitter's club with two other girls.  But they left it and now it's just Esme and Janis.  I loved their friendship and Esme's babysitting stories.  And then there is the fashion.  Both girls love fashion, so they plan outfits every day and name them.  Both girls shop for vintage stuff and find these amazing deals.  Some of the outfits sounded so cool.  I wish I could see them, but could picture them pretty well.

When Esme is babysitting Baby Satan, Kaitlyn, something really weird happened.  First, Esme couldn't get into Kaitlyn's room.  Once she finally got the door open, Kaitlyn was gone.  Esme found her on the roof and had to get her back in.  Kaitlyn said a man with sunshine fountain hair, marker eyes, and sparkly clothes with ruffles took her.  Esme just assumed that Kaitlyn's mom let her watch Labyrinth since she just described David Bowie.  It did bother Esme though.  She truly does care about the kids she watches, even when they are a bit evil.

A new girl shows up at school, dropped off by a hot guy.  This was a big deal since the town rarely gets new neighbors.  Cassandra doesn't really hang out with anyone, but one day, she approaches Esme.  She asks about the babysitters.  Esme thinks it's odd and Janis doesn't trust her.  But they let her come over and take a job.   During this time, Esme gets to meet the hot guy.  He is Cassandra's older brother, Dion.  She crushes hard and they spend a bit of time together.  Shortly after this, Cassandra finally tells Esme why she wanted to join the sitters.  She found a note and book left by her dead mother that told her to find the babysitters.  That was it.  She had a picture of her and her mom along with Esme's mom and Esme.  Esme's mom had a break from reality and lived in assisted living.  She rarely spoke and didn't make any sense.  She did steal random items for her collection.  So Esme doesn't know much about her, but knew her mom was a sitter, too.

Esme starts to move things without touching them when she is really emotional.  Cassandra's moms information helps her realize that she has powers.  And the book was a book of spells using random items that she could pick up anywhere.  Cassandra has a power, too, and they slowly learn about what they are.  Cassandra wants a lot of power and it goes to her head at times.  Esme mostly wants to control it, learn more about her mom, and hang out with Dion.

I also have to mention Esme's pitbull, Pig.  I freaking loved this dog and was thrilled to read about her throughout the book.

When a girl does missing while Esme and Cassandra were watching her, they need all the help they can get to stop whoever it was.  

There were so many pop culture references that I really enjoyed throughout the book.  All the fun little "extras" made the book stand out to me.  I gave it 4 stars.  Thank you to the publisher for my review copy.

Warnings for anxiety, assisted living, parental death (not on page), kidnapping, bullying, demons, offensive jokes (mostly told by teenage boys), and a bit of sexual talk (by those teenage boys).  There is also mention of inappropriate contact with students by a coach, but that didn't actually happen.