Thank you to the publisher for sending me an EARC of The Baby Sitter’s Coven! I surprisingly enjoyed this book! I went into it thinking it was going to be just like many witchy YA books as of late, but it was far more enjoyable. It’s not the best witchy YA fiction out there but I would suggest it to a YA reader! The banter between characters was very reminiscent of the banter between Buffy and her friends in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was quite funny at some points! There are a few things I did not jive with, which was the characters. I just did not feel connected to them at any point. The plot fell a little flat at some points for me also, but overall a fun read!

THE BABYSITTERS COVEN hit me right in the 1990s-kid feels. It was a journey down memory lane that I quite enjoyed. I thought it would be a dark satire, but it isn't a heavy book or is it as dark as I thought it'd be. Personally, I think that was a missed opportunity. There was some dark moments, but it was more for shock/surprise than a consistent theme. Esme's humor, however, kept the book afloat and kept me turning the pages. I think this book is a little too young for older teens, but perfect for tweens. There's a crucial scene at the beginning of the book involving a car and bathroom humor. It's a funny scene, but I think tweens would appreciate it more than say a junior or senior.

It was a very atmospheric read. I'll definitely be purchasing this for myself when autumn comes. What I like most about this book is that it doesn't take itself seriously. So, I didn't take it seriously that way I didn't set myself up for failure because I really wanted to enjoy this book. To me, it was a guilty pleasure that feather-tickles your nostalgia if you grew up with the classics like Babysitters Club, Buffy, and Charmed.

The prose was relevant and the pacing was kind of on the slow side, but all in all, I enjoyed the book.

I think this book was outside of my target demographic. Some of the writing felt a little clunky, and it was hard to move past. I also think the paranormal elements were a little weak and it wasn't exactly what I expected from witchy vibes. I had a hard time connecting with the main character as well.

I have mixed feelings for this book, overall I enjoyed it. It was fast paced and something to lose yourself in for a time. But at times it felt like the author was writing for a demographic they hadn’t been apart of for a while and all the abbreviations and “shorthand” slag thrown into speeches made little to no sense. It also felt very much like something I’ve heard before, and I could have done without the weird love story with Dion.

Overall I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’d read any sequels.

*thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for an honest review*

2 / 5 stars

Honestly, I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. The main character seemed so basic and like the only thing going for her was everything that happened with her mom and the fact that she’s a babysitter. I couldn’t feel the main character or who she was. All I saw was reflections of who she was according to her friends, school mates, or her father. Also, the character that gets all the witchy stuff going is so annoying. I really just can’t cheer her on or want to see her in the book itself. So I’m bouncing, leaving a Goodreads review and moving on with my life. Good luck to you my dear book. Just because you weren’t for me doesn’t mean you can’t be it for someone else!

5/5 ⭐️
This was so good!
I love anyth To do with witches! And adding the babysitter aspect is pretty cool as well.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
The Babysitters Coven is the first in a series that follows Esme as she discovers that not only does she and new girl Cassandra have special powers but they are part of a select few chosen to guard the world from evil. They are... the sitters.
Esme and Cassandra are interesting, fun characters with general, witty banter. (Best friend Janis is the gift that keeps on giving and did not get enough appreciation, she is the true MVP.)
Sounds like a fantastic and fun read and for some it most definitely will be but it took well over half the book for anything to really happen. The book really drags in the beginning and could have had more set up for what is going on in the background. There could have been more hints or something to keep me interested. When it really does start in on the action it just keeps on going until it hits a brick wall that is an ending that isn’t really an ending because, this is the first in a series.
Esme is a smart capable teenager who is really, really into fashion, and as someone who is not the talk of it and description of outfits got a little old and tired after the first couple times. Cassandra is a take no bull kind of character, the kind who stands firm in front of people and yells “you’re not the boss of me” which I like, no lie. Maybe it’s my age though but she could have done with learning tact though.
Part of my overall, personal issue with the book is it is first person, which is my least preferred pov in a book so there is that.
The book is fun enough and there is potential, hopefully the second book will get more of that.

I was really excited for more witchy ya books but this just wasn’t what I expected in any way and it ended up being really disappointing.

The writing is clunky and yes, I know this is a paranormal/fantasy, but it was super unbelievable at times and made me cringe with the exaggerated slang.

The premise is that Esme has powers and meets a new girl at school who shocker ALSO has powers. They find out they both come from a long line of “sitters” and have to save the world.

It’s cute in a way and reminds me a lot of Buffy which the synopsis boasts. The thing is though, it just wasn’t good. It was cheesy and mostly a headache to read. While I am sympathetic towards Esme I also could not stand her at the same time.

Apparently this is part one of a series so maybe the next book will be better. Points to the super cute cover and also Esme’s dog Pig. The true hero of the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Baby-Sitter's Club meets Sabrina the Teenage Witch in this funny, thrilling read, just in time for Halloween!

There's not much to do in Esme Pearl's small Kansas town, and the only thing to talk about is football (which Esme would prefer to not, thank you very much, Dad). Fortunately for Esme, her nights are rarely boring with a best friend like Janis and her gig as the best babysitter in town. But when weird things start happening after her seventeenth birthday, Esme starts to worry that she's going insane--just like her mom. But when a new girl named Cassandra Heaven shows up at school and is desperate to join Esme's small (read: two person) babysitter's club, she doesn't think too much of it.

But then things start to get even weirder. Especially when Cassandra shows Esme a note her deceased mother left for toddler Cassandra: Find the babysitters. Does it have something to do with the fact that Cassandra can make fire appear at will? Or with Esme's own strange incidents? And what exactly does it mean to be a Sitter in this town?

A homage to shows and movies about teenage girls with magic powers taking charge as well as all the well-loved babysitters of fiction, "The Babysitters Coven" is a fantastic first book in a series. Wonderfully atmospheric and spooky in all manner of setting--place, season, mood, etc.--and often a little scary, Williams has crafted a tale of mystery and intrigue, with surprises around every corner. I eagerly await book 2 and the return to the adventures of the Sitters.

This book was ridiculous in the best way!  Described as "Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer" I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read this.

Esme Pearl is surviving high school with a keen fashion sense and a babysitters club with her best friend Janis.  When a freak accident happens in driver's ed, Esme finds herself on the hook for a large sum of money in damages and is left with a ton of questions about supernatural abilities.

Cassandra Heaven arrives in Spring River intent on becoming part of the babysitter's club that Esme sees as a lame joke now that she's seventeen.  When Cassandra confides she discovered a note from her now deceased mother telling her to "find the babysitters", the new friends discover that their fates are intertwined thanks to a long line of women known as Sitters who protect a portal in our world from demons.

Unfortunately for Esme and Cassandra their Giles/watcher is the former interior decorator turned Spring River football coach named Brian and he's been too busy with the season to teach the girls about their newfound powers.

Brian assures them that the portal is still firmly closed and that there's plenty of time for him to teach them but when a young girl they're babysitting is kidnapped, they have no choice but to cast some spells and hope that the Synod (the governing magic council) will help them out.  (See, ridiculous, right?!)

This book seriously made me laugh out loud at times with its droll humor.  Esme's wit and cynicism were spot-on for a seventeen-year-old and I love that the characters make references to The Babysitters Club, Buffy, and The Craft and acknowledge the obvious similarities.

If you grew up watching the above-mentioned shows/movies and appreciate the pop culture, you'll appreciate The Babysitters Coven!  I also recommend to readers who love paranormal YA.  While parts of the story moved slow and the ending fell a bit flat, the humor kept it entertaining and it's also the beginning of a series so readers will have more answers in the future.  For me, it was just plain fun.

Thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Babysitters Coven is scheduled for release on September 17, 2019.

Thank you Random House Children's and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my review.

The Babysitters Coven (TBC) is/was one of my most anticipated books of the Fall -- I already have it pre-ordered. I mean, look at that cover! It's gorgeous!

TBC is a good read for a late elementary or middle school student but may be difficult for the adult audience to enjoy (even those who primarily read YA).

The concept behind TBC is delightfully unique, albeit similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That said, I contemplated DNFing TBC several times. I found all of the pop culture references to in excess -- as if the book tried too hard to be 'relevant' and similar to Buffy that the references became jarring and distracting. I'm embarrassed to admit that I began skimming some sections (I never skim!, ever!) to avoid the pop culture references and predictable character dialogue. Also, there's a section in the first chapter where Esme is wearing boots and then, magically, a few paragraphs later only has socks on. ???? The consistency was confusing.

All in all, I'm going to keep my preorder and happily anticipate sharing this series with my kids. :)

The Babysitters' Coven is so much fun. It's got a definite Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel to it (and one of the characters actually references the similarity of their situation to Buffy).

Esme is a typical teen just trying to get through high school. She's neither popular nor unpopular, and she and her best friend stay mostly under the radar, spending their spare time babysitting. When new girl at school Cassandra wants to join their babysitters club, Esme is a little surprised. When she figures that Cassandra has no experience with kids and is a totally incompetent babysitter, she's really confused. But Esme is also confused by weird stuff that's happening around her, stuff that she seems to be making happen. And Cassandra apparently has the same problem.

I really enjoyed this book. It's funny, fast-paced, and very self-aware (it's got a very Buffy vibe, and that's actually acknowledged in the book). Esme is a great character. She's a typical teen dealing with some very atypical stuff. Cassandra is much more of a loose cannon (the Faith to Esme's Buffy), but she was orphaned as a young child and grew up in the foster care system, so she hasn't had the stable parental influence that Esme has from her dad (but not her mother, who has been institutionalized since Esme was a small child). I thought the contrast between the two characters worked really well.

This is the start of a series, and I'm interested to see where things go.

Clamoring for dark and gritty paranormal reads is basically my thing. But even I need a nice fun read from time to time, with lots of lightness to it. The Babysitters Coven sounded like something I was in the mood for but I don't think I was the right demographic for this book.

Let's start off with a positive. I love Esme's voice, she is hilarious and I definitely had more than a few laugh out loud moments since her humor is so similar to mine. Her voice upbeat and modern and most importantly, realistic and easy to relate to.

Now plot wise.. it's predictable. You can read it like an open book. (Yeah, I went there.) The dark twists were only surprising because they were a bit darker than the rest of the book, but not because readers can't see them coming. This books real power to captivate readers comes from its quirky humor, and even quirkier characters. No really, the cast of characters found in The Babysitters Coven are awesome. Even the side characters get some depth and when bad things start to happens you can feel for everyone. Even if they deserved it.

Although this book has more than three-hundred pages, I felt as if the page time could have been used so much better. The story failed to bring the magic world to life for me. the book is likable. It’s got a certain charm. And while it won’t blow minds, it’s a pretty standard example of how YA runs these days, and compared to some spectacular fails that are out there, it’s not bad.

I enjoyed this story, but it didn’t live up to my original expectations. While I understand that Esme and her best friend Janis both enjoy fashion, I found the multiple outfit descriptions to be a bit much. I also found the use of abbreviations throughout the book (ex: FML, LOL, etc.) to be off putting for me personally and I don’t know how well they would translate to readers in years to come. I really wish we could’ve learned more about what being a Sitter actually is and how they operate as a whole, because it was towards the end of the book that things really picked up but I felt that there weren’t many answers given for the actual system itself.

This book is super quirky and I loved it. Esme, the MC, has a very witty and sarcastic sense of humor which I found hilarious and made this book for me. About a babysitter's club who develop powers and essentially are guardians of portals to keep the supernatural/evil out. It looks like it will be the first in series and I am hype for the next one. I do wish that there was a little more development in some of the characters, but that can always happen in the next book! Thanks for the free copy in return for my honest review.

It’s been awhile since I last laughed this hard while reading a book. It is just SO funny and relatable in so many ways.

Esme has been a babysitter since she was twelve...and she doesn’t really want to do anything else right now. I love how practical Esme is—she’s also fashionable, loves kids, and keeps her head in dangerous situations. Like when there’s someone trying to kidnap kids in her small town.

The fun in this book is non-stop. Once Esme discovers she is a Sitter, the fun just gets better, more magical. The magic system in this book is maybe not as intricate as other fantasy books, but it’s unique and interesting, a very creative idea, which I enjoyed.

This book is also very unpredictable! I didn’t guess even a little bit of what would happen at the end, so I’ll definitely be picking up the second book. Can’t wait!

I really wanted to like this. As someone who grew up reading The Baby Sitters Club as a kid, when they were actually still being written, and someone who loves her witchy books, this premise sounded awesome! I have to say i was disappointed by the actual book itself.

I couldn't make myself care much for the main character, Her characterization felt shallow, and somewhat flippant? Not the characteristics i look for in a main character. I'm assuming all the outfit descriptions were a nod to Ann M Martin and The Baby Sitters Club books, but i honestly found them boring and just started skipping them. Plus i gotta say, Rayon is not a plastic. It's fabric made from plants, and i guess back int he day they wanted to make it sound all cool and techy, it's just a plant, like Modal. I was wishing for a little more scary, and a little more interesting. I was disappointed.

This isn’t a bad book. The writing is fine; it’s certainly up to YA standards. The protagonist is interesting and there are nice little quirks that bring her to life. Even the plot is very cute... I think my issues with this book are a me problem. I read a lot of YA, but I think maybe I’m just too old for a YA, witchcraft, babysitter’s club book. Even as the mystery unfolded, I had to push myself to read. It just wasn’t anything new or innovative. It reads like a million different CW teen shows.

4 Stars! Received as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Netgalley!

So very cute! This is a must read for one who wants/likes the 1990 vibes brought back to life, loyal frienship bonds, and all the witchiness!
Esme is a tenn who lives in a small Kansas town where not much happens and football is everything. Her and her bestfriend are somewhat outcast to their classmates, and run a babysitters club together.
Esme has been noticing odd things happening with herself until new girl in town Cassandra arrives. Now something occurs yet again and Cassandra notices.
This is when reluctantly Esme has Cassandra join the babysitters club and this is where the true story begins. Oh plus I really liked that the dog featured was a pitbull! The author must own one to be able to describe just what truly one is like, love that!
I did rate only 4 stars because it was a bit on the slower side at time for me' otherwise I really loved it!
I will definately be putting this on my to buy list!!

This book seemed like a good idea at first, hence I requested it. Mentioning “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” would just make fans like me intrigued. I tried to read this book and it was kind of entertaining. It was funny in a way that the narrator, talked about minor situations as if they were significant. Normally, I’d enjoy reading books such as this one but unfortunately, I felt that this book wasn’t for me.

The reasons why I didn’t enjoy this as much as I expected was because it left me feeling frustrated, which was more of a “it’s not the book, it’s me” type of issue. I felt disinterested in the main character the more I read the book. Also, the plot was just slow and since I wasn’t invested in any of the characters, I thought I couldn’t finish reading the entire book. Instead, I opted to skim.

Anyway, I thought the first chapter was hilarious and it definitely caught my attention, but while reading, I realized this book would’ve been better for a younger audience. I think a 13 year old would be interested in this novel. I wanted more of the paranormal aspect, instead this reminded me of a clean version of “Buffy” or maybe even “Charmed” through the eyes of a 13 year old.


This review will be posted at http://bookscoffeeandrepeat.wordpress.com at Sept 3rd.