Kate Williams does it again with the next installment of The Babysitters' Coven series! Look for my full review of the book and a Dream Cast coming soon on my blog - BooksTeaHealthyMe.home.blog.

Thank you to NetGalley and Favourite Pages Book Club for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have to say, I love Kate M. Williams' series The Babysitters Coven. If I am being honest, I was ridiculously hard on the first one because it didn't grab me immediately, but I think this series is fun and funny and addictive. While I may or may not be able to think of a way to adopt the second of a series into my curriculum if I can I will and I will definitely recommend it to my students as an authentic representation of teens with a funny spin on the old fashioned witch story.

I liked the first one, but this one was not as good. It's enjoyable, but there are some issues with the pacing.

This book is a sequel and will does not function well as a stand-alone. It continues the story from the original and raises significantly more questions than it answers. The pacing feels off; much of the story is very slow-going until the very end in which it feels oddly rushed. I enjoyed the world building and most of the characters.

Esme's back! This time she and Cass has to plan a end of the summit party that's being held in their town. Naturally Brian is doing all the work and is happy about it. This is a good follow up for the 2nd novel of the series. If you dive right into it you don't have to read the first one unless you want to. All I can say so not to ruin it is Pig!!! Oh sweet awesome pig. *sniffles*

Book Review for “For Better or Cursed” by Kate Williams. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Williams, and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review this book!

After the events that took place in the book “The Babysitters Coven”, Esme Pearl and her friend Cassandra are tasked with planning a convention for all the Sitters in their coven. This sounds like an easy task, but at the same time Esme is also trying to juggle babysitting, high school, returning demons to the Negative, and breaking curses all while learning how to be a good Sitter. Plus she only has a week to plan for the biggest Sitter convention of the year. What could possibly go wrong?

This book brings together old friendships, new friendships, witches, demons, and a dog named Pig all in a small Kansas town. I really like the idea that there are babysitters out there who have powers, and who are also in charge of protecting humanity from evil. It’s a fun idea. This was a fun book, and I’m really looking forward to the next one in the series.

I give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. While I really liked it, I definitely liked the first one better. There was action and magic in this book, but not as much as the first one. This book had a good ending, which wrapped some things up, but left some things open ended so as to hint at a book after this. I quite enjoyed the new friendships that were forged in this book too, and the unexpected LBGTQ+ romance that blossomed. I recommend this book and it’s prequel.

Kate M. Williams presents a solid sequel to last year's "The Babysitter's Coven" with "For Better or Cursed." It is highly recommended that you read the first book in the series before attempting to pick up on the story of Esme Pearl and Cassandra Heaven, two sitters trying to save the world from demon apocalypse. We pick up only a month and a half after the end of the last book and the girls are starting to come into their powers. We quickly learn that a gathering will take place of other girls like them. The scope of the mythology does expand and deepen in many ways with a gallery of strong women who know their value to populate the landscape. They each come with their own distinctive powers and backstory that helps to inform and move the plot forward. Some of the characters that readers fell in love with during the first book do get their time to shine too (Pig saves the story in many ways).

Fans of the constant rapid-fire homages to pop culture will not be disappointed. The nods to "Buffy" and "The Baby-sitters Club" are there and expanded. There are some slow scenes in the middle until the final ramp up and the reveal of the villain, yet they do prove to be there for a reason by the end. In this way, the book does suffer at times from clearly being the "middle" of a series; there is a lot of set up for when the sitters return, yet there is enough happening to make it worth the ride.
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SO GOOD! Honestly, I think it was almost better than the first book in the series: The BabySitter’s Coven. In this sequel, Esme and Cassandra have to plan a party for the entire Sitterhood and save their town from a horde of demons. And of course Pig, a crow, and chickens are a part of it all! I'm giving four stars instead of five because. the ending kind of fizzles out during the big battle, but overall a great book!

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for this eARC of For Better Or Cursed.

I read the first book in this series - The Babysitters’ Coven - and really enjoyed it. I book-talked it often at my secondary schools.

I was thrilled to see a second book in the series. While I really love these characters, I did not enjoy this plot as much. That said. I’m really looking forward to another book as I still love all the characters and would like to spend more time with them.

I think my patrons will enjoy it, as these are fun reads. I just found this one to be a bit plodding at times. If you like stories about magic, and fun teens, give this a read.