As a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I just had to dive into Slayers, Every One of Us by Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo. I’ve caught a few episodes of Buffering the Vampire Slayer, and I’ve always appreciated their clever and heartfelt perspective on the show.

At its core, this memoir explores queer love and community—how two women created something special together, how it evolved, and how they persevered even when things fell apart. It’s honest and deeply personal, which I really valued, but there were moments when it felt a little too raw for my likes.

Honestly, I would have loved to see more emphasis on the podcast itself and the Buffy discussions that initially drew me in. Those moments where they reflect on how Buffy has influenced them and their audience were the highlights for me.

If you’re into memoirs that celebrate queer love, resilience, and chosen family, this is definitely worth a read. But if you’re primarily looking for Buffy-related content, you might find yourself wanting a bit more.

This still ended up being a solid read for me. The cover is fire, and even if it wasn’t quite what I expected, it definitely made me wanna go back and start listening to Buffering from episode 1!

I apparently did not read the description very carefully when I requested a review copy of this book. I did not realize the centerpiece of the story is a podcast I’ve never listened to; I thought it was a more general application of the philosophy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I quickly realized I was wrong but I kept reading. The writing is engaging and personal, and the story is well told. As a fan of BtVS, I enjoyed the back story of the podcast more than I expected to, and was impressed with creativity Russo and Young used in developing their podcast, writing and performing original music for each episode. The story of their relationship isn’t unique but as a reader I came to like them enough to care about what happens to them. And by the end, I did get the application of the philosophy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I was seeking.

Thank you to #netgalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC.

This was a big disappointment. The book kind of covers the famous, "Buffering the Vampire Slayer" podcast and kind of covers the relationship between Jenny and Kristin by alternating chapters, but it seems half-hearted. I think if this book had come out years ago, it might have more of an impact.
For super fans only.
#NetGalley

As a queer person who grew up in the 2000s and was absolutely obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Salyer growing up (Thank you Mom!), I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I love the journey of the relationship in relation to the journey through the Buffy seasons. Thank you for letting us readers into such a personal and difficult time in your lives. Well I have never been through a situation such as yours, I still felt myself emotionally attached to both of your experiences and I will admit I did cry. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to take a walk through other people's lives and the impact that a truly iconic show has had on it.

What an emotional read! This joint memoir really hit me in the feels. I enjoyed their openness and how candidly they spoke of their relationship, all with their love for Buffy at the center. The song lyrics were such a beautiful, personal touch. Great for fans of Buffy and their podcast!

Slayers, Every One of Us is “A [queer] memoir reflecting on heartbreak, perseverance, & life lessons learned from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from the hosts of the hit podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer.” I never realized how Buffy & the Scoobies are queer icons, apart from Willow & Tara. I remember as a kid feeling like Willow & Tara were completely natural, & the splash that their relationship made in the TV industry at the time went completely over my head. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that not everyone saw a gay couple as totally normal, & Buffy broke boundaries with their televised love.

In retrospect, I also recognize that Buffy & the Scoobies speak to every type of person who felt like maybe they were “one in all the world.” The beauty throughout the show is that Buffy is never truly alone. She has her watcher & her friends, without whom Buffy wouldn’t have been Buffy. At the end of the show (spoiler), when every girl who could be a slayer becomes a slayer, sends a message of community among those who may be different. I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who felt a connection with Buffy against the world, Xander finding his way, Willow discovering herself, or all the ways our beloved Scoobies lost themselves & were led back by their friends.

I’m actually so sad I never really got into podcasts & hadn’t heard about Buffering the Vampire Slayer until this book crossed my path, but reading about the creation, the success, the trials, & the outcome of this sensation of a show made me 100% look up the podcast (I do hope I listen someday) & listen to the music! Wow, the music! Jenny Owen Youngs is the songwriter & musician you didn’t know you needed in your life!

While Slayers is described as being about Jenny & Kristin’s divorce while continuing their creation, it’s also about Buffy. Buffy is my number one fandom, it raised me. I will read anything having to do with Buffy. This book was so beautiful because ultimately it’s a story about how Buffy brings people together & keeps them together. As described in the subtitle: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On, Buffy kept these two women who were wives as friends; honestly it seems like the most magical friendship. Along the way, they got to do incredible Buffy-related things, like Buffy Prom, teaching the cast of Buffy about Buffy, & interviewing members (my favorite: Seth Green), & I got to peek into that as a fangirl, so I appreciate Kristin & Jenny laying it all out there for me & creating yet another Buffy-related production for us.

Thank you St. Martin’s for this ARC, this book was five stakes!

I've never listened to the podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer, but I do love Buffy and I know a little bit of Jenny Owen Youngs' music. As it turns out, that was enough to enjoy this tandem memoir, which was packed full of every emotion from joy to grief. Using the 7 seasons of Buffy - and their own show - as a framework, Kristin and Jenny take the reader through 7+ years of their lives, from marriage and moving to California, through the highs and lows of trying and failing to have a child together, through the breakup of their marriage and the myriad of emotions that accompanied it, through the pandemic, and finally to the point when they'd both finally healed and moved on, just in time to close out their podcast's run.

I really enjoyed this book, which was hilarious and heartfelt in turns, and that felt as much like sitting down with two friends as it did reading a memoir. I'm nosy by nature, and I appreciated how much the writers were willing to share - not just the gossip about their lives, but real insights and feelings, the kinds of things I'm sure it was hard to put down on paper. Also I finished my reading journey very much wanting to go rewatch Buffy - and maybe even listen to some Buffering. Probably the intended result.

4/5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for inviting me to read this advance reader's copy. I'm going to be honest, while I have watched the majority of Buffy, I have not finished it. Nor have I ever heard of this podcast because again to be honest, I don't listen to podcasts. However, this was an interesting read to find out how these two people created such a popular thing that turned into a community, and then were able to keep it going while they struggled with their own personal issues. As a glimpse behind the curtain, it provided details and context for why they created this podcast in the first place and how much love and attention went into the whole thing over the course of its time. The only thing I have a small issue with, is in the parts where it's both the authors writing, the back and forth from third person to plural first person was a little jarring. (But that's probably just me.) Overall, after reading this, I'm going to try and finish watching Buffy and maybe I'll give their podcast a try.

Buffy changed my life. I was 10 when it came out, was a new kid, and felt immensely weird in a more affluent town - so I was kind of a Buffy without a superpowered destiny. I love this podcast and this book is an amazing extension of it.

"A memoir reflecting on heartbreak, perseverance, and life lessons learned from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from the hosts of the hit podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer.

Kristin and Jenny's marriage started with an ultimatum: to further their relationship, Kristin must watch Jenny's favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With the terms set, they began a journey that has led them through seven seasons of the beloved genre show, a podcast rewatching the series with their newly minted listenership of "Scoobies," unexpected success, and a divorce. Through it all, their love for Buffy and their commitment to their community held them together against the odds.

Slayers, Every One of Us is the story of how two queer women navigated divorce on a very public level and managed to stay in each other's lives through it all. While chock full of Buffy-related content (and Buffering!) for true fans, this is ultimately a memoir of queer love and chosen family. It's a heartwarming story for anyone who's experienced lost love, and a roadmap for staying close with your ex."

Seeing as I'm not really a podcast person I'm so here for this book about how Buffy forms and informs our lives and chosen family.

As someone who has grown up with Buffy, reading Slayers, Every One of Us was extremely cathartic. Simply just to know there are other Scoobies who relate to BTVS with such intensity. My sister used to let me watch it when my parents went away forgoing bedtime for vampires, watching Buffy became our ritual that would continue throughout my entire life.

Slayers, Every One of Us is a glimpse into the Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcasters. Starting from the creation the podcast to the utter heartbreak of miscarriage to finding a way to coexist after divorce, we get a glimpse into the lives of modern day Scoobies. Jenny and Kristin seamlessly transitioned from writing a ballad about the monster of the week to battling the real life challenges of adulthood.

The writing was beautiful, filled with raw emotion and humor to really capture the tone of Buffy, particularly the later seasons. Which tend to be controversial due to their darker tones, I am personally partial to the depth of the later seasons.

From a guide to surviving breakups to joining the workforce, Buffy has always had a deeper lesson within the sometimes silly premise. In Slayers Every One of Us, Kristin and Jenny relive their own Prom scene. The parallels between the episode and their very own lives is truly heartbreaking. Shelving their inevitable divorce for one night, to dance the night away with other fans, just like Buffy and Angel come together for once last dance.. Proving that sometimes our most beautiful moments come after finding a way out of the darkness.

If you are a fan of the Buffering podcast or Buffy in general, I strongly recommend picking up a copy on April 8th! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Anyone who has ever thrived in a fandom (or outside of one, honestly, with a lonely love for a show, film, or book) has experienced that special parallel between what you're watching and real-life events. Slayers, Every One of Us is an amazing chronicle of a relationship that, in lieu of shattering, thrives through a mutual passion project involving Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This dual memoir is engaging, heartfelt, and sometimes painful; a story of equal loss and growth. Russo and Youngs write with lively voices; the prose draws you in and refuses to let you go until the last page. As someone who watches Buffy every year--and as a bi woman in a sapphic ship who has connected with a partner over Buffy and other fandoms--this one holds a special place in my heart. This memoir is a love letter to community, friendship, and queer love.

I'm sure a lot of Buffy fans will adore this, but I do have one issue with the prose: the strange deviance between first and third person. I'm not sure why that was permitted, because the shift is often jarring. There are some chapters that would have benefited from being written by one author or the other (especially in moments when they shift to first-person POV). The book is also very light on Buffy-related content, which I wasn't expecting.

Memoir
Queer Love
Loss (Potential Triggers - Miscarriage, Divorce, Homophobia)
Pop Culture

When I first seen the cover and the title Slayers I had to know what this was about. I was fortunate enough to get an ebook and audiobook arc for this. I really enjoyed this memoir. I had never heard of this podcast before and I absolutely will be checking it out after this. I liked that they were able to connect episodes of Buffy to their life events. Also, in the narration they included their original songs and the production were fantastic. Def check it out if you're a fan of memoirs.

Thank you @macmillan.audio @netgalley @stmartinspress for the gifted arcs.-Ash

This was not my typical book but I am glad I got a chance to read it. As someone who only saw one or two Buffy episodes and has never heard about their podcast I am definitely not the target audience, but you don’t need to be to get something out of this story. This story chronicles the personal and professional relationship of Kristin and Jenny as they navigate the building and break down of their very public relationship. Kristin and Jenny are two women who fall in love and get married at the beginning of this book and then end up starting a podcast over their shared love of the show Buffy the vampire slayer. As they encounter some painful personal losses, the social and political climate of our country and the pandemic, their marriage breaks down, but that creates a problem as their professional relationship and project keeps them tied together. This was a beautiful story of love and loss, and how to continue forward when that path seems impossible to imagine and navigate. I am in awe of their maturity and ability to do what they did, as I doubt I would have been able to do the same. I appreciated and really enjoyed that this was a dual memoir written from both of their perspectives. A very interesting and beautiful book, even if you aren’t a Buffy fan. Buffy fans, and fans of their podcast will enjoy all the behind the scenes information, and get a lot out of this book. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Although I've known about this podcast, Buffering, I hadn't listened to it yet. After reading this book I have moved it up way up on my to-be-listened list.

I came into the Buffy fandom in my early twenties once it was streaming on Netflix and I was immediately hooked -- like I dressed up as Buffy for Halloween that year.

I loved revisiting Buffy through the lens of Jenny and Kristin and learning about their personal lives. You two had NO right making me tear up so many times. And because I hadn't listened to the podcast before, I didn't know there were songs. Buffy themed songs!!! They are incredible and I instantly added it to my Spotify list.

If you have the chance of listening to the audio it is for sure the way to go. It's narrated by Jenny and Kristin and some of the songs are included.
The physical copy has some super cute doodle and chord sheets (which I believe is also available as a pdf with the audio)

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook and reader copy of Slayers, Every One of Us by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs in exchange for an honest review. My listening to this audiobook coincided with another rewatch of Buffy. I have been watching this show and the spin-off, Angel, since they first aired, which was my last year in highschool. I remember always finding a way to watch these shows no matter what was happening, moving out while still in highschool, break ups with boyfriends, moving all over the Bay Area and being kicked out of my Aunt's house two weeks before Christmas. Buffy was always there for me and still is as I'm realizing I'm like Willow and that is why I have always had a crush on her. Jenny and Kristin shared their lives and how Buffy helped them get through their hard moments. I enjoyed this book so much, I found the podcast that inspired it and am now following it. Read and/or listen to this book. Buffy has lessons for everyone and I hope they'll do a new podcast with the reboot/sequel of Buffy coming out.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, Netgalley, and the author for the complimentary copy of SLAYERS EVERY ONE OF US by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs.

Publication Date: 4/8/2025
Rating: 5/ 5

SLAYERS EVERY ONE OF US is the authors' memoir of their life together and apart, and the time they spent centered around the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show. The pair were married when they started their popular podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer which followed the show episode by episode. In the span of their podcast they went through a lot, including the end of their marriage, but still Buffy kept them working together, figuring out how to make a relationship still work between them.

This book opens with trigger warnings. Over the course of the book, the pair go from married to divorced, they deal with fertility issues and pregnancy loss so do use care going into this one if any of this might be triggering material. The authors do delve into their feelings and it really pulls at the heart.

I really think they did a fantastic job of relating so much back to the TV show that brought them into the limelight with regular podcasts, live appearances, and events centered around the show. I consumed a lot of this via audio and you get clips of the songs that were written for their podcast about the Buffy show, while the print copy includes some song lyrics along with the musical chords to go with them and other additional materials.

I wasn't familiar with the podcast going into this book, I was just drawn to request a copy by the Buffy reference, but I thought that this book was exceptionally well done!

Time for another ARC review 👏

Slayers, Everyone of Us ⭐️⭐️⭐️/🌶️

So, I applied for this book not realizing it was a memoir, and those typically aren’t my thing. While it is not a book that I would recommend from a personal standpoint, I know there are others that will enjoy this.

I have never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but reading this honestly made me feel like I have watched some episodes with the way they linked each episode to something personal happening in their lives. While reading, Kristin was definitely more forthcoming with her emotions (which is a trend in their relationship), and Jenny was very closed off about most things. I will say that I celebrate them being openly queer women during such a troubling time during the 2016/2017 election, and using their platform to bring others together in those scary times 💕

Besides it being a memoir, another big turn off for me was the constant shift in point of view- going from third person to suddenly being in first person it again. I believe a book needs to be written in either one or the other.

Thank you for the opportunity to read!

i want to preface this by saying i've never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer. but this memoir still landed for me and was really great! 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I'm a massive Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. If you give me the opportunity to talk about her, what she means to me, and which episodes I turn to when I'm feeling specific emotions I will go all afternoon. Very much like Kristin and Jenny. This book is both a love story to the show and a love story to their love of the show. They cover the last few years with every major upheaval, at the global level, the national level, and the home level. Processing big emotions becomes much easier when you have a comfort, and it helps that their comfort show covers events as apocalyptic as a global pandemic. Kristin and Jenny are both funny and open about their experiences, and won't shy away from the details, even though they specifically try to. The shared love of BtVS made me feel like I was just bonding with another fan. I felt a kinship with them that I don't feel when I read an actor's biographer or a journalist's ode to sport. They were just two other fans who love a stick figure Buffy and a night at the Bronze.