ARC, 358 pages
Release Date: September 17, 2019Published by: Delacorte Press
Read from: September 9-13, 2019The Babysitter’s Coven, #1Source: PublisherTW: Violence, spellsFor fans of: Paranormal romance, witches, magic, YA
Bound as one to love, honor, or burn.
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.
Seventeen-year-old Esme Pearl has a babysitters club. She knows it’s kinda lame, but what else is she supposed to do? Get a job? Gross. Besides, Esme likes babysitting, and she’s good at it.
And lately Esme needs all the cash she can get, because it seems like destruction follows her wherever she goes. Let’s just say she owes some people a new tree.
Enter Cassandra Heaven. She’s Instagram-model hot, dresses like she found her clothes in a dumpster, and has a rebellious streak as gnarly as the cafeteria food. So why is Cassandra willing to do anything, even take on a potty-training two-year-old, to join Esme’s babysitters club?
The answer lies in a mysterious note Cassandra’s mother left her: “Find the babysitters. Love, Mom.”
Turns out, Esme and Cassandra have more in common than they think, and they’re about to discover what being a babysitter really means: a heroic lineage of superpowers, magic rituals, and saving the innocent from seriously terrifying evil. And all before the parents get home.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I’m not a fan of witchy books, but after reading two in a row, I can definitely see the appeal of them. And though this one wasn’t my favorite, I did like certain parts of this very much. Witches are fun and that’s exactly what this was: fun.
“The devil was an artist. Her medium varied, from crayons to magic markers to finger paints, nad she had coloring books, construction paper, giant, pads of newsprint on a midget-sized plastic easel. But today she’d ignored it all in favor of the hallway and a marker.“pg. 1
Esme knows she’ll never want to get a job, so she did the next best thing… Become a baby-sitter. She even formed a club for it. Then a beautiful new girl Cassandra Heaven came and she joins the club with a mysterious note from her mom. As it turns out, they become friends, bonded by the fact that they have superpowers…..
“After everything I’d had to endure tonight, I deserved a snack. I mean, the number one perk of babysitting is OPP- Other People’s Pantries.“pg. 4
The best thing about this is hands down the way the magic is portrayed. I loved the way it was done. I’m not a fan of witchy books, but if the magic and spells were done like this, I totes would be. It just seemed pretty cool to me. And the way it was written in the funny style Williams possesses, it took some of the creep factor out of it.
“What the hell was that? I asked. swatting at my scalp.” “Ugh, a stupid bird.” […] “My Poulikinesis was strong enough to get in here, but then it wore off,” she said, “and now I can’t get the bird back. […] “Poulikinesis?” I asked. “Power to manipulate birds.?“pg. 145
As for the writing style, there were some things I liked and some I didn’t. For instance, I liked the humor. Most of it was literally laugh out loud funny. Normally it’s pretty hard to get me to actually laugh. However, I didn’t care for the the text abbreviations. I get that teens use them, but in a book I feel like they should be used sporadically. They were used way too much in this one and I it got a bit annoying over time.
“…you still think of yourself as someone who needs to run from other people, when other people should be running from us. […] We’re the scary ones.“pg. 205
As for the plot, I don’t feel like much happened throughout most of the story. As it got to the end of the story, it all tied together. Normally that would make me DNF a book, but I think the fact that I was laughing and I was fascinated by the magic made me want to keep reading. But the plot twist at the end was fun. And the end definitely leaves us open for another book in the series. I can’t wait to see what is in store next for these sitters. I hope their coven grows!
“Even superhumans are still human.“pg. 242
I surprised even myself by reading two witch books in a row, but it seems the fall is all about witches. And I’m not even mad about it. Bring on all the spooky, witchy, fall-y (?) things!
Overall, I give this
Great review! I am a fan of witches, especially in YA fiction, so I'll looking forward to this one.