Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
I was informed by Samantha (my bff and our head of the children’s room here at Asheboro), about halfway through this book, that it is a satire and that’s why I wasn’t enjoying it. I cannot, no matter how I have tried, get into satires. BUT! Once Samantha clued me into the joke, I was able to put my brain in the correct spot in order to really get into it.
Satire, for those of you like me who didn’t know this was a book genre, means it’s basically a book making fun of itself. It’s the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues according to Oxford Languages. Think SNL. In everyday language it means that the witches in this book are exaggerated and come across as making fun of the whole witchy genre.
This is a sort of spin off of The Babysitter’s Club books meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Please don’t call me old.) This is the first of three books, the second of which comes out in September, called For Better or Cursed. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was even going to want to read the sequel to this one, but Samantha encouraged me to push on and I’m glad she did. The action of this book really doesn’t happen until the last 75 pages. It really does read like a set up for a series, taking time to introduce characters and the world they live in, which I can appreciate.
Esme Pearl is seventeen and a babysitter just like her best friend Janis. They are typical teenagers, talking fashion (a little too much honestly), boys, and scary movies. Unlike her best friend Janis, Esme is a witch. Along comes Cassandra Heaven, the new girl, who also holds a secret and a note, left by her late mother, that simply says, “Find the babysitters. Love, Mom.” A heroic lineage of superpowers, magical rituals, and saving the innocent from like, totally terrifying evil dudes.
My only gripe with this book, once getting past the satire of the novel, is the fact that Kate Williams used to write for magazines like Seventeen, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, Bustle, Urban Outfitters, Vans, and Calvin Klein meaning there is A LOT of fashion talk and references to fashion icons that really just went way over my head. I ended up skimming a good chunk of this book getting past Esme and Janis planning out their outfits every day. It got really old really fast since I don’t really know that much about fashion.
Other than that, this book was funny, action packed (eventually) and, knowing it’s a set up for a series, a really exciting build up. I’m looking forward to checking out the next one when it drops. For fans of Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson, like me.
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