So My Babysitting Jobs Weren't That Bad....

TITLE: The Babysitter's Coven (Babysitter's Coven #1)D
AUTHOR: Kate Williams
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
PUBLISHING DATE: September 17, 2019

FROM GOODREADS: 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 cooking. 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:  Basically I can sum this book up in one word - fun.  Esme lives alone with her father and her pit bull, Piggy.  Her mother has been institutionalized the past few years and no one has been able to get through to her.  Esme and her best friend babysit local children which usually goes off without a hitch.  However, things are starting to get a tad strange.  Let's just say Voldemort just tried to kidnap one of her charges.  The new girl in school also wants to join the babysitter's club but it becomes quite evident that she doesn't have as much experience as she says.  Soon Esme and Casssandra discover there is more to babysitting than meets the eye.

As I said, reading this novel was just a lot of fun.  I love Esme as a main character.  She is witty and sarcastic and she and her best friend Janis dress in a theme each day and some of the themes were downright riotous.  And it has to be no surprise that I loved Piggy - such a wonderful addition to the book.  As the book progresses the reader gets a lot of backstory on Esme and Cassandra's lives and the last third of the book is pretty much all action.  I also like that Esme actually has parents who are present in the book, even if her mother is institutionalized.  The author did a wonderful job of showing some of the struggles Esme's father faced raising a teenage daughter alone.

When I started this book, I really had no idea it was the beginning of a series.  However, at the conclusion of it, I was glad to see that another one is coming in 2020.  Honestly, if you are looking for a serious read or even a scary one, you won't find it here.  But if you want something that's a lot of fun and dabbles on the idea of witchcraft, you should seek "The Babysitter's Coven" out.

RATING: 4 PAWS