Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the chance to review this title ahead of its release date.
Wow. This book was just what I needed. Witty writing, with a magical plot-line and a protagonist you can cheer for to the very end. I just came off reading a highly disappointing anticipated read, and I have to be honest, my hope in books plummeted a bit. But thanks to this delightful, witchy read, hope has been renewed.
What’s it about?
Esme is a seventeen-year-old babysitter from a complicated home. Her mother was put into a mental hospital when she was young, and her father doesn’t really jump at the chance to talk about it. Along with her best friend and fellow fashionista, Janis, they form a babysitter’s club which is really just them browsing the internet and watching movies. Weirdo things start happening when a new girl named Cassandra and her hot brother show up. Suddenly, Esme finds herself in an entirely different club, and it has nothing to do with changing diapers.
What I loved: Esme’s voice. Her narration does a colossal justice to YA everywhere. It mixes in a sometimes cynical girl who loves movies and clothes and her friends and is entirely awkward in front of her crush. It was so fun reading her quirkiness. And I laughed out loud so many times. When a book can do that to me, I know it’s going to be good.
The story was light-hearted and went ways I couldn’t even imagine. I’ve never watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer so sue me, but It is inspired by it, and from other reviews, I hear it takes a few notes from the show as well.
I judge a book by how fast I get ready for bed to lie down and read. This one had me skipping skincare routines so that I could continue reading. It’s a quick, spooky romp through the head of a girl who is just trying to navigate life but has to fight evil monsters instead.
The only thing that did irk me was the lack of CALLING THE COPS thing when things happened. I get it, for plot’s sake, they had to deal on their own, but being the mother-bear inside of me was cursing them out for not enlisting the adults. ARGH.
I’m hoping for redemption and a real love interest in the next one. I cannot wait to take Esme, Cassandra, and Janis and just squeeze them and tell them things will be all right if you stick together, darn it.
Kate Williams has made a fan out of me.
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