I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: July 2023] The Babysitters Coven Book 2

I enjoyed the first book in this series quite a bit.  Then I forgot all about it.  I happened to see book 2 in the library and decided to check it out.

My daughter actually said she wanted to read it too, but I told her it was book 2, so she may go get book 1.

Book 2 picks up pretty quickly where book 1 left off with our two Babysitters/Demon slayers in the middle of the action.

Our heroine is Esme Pearl.  In book one, Esme Pearl is a babysitter.  She and her best (and only) friend Janis started a Babysitter’s Club back in junior high. There were of course four of them in the club and each girl paralleled one of the girls in the original series.  The Sitters were successful, until Cassandra Heaven showed up.  Cassandra is eccentric, to be sure.  But by the end of the book, Esme and Cassandra realize they have a connection—Cassandra’s father (a supernatural being) is the reason why Esme’s mother is more or less comatose.  It turns out that Esme’s mother was also a Sitter and was cursed—we believe by Cassandra’s father.

One thing I really liked about the first book was the introduction of Esme and her best friend Janis.  I wrote

Esme is a believable seventeen year old, but a shy and kind of solitary one.  She uses some abbreviations, but the whole book is not littered with them.  Lines like “the number one perk of babysitting is OPP–other people’s pantries” is a good example.  Esme has a great tone of being above her school while still being unpopular (but not hugely so).  She and Janis coordinate outfits every day.  They don’t wear similar things at all, they just discuss the night before what their fashion choices will be and then show them off the next day,  They both love going thrifting, so their outfits are unique.

I think I missed some of that “normal” interaction in  this book, because I didn’t find this one as enjoyable as the first.  Partially I suppose because Esme’s dad loses his job (and runs out of money) but doesn’t t ell Esme, which is just lame and fairly unrealistic.

The plot concerns Cassandra’s recently blackouts.  Since the events of the previous book, she has been having these moments where she feels out of control.

But they don’t have time to worry about that too much because their Watcher Brian tells them that there is going to be a Summit of Sitters right there in Spring River. The Summit is organized by The Synod–the Sitter’s governing circle.

No one can imagine why the Summit would be held in their backwater, except that there are some portals there.  But the problem is that Brian tells them that they had to coordinate and prepare everything for the Summit–it has to be amazing! [Turns out Brian loves party planning and he takes over, which is a really good thing].

There’s definitely some good stuff in the book once the Summit comes to town.  In particular the Sitters who are put into a group with them.  Ruby Ramirez, a tough girl, Mallory Schnell, a healer and picky eater who eats “oranges and oatmeal, as long as it’s not Irish oats.”

Amirah Rahim a super-rich girl who would be horrifying in real life but is hilarious in person and her friend Ji-A who is a similar but more tolerable version.

All of the girls have special powers (Amirah can walk through walls).  Cassandra and Esme have them as well but since they weren’t properly trained, they can’t really exercise them.

The Summit is an opportunity of the girls to do some bonding and training and it’s something that Esme in particular would love to explore–maybe someone can help with her mom.  She learns she can sort of communicate with her mom through a Magic 8 Ball but it’s not really sufficient.

But every time they seem on the verge of getting somewhere, something terrible happens.

Especially when they discover that the head of the Synod doesn’t have the girls’ best interest in mind.

There’s a lot of humor in the book, which I especially enjoyed.  I also really liked Esme’s burgeoning–something– with Adrian, a boy who sees eye to eye with her, unless he’s in some other form, of course.

And there’s also Pig, Esme’s dog.  Pig might just have a new name in the third book, which there apparently will be (the last page says The Coven Returns Fall 2021).   It’s summer 2023, has the coven returned?

yes.  The third and final part came out in 2021.  And I’ll have to track it down if it’s the final part.