NetGalley ARC | Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐

I will take some blame here, but only some. When I read the sub-title, I thought it meant us collectively, as fans of the show.

In reality it meant the two women writing the book, and that's not what I was expecting. Even reading the summary, I still thought it would be more general and the life lessons would be deeper and more meaningful.

I love Buffy. As in, full on OBSESSED, as a teenager. The very first episode I ever saw was "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" and I was a smitten kitten. I never missed an episode, even when it was a rerun, and own the original-awkward-menu-set-up DVDs for the entire show.

I don't want to give too much attention to the man who created the character, because he is awful, but it has to be acknowledged. I was DEVASTATED when reports started coming out about his behavior, but I could not let go of something I loved so much, for so long. When I listened to and read Sarah Michelle Gellar's statements about the show and its legacy, including: "I will always be proud of 'Buffy'...Was it an ideal working situation? Absolutely not. But it's okay to love 'Buffy' for what we created because I think it's pretty spectacular," I realized I didn't have to.

So when I saw this memoir I had to snatch it up, because Buffy IS spectacular. I don't even know how to accurately describe everything Buffy means to me. I thought this book could, and it did, but again for the two authors.

The book is described as, "A memoir reflecting on heartbreak, perseverance, and life lessons learned from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from the hosts of the hit podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer". I've never listened to the podcast, fyi.

Their marriage starts with an ultimatum: Kristin must watch the show, which is Jenny's favorite. They started from the beginning, along the way creating the podcast, finding massive success with it, then divorcing while also determined to keep their committment to their listeners/community even when they could no longer remain committed to each other. The book focused a lot on that aspect and how Buffy basically helped them through it.

I expected it to be about how it changed our lives, how we grew as a result of Buffy. It might seem like I am exaggerating, but this show CHANGED LIVES. It was so imperfect and magical and everything. College courses were offered FOR YEARS about the show. I can't even count the number of pop history AND deeply academic books written about Buffy and Angel. I own most of them.

Yet for everything we learned from the show, the strength we gained from these imperfect characters doing their best and also failing a lot of times, that area was surprisingly lacking. These so -called lessons barely scratched the surface.

I did not find their story particularly compelling, either. Despite my deeply intense love for the show, nothing in this book made me want to go listen to the podcast. Fans of Buffering will most likely be the ones to enjoy this, but as someone who is just going in as purely a fan of the show and unfamiliar with it, it's entirely possible they will feel the same way I did when I finished the book. As in...why did I read this?

Had the marketing for this book been more accurate, we wouldn't be here. But saying fans of Buffy will love this one is misleading; this is meant for a specific group of Buffy fans, those who also like/are familiar with the podcast.

I also feel like it also traded a lot on emphasizing the power of Buffy showcasing queer characters. It was kind of marketed on the premise of Buffy's influence in that area specifically of queer empowerment, but ultimately that's not what the book is about.

I would not recommend it to fans like me who love the show so much, but have never heard of Buffering the Vampire Slayer - unless you are interested in starting that. Those who already know of it and like it will probably  enjoy this.