I try to read anything and everything Buffy, so this was right up my alley. Unfortunately as I was reading, I realized there was some importance of knowing the podcast hosts/community that Russo and Owen Youngs has created because even as an avid fan, I felt a bit like an outsider looking in. I stopped my read ~25% of the way though because there was not enough Buffy-verse discussion.

All in all, I am happy for the authors and their community, but this book is not for me.

I was able to read this book through NetGalley, thank you!! I have been a Jenny Owen Youngs fan and Buffy lover for a very long time, so I instantly wanted to read this book.I absolutely do not listen to podcasts and had no idea Buffering existed. But what a wild community of magic and love these two remarkable women created. All around a campy, wonderful, emotional and one of a kind show called Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It wowed me. As did the traversing through the relationship of Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs. It was a beautiful, bruising chaotic ride, told with care and honesty, and I enjoyed every minute of it. This podcast was so much more than 2 gals yapping; it was thoughtful and brilliant and brought people of all kinds together and in doing so, helped the authors through some truly awful and challenging times.

I am selective about memoirs, but this held me front to back in a day. I also feel, considering our current climate of hate and division this is a book that reminds all: we are better together. It makes you feel better for having read it. Just like Buffy and the Scoobie gang taught us upon arrival, we are stronger together than any evil.
Highly recommend.

I came across Kristin Russo, it’s got to be going on 15 years ago now, through YouTube when I was in college. Kristin’s videos shaped my life in no small way as I navigated how to be an adult and come into my own. Around the time Kristin introduced Jenny in her life was when I lost touch with that community, so seeing their names together on this book unlocked a memory for me and drew me in.

In the first chapter, from both perspectives, I get the Cliffs notes to catch me up on their life and I’m stunned how much I missed. It was over a decade after all. I run through all the emotions, good and bad, especially hearing their marriage didn’t make it, and floored that they were somehow able to keep the peace in a friendship and working relationship. I was hooked instantly, needing to know how it all played out.

This book centers on their podcast obviously as massive Buffy fans, but the genius hook to it is that they are able to draw connection between not only their personal lives and the show, but also the tumultuous political and social landscape we all navigated over the last 8 years.

To say I loved this book would be an understatement. They’re both such gifted writers, technically and emotionally, and reading their monologues is effortlessly compelling, all-consuming, and thought provoking.

I do like Buffy a lot, probably not as obsessively as even some of the fans in my own life, and I see it as a very special cultural touchstone that I hope never disappears from relevance. The fact that a recent favorite film of mine, I Saw The TV Glow, seemed to draw significant inspiration from Buffy demonstrates how formative the show is to a great number of people. For this reason, this book will reach out to this audience in an important way.

5/5 stars, the book I didn’t know I needed. Check it out.

*An uncorrected proof of this book was provided by the publisher at the reviewer’s request in exchange for a fair and uncompromising review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Into each generation a story is born. Slayers, Every One of Us is the story of two girls in all the world, chosen ones, who dared to create not only a podcast about a petite blonde protagonist but also a community of the finest humans you could ever choose to be your family.

If you followed Jenny and Kristin’s original coverage of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you know that our heroes were navigating a host of difficult personal experiences but you likely also thought the details were ultimately none of your business and were just grateful that they kept bravely showing up week after week, episode after episode, song after song.

The “none of our business” elements of those 6 years are explored in this memoir.

This is a great book for people who are already fans of Buffy and Buffering but it’s also for anyone who loves a good story. Slayers, Every One of Us is a very real, very human story of love, chosen family and vulnerability queered in the way only Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs can do.

I never read memoirs; it just isn't my genre. However, I am a huge Buffy fan and decided to give this one a chance. I figured that, at the very least, I would probably get some good Buffy content.

I loved this book so much. Not only did I get to read about Buffy and then be disappointed that I didn't get to go to a Buffy Prom that I had never even known existed before. Seriously, why aren't there any of this stuff out by me? We don't even have a ComicCon here since the pandemic. Have to drive a state away.

Loved when went through minute by minute to convince readers that Fuffy is a real thing. That Faith and Buffy actually had happy fun times.

I can't imagine doing a podcast or sitting down to write a book with my ex-husband, but we didn't exactly part on the best of terms, so . . .
I am so glad that they were able to make it work.

Definitely would recommend watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer before reading this book. Even if you don't read the book, you should watch Buffy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free kindle book. My review is voluntarily given and my opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

So - I gave this four stars because it was well written but overall, that was so so incredibly depressing. I guess part of that’s on me for not knowing what I was stepping into.

I was a fan of the Buffering podcast when it first came out and I remember when Jenny and Kristin announced their divorce and that they’d still be running the podcast together. I felt sad but happy that a) it would continue and b) that they could stay friends through it.

After reading their book though, I sort of wish I hadn’t. I really stripped it all away and I’m not sure I wanted to read about their emotionally draining infertility journey and the implosion of their marriage. I guess I just wanted…Buffy?

Like I said, this is mostly on me. It was a well written book and they did a great job of paralleling their lives with the show, and giving quick explainers for the major show plot points. But overall, I just feel emotionally wrung out

Engaging and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where memoirs and nostalgic pop culture titles are popular.