Emmie & Friends: Becoming Brianna

I worked Mother's Day all day and it was horrifically busy, but I came home to my copy of this and decided to reread the first three Emmie & Friends books and then tackle this one.

So here it is about 3am and I have no regrets.

Brianna was practically the star of Positively Izzy, so I'm still rather miffed she got the spotlight a second time within a four book series.

Still hoping for a Sarah book. I like Sarah.

Brianna's book is different than the first three. They all take place over the span of less than a single day. The first two have decent twists. The third sorta, but less so, and this one has none at all.

Becoming Brianna takes place over most of the school year. It actually begins before Invisible Emmie does. The events of the first three books are included as the months pass by in this new book, though they're not talked about much.

And unlike the first books, the chapters don't switch between two different characters, but between Past Brianna and Present Brianna.

Brianna is pressured into doing a bat mitzvah by her mom, Izzy. Now I don't know much about the Jewish religion aside from what I've read in historical fiction, but kids typically prepare their whole young lives for their ceremonies, so Brianna pulling it off in the span of a few months seems kinda ridiculous.

Some themes are repeated from the earlier books. Brianna once again finds herself put into a situation she doesn't want to be in. And once again, it's her pushy mom putting her there. We've also got the themes of going along with a popular girl because you want to have a cool friend and two best friends falling out due to a popular girl. We just covered that in Just Jaime.

I'd say this was easily my least favorite of the four. An already used character combined with repeated themes makes for a much less interesting book. Brianna's also less likeable than Emmie, who I love, and Jaime. So I care less about her issues.

Still, this is by no means a bad book. It's merely weaker than the others.