The Elite Seat
by Heather Holleman
This is a sequel in the series This Seat’s Saved. I would recommend reading the other two books first. Click here to read my review of This Seat’s Saved and here to read my review of The Disappearing Seat.
Hi! Have you ever gotten attention for something that wasn’t your idea? Well, Elita has. When Elita goes over to her friend Margo’s house, Margo videos Elita to show how different they are and it goes viral! Everyone is obsessed with Elita’s “I don’t care” style.
Suddenly, Elita is getting attention from people who have never said a word to her before. She gets invited to sit at the “popular” table at lunch with all of Margo’s friends. There’s even this boy who had never noticed her before but is now going out of his way to talk to Elita and spend time with her. Soon, Elita becomes completely caught up in all the attention and neglects things she cares deeply about, like her friends and even Nature Club.
But one day, it all comes crashing down! Where before, everyone loved Elita’s messy style, people began to make nasty comments on the video that really hurt Elita’s feelings. On top of that, all of her new friends didn’t want to hang out with her anymore. Elita asked Margo to take the video down, but Margo was so caught up in the attention that she refused. Elita and Margo began to yell at each other, and what had started as a conversation turned into a full-out fight. Elita had to go home feeling as if she’d lost all of her friends, new and old, and lost herself along the way.
Needing to reset, Elita turns to what has always pointed her back in the right direction: talking to God and enjoying His creation through nature. Elita spends time by the creek telling God everything that has happened and asking for His help.
I love this story and hope that the author will continue to follow Elita’s story even through high school and college!
One of my favorite parts about this book was the relationship between Elita and Margo. Despite their differences and mess ups, they fought for their friendship and became even closer. It showed me that, even when you go through rocky times, true friends will stick together in the end.
Will Elita find her way back to the friends she’s left behind? Will she learn to rely on something more stable than her popularity? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 0
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 1
I give this book 5 wands.
This book has such a great message, especially in today’s world. People of all ages rely on the opinions of online strangers for their worth. Elita’s journey teaches us to find our identity in something that never changes.
Source: Review Copy