Chasing the Spotlight

Author: Sarah Anne Sumpolec

Series: Riverbend Friends #4

Publisher: Focus on the Family

Release Date: August 17, 2021

The fourth book in the Riverbend Friends series gives readers a look into the life of Amelia.

Amelia loves the friends she has made in drama class, but lately she has been feeling a bit lost and lonely. With her big brother married and moved out and her parents busy with marriage counseling for their church, there isn’t much time or attention left for her. Her big sister Maggie couldn’t be more different from Amelia, whose love for theater is something none of the rest of the family understands. The new play for the school year is Peter Pan and Amelia is desperate for the lead role. When things don’t turn out the way she hoped, she wonders if chasing the spotlight is going to cost her the friends she made and all she was worked for.

The last book in the Riverbend Friends series gives readers a closer look into Amelia’s life. Of the four friends, I didn’t enjoy her story as much as the others. It was still good but didn’t draw me in as much as the others. Though I did enjoy the way they used some of what happened with Izzy to bring up tension in this story. All four of these books and their main characters are great books for young adult female readers. Chasing the Spotlight is a story with heart and a lot of character growth. Out of all the books, I saw more character growth with Amelia than any of the others. While the others went through a lot, Amelia had the greatest overall growth as a character. The nicest thing about these books is that they are clean, faith-filled, entertaining reads that I am happy to recommend to young readers. So many books these days, even the ones marketed to young readers, have so much questionable material that I have a hard time being okay telling young readers to enjoy them. I do recommend these books to young female readers, especially preteens that will get a good lesson from the pages within.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.