Also by this author: The Six Conversations: Pathways to Connecting in an Age of Isolation and Incivility, This Seat's Saved, The Elite Seat
Series: Elita Brown #4
Published by Moody Publishers on July 7, 2026
Genres: Children's
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How was Elita to know the summer would be full of broken things—the law, expectations, and her heart?
Winner of a Christianity Today Book of the Year Award.
Book 4 in the Elita Brown series.
Summer is finally here. And while Elita should be enjoying newfound freedom, she finds herself wilting under the summer sun and the accusations of friends who feel she’s too focused on herself and her own problems. When she tries to find joy and solace in an abandoned fox kit, she lands herself in even more heat—this time with the law. And just when she thinks things can’t possibly get worse, she receives a text message that breaks her heart.
Crestfallen, and feeling like a criminal, Elita takes a trip to visit her wise friend Mrs. Burgley, where she learns about sea glass and how God uses tumbling and turbulence to make things beautiful.
Elita experiences the Lord’s kindness in opening a place for her as a junior counselor with her friend at Camp Cherry Hollow. But when a camper goes missing, and night begins to fall, Elita must trust God as she races through the deep, dark forest in search of the lost girl.
In the final book of the Elita Brown series, Elita learns to forgive herself and love others. She discovers that the scars of life, both inside and out, are meant to make you into someone beautiful, someone who depends on and reflects God. Readers grasp, with Elita, the mark of true friendship and the precious reality that they are seated with Jesus, meant and sent to be blessings and to tell others This Seat’s Yours.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Elita Brown series, so reading the final volume was bittersweet. This is a solid conclusion to the series, but I want more! Even if Heather Holleman doesn’t return to the world of Elita Brown, I hope she will write more middle-grade books for girls. She has a gift for reaching this audience with relatable stories and spiritual truths.
In This Seat’s Yours, Elita makes mistakes and gets in trouble with wildfire authorities. She deals with the tension between her original good intentions and the bad choices she made, and she learns how Jesus can free her from ongoing shame and guilt. In addition to this, she deals with uncertainty about her relationship with her crush. After this rocky start to her summer, she travels to South Carolina to visit her mentor, Mrs. Burgley, who offers helpful perspectives on the difficulties she’s going through. Elita then works at a girl’s summer camp, and her experiences there bring the book full-circle. Because of the challenges Elita has faced, she is able to save the day during a crisis.
This Seat’s Yours is an engaging, fast-paced read. Tween girls will find Elita’s thoughts and feelings relatable, and I appreciate how the author shares biblical wisdom in each book in a natural, authentic way. Readers can learn and grow along with Elita, without feeling like the author is preaching at them. This story focuses on themes about overcoming shame, and about sharing the hope of Jesus with others. It’s nice to see Elita moving into a mentor role with younger girls, after the ways older people have supported her.
The final chapters give the characters a nice send-off. Holleman tied up loose ends for some supporting characters, and I found the ending satisfying. This story resolves multiple ongoing threads from previous volumes, and Holleman tied together spiritual themes that have played out over each book. This is a great ending to a great series, and I highly recommend all of the Elita Brown books.