The story is set in a small town: Wheaton, Indiana, where Emma Proctor attends a private Christian high school. In school, Emma and her classmates are expected to question everything with "What would Jesus do?" Emma thinks that sitting around to discuss WWJD is a waste of time.

Emma is hoping for a sports scholarship to attend a university away from Wheaton. She has only applied to one, Northwestern, hoping beyond hope that she will be accepted on her track scores. She doesn't like the small town atmosphere where everyone gossips and knows each others' personal business. If they don't know what's going on, stories are fabricated.

Emma has always been comfortable with Colin Stewart, her guy friend, the next door neighbour who grew up with her. She's never worried about saying the wrong thing, as he always seems to know what to say at the right moment or understand her moods. From an early age it had been suggested that when they grew up they would get married. But Emma's plans had always been to leave Wheaton, and she had no reservations about Colin dating her best friend, Joann.

But before Emma can leave Wheaton, there is the Christmas kiss with Colin to clear up. The kiss Joann's mother was witness to. Emma questions Joann's 'forgiveness', knowing Joann would be uncomfortable about Colin hanging out with her. But the real question is why Colin kissed her. It is this question that haunts Emma enough to impulsively ask Colin to take her to a party at "The Barn" located in the countryside.

It is at the Barn where Colin and Emma witness a situation that carries consequences, and those engaged in it were unaware they were present.

When Colin takes Emma home this excerpt from the book sums up the kiss at Christmas where Colin tells Emma it wasn't a mistake and that he thinks he really likes her:

"I don't know. I'm not trying to piss you off, but I feel that I have to say something. I've liked you for as long as I can remember. I liked you since before I fully understood what it meant, but you were always so clear about wanting to be friends, just friends, that I never said a thing. Heck, I half convinced myself that I didn't care. That I was fine with that. Besides, even if you liked me, I knew the relationship wouldn't go anywhere. You've talked about leaving since you understood there was a road out of town. But I think I never stopped liking you. I felt like you should know. Then I kissed you, and you kissed me back." Colin looked over at me. "You did kiss me back."

When classmates begin passing out at school Emma knows why and who is behind it, and wants to report it. Colin reminds her that being at a party where there was alcohol would get her kicked off the track team, and there goes her scholarship. Also, Joann would find out they had been together.

Emma fears the worst when the town begins a witch hunt to find out who is 'poisoning' the high school students. A mob mentality develops when they begin to target students who are considered "loners". Soon it becomes a "crime" to be different and Emma sees the hypocrisy in the town residents. How long will Emma let this go on? How many innocent people have to get hurt before she steps up and does the right thing?

This book covers the full range of emotions, because those teenage years have many situations packed into them - body changes, boys/girls, dating, social norms, grades, and growing up. When parents or older adults tell teenagers those years are the best of their lives, I think they have really forgotten how anxiety ridden they were. Not everyone has a smooth growth period during the teenage years. For some it was a horror they would prefer to forget.

Emma's comments and thoughts are hilarious while she tests the waters around her. It's a normal, healthy attitude toward the challenges of life. She's smart, insecure, and a non-conformist; but is focused on her goal to leave Wheaton. Emma finds it scary in her search to find integrity in her life with others, while learning it is more important than many other things.

Each chapter starts with a journal entry where Emma talks to God over difficult choices and her faith. These journal entries were very amusing, thought provoking and entertaining. Emma learns a fundamental lesson about asking God for help and receives an answer in a dream.

Eileen Cook has created characters that are believable, and she has teenage angst down pat. What Would Emma Do? is a book that had me laughing out loud. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read…regardless of one's age

Wheaton is your typical small town. Backwater, religious and it's the type of place where everyone knows everything about you. Emma, the protagonist, finds the town confining and feels constricted in its limits. A fact which is emphasized when she makes the mistake of kissing her best friend's boyfriend, Colin. With that kiss, Emma's life is thrown into chaos.

Emma's plan has been to win a full-tuition scholarship to Northwestern for track. Except, suddenly, that is thrown into question when her best friend, Joann, and the pastor's daughter both fall ill and the words "terrorism and satan" begin to be thrown around at everyone who is different. And Emma is most definitely not your typical Wheaten-er. But she's not the only one, Todd, one of the few Jewish people in town, is targeted and accused. Emma, who knows the reason behind the illness is pressed to come forward, at the risk of losing her scholarship to Northwestern.

And that's when Emma has to ask, "What would Emma Do?"

I picked up this book expecting a light-hearted, yet barbed, story about a small-town and a teen's desire to be free and rebel. And that is precisely what I got.

Eileen Cook creates a setting where religion is almost everything and where things almost seem to move backward, not forward. The place is at complete odds with Emma, who is quirky and longs for a place where not everyone knows her name.

Emma's conversations with God, snippets of which are at the start of each chapter, flesh out her character in full. And they're amusing to read. Some may find the tone disrespectful, but, in my opinion, the conversations are charming and they come across as a conversation that a teen would possibly consider having with God.

Overall, Emma's character was one that I could sympathize with and understand. While some of her mistakes were atrocious, I could see where she was coming from and relate to what she was feeling.

Other characters are also vital to the story such as Joann, Colin, Todd and Emma's mother, for example. However, I felt that some of the development was a bit lacking. Joann's actions were believable and explained and her character came across well. However, Colin's character felt a bit inconsistent at times. I do think a bit more dimension could have been added to the secondary characters.

However, I do like how Eileen Cook presented opinions that opposed Emma's. She didn't present a judgemental view on those who want to settle, who like familiarity. Too often, both sides of an issue are not considered fully and fairly and I like how Eileen Cook presented characters who readers can relate to who want to stay in the town.

Overall, What Would Emma do is an enjoyable read. It presents the topics of religion, growing up and the overall angsty existence of teenagers in a light and fun manner, making it a book I would whole-heartedly reccommend.

After reading the description on the back of the novel, I thought the book seemed pretty good and like a normal teen novel, but once I started reading, it was different than I expected it to be, and not necessarily in a good way.

I thought a warning should have been given out or something because a lot of the book could be considered part of religion and depending on your take, it may make the book more or less enjoyable. Plus, the description was kind of misleading in many ways.

Before the description, I thought I might give my opinion on the ending. It was pointless! Nothing was really solved and the book just sort of ended! I thought the book was going to be better, but it disappointed me.....

Emma lives in a rural, religious town where everyone knows each other and will remain there for the rest of their lives- but Emma hates it and just want to leave to go to some place where some excitement happens. She's tired of her small-town life and hopes that she'll get a track scholarship to Northwestern. Her friend Joann hasn't truly forgiven her for kissing her boyfriend Colin, whom Emma has known since she was a toddler, and Emma feels on the blip of the social radar- the one to only really talk to her has been Todd, a social outcast (for several silly reasons such as him being of a different religion than the others at Trinity Evangelical Secondary and 'cause he doesn't talk much).

One night after sneaking out with Colin to talk, she sees two popular girls, Darci and Kimberly, at a party where there's alcohol (and drugs, I think). The next day,Kimberly ends up at the hospital and soon Darci also collapses. Though the girls recover, more and more popular girls are suddenly collapsing and no one knows why. Emma has a suspicion but she can't say what really happened because her scholarship would be at risk. No one knows that she saw Darci and Kimberly at that party, even though everyone else thinks they were only at home. She doesn't know what to do,especially since it's soon Todd and the rest of the kids who aren't so 'social' that are taking the hit, with suspicion raising by the townsfolk that they're responsible.

Lately Emma's taken to asking God what he would do in her place as she tries to figure out what to do with her life and the situation around her. But she's also questioning that faith, something that the people in her town don't like. Ultimately, Emma has to figure out what she would do....not God.