Not bugs, just that the walkthrough was linear as AngelOfDeath said. Emma is definitely grind-y and honestly if I can avoid her events and focus on characters (such as Cybril's per character walkthrough - thanks Angel!) then I'll be super happy to focus on the mom...though seems I need other characters to progress the story and Emma is by far my least favorite. Thanks for the tips to anyone who replied to me, definitely appreciate it.
*edit*
Got one last question. There's no "time limit", right? So on paper I could do the per- character walkthrough at my own pace, putting Aunt/John appearance events on hold until all the character relationships are at a desired level (in my past gameplay Kelly was missing a bit of points while Emma was in the 30's while she was supposed to be in the 100's or so). Can I just freeplay my days away? Also, when John is at the house I know he cockblocks most actions but will he affect points (say, Janice slowly gets corrupted by him?). I really hate that, though from looking at the guides it doesn't seem like it.
*2nd edit*
Per-character walkthrough does mention when to progress other character storylines. AMAZING. This is exactly what I meant and needed.