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Sophomore Year
by Brianna Peppins
Amelia Westlake Was Never Here meets an empathetic exploration of anxiety at historically Black boarding school Briarcliff Prep. Love triangles, friendship breakups, and slice-of-student-life are balanced with a thoughtful discussion about mental health, all in a love letter to Black girls.
Avielle LeBeau is beginning her second year at Briarcliff Prep, and she's got big dreams. Top of the list? Starting her own student life magazine and rooming with her besties Rhyon and Zazie. But a housing mix-up splits Avi from her friends—and to make matters worse, she's rooming with her rival, Fallon Walsh, instead.
How does one girl juggle school, a fracturing friendship, living with a mean girl, and getting caught in a potential love triangle between the ex she can't move on from and a friend who's becoming something more? It's a lot. Made even harder by the panic attacks Avi has been experiencing lately.
If one thing is true about the LeBeau family, it's that they're always there for each other. But with her older sister Belle away at college and her brothers preoccupied chasing their own dreams, Avi must learn how to find support in new (unlikely) places.
"The book's major strength is in how mental health care is portrayed: Peppins thoughtfully unpacks stigmas around medication while also exploring other options, including therapy and grounding techniques. A satisfying series entry with affirming mental health representation." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Briarcliff Prep was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Brianna Peppins (www.BriannaPeppins.com) is the author of young adult contemporary books, including Briarcliff Prep and As Long as We're Together. She was raised in Prince George's County, Maryland, and graduated from Spelman College with a BA in psychology. When not writing, Brianna takes special interest in spending time with her loved ones and social justice issues, and is a self-proclaimed movie aficionado.
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