Will has problems at school. She wants to expose the way students are treated. Harriet does not understand what Will's problem is but as Will explains what she sees as inadequacies in the system, Harriet begins to have her eyes open. Between the two of them, they come up with a solution--Amelia Westlake who will point out the school's problems. Now can they do it without getting caught?

This is a coming-of-age story. It is a bit of a romance. It is rollicking good fun as Amelia is credited with a lot of goings-on at the school. She seems to be everywhere and knows everything. Now the faculty and some blackmailed students are looking for Amelia but she pops up where and when least expected.

I enjoyed this story. It was fun to watch as Amelia lets the truth out. Unfortunately the faculty are dense. They are more interested in protecting the appearances of a good elite education than in righting the wrongs that have been allowed unchecked growth. I am glad the students bonded over Amelia. I am glad Will and Harriet let others know what was going on eventually so it could not be swept under the rug.

I would read this author again. I had a lot of fun! ( )

*I WAS PROVIDED A PHYSICAL ARC IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION*

Amelia Westlake Was Never Here was pitched to me as a funny rom-com between two girls, and I thought it would be just that. But boy, was I wrong. I ended up DNFing this book around pages sixty through seventy.

When I began to read this book, I immediately realized how quick paced it was and how summarized things felt. It seemed like bits and pieces of the book were cut out/missing.

In terms of our MC Harriet, the majority of her chapters were her trying to be Ms. Goody Two-Shoes. On top of that, she was always torn on whether or not to believe her teachers were as bad as people were saying (they were), even when she herself had had incidents with them.

Will's chapters were the only ones I felt there were rarely problems with. However, Harriet just drove me up the roof enough to not want to continue the rest. Along with this, the ideas for the cartoons they were creating just seemed to randomly be brought up without much thought actually being put into them.

Ultimately, I was again, really let down by another book. For that, I rate this book 1 star. ( )

Amelia Westlake Was Never Here is an atypical version of the plot: two girls are enemies, then become frenemies, then become friends, etc. after working on a project together.Wilhemena Everhart was transferred to an elite school after her parents' divorce. Her mother hoped it would provide a better education. Will has always had interpersonal issues, primarily because she cares so much about issues. Harriet Price is a privileged kid at the same school. Good in tennis, a prefect, head of the year end formal committee, etc., she's got it all, including a top notch girlfriend.

However, after Coach Hayden says some inappropriate things to a girl in gym, Harriet and Will team up to bring the issue up to an unconcerned administration. Using the pseudonym Amelia Westlake, they crafted a cartoon for the school newspaper. What started out as a one-off thing, mushroomed into much more, both on a school wide level as well as a personal level.

The story is fun.The characters are fun. The situation is fun. Even though it's a cold May, Amelia Westlake Was Never Here is a good beach read when the weather gets warmer. Or just read it now if you find it on your shelves. ( )

I received this book for free from The NOVL in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good!

First off, the premise is absolute genius. Creating a fictional student named Amelia Westlake to fight school injustices was such a clever idea. The injustices were a wide range of issues such as sexual harassment, homophobia, and elitism in private schools.

The pacing of the book was spot on. Everything happened at appropriate times and nothing felt rushed. There was never a time where I felt that the story was being dragged on for too long.

Another thing I liked was how real it was. Not everything got wrapped up super neatly at the end which is what happens in real life. Some things take a long time to resolve and mend. There were two things in particular at the end that a lot of authors would have magically fixed, but I’m happy that the author went a different route.

The reason why I didn’t give it the full 5 stars was because the romance felt like it was missing something. I was looking for that special spark between the characters, but never quite saw it.

Overall, I really liked this book. I loved the feminist messages and the issues it touched upon. It’s a powerful read while still being light-hearted and fun. ( )