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In Amelia Bedelia: Business Secrets, the third book in her New York Times bestselling series, young Amelia Bedelia is finally doing everything in her power to secure her own lucrative business. But when her Uncle Monty sets her up with a shady, less than honest parcel delivery service, Amelia’s world is tipped upside down. When the unexpected incident happens, Amelia can’t believe her good fortune has just turned into a disaster. And when Amelia’s best friend, Sophie, moves away, Amelia’s world is tipped even more upside down. Now, Amelia and her Uncle, Monty, must work against each other to keep their business afloat, while fighting their personal demons and falling in love with each other.
- In Amelia Bedelia Means Business, the third book in the series, young Amelia is doing everything in her power to secure her own profitable business, even if it means lying to her Uncle Monty and risking her life to do so. As she discovers new business opportunities and tries to balance her burgeoning relationship with a new man, she finds herself falling deeper into the hole of self-doubt that nearly derailed her from the path of success earlier in the book. While Amelia may have made the right decisions throughout the story, these decisions kept her from moving forward in a forward direction, and this is where the series starts to slow down and become more frustrating. Instead of feeling inspired, as she always thought she should, by the first inkling of an idea, Amelia Bedelia finally comes to terms with the fact that she’s not going to be a success, at least not easily.
- It isn’t just the plot that slows down in this final chapter book, but much of the momentum of the main characters’ development is lost, as well. And because this is a novel about business and making money, the actual story starts to fizzle out. The stakes are too high for Amelia to keep going at her current pace, so she resigns herself to a fruitless existence. But as she finally begins to meet some of the other people who have been reading her stories, she finds the inspiration to launch her next adventure. Because it was such a successful one the first time around, she decides to make it the best ever, and the world begins to open up to her once again.
- There is one great thing about the way this novel reads out. As the second chapter book premiere approaches, we have already been introduced to the core group of characters, and their conflicts. We’ve gotten an idea of what the dynamic is like within the group, and what makes Amelia Bedelia, herself, unique. We know that she’s confident and driven, and that her own entrepreneurial ideas are backed up by real-world experiences, just like those of the other main players.
- But by the end of the second chapter, we’ve already been torn between our protagonist and antagonist, because she’s started to turn the other way. She has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the other person she loves is not really into her anymore, but she has no idea how to fix things. It is this vacuum between their feelings that brings them to the point where they have to decide between themselves, and between their livelihood and their love. This is what makes Amelia Bedelia means business so special: by the end of this book, the reader has seen both sides of this coin, and weighed the pros and cons.
What I think most readers love about this book is the fast-paced, almost jolting pace of it. I especially loved how fast-paced these chapters are, and how soon it seems like the momentum of the story is beginning to pick up after the final confrontation. I also really liked the way that Willow struggled with the decision to let go of Alex, and how that decision turned out to affect the rest of the novel. Overall, I think this is one of those books you should read just once – if you get to finish it.
