Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.

In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.


The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.

Because of envelope 4, Ginny and her artist, a playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called Keith, go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous - though utterly romantic - results. Ginny isn't sure she'll see Keith again, and definitely doesn't know what to think about him. Could the answer be in the envelopes? Ginny doesn't know it, but adventures in Rome and Paris are in envelopes 6 and 8. The rules are that she has to open one at a time, in order, so perhaps it isn't surprising that she discovers things about her life and love one by one. Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.

---

5 Words to Describe this Book
Ignore the really bad cover..... XD

Why oh why did they have to give this book such an ugly cover? I mean seriously I don't know ANYONE who would see the cover of this book and say "Oh my gosh its gorgeous! Now I want to read it!" Instead you look at it and think "What is up with that girl and why is she trying to look all swanky?" Or maybe that's just me..... I guess what I'm trying to say is it makes me so sad that this book has a weird cover because the story inside is so great! I don't want anyone to miss out on this book merely because of its outside appearance! ITS WHAT'S ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS!!!

Anyway this book is AWESOME. All kinds of awesome. Who doesn't dream of randomly traveling across Europe? Although I have to say that the premise of this story is totally unrealistic once you think about it. Clearly this book was written before the movie Taken came out (Click the link if you're unfamiliar with the movie). I mean a teenage girl going off to Europe with no way of contacting home? No cell phone, no internet access, ohhh yeah and no money (well at least until she gets to Europe. And even then its fishy)? I just don't see that flying with anyones parents nowadays.... Not to mention that one envelope that instructed Ginny to ask some random European guy on a date? Yeah, in real life that would be a REALLY BAD IDEA. But regardless of its many unrealistic factors 13 Little Blue Envelopes still remains awesome.

Maureen Johnson is a HILARIOUS author and a just plain genius author all around. She is able to combine humor, romance, emotional confrontation, AND international travel and have all of it fit together and make sense. Not an easy task I'm sure!

I'm going to be honest and say my favorite characters have to be the Knapp family. They may have only been in the last 3rd of the book but gosh they were SO FUNNY. Talk about vacation nightmare right there! I felt so bad for Ginny having to endure their showtune singing and crazy touristiness. I honestly don't know what would have been worse: hanging out with the Knapps for a week or Ginny staying at that disgusting youth hostel place. I guess the Knapps were the lesser of two evils but honestly you lose both ways. XD

13 Little Blue Envelopes is an all around amazing book. Its funny and lighthearted, but also has some deep moments and some romantic ones too. Reading the letters along with Ginny definitely kept me glued to the page. I was always curious to know what adventure her aunt would send her off to next! If you're a fan of international travel, romantic comedies, or European guys with awesome accents (and honestly, who isn't?) then you'll LOVE 13 Little Blue Envelopes. I give it 4 and a half out of 5 ice cream cones!

Oh and I've decided that HarperCollins needs to hire me to redesign this book cover. I've already got it all planned out! The cover will no longer feature Ginny, but instead have all of the 13 envelopes that the aunt designed on it. They would be in rows of 3 and then the 13th envelope would be at the bottom and it would have the title in it. Yep, its genius. I am currently trying to figure out how to make it using my meager photoshopping skills..... Of course if  I end up succeeding I will share it with you all!

So I'm curious to know: If you got to travel to one country what would it be and why? Personally, I would like to travel to New Zealand so I could see the filming spots of LOTR. Especially Hobbiton. I would do just about anything to see Hobbiton!

Julia :)