Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes (13 Little Blue Envelopes, #1)
Author: Maureen Johnson
Release Date: October 1, 2006
Publisher: HarperTeen
Cover Designer: N/A
Age Audience: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Summary: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

My Review:
First of all, I want to say that even if I didn’t like this book, I would still be aware of the fact that Maureen Johnson is an awesome, awesome person (if you don’t believe me, go follow her on Twitter).
Luckily, I really liked this book!
The concept was creative, and you can tell from the way this book was written that Maureen Johnson has had travel experience. Reading about Ginny’s adventures was fun, and relatable if you’ve ever done any traveling.

I also liked how Ginny never went anywhere too tourist-y. For example, when she was in London she didn’t even go to the Tower of London or any other landmarks. She went to the more everyday places of the countries she traveled to.

My only criticism of this book was that Ginny’s parents seemed to have disappeared. It’s hard to believe that they’d let her go to Europe alone without even keeping in touch (the instructions in Envelope #1 said not to bring electronics). And judging from what we’re told about Ginny’s mother, she wasn’t too fond of Aunt Peg’s schemes. So why would she let Ginny follow something of her doing?

Other than that, 13 Little Blue Envelopes was a great book. I loved all the characters, and can hardly wait to read The Last Little Blue Envelope!
(Oh, and this book made me want to go to England sooo much. Paris too. But mostly England.)
★★★½