13 Little Blue Envelopes (13 Little Blue Envelopes, #1)

by Maureen Johnson

When seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss-cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.

• ISBN10: 0060541415
• ISBN13: 9780060541415
• Publish Date: 1 September 2005
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

It was quite beautiful that Ginny's aunt sent this adventure from beyond the grave in order to continue to guide Ginny and to allow Ginny to learn from her mistakes. There were quite a few heartbreaking moments, but many more uplifting and funny moments. Those envelopes came just when Ginny needed her aunt's guidance. If it is possible to atone from the grave, her aunt did it. By sending Ginny on this journey, she revealed her hopes and fears to her niece. She exposed her to new experiences, encouraged her to go outside of her comfort zone and showed her that she was stronger and just "more" than Ginny believed she was. Lots of fun, lots of feels, and a tour of Europe to boot.

13 Little Blue Envelopes has an interesting premise and it's such a shame that the plot is poorly executed.

The best part of 13 Little Blue Envelopes is definitely Ginny's travelling adventures. I really enjoyed travelling to different countries in Europe with Ginny and witnessing the world through her tourist's eyes. However, I had to suspend disbelief while reading 13 Little Blue Envelopes. I couldn't believe that Ginny's parents would let their child, who is still in high school, travel to a different continent alone, one that she's never visited before, without being able to have contact with their child.

Ginny is a bland character who lacks depth and personality. I never really got a sense of who she is and that's after reading a whole entire book from her PoV.

I also don't care for Keith. He, along with all the other characters in 13 Little Blue Envelopes, are underdeveloped and uninteresting. The relationship between him and Ginny feels forced and lacks chemistry. I don't even know why there's romance in 13 Little Blue Envelopes because it feels out of place.

The only character that I like is Richard. I also enjoyed reading about his relationship with Aunt Peg.

13 Little Blue Envelopes has an extremely cool premise. Unfortunately, the characters are bland, the romance has no chemistry and the premise execution is lacking.

"Some people believe that they are guided by forces, that the universe cuts paths for them through the dense forest of life, showing them where to go. Ginny did not believe for a second that the whole universe was bending itself to her will."

[nitzan_schwarz]

2015 tbr challenge

Originally posted on my blog. Please check it out if you like the review :) 

THIS REVIEW IS SOMEWHAT OF A RANT AND MAY CONTAIN SLIGHT SPOILERS (no major plot points or anything, and they are hidden, but I do discuss specific scenes) 

So, I'm going to be totally honest - I've been meaning to get 13 Little Blue Envelopes for a while now. I was always curious about this book, but I just... I really, really don't like the covers for it. At all. So, being the shallow human being that I am, I pushed it back until... well, until it was on a kindle sale.

I will start with the good - the story is very cutesy. It's fun. It's a fast read. You'll be smiling with the characters. You'll be waiting to see what Aunt Peg's next task for Ginny will be. You'll be enjoying this trip as you cross countries and locations alongside Ginny. Plus, Richard is great. I wish we got to see more of the guy! (and I totally called the last "twist" with him the moment we met him)

Now, to the less good - Ginny is just so damn clueless and naive, I couldn't deal with it. She's supposed to be a 17 years old girl, right? But she reads much much younger to me in the way she acts. Case in point: 

 - She doesn't know what to do with the ticket for the Tube. Even if you've never been on one, logic dictates you at least keep your ticket in case of an inspection, right??

-She goes with a guy she doesn't know to his sister's apartment just because he tells her his sister will like her. Where is your self preservation instincts, woman?! You've literally just met him, in a foreign country no less! He might be a serial killer for all you know, or...

(I have been looking for a chance to use this gif forEVER!)

She let's another family "adopt" her for five days, going with them everywhere without question. Say that wasn't weird on it's own (which it totally was. It creeped me out), you just... let them pay for everything, never even asking for the prices? 

Umm, girl, money does not grow on trees and you do NOT have a limitless supply of it!  At the very least you should be aware of how much you've got and how much you'll have to repay, and put your feet down if it's too much, because that is also your only way to get back home!

I couldn't deal with all this! It's pretty much a miracle she doesn't get murdered on this trip...

Than, there is the fact she has no phone on her. I know, I know, Aunt Peg said no phones. But what kind of an idiot would go to a foreign country(ies) without a means to communicate with his family/the police if something were to happen? Take a phone, keep it closed the whole trip unless something happens, but at least have the option to call for help!



Maybe these things were supposed to make the story special. Maybe they do. But to me, they were too farfetched and too frustrating. I don't know if I'll read the next book; maybe I will, but probably not unless there is a sale.

Originally posted on my blog. Please check it out if you like the review :) 

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6/7/2015: This was a cute story, but I did have so big issues with it... which I'll tell you all about once I post my review ;)

[mrs_mander_reads]

One of my favorite YA books. I really enjoy the storyline, and don't find it to be too out there. Definitely recommend it to someone looking for less angsty YA.

[Stephanie]

13 Little Blue Envelopes follows Ginny as she goes on this crazy journey throughout Europe. All alone. With only 13 envelopes as a guide. These envelopes were written by her crazy aunt who whisked away to Europe without telling anyone, and now she's making it up to Ginny by having her come to Europe herself. The problem is is that Ginny's aunt has been dead.

First of all, I must say that if I wasn't following Johnson on Twitter, I probably wouldn't have given much thought to her books. But 13 Little Blue Envelopes premise really intrigued me, so I went ahead and gave it a go. So this is my first novel by Maureen Johnson.

I've never read a book narrated like this. You weren't necessarily in the mind of the character. It was third person, and the person telling the story just... told the story. You never get a glimpse inside the main character's, Ginny, head. It seemed to be a person watching Ginny go through this experience and describing everything she encounters.

There was a lot, and I mean a LOT of description to the point that you would feel like you were sitting with Ginny. I thought Johnson actually went to all of these destinations and could describe them a least enough for the book. But I was surprised to find out that she hadn't been to some of the places Ginny ends up at. But of course, with the internet I'm sure I could look places up and describe them somewhat decently.

I enjoyed the story. It was... interesting. Though I didn't believe Ginny could fly to London with only 1000 dollars to pay for her flight. When I looked up plane tickets it was well over $1000, but then again, that was from St. Louis and not New York, so who knows. The story was pretty sad. Ginny was alone most of the time and she was slowly realizing and accepting the death of her aunt.

Ginny does manage to find a love interest, or I guess you could call him that. I personally felt like they weren't very good for each other, but he was always there for her in the end. I think the story would have been better if it was told in first person, or maybe even third person, as long as we could get inside Ginny's head to know what she was feeling during certain events.