Book Forty-Two

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes
Author: Maureen Johnson
Summary: If your free-spirited aunt left you 13 little blue envelopes: Would you follow the directions? Would you travel around the world? Would you open the envelopes one by one? Inside envelope 1, is money and instructions to buy a plane ticket. Inside envelope 2, are directions to a specific London flat. Inside envelope 3, tells Ginny: find a starving artists. Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/man-about-town called Keith go to Scotland together, with disastrous - though really romantic - results. But will she ever see him again?
Genre: Adventure
Time Started: 7th September.
Time Ended: 28th September, 11:54pm
Page Count:  319
Age Rating: 13+
Warning: Minor sexual themes.
Appeal Rating: 9/10.

First things first, the blurb is really misleading. It makes it seem like a romance novel ... it's not. Yes, Keith and Ginny DO fall for each other and kiss a lot and sleep on a bench when Ginny misses lockout at the hostel, but it is not all about Ginny and Keith. It's about Ginny, about becoming independent, travelling the world, making friends, coming out of your shell. In no way is it a romance novel.

Anyway.

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to properly get into it, and it took me so long because (a) homework is ridiculous this year so it kept me busy, and (b) I wasn't reading much.

The characters are amazingly developed, and they all have fantastic, real personalities. Peg seems like such an awesome woman, and it's a shame Ginny didn't get to spend as much time with her as she could. Only a truly amazing person would take their niece around the world, through thirteen letters, in such a short amount of time.

Maureen Johnson is a fantastic writer, with a large imagination and an excellent sense of humour. I will definitely be checking out more of her books.

Now, I have to go do homework, so I can't write any more. Definitely recommended!