13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

When Ginny receives 13 blue envelopes from her aunt, she is sent on a whirlwind adventure in Europe. There are just a couple of catches- she can only take a backpack worth of things, technology is restricted, and she can't bring any guides or foreign language aids. (I thought it would be fun to see how she would handle that!) The envelopes could only be opened when one of the previous tasks had been completed, or the previous envelope read. The summer turned out to be different than what she expected. She takes chances, makes friends, and finds love.

Thoughts:  This book had a lot of potential. (I mean, the girl is going on a spontaneous adventure in Europe!) Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. The narration was really vapid and I seriously contemplated on putting this book down. Though about halfway through, when she gets out of London, it gets much more interesting. After that, I flew through the book!
  The author could have described the the setting more. (Again, IT'S EUROPE!) It would have been fantastic to get some imagery so the readers could actually feel as if they were the ones traveling to new places. I couldn't believe Ginny wasn't awestruck at the amazing places she was visiting like I would be. (Seriously, I would go insane if I got to travel Europe!)
  Something else that got on my nerves is that the readers get next to no information about the girl herself! We just pretty much follow her through the book without knowing any thing about the girl's back story. I was just experiencing the current events through her eyes, and never getting to know the main character herself.
  This novel had no climax. I was just a sequence of events leading up to one another. To think it would be boring, but it actually worked for this book. It was like with every envelope came a new adventure.
  All in all, this book was a pretty fun read. The story was very fun and unique! I am surprised to find out there is a sequel to this... I'm excited to find out where the author takes the story! -Palak
Cover: 2 stars
Plot: 4 stars