Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes
By Maureen Johnson
Harper Teen
Publication Date: August 23, 2005 
ISBN: 978-0060541415

Like most young adult novel readers, I like Maureen Johnson. On Twitter she's amusing, and in real life, she's fun and hilarious. (I saw her speak during LeakyCon. She does great accents.) Despite my admiration for her, sadly I've only read one thing she's written - her chapter of Let It Snow. And it was good - it was probably my favorite of the three sections. So of course I decided to finally read one of her novels.

I know with most novels, the reader must engage a certain suspension of disbelief. That's fine. It sometimes makes a novel more fun to believe things just happen. But this book took it...a bit too far for me.

For instance, I love the idea behind the plot, but it just seems so far fetched. Ginny receives a letter from her crazy aunt, which summons her on a crazy adventure that takes her from New Jersey to New York, and then to London, Scotland, Rome, France, Amsterdam, etc. The trip is propelled by 13 little blue envelopes, each of which commanding Ginny to go to a certain place and do or see something specific. As a plot device, that sounds awesome. But how does a mother allow her 17-year-old daughter to go on such a trip? Without any supervision and no ways of communicating her? (Ginny wasn't allowed to bring a computer/phone/camera/etc. She was allowed to write letters, though, if she wanted.)

Her aunt left her money, which she was able to get once in London. Then, she basically followed the letters on a scavenger hunt through Europe. She never took in the sights, really (which, come on, who wouldn't?), and never seemed to truly enjoyed herself. I get that she lonely at times - heck, I would be too - but that was the thing...I often wondered if she really felt anything. She seemed very two-dimensional to me. Like, she was going through the motions but not taking anything in.

Along the way she meets a bunch of characters, including Keith the love interest [who just annoyed me, really, because he was everywhere (not literally, figuratively) and you never knew if he actually liked her - or, even, why he liked her]. The characters I did like were the Australian friends she met in Denmark, who had far too little a part.
 
Plus, I found a lot of the suspense to be rather forced. At one point, Ginny can't find a place to stay for the night. But she has money, so she could always check into a hotel. And, honestly, she has a caring mother. If she really needed money (despite her aunt's request not to contact others), she could easily just call her mom.


I think I'm just harsh because I expected more from Johnson. She has such a fantastic voice on Twitter (and in Let it Snow!), that I really, really wanted to love this book. So I was disappointed to see her fun voice missing most of the time, and the story not that addictive.  BUT her writing IS good and I still really like Johnson. I'll check out her other books, perhaps even the sequel. Because I don't want to give up on her. She's a great writer and I know other books prove that.