"13 Little Blue Envelopes" by Maureen Johnson

This was a very strange reading experience for me. My general rule, though I don't follow it strictly, is to read at least 100 pages of a book and if I still am not that into it and still don't care about what happens to the characters, I stop reading it. Like I said, it's not a strict rule. Sometimes the book is so bad I just have to see how it ends, sometimes the amount of reading left is worth getting to add another book to my "read" list. Sometimes I don't have another book handy. With 13 Little Blue Envelopes, I got to the 100 page mark and still wasn't that impressed, but I had wanted to read it for so long that I was determined to finish it. Oddly, the closer I was to the end of the book, the more I enjoyed the story.

Ginny is about to start a strange journey. Her aunt passed away a few months before and left behind 12 envelopes, each leading Ginny to a new location. On her travels, Ginny will learn about the world, her aunt and herself and discover more than she ever could have dreamed possible.

The premise of this book is amazing. I tend to get a little jealous of book characters when they are able to take off on these fantastic journeys though they rarely seem to plan nor do they worry about financial burden. Johnson makes a point to cover these little details. And yet, this book still didn't quite satisfy me. The first half of the book was a little bland and though what we learn of Aunt Peg and the places Ginny visits are interesting, this book just didn't keep my attention like I thought it would.  I was surprised that the story improved as I was reading and am glad that I stuck with it. I am still looking forward to reading the sequel since I have confidence that continuing Ginny's story will work. I am sad that I can't recommend this book as highly as I wanted to. I really did think I was going to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. Overall, it was worth the read, but at this point I probably won't be re-reading it (unless The Last Little Blue Envelope proves to be amazing).

Happy Reading!
-Melly