This book is so much fun but also so weird! I’ll get into the weird part in a minute, but this is like the perfect summer road trip book; it just gives all of the vibes of summer fun and, obviously, travel. This book is just so light and fluffy and absolutely quirky and I loved it! This is the first book that I have read in one day in a very long time, and it was the perfect choice for a one-day read. I always think contemporary books are perfect for that kind of thing, as they really do not take a lot of focus, but summer travel contemporaries are just so much more fun. 

     I’m not going to lie, reading this book made me want to drop everything and book a flight to Europe ASAP! The atmosphere and world-building in this book are incredible and make it so much easier to lose yourself in the story. As Ginny travels from city to city and from country to country, the whole vibe of the story changes and it keeps you enthralled in the narrative. Maureen Johnson really has a talent for world-building, and I would love to read a high fantasy from her one day. I do have Truly Devious on my shelf, and I am now more excited than ever to pick it up. 

     One flaw I did find with this book is the character of Ginny herself. I know that the whole point of the book is to show the story of Ginny learning to be more confident and come out of her shell, but I really did find that she had next to no personality. She met so many amazing people on her journey, and yeah she was nice enough, but she was totally outshined by the people she met. 

     I love the concept of the 13 envelopes that kind of paces out this book. Having some kind of to-do list or something along those lines is always fun for me to read, and this concept was no exception. Although this story is unbelievably unrealistic for a contemporary novel, it was still fun to read about a girl travelling all over the world, and I found that Maureen Johnson was remarkably good at not spending too long on one envelope or in one place. It was as if Ginny went to a country or a city, accomplished the task and learned some sort of lesson or met someone important along the way, and it was off to the next one. Yes, this is a pretty repetitive formula for a book, but it was decently short so I found it fun nonetheless. 

     I do kind of wish that we saw Ginny a little bit more before she started her adventure because we never really get the chance to meet her mother or any of her other normal life friends or family. It made it hard to get behind Ginny and her journey, and it made me question some of the choices she made along the way. I feel like if we were able to see some of Ginny’s character before the adventure, I would be able to get behind some of the choices she made. 

     Is this book perfect? No, not in the slightest. If you go into it expecting to read the next War and Peace, you will be disappointed. But if you go in just looking for a fun road trip book that is quick and easy to read, you will like this book. I am definitely taking more of an entertainment approach than a critical approach in reviewing this book, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. 4/5 stars to 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson.