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Book Review: "13 Little Blue Envelopes" - Coping & Coming of Age

Sydney Van Dreason
Aug 1, 2022
2 min read

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Rating: 3/5

Genre(s): Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Adventure, Coming of Age

Synopsis: Aunt Peg has been dead for three months, and yet Ginny is still receiving mail from her. After her aunt’s quick and unexpected passing, Ginny feels lost, so she lets her aunt guide her on a quest around Europe, where Ginny discovers more about herself, experiences romance, and faces her fears.

Review: This was a cute, quick read that wasn’t the most profound piece of fiction, but it wasn’t bad at all either! The theme of the novel was one of the best parts about the book, which aided this book in drawing you in and connecting you to the characters, especially Ginny as she travels throughout Europe.

For me, I knocked this book down a few points because it seemed too fast for me. I understand that this is part of the point of the theme and of Ginny’s journey, that she doesn’t completely understand her quest and that everything is happening so quickly. But each country is only devoted a few relatively short chapters, so I felt like the plot (loose as it was) almost felt rushed. As a result, I felt like I couldn’t really connect with many of the characters, especially Ginny, because the pace was too quick, the character interactions were limited, and we weren’t often given access to Ginny’s personal thoughts (and when we were, it seemed like superficial access, like we would graze the surface of Ginny’s feelings and inner thoughts and then the chapter would end and the plot would shift again).

Something I really enjoyed about this book though were the side characters. Johnson creates a lot of side characters, some of whole we only hang out with for a short time, but everyone has a personality and some kind of quirk or something about them that makes them unique.

Overall, a nice beach or weekend read with a heartfelt message.

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This Book Review was originally posted on Instagram on August 1, 2022.