Release Date: October 1, 2006
Format: Hardback
Pages: 336
Source: Library
From Goodreads: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.
My review: The premise of this book is crazy, which is partly why it is adorable. Oh, how I wish I had a crazy Aunt that would send me to Europe in high school to live like a crazy artist. Except, I don’t know I have the guts or extroverted personality to do the tasks in some of those blue envelopes – so many I retract my wish! Ginny is a normal high school student, a little shy but with the nudges from Aunt Peg she breaks out of her shell.
The blue envelopes take Ginny on a physical journey across the world but also on an emotion journey, allowing her to deal with her grief over Aunt Peg’s untimely death. She handled each task into the unknown in a manor that seemed real – a mixture of dread, excitement, apprehension and pain. Her normal high school personality carried with her over the ocean into Europe, keeping the realm of reality in tact.
The characters she meets in Europe and around the globe really demonstrates the kind of person her Aunt Peg was, and that she hopes Ginny will be. The people are kind, but quirky. They are unique and understood Peg in ways that Ginny never really saw. Richard is the biggest piece of the Peg puzzle – providing Ginny with heartbreaking sadness, but also a new person to call family.
This novel was a fun road trip, but dealt with grief and death in a manor that includes the pain, but also the celebration of life.
Great review, sounds like a cute book.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the middle of this one right now. It's fun so far!
ReplyDelete