Book 87 - Girl at Sea

My eighty-seventh book was Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson. I read some of her other books (13 Little Blue Envelopes, The Last Little Blue Envelope, and Suite Scarlett) and I've loved all of them. This one was also pretty good. Clio plans on spending the summer in a quiet little art store, working with gorgeous fellow employee and potential future boyfriend Ollie. When her mother gets a grant for a new project, she's obviously happy for her. But when she finds out the job is in Kansas and she's not exactly invited, she suspects that something even worse is coming. And it does. Her mother informs her that she has to spend the summer in Italy. For most people, this would be a summer to dream about. For Clio, however, this summer also involves her crazy father. After she arrives, she meets her father's new girlfriend, Julia, her daughter, Elsa, her father's friend, Martin, and Julia's research assistant, Aiden. Clio soon realizes that they're not just going for a cruise. They're searching for something. And this something is a major secret. So secret they won't even tell her what it is. While Clio tries to figure out what they're hiding, she also has to figure out what to do about her dad, Aiden, her dad's new girlfriend, and how to get back home to Ollie before it's too late.
Grade: B+
SC = 3
V = 5
C = 2

Book 58 - The Last Little Blue Envelope

My fifty-eighth book was The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson. In this sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Ginny is home again after her backpack with the letters in it was stolen. But she gets an email from a mysterious boy named Oliver. Oliver tells her that he found all of her letters after he bought her backpack. He even has the last letter that she never got to open. When she arrives in England, it becomes clear that not only is her "boyfriend" Keith dating someone else, Oliver is not at all what he seems. He tells Ginny that, since he found the letter, he will tell her what it says and they go together. Ginny realises that, if she wants to find out what her aunt wrote, she has to take Oliver on her adventure and split the money they get from the sale. Their adventure takes Ginny and Oliver, along with Keith and his new girlfriend Ellis, to various places in Wales, Amsterdam, and finally Ireland to find three pieces of art that her adventurous Aunt Peg wanted her to put together. She's gone most of the journey hating Oliver for what he's doing, but she starts to realize that he might have good reasons for wanting the money.
Grade: A+

Book 20 - Suite Scarlett

My twentieth book was Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson. I loved her book 13 Little Blue Envelopes so much, I had to try another of her books. And it did not disappoint. She is a very funny author and creates such relatable characters. This book is about Scarlett, who has just turned 15. Her parents own a small hotel in New York, which they also live in, and each child is given their own suite to take care of on their 15 birthday. Scarlett is given the Empire Suite, the most famous suite in the hotel. A couple of days after her birthday, a guest arrives to live in the Empire Suite for a year. This mysterious guest, who claims to be an actress and says she has been traveling the world for many years, quickly sucks Scarlett into her bizarre life. While dealing with the crazy woman, Scarlett also has to find a way to save her brother's acting career and the career of the boy she's in love with by saving their show, a "silent movie version" of Hamlet. All of this, as you can imagine, is very hard for a 15 year old to handle. But, reading about her trying to handle it is so much fun.

Book 4 - 13 Little Blue Envelopes

My fourth book was 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. I've never read anything by this author before, so I didn't know if I would like it. I LOVED it. This book makes you want to start traveling the world...right now. I wish I had an aunt that sent me letters and money, and told me to go on an amazing adventure. The basic premise of the story is that Ginny, a very reserved and quiet girl, is given 13 envelopes by her crazy aunt that tells her to go to Europe. She can only open one envelope at a time, in order, and only once she has completed the task in the previous envelope. She travels to Europe to meet a friend of her aunt's and that is where her adventure begins. This kind of behavior is common with her aunt...the only thing Ginny can't figure out is how her aunt did this...her aunt is dead.