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+