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A review by protoman21
The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson
4.0
This was enjoyable, but certainly not ground breaking. I find that I always expect Maureen Johnson's books to be more like her Twitter feed, offbeat and kooky, but instead they come off as straight romantic YA fiction. Not that this is a bad thing to be, but I miss her over the top style and find myself waiting for something crazy to happen.
That said, I do like Ginny and I appreciate that her stories have a purpose. The quest of the little blue envelopes keeps the story moving and always provides the reader with something to wonder about and look forward to discovering. I read the first book so long ago that I wasn't invested in Ginny's relationship with Keith at all, and when I reread my review of that book, it looks like I didn't care about it to begin with, so her finding out he had a girlfriend and the awkwardness and tension that arose from that played out way better than a simple will they/won't they scenario. I like that Johnson chose to have Ellis be a very likeable character and for Ginny to have a healthy appreciation of her and not just be madly jealous and bitter.
I wasn't sure what to think about Oliver and I still am not sure. I think his exploitation of Ginny was underplayed enough that he was able to be likeable in the end, but if I really think about what he did, it really doesn't make me want to give him any kind of benefit of the doubt. We all knew Ginny would end up romantically involved with him from the start and he was given positive qualities to suit that end, but it came off more as an literary ploy than something believable. Perhaps I am seeing the world too much in black and white, but I just didn't like what he did and I don't think it was given enough justification to make it alright.
That said, I do like Ginny and I appreciate that her stories have a purpose. The quest of the little blue envelopes keeps the story moving and always provides the reader with something to wonder about and look forward to discovering. I read the first book so long ago that I wasn't invested in Ginny's relationship with Keith at all, and when I reread my review of that book, it looks like I didn't care about it to begin with, so her finding out he had a girlfriend and the awkwardness and tension that arose from that played out way better than a simple will they/won't they scenario. I like that Johnson chose to have Ellis be a very likeable character and for Ginny to have a healthy appreciation of her and not just be madly jealous and bitter.
I wasn't sure what to think about Oliver and I still am not sure. I think his exploitation of Ginny was underplayed enough that he was able to be likeable in the end, but if I really think about what he did, it really doesn't make me want to give him any kind of benefit of the doubt. We all knew Ginny would end up romantically involved with him from the start and he was given positive qualities to suit that end, but it came off more as an literary ploy than something believable. Perhaps I am seeing the world too much in black and white, but I just didn't like what he did and I don't think it was given enough justification to make it alright.