Book Review.

13 Little Blue Envelopes is the story of a teenage girl named Ginny who's aunt passes away unexpectedly. Ginny does not find out until months after her passing. Her very artistic aunt Peg spent 2 years traveling around Europe and having her own experiences. In return, aunt Peg left 13 little blue envelopes for Ginny. In each envelope contained a different task and lesson for Ginny to complete. For example, the first envelope had $1,000 to buy a passport and directions to a specific London flat. Once there she could open the next and so on. Ginny met many people along the way that summer and in the end it changed Ginny completely. When worst comes to worst and her backpack with her clothes and all the envelopes including the last envelope with the last task gets stolen, Ginny is at a hold and is forced to give up her journey and return home to New York.

The sequel, The Last Little Blue Envelope continues Ginny's story six months later around the Christmas holiday. Ginny receives an email from a mysterious man named Oliver who has found her backpack with most everything still inside of it. Ginny travels back to London to receive the letter. It contains the most important task yet: to collect different pieces of aunt Peg's art and put them in an auction and the money would belong to Ginny. But there is a catch: Oliver feels since Ginny would not have the letters back without him, he will not give her any of the letters or any or her belongings back until they find the last pieces together and then they split the profit from the auction 50/50. Ginny feels she is being blackmailed and forced into something that should be a personal matter. But if Ginny does not comply, Oliver will take back all the letters and disappear. It would all remain a mystery to Ginny. So this is the journey that Ginny takes to places both familiar and unfamiliar & uplifting and emotional.

This series is definitely worth the read with the creative mixture of tragedy, romance, drama and even more. I hope you consider reading and if you do, I hope you love it as much as I do! :)

I Will Survive by Stephanie Bentley

Growing Fatherless.

I am jealous of all my friends, cousins, and everyone else in the world who still has someone to call dad or say they even have a "worldly" father. Whether their parents are divorced or split up, they still have a father. There is no getting around that fact. For just about as long as I can remember, I have not been able to say that. Although I could for over four years of my life. People feel bad, or try to comfort me, or they don't care. But just about no one can relate. In reality it is really tough for a girl to grow up without a father. I cannot speak for a man like my brother. Speaking for myself, I hate it. When I think about it my throat feels like it is closing in on me and all my insides are tying together into huge knots. Then I try to cry but the feeling I have stops me. That is one of the weirdest feelings I ever have. It is hard to imagine. That is truly the only time I deal with that (I guess besides one other time). All those areas in life that a young girl must go through while she is coming of age, some of them just need a father involved. A daddy is there to spend quality time with her as she is little (before she becomes a teenager and will be embarrassed to anymore). A daddy is there to guide her through and give advice when she actually enters jr. high and high school as a teenager. A daddy is there to approve of the first guy she brings home and it does not turn out how she planned. A daddy is there to tell her to change her clothes and "cover up" when she comes down stairs in the morning. A daddy is there to prepare her to dance with her date at her senior prom. A daddy is there to accept that she is ready for college after graduating from high school. A daddy is there to miss her as she really begins a new life in college. Most importantly a daddy is there to walk her down the aisle at her wedding and give her away to the love of her life because he knows deep down she is truly ready. A list like this is never ever ending. For me, that is all I can think of. It starts with what I have seen and ends with what I can imagine because I will never be able to say my daddy was there for everything a daddy should. But I can say I imagined it..