This review was first posted at http://www.rubysreads.com. 
 Maureen Johnson has long been a favorite author of mine, though I've abandoned her in recent years because of my obsession with Paranormal stuff. I was still delighted to learn that Johnson was going to write a sequel to my favorite of her books. I read 13 Little Blue Envelopes at least half a decade ago, and it appealed to traveler inside me. How awesome to be Ginny and have the chutzpah to travel across Europe at the whim of your deceased (and possibly crazy) aunt? I could never do it. That's why I'm glad Ginny (and Maureen Johnson) did it for me. 
 The Last Little Blue Envelope picks up several months after the end of the first book. Ginny's a senior now, and she's facing that great decision: Where to go to college. Since she's having trouble getting down to writing the old entrance essay, she's relieved when to be distracted when she receives the email about the last letter. Quick as lightening, she makes the decision to go to London to retrieve it. As an added bonus, it means she gets to see Keith, the English boy she met in the last book. He's been conspicuously non-communicative of late, so Ginny welcomes the opportunity to see him in person. 
 Once Ginny arrives in London, things quickly devolve. Keith's absence is due to his new girlfriend, and the guy who has the letter has an ulterior (monetary) motive in returning Ginny's letter. Once again, Ginny sets out for another aunt-inspired adventure, this time to create a new piece of art. Oliver, who got the letter when he bought Ginny's stolen pack to replace his own lost one, proposes to help Ginny for half the selling price of the resulting artwork. 
 Ginny doesn't go on this journey with Oliver alone. Keith and his girlfriend come along for the ride, in Keith's tiny car. It's an uncomfortable scenario, to say the least. Ginny's stuck with the guy she thought was were almost-boyfriend, his actual girlfriend and the guy who is blackmailing her. The journey takes them to familiar places, but as equally crazy a journey as in the first book. Ginny's more confident this time, with the first trip under her belt, but the same sense of melancholy is with her. She's a lonely character and seems to live in her head a great deal. Since we're privy to Ginny's internal dialog, we have unique insight, but I imagine that she would be a hard person to get to know. 
 I have to say, that despite his initial villainous, mercenary appearance, Oliver won my heart right away. Of course, I'm a sucker for a posh English accent. And a tall man. Of course, given how Keith acts, it's hard to root for him. I don't blame Keith for falling for someone else--what I object to is his handling of the situation. It's not fair either to Ginny or his girlfriend. And I felt that he took advantage of the fact that he knew Ginny would never say anything that would give him away to her, or that would require him to acknowledge how he'd treated Ginny. 
 Johnson picks exactly the right moment in Ginny's life for this story to work. Ginny's on the cusp of one of the most bizarre and unsettling transitions in life--taking the first baby steps towards independent adulthood. While the absence of Ginny's parents (and indeed, any life at home) is puzzling and slightly disturbing, it makes sense given the end of the book, and Ginny's ultimate decisions. It's the ending I hoped for, but it also made me greatly desire another book, following Ginny's life post-Little Blue Letters. However, I've read some less than flattering reviews of 13 Little Blue Envelopes, since it's been made so easily available in order to promote the sequel, so I'll be interested to hear what others think. In my opinion, though, if you're a realistic YA fan you should be getting yourself a copy of book one, at least. I hear you can get it for free as an ebook right now.