Hi world. 
I have something I must regretfully say. 
This blog is no longer running. I am no longer blogging here. 
Yes, I know, if anyone still comes her you probably already know that. Good for you!
But I still felt like I need to actually say it. 
However, I am now blogging at a new location-  http://thebookworminsider.blogspot.com/
Feel free to visit me there!

    I am so, so, SO sorry! I know I haven't posted in quite a while, what, 2 weeks! And for that, I am sincerely sorry. But for those of you that have relentlessly checked in often, to you-Thank you!!! I am eternally grateful! However, I do have an excuse! I have/am starting a new school where I am learning two EXTRA languages that I have absolutely no experience in: Chinese and Spanish! So, bear with me. Goodbye and Good Day

***Can't find the COVER!!***

When the World Ends is a book set in the future when Earth is soon to be dead and the ISS and the Space Base's are the good places to live...
Alec Corbett is the son of a cruel, careless man, and he's known that for quite a while. He vaguely remebers a time when Landon Corbett wasn't so distant, when his mother was still around, but those days are long gone. So when Alec uncovers his father's and the Board of Director's devilish plot to stage a shuttle 'accidently' exploding killing the 2000+ people inside. Alec makes a hasty desicion and shares the document with the folks from Level 1, where all the poor, discriminated upon, desperete people live. Together, Alec and his friend Jonah along with a few brave others, they decide to blow it up BEFORE people get on, utterly thwarting Corbett SR's plan. Alec discreetly works against his father, betraying his father in pretty every way. But...He does deserve it. Alec's father is sent t o Earth to placate the Earth-dwellers by telling them that those in Space are making room for them. He takes Alec with them. Alec hooks up with some rebels on Earth and together thay plot to take down the Board of Director's.

I enjoyed this book, I really did. But there was many grammatical errors and instead of using "abc" the author, J.J. Marshall, used 'abc' Maybe this was because I got a review copy (Thanks JJ) that hadn't been fully edited but I still felt the need to point that out. I'm not sure if I will read the sequel, because SciFi isn't really my thang (yes, thAng.). All ages in romantic appropriateness, but here is a good amount of blood and guts. 7/10 stars.

Ca

Lena has escaped over the fence, but without her lover Alex. She runs and runs, away from the pain and into the Wilds. The leader of a local Invalid settlement, Raven, finds her and takes her in. Lena starts to adapt to her harsh, new environment. She offers her help to the Resistance and they send her, undercover, back over the Fence. During a sudden attack by the Scavengers,
(Killing machines/ Really violent Invalids.) Lena is taken hostage along with Julian, the poster child of the youth DFA, Deliria Free America. Julian and Lena are locked up in a tiny room together for weeks. The pair begins to bond and Lena falls in love. Yep, again. They escape from the Scavengers and fall right into the also-evil-clutches of the Government/DFA. Raven and the Resistance
rescue Lena, but leave Julian to a public execution. Lena goes after her new true love.

    Pandemonium was good, but it didn’t really live up to Delirium’s
greatness. I really didn’t like how the chapters alternated between ‘Then’ (her
time in the Wilds) and ‘Now’(her time undercover). I’m honestly not sure if
Delirium was like that, but if it was, it was handled/written better. Another
thing that bothered me was how quickly Lena gets over Alex and falls for Julian
in what seemed like such a small time frame! The writing was better than good
but not spectacular.


Now onto my fan girl rant… 

Oh. My. God. I am seriously crying right now. How could you end a book like that?!? What an epic cliffhanger! And to think I have to wait 2 whole weeks for Requiem to come in to my local library!
*Sobs*

Sorry for making you read that. :)

Carissa Bookworm

I picked Gilt up looking for a sweet, YA historical romance.  I have seen such good reviews of Gilt on Good Reads, so maybe my
expectations were too high. But I just could not enjoy this novel! (Trust me, I
tried!)

    Kitty is always in the shadow of her best friend, Kat, always bending to
Kat’s will. When Kat catches the heart of King Henry VIII, nothing changes. Soon
Cat becomes Queen, Her Majesty, and she brings Kitty along with her as a mere
chamberer; low in the Queen’s servantry, high in the castle servantry. Kat is
reckless, sweet,demure, and perfect in front of the King and his Court. But in
her private chambers, away from the gossip of the nobles? Not so much.
Blah, blah, blah. That’s about it.

    So, major disappointment. I quit reading at page 303 of 406. The writing was good, maybe even great, but nothing really happened. From the blurb, Gilt sounds a bit like a historical romance, but what the blurb fails to mention is that romance is the only element present. There should have been more backstabbing! More betrayal and scandals, and a heck of a lot more adventure!  3/10 stars, 13+
 
Ugh.
Carissa Bookworm

    Anna is devastated when her romance-novelist-father ships her off to boarding school. But no, that's not enough. The school is in Paris. Not Paris, Texas,  Paris, FRANCE! Anna knows no French. So, Anna has to leave her so-close-to-boyfriend crush, best friend, and her home and language.

    But, Anna starts to make friends, including the adorable but taken American/French/English guy Etinne St. Clair. Anna almost immediately falls for St. Clair, but he has a serious girlfriend. And Anna doesn't want to jeopardize her standing with her new friends.
    The other little bright spot in Anna's world is Paris' legendary film. Movies are Anna's passion. Anna has an up and coming movie review blog with herself as the critic. When Anna discovers the littler independent movie  theaters on every single street corner, she's ecstastic.
So, Anna goes on to battle her way through French boarding school, tedious French classes, movies and love, in (what I think is) a most hilarious manner.

I loved Anna and the French Kiss! The title is cute, but really misleads the reader into thinking that this extraodinary novel is purely a romance read. It's so not!  I love Anna and her loyalty to her friends; those Parisian and American. I love St. Clair's character! I would recommend Anna and the French Kiss to all girls looking for a relaxing, sweet, funny, and/or French-themed book!

I'm not sure if I'll read Anna and the French Kiss #2, Lola and the Boy Next Door, because my To Read list is a mile long. I'll try to squeeze it in, though! :)

Anna and the French Kiss sooo gets 10/10 stars, for ages 12+!!!

Carissa Bookworm

    Under the Empyrean Sky is/has a good idea. I picked this book up because the back blurb interested me. I picked it up looking for a fun,  well-written adventure...I didn't find it.
Cael lives in a world  just like any other in the YA genre these days, where most are dirt  poor, but a select few live in
luxury. For Hunger Games, The Capital, for Under the Empyrean Sky, flotillas. Cael tries to provide for his sick  mother, good-for-nothing father, and rebel sister the only way he can. So every day Cael is out with his Scavenging crew, on their flying boat thingie, looking for valuable pieces of
left behind trash.  Life goes on, but then Cael finds a secret garden full of fresh fruit  and vegatables, which is GREAT because fruit and veggies are almost nonexistent. So Cael and his crew decide to use the hidden crop to boost
themselves out of poverty. Or, try too.

Under the Empyrean Sky started out  really slow. I understand the need to create the world and really show  the reader the state of poverty Cael's family, heck, his whole town, is  in, but the world building was just too long...at least for me. I forced myself to continue reading, because A.) I hate giving low-star reviews, and B.) I got a review copy from NetGalley and I felt I at least owed it to them to finish the book. Finally, I just gave up reading Under the Empyrean Sky. Maybe it gets better, but I'm rating it on what I read.
4/10 stars, Ages 10+

Carissa

    Well, this was certainly an interesting read...

    When a huge plasma tv falls ontop of Emerson 'Em' Watts, she should've died. And, her body did die. Somehow, a team of docters performed a top-secret operation on Em, saving her brain and personality and stuffing it into the body of Supermodel Nikki Howard.
Yikes. Em must learn to coperate with her new boss, Stark Enterprises, get used to her sudden, and drastic, change in lifestyle, as well as learn how to be a model.

    Airhead by Meg Cabotis a fun read. The concept for Airhead is a confusingly complicated one, but I think Meg Cabot made it work. I enjoyed seeing Em's opinion of models,famous-for-being-rich kids, etc. change as she became one.
8/10 stars, because it was a little confusing at times, Ages 10+

Carissa Bookworm

    Decked with Holly is a hilarious, fun read!
Holly  is dreading the rest of her Grandfather's birthday cruise because it means spending time with her totally-hot-but-so-evil cousins and are-you-sure-you-want-to-eat-that-watch-your-calories aunt. Well, her crazy realatives and a horrible bout of seasickness. That same seasickness forces Holly to stumble into an open suite. She barfs and is on her way out the door when she meets Nick who reluctantly offers her a place to sleep for the night. Holly is about to trudge back to her room when she finds that Nick is actually Dominic, the drummer for the hit band ReadySet. But it too late, swarms of petty fans and papparazzi's have already seen a sleepy, disheveled teenage Holly try to slink out of a rockstars suite. You can imagine what they think. To scavenge whats left of ReadySets family friendly reputation, Nick begs Holly to be his fake girlfriend for a while.
    
As this fauxmance goes on, they begin to develop real feelings for each other...

Decked with Holly by Marni Bates is such a sweet book! The plot wasn't all that original but Bates' characters were so believable!
9/10 stars, Ages 10 up.

Have you read Decked with Holly? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments!

~Carissa Bookworm

     Anna was a rich, Russian Countess, but since the Russian Revolution, all Anna is, is just another penniless orphan in London.
     Anna lands a job as an all-around housemaid in the Aristocrat family, Westerholme. Anna tries her hardest to blend in and keep her past secret, making sure to follow her outdated guide to servantry, but her graceful, noble- like curtsies and thick, formal accent make that impossible.
     As Anna tries to juggle her way through her very complicated life, the reader (that means you!) will laugh, cry, and occasionally scream out in joy/horror/and amusement. I know I did. Oh, my poor family must have been fairly disconcerted with all those yelps...
     Anna befriends the Earl of Westerholme, Rupert, and they slowly develop feelings fro each other. There's just one little obstacle between their love: Rupert's fiancee.

     I loved, loved, loved this book! Everything was perfect, the romance, the plot, the END! I loved how Anna could befriend the servants just as easily as the nobility, and wasn't constantly having to choose between them. I loved how Rupert was so blatantly honest, and how even when it was clear Rupert's fiancée, Muriel, wasn't his soul mate, he wouldn't go back on his word (proposal). And when Muriel does something really bad (read it, and you'll know what I'm talking about), I really yelled out in justified anger!
    This  book was amazing, fantastic, fabulous, enjoyable, and adventurous. I guess what I'm trying to say is that YOU have to read A Countess Below Stairs.
    
    10 of 10 stars (Congrats!), and Ages 10+
Remember, please comment and tell me your thoughts about this book (if you've read it!) or a specific book you'd like me to review!
Carissa Bookworm