Small Hiatus Time

Hey all, I figured I owe you all an explanation for the on going MIA action on the blog since the book haul. Lately, I just have been emotionally drained from everything around me. From work, to school, to personal stuff I don't want to talk about, this blog was the farthest thing from my mind. And also, I haven't been reading any books. I know, shun the non believer here, but it happened. I don't this sudden depressing episode of mine attacked me like a ton of bricks, and it still lingers I guess. I dunno, maybe it's noticeable with the tone of this post today.

But, there is a plus side to this. I've been writing. Writing was always my go-to activity whenever I feel like shit and it helps me understand that my characters are one of the few things in my life that will be there for me other than family. The writing I've been doing is mainly outlining for my Soldiers series, which I will talk to you guys more about in 2016, and it's actually pretty cool on how its turning out as we speak.

So I guess bottom line is, I just haven't been in the mood to blog right now and that's okay right? Maybe..

However, I do want to wish you all a Happy Holidays. I'll be back around News Years to discuss the books I might've received during Christmas and what are my plans for this blog. I hope you'll understand what's going on. Things are weird, but they will get better in time. Just not right now I guess. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday. Hug and kiss your love ones because they are there for a lifetime. See you guys on the 31st, happy howling my fellow wolves.

December Book Haul

Hey guys! Today's post is going to be quick because I'm trying to catch up on my TBR reading to get reviews prepped up for you all next week. But lately, I've been in a small reading slump from work and other things so yeah I haven't been sticking to my list. However, I figured that buying more books would help me get back into reading when I'm off from work, and it did. My soul twin/best friend came down to see me for the weekend and before we enjoyed our late night activities, we bought books. We each gotten around 6 to 7 books in the store, but also a few books from our gift exchange. As a result, I'm gonna attempt a book haul in the way a blogger normally does, by taking a lame ass photo and discussing it! (wooing as I spin around on my computer chair).

Let's get started my fellow wolves.

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This haul contains two mangas, a comic, a classic, a re-telling, and a random novel I never really heard of before. If you all ever read any off these books, let me know on twitter or in the comments below and we'll discuss them!

First, a visual:

Isn't it beautiful? And you get my assistant in the shot too. His name is Miles from Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. As you can see, I'm not the best photographer, but these books are shiny. Now to allow me to introduce you to these wonderful books. :D

1.) Peter Pan by JM Berrie: I've been dying to read this for a long ass time. Peter Pan has always been a favorite of mine and finding a physical copy of this novel just made my day gradually get better when my friend and I traveled for the day.

2.) I'll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton: My soul twin got this as a Christmas gift for me when he arrived and I honestly don't know what's it about, but its a thriller so I'm dying to read it in 2016.

3/4.) Wolf's Rain Manga: After years of searching, I finally found the manga editions to my most favorite anime in the world. Wolf's Rain is a beautiful crafted anime and these books just add my joy into my inner fan girl by a 100% average.

5.) The Child Thief by Gerald Brom: So after watching Magical Molly on book/ you tube (check her channel guys, its awesome), I completely emerge my inner fan girl and found out how obsess I am with Peter Pan and the concept of his story. So when I found the last copy of this at the barnes and noble I went too, I had to snatch it for myself. I heard this book was fantastic and I'm dying to read it real soon.

and finally 6.) Sandman Overture by Neil Gaiman: I love Neil Gaiman as an author. His books are wonderful and insightful even when most of these books are within the fantasy genre. After hearing positive things about this comic series, I decided to grab this beautiful anniversary prequel to his best work. I plan on getting the actual series in small amounts because I have other books to read and buy haha.

So that' s it, my December/first 'book haul'! I apologize for the lack of excitement since you're all probably use to watching book hauls on you tube. I'm still too shy to deal with the camera so this is what you get and I hope you enjoyed it. :) What kind of books did you get for Christmas or gotten before the holidays? Let me know in the comments below or on twitter and I'll be back soon with another post. Happy Howling!

Top Ten Tueday: The best books I read in 2015

Top Ten Tuesday was created by the people over at the Broke and the Bookish blog. I hope you enjoy the list I've composed and let me know in the comments below what were your top ten books of this year. ^-^. This was very tough because I had a kick ass reading year, but I'm pretty sure I'll do another list again during New Years Eve.

Fictional Army Book Tag

Good morning my fellow readers, happy Friday to you all! So today I was going to do a review on Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, but I figured to wait on it till Monday since I have a busy weekend ahead of me. My Cheshire Cat (best friend) and I are finally reuniting after 2.5 years and I have a final to complete for school. Nothing to fear though, I do have something in store for today.

As you can see on the title of this post, I'm going to do the fictional army tag! I randomly found this tag last night while browsing on you tube on Readlikewildfire's channel and wait, 'yep, let's do that for Friday instead.'. This tag was created by BOOKadoodles on you tube (will put the link down below) and let's get started shall we?? (Note: I will be using anime/manga characters as well for this).

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1. Name your strategy team! (People who will plot the every move of your army to guarantee victory! (2-4 characters)

Shikamaru Nara from the Naruto series, Celaena from the Throne of Glass series, June from the Legend trilogy, and Chubbs from the Darkest Minds trilogy

2. Name Two drummers (a.k.a two characters that you wouldn't mind sacrificing)

Ever Bloom from the Evermore series and Wendy Everly from the Trylle trilogy (by bitches)

3. A Protagonist most likely to turn traitor

I feel like Cole from the Darkest Minds trilogy would've made a traitor in the third book because his motives were to secretive for everyone else's tastes (but for good reason). I feel that he would be a traitor, but will come back eventually.

4. Two creatures that you want on your side.

The wolves from Princess Mononoke and the Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland because I want a dragon.

5. Five bad-ass characters of your choosing (I'm picking six because I can and five is never enough for my army..)

Kiba from Wolf's Rain, Day from the Legend trilogy, Adelina Amouteru from The Young Elites trilogy, Rowan Lynch from the Raven Boy series, Rowan from Throne of Glass series,  Kaede from the Legend trilogy, and Ruby from The Darkest Minds trilogy

6. A Speech-giver to inspire your troops

Liam from the Darkest Minds trilogy. He's a natural leader in my opinion and he's one of my fictional boyfriends so yeah..

7. Name a general and a second-in-command

General would be Carol from Throne of Glass series and second-in-command would Eleanor from the Something Strange and Deadly trilogy

8. Name someone to financially support your army!

Gansey from the Raven Boy series (he needs to live.. that's all I got to say)

9. What character would be your army healer or caretaker?

Magnus Chase from The Gods of Asgard series because of his demi-god abilities to heal others quickly when needed.

10. One magical character

Magnus Bane from the Mortal Instruments series. Do I really need to state my reasons here?

11. Name Your Territory! (What fictional place would you choose as your battlefield)?

Westros because of the different regions we can explore and kick ass with.

12. Name an author to write about your epic deeds and victories!

Maggie Steifvater. She's perfect with descriptions and her writing style matches what I've always envisioned of doing for my own writing.

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Okay that was the Fictional army tag! Who would you want in your army if things go down the shitter? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be back on Monday with another blog post.

Happy Howling!

Book tag creator: BOOKadoodles

Song of the Day: The Beginning by One Ok Rock

Book Review: Queen of Shadows

Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4): Written by Sarah J Maas

Release Date: September 1st, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children

Format of Novel: Hardcover

Rating:4.8/5 Stars

Summary (From good reads): The queen has returned.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire--for vengeance, to rescues her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past..

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in a unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena's epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

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I had a difficult time reading this because lately I wasn't really in the mood to read really long books after a day from work. But, after taking my sweet time with this novel, I finally read this beast completely. Let me just say, you all probably have finished this before this review, but hell what a action-packed event huh? So many things occurred during this installment and they were fantastic. From the rescues, to the rebellion against the King of the Glass Kingdom, to Celaena/Aelin's upcoming reign as queen, to new chapters of Manon and the Thirteen. The fight scenes were on point and the drama between the cast of characters were executed

This book was in my opinion, the second best novel of Sarah J Maas (top one is ACOTAR). So much occurred that I can't say much since this review is spoiler-free. I will say that you will not be disappointed because we are learning how Aelin's court is finally rebelling against the Glass King with her old friends and new allies appearing in such an unexpected way that it makes you scream "What the hell!?" in a excited fan girl mode. And the characters, oh my god I just want to hug Carol and Dorian so freaking much right now. They are my babies and this book almost emotionally destroyed me with the changes these two made, especially Dorian. 'Cause, holy shit right in the end? (If you already read the book before me). Rowan and Aedion were great for this book because we see them becoming more developed as characters and I'm glad they're on Aelin's side because it would be more crazy if they weren't, yet at the same time, I sort of want to see them be cursed into being on the dark side or something I dunno.

What I also enjoyed was the Manon chapters. Compare to the third book to the series, I was finally able to understand more of her and her coven of thirteen. I was beginning to feel sorry for her when she learned the twisted secrets her grandmother hid from her throughout her life. But at the same time, since Aelin is the main protagonist of this epic series, I have a gut feeling that Manon is going to be the grand antagonist that we are all waiting for in the final two books.

Queen of Shadows overall was filled with great action, sass, and emotional outlooks that made my heart break, mend, break again, and cheering for the entire story to keep on going.. This story was an amazing installment to the series and I seriously cannot wait for more in the next year because I want to see how far Aelin is going to go as Queen. Is she going to keep kicking ass or did she start a new world war? Only time will tell..

Happy Howling fellow readers.

#ConqueringKingdoms Book Tag

Hey guys! So today, I decided to do a random book tag I saw on the book tube from several book tubers I like to watch. This particular tag was created by the author of the Falling Kingdom series, Morgan Rhodes in honor of the upcoming release of the fourth book "Frozen Tides". The questions looked a lot of fun and since I plan to read this series next year, I wanted to do this tag because I've been hearing not positive vibes about this series and since I plan to read it next year. Plus, the questions are pretty bad ass too. So let's get started.

1. In Mytica, there are constant betrayals and you can't trust anyone. Who do you trust to be your constant companion on your adventure?

I wish I can say my best friend in real life, but in the book universe, I would say Magus Chase from "Sword of Summer". I loved him as a character and I want him by my side because of his loyalty and other abilities that I cannot explain if you haven't read the book yet.

2. You'll come across many who will want you dead in Mytica, so you need to be ready to fight. What kind of warrior are you?

I feel like a cross over of Mara from the Mara Dyer trilogy and Celaena from the Throne of Glass series mainly because I can see myself as a mixture of it if I was given a weapon. o.O

3. Which fantasy world would you like to conquer?

I will like to conquer the world of Shadow Hunters/Mortal Instruments because I live in the state of New York and I just want to travel to different realms with their runes. (I haven't read A darker shade of magic yet so can't say that book yet.. lol)

4. Which fictional character would you choose to rule by your side?

Toph from Avatar the Last bender series. No reason, she is Toph and therefore is meant to be queen or "Melon lord'.

5. Who would you throw into the dungeon?

Wendy from the Trylle Trilogy because she annoyed me to no end. I almost didn't finish the trilogy because of her.

6.  Who gets stabbed in the back?

I want to say two people for this question; Arobynn Hamel from the Throne of Glass series and Clancy Gray from The Darkest Minds series. They are the type of villains I would love to torture over and over again violently just because of their actions in their respected stories. >.>

7. What elemental magic would you choose to wield and why?

Can manipulating the shadows count as a elemental power or are we talking about the four elements like in the Avatar the Last Airbender series? If not, then I will choose earth bending because of Toph. Toph's ability to earth bend is freaking amazing!

Okay, so those were my answers to this awesome tag. What are your answers to this tag? Tell me in the comments below and I'll be back soon with another blog post. Happy Howling!

Gods meet children, children meet Adventure of a lifetime! (Part one)

The Lightning Thief/Sea of Monsters/The Titan's Curse: Written by Rick Riordan
Release Dates: 4/16/05, 4/1/06, 5/7/07
Format of Novel: Nook
Ratings: 5/5, 4/5, 4.5 Stars

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I need to make a confession, I only just started reading books by this author as of early this year. When I first heard of it, I was in my freshman year of college and listening to book tubers fan girl/boy about it. And I'll be honest, I wasn't going to pick up his books like Percy Jackson or his Egyptian-inspired trilogy because I fell in love with other books. However, when I started taking classes like mythology, fantasy, and so forth; Rick Riordan's name kept popping up. And as a result to it, I started buying his books, specifically a bind up of the first three books to his Percy Jackson series. And Let me just say, I regret not reading them in the past. I loved them and read them in a three day's span. Riordan has such a way with his writing that allows people to connect with the lore and characters naturally. I very much enjoyed the writing style, Rick Riordan was able to activate his inner child to make the start of this series so entertaining for children who are starting to take reading as an interest.

I'm sure you all know what this series is really about, but if you don't then allow me to explain. This series focuses on the young protagonist by the name Percy Jackson and his discovery of being a demi-god, a son to a God of Greek mythology. We follow his adventure as he tries to uncover more of his powers and the new world around him. We see him meeting characters with their own personalities and god-like abilities I.e Annabeth and Grover, and many more that I probably shouldn't state right now since most of you already read this series already.

One of the things I really like in this series is the concept of the magical realism we are told throughout the books. It reminded me a little bit of Harry Potter, minus the spell names of course. But, we are forced to focus on the importance of names, and other common fantasy tropes we don't tend to notice right away. This is just me stating these things due to the classes I took in college, but I felt that this was cool and well done. It makes us aware as fantasy readers/writers and sometimes we have to follow these tropes to make our stories more pronounced I wanna say, but yeah. Rick Riordan took his time with this series and it turned out so beautiful and my younger sister and cousin enjoy his books too.

Overall, the start of this series was fantastic and I'm dying to spend the money to purchase the rest of this series (and yes, I plan to buy the companion series as well). Percy Jackson is such a fun and humorous character and I want to see how far he's willingly to go stop Hades and Ares from possibly taking over the world. And also see how far Percy and Annabeth's relationship is gonna take place!

Book Review:The Sword of Summer

Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard (#1): Written by Rick Riordan

Release Date: October 6th, 2015

Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books

Format of Novel: Hardcover

Rating: 5/5 stars

Summary (from good reads): Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die..

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At long last, Rick Riordan has created a trilogy with Norse Mythology! (Yay Loki and Fenrir!). This book was a delight to read. We follow Magus Chase, the cousin of Annabeth (not a surprise there if you as me..) and his journey in the demi-goddess status of Valhalla after taking the leap of faith to protect those that helped him and dying in the process. Wait a minute you may ask, he died? Well hell yeah he died.. How else are you going to get to the hotel of the gods right? Haha. Sorry there, I needed to be a butt with you all. But, for those that have read this book already caught on with this cruel short summary of the book. Any who, if you all followed Riordan in the past, you know that the end of the book or is it? haha.

In this exciting book, we follow Riordan's take on Norse Mythology and Magus Chase's life before and after he discovers the truth of his heritage. Unlike the Percy Jackson Series, this book took on a little more serious approach with the character development, especially with Magus. We see him transisting from being homeless, to death, to living in this freakin' beautiful and adventurous hotel filled with fallen heroes from all different times periods, to embracing a quest in a similar matter like Percy did in his series. In a personal opinion, I felt that this book was my instant fan girl book out of all of the Rick Riordan books I've read in the past because I felt a more mature connection with Magus from the moment I read the first sentence.

The other character were fantastic as well. Like the ones from Percy Jackson, these characters maintained a humor to them that we see from the crazy author that really brought out the story to life. The action scenes in this was spot on with exciting descriptions and the dialogue was realistic and wonderful. Each of the plot twists and milestones were a great touch to the start of this wonderful trilogy. Even though this was the first to Magus' adventure, I'm dying to read more of this protagonist and his friends in the near future. This book was a nice touch to Riordan's mythological world and I can't wait to read more from him in the near future!

December TBR List

Good day everyone, hope you're doing well today. Today, I'm revealing to you all my monthly TBR list from now till probably beginning of the new year. As far as the list goes, this month is mainly going to be filled with e-books or arcs that I requested from Net galley. Due to work, I fell behind in maintaining a personal promise to myself as a blogger to read and review more of these books on a regular basis. But, since I figured this month will be the e-book focused month, I should be able to read/review more for you guys and post them on here when I get the chance too.

Let's get started on the TBR list because that's what you've been waiting for right? Right.

1. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin (E-ARC)

2. The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse by Brian Farrey (E-ARC)

3. The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden (E-ARC)

4. Wolf, WY by A.F Henley (E-ARC)

5. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (E-Book)

6. Slammed by Colleen Hoover (E-Book)

7. Her Dark Curiosity by Meghan Shepherd (E-Book)

8. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas (Physical book)

9. Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (Physical book)

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I think that's plenty, right? Or should I keep adding more to it? No? Probably will keep adding more to the list on my own time or whatever. What are your tbr books for this month? Tell me in the comments below and I'll see you tomorrow with a book review. Happy howling my fellow wolves!

Top Ten 2016 debut books I can't wait to read

I know there's a thing call "Top Ten Tuesday" roaming around the blogging world, but since I work on Tuesdays, I wanted to switch it up and do Top tens posts on my own time instead on a set date since I'm a newbie around the book reviewing world. I'll probably sign up to do it on Tuesdays eventually, but I can't with work consuming my life. But, basically this post is gonna describe what books I'm dying to read during the new year and since it's already December, why not talk about it right? :) Now I'll say this, this list has only debut novels and authors that are appearing in 2016. I am going to make a 2016 list of other novels for authors that are already published, but have books being released during the new year. So let's get started right? Right.

(In no particular order)

1.) After the Woods by Kim Savage: As I looked at the summary on good reads, I'm growing more interested by the second, the premise seems to be a thriller theme with a dash of paranormal. Since these sort of books are up my alley in the reading department, I may snag a copy when it comes out. And look at this cover, mysterious right?

2.) Underwater by Marisa Reichardit: Like After the Woods, this book's premise caught my eye. However, since I don't read a lot of contemporary novels, I think this will be a risk taker on my part into that genre. Personally, I think it's gonna make me shiver and cry a little on how relatable this character sounds to a introverted person like myself.

3. Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan: I've been seeing popping up on blogger's twitter accounts and blogs lately, and my gut is telling me that this is going to be the fantasy of the year when it's officially released. But, only time is

4. The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie: Just the title makes this book sound and look fantastic as all hell. Plus the premise on good reads sounds pretty bad ass.

5. Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshabaugh: I am in complete and utter awe for this author because I've been waiting for her to make a debut with a book since she became a contributor in the 'Let the words flow/(Pub)crawling' blogs back in I want to say 2011? The premise of this book sounds fantastic and I'm gonna pick this up when it releases. I'm so proud of her for kicking ass and making a name in the publishing world!

6. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton: The idea of this story sounds interesting to me, plus its nice to read books with diversity in it. :)

7.) Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst: This book sounds like a heartbreak waiting to happen, especially with the princess falling in lover with another. But, what I like is the twist within the romance and how the premise from good reads doesn't tell you much about it. Hopefully it turns out pretty cool in the end.

8.) Dreamology by Lucy Keating: Every girl needs a romance in her life and this sounds like my perfect romance story of the year. This is the first time hearing about this book and already, I'm craving it from what I saw on good reads.

9.) A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess: This books is apparently about magic and I do enjoy seeing magic in books. Haha.

and finally...

10.) Daybreak Rising by C.K Oliver: This is like number nine on my list, but I feel as so it's gonna be a little darker than A Shadow Bright and Burning. Though more or less, this sounds like a kick ass book as well.

Okay, so these books are my most anticipated of 2016 in terms of debut novels being released. What are you looking for reading next year? Let me in the comments below or on twitter(@xthewolfwriterx) and I'll be back tomorrow with a book review. Happy Howling!

NaNoWriMo: Final Results

Hey guys. Well yesterday was the last day of National Novel Writing Month, or the end of hell in my words. Haha. I will like to take this moment to give you all pats on the back or shoulders because we made it out alive. Even if some of us didn't win the event, it's the effort of trying our very hardest with the butt kicking and getting an idea out there in the world that may be the 'one' we will crown ourselves with the title of author.

So let's get to it, what are we going to do after NaNoWriMo? Well one or three things. Either plomp into food comas, read loads of books, or write some more? I go with all three if I was you. As writers, we have to balance our lifestyles with our writing and realistic choices like being an adult/student. It gives us the chance to breath and the chance to pretty much do whatever the hell we want since no one is around to stop us from taking a break. They see the way we look, talk, or even walk after dealing with our characters for a month straight, so the people of the outside world have to get use to us when we are in (how to put this nicely) our demonic forms. It's basically a sign for people to stay away till at least a week later or a month.. or till whenever we want a touch of reality..

MOVING ON.. haha. As I mentioned before, we writers are entitled to a break, or get that burst of energy to finish the damn novel! All I can really say is do what makes you happy when NaNoWriMo is done. If you want to keep working on the same project, do it. If you want time to work on another project, do it. If you want to binge eat, play videos games, etc- do it. It's entirely up to you as a writer and as a person. You can keep kicking ass like you normally do in your writing and edit the stuffing out of it.

I myself am taking a minor break from writing for a few days because I just gotten my new laptop (Trying to figure out scrivener and alternative to Microsoft word *don't have it yet..*) and work is giving me more hours (yikes) so there's that.. However, I will be blogging more now! Since I don't have to use my mom's laptop now, I can post book reviews faster than the speed of light. (Or try too at least lol). I dunno, my mind changes so many times that half of the stuff I say on here could be a bunch of lies or not.. Haha.

So what are you planning on doing now as a writer? Let me know in the comments below and I'll see you guys with another blog post really soon. Happy Howling!

Ps: You're crazies are beautiful and here's my final word count of the event.

Word count: 50,550

(So much better than last year! Two time 'champion' here lol)