A Writer's Life for Me Tag

Hey all!

Today we are going to do this fun tag call "A writer's life for me". This was created by Sara Ella and Sara Crawford on you tube. I'll post a link down below for you guys to give this a shot on your blogs or book tube channels. I figure it was time to do something fun because I'm prepping some book reviews for the month of May instead of this one since I've been on and off with reading for the last couple of months. This tag is mainly to describe what time of writer I am and how my process goes in the writing. Let's begin!

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Question one: What kind of writer are you?

I am mainly a fiction writer. I dabble in screen writing, but I'm mostly a fiction writer. I mostly write Young adult paranormal, urban fantasy, and horror. There are mixes of other genres along with it, but those are my main crazed areas.

Question two: When did you start writing? What made you want to try it?

I've started experimenting with writing since I was eight years old. However, I didn't really get serious with it till I was seventeen and started my Soldiers and my Wolves series.

Question three: What inspires you to write?

Music, anime, books, history, forests, wolves, the paranormal, movies, video games, my family, my favorite human/writing partner.

Question four: What themes do you like to explore in your writing?

I like to explore the anti-hero and understand the importance of the Hero's journey. Along with the develop of the story's world and the growth of characters.

Question five: Are you a punster? Plotter? A little of Both?

It truly depends on the story I'm working on. With Soldiers, I'm a mixture of both, and with my wolves manga, I'm more of a plotter rather than both. Each story is a like a small child, its one way or another when you work on them individually.

Question six: Where are you at in your journey? Querying? Finalized? Publishing?

I am currently working on some drafts with the projects. Soldiers is currently on its third draft and I do have a first draft done for a random novella. I have hopes to attempt querying for agents sometime in the late fall and am currently seeking some beta readers to mingle with as we speak. :)

Question seven: Have you ever entered any writing contests? Finaled? Won?

Nope, I've never entered any writing related contests. I'm somewhat of a big coward when it comes to sharing my works to people. However, I'm slowly growing out of that fear. I've tried to show my works to websites like fiction press and watt pad. But, since I'm trying to publish my work in the near future, I took it all down. Sorry, not sorry...

Question eight: Who are your writer/ing heroes?

Victoria Schwab, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Allan Poe, Maggie Stiefvater, Sarah J Maas, Alexandra Bracken. (To name a few..).

Question nine: Have you ever been to a writing conference? Share your best or worst conference experience.

I've never been to one, but I will like to attend one eventually. :)

Question ten:  Top three advice you'd give to newbie writers.

1. Let yourself daydream and be loud with them no matter what people say to you.

2. It's okay to be afraid, you are worth all of the effort you put into your books.

3. Always keep a notebook and five pens/pencils in your person. Inspiration will spark like hellfire if you let it.

Alright guys, that was the 'A Writer's life for me' tag! If you guys did the tag already, post it in the comments below or send them to me. I would love to see what your answers are! See you soon, happy howling my fellow wolves!

Link of the video: A Writer's Life for Me

Book Review: The Child Thief

The Child Thief by Brom

Release Date: August 25th, 2009

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Format of Novel: Paperback

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Summary (From good reads): Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland. Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?

There is always more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries—one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

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After finally re discovering my love for the classic Peter Pan, I began my search for amazing retellings of it. And after reading this book, I feel in utter love for Brom's writing. His style brought such a dark imagery and realistic vibe and as a reader of horror, I was in love with the concept. The concept of the Pan myth, the concept of Avalon/Babylon, and the religious aspects were a perfect blend of this gory tale. Not only that, I did also enjoy how realistic the vibes and the settings were in this story. Brom brought out

The cast of characters were very twisted and dangerous. Each of the key characters like Nick, Peter, Leroy, (etc) all came from various of difficult backgrounds with abuse and drug usage. The way Brom brought this to life was very well done and eye opening for the reader to emerge into the darkness that was morph throughout his writing and within the characters, and to also understand where some of the main cast came from before joining Peter Pan. Sekiu

With the general concept of Avalon/Babylon; I enjoyed the fact that the author was able to blend it along with the mythical ideal of the god Pan. It gave Peter a somewhat different purpose other than being a trickster. It reminded me of the movie "Horns" with Daniel Radcliffe with the protagonist turning into a twisted hero for the viewer's pleasure.

Overall, I thought this story to be one of the best stories I've read in late 2015 to now. The story twisted my heart in both exciting and depressing ways for the characters, the plot, and the vivid descriptions are still within my memory and I'm dying to read more of Brom's brilliant work. What are your opinions on Brom's work in general? Let me know in the comments below or on twitter and I'll be back soon with another post. Happy Howling! :)

April TBR Pile

Hello my darling wolves, happy Spring/Winter (in other countries) to you all. How are you guys today?? Well I hope.. So, today I am bringing you my TBR reads for the month of April in hopes we can talk to each other through the comments down below or on this new app I've been hearing about; "BooksAmino". It is a moble app where you can meet fellow readers, post random book/writing related things, and just random stuff for the heck of it. I'm on there as 'xthewolfwriterx' so if you wanna talk, just reach with me there! =)

Any who, let's get right to it...

I plan to read probably five to maybe seven books this month, some of them are ones I've been reading since the year started, others are brand new ones that I've collected recently, and others are just random.. o-o


1. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab. ~Physical copy~ (I've been dying to read this book for a while now ever since I finished her one book 'Vicious'. Her writing so dark and vividly beautiful with the realistic characters and theme of the stories she writes. She's one of my most favorite authors and I and so ready to snatch her other books, including her brand new one that's coming out this year!)

2. Warbreaker by Brandan Sanderson. ~Physical copy~ (I've been reading this since the beginning of January.. I own the small paperback edition of the book so now you know why I'm having difficulty reading it. I'm finally in the 400s in terms of pages so we're making progress!)

3. The Body Electric by Beth Revis. ~E book~ (I've only reading the first volume to her writing help trilogy and I like the brute honesty she sets in her tone of writing. So I figured why not give it a shot and read one of her books. I'm about half way done with it already since I'm reading it from my nook.)

4. The Faerie Guardian by Rachel Morgan ~E-book~ (Again, another E-book. It was a free one and I felt like reading it out of boredom when in bed.)

5. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan -Physical/borrowed copy~ (I'm reading this series with my little sister and she's already almost done with the fifth book. So, I'm slowly catching up..)

6. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater ~Physical copy~ (I love this series and I finally gotten a paperback edition of this book to match its 'brothers' :3 I look forward to seeing my Gansey and the rest of the cast again real soon!)

Alright guys, so that was my TBR list of April! What are books do you plan to read this month? Let me know in the comments below and I'll see you soon with another post soon. Bye for now!!

Book Review: Passenger

Passenger (book one) by Alexandra Bracken

Release Date: January 5th, 2016

Publication: Disney's Hyperion

Format of Novel: Hardcover

Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary (from good reads): In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them—whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.

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So Passenger, the newest book from the creator of the Darkest Minds series has arrived and entered my arms with a wide, open grin. I devoured this book as soon I finished its release sister Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. And overall, as a reader, I enjoyed it very much so like a lot of people did when it was first released to the public. However, I did have minor issues with it. Hence why I dropped my rating to four stars instead of five stars on good reads. Before I go into the flaws of the book, let me explain what I truly enjoyed about this book.

Number one: Characters. This is one of the main reasons why I enjoy Alex Bracken's writing so much. Her characters are so diverse in terms of attitude, race, sexuality, etc. Every time you read a different book from this particular author, her characters are somewhat different, but they're quite enjoyable. Like Liam, I found Nicholas to be a very sweet character. But, he was very blunt, secretive, and a pirate. He was yearning for freedom, to be able to set sail for great adventures without any negative outcomes from anyone else. With Etta, she was very opposite from Ruby. She's witty, outspoken, and musical. She's the tough girl, but yet held onto a innocence of feeling desperate for answers in this world that she was suddenly thrown into after watching her teacher getting 'killed'. Plus, the romance between the two of them felt right. Yes, it was very, very rushed, but if you think about it for a moment, it felt right to have it rushed. It's probably because there's probably a good chance that these two won't ever get to see each other again after the second book. (But, only time will tell right?). The other characters were also a very nice addition to the story. They each held their roles in a great manner and I hope we'll get to see them in the sequel next year.

Moving on to my second and probably last point: The plot and world building. I enjoyed the time traveling and the adventure our protagonists had to take part for this book. We were able to explore the various times and areas along with the characters and I enjoyed how they were all different places instead of the ones we normally see in Young adult literature like European countries. Alexandra Bracken made the world building so vivid and realistic in my eyes, that she made me want to go to these places in the future.

As for the flaws, I did find a few of them. Like the pacing for example, I found it to be too fast for my taste. I almost skipped out on some of the bigger transitions simply because of how fast the pacing was in this book. The character development felt too flat as well, even though I did enjoy them. I wanted to see some growth everyone, not just the protagonists. And finally, the plot twists and dynamic of the time traveling. In my personal opinion, the significant plot twists were predictable and the time traveling wasn't that well explained. I think its mostly because of how fast the pacing was in this first book. I'm sure we'll get more explanation in the sequel since I think it may be told in more of Nicholas' point of view instead of Etta's.

In conclusion, this book was good start to this duology, but not one of my favorites in the world. Alexandra Bracken does a beautiful job in her writing style, ideas, and characters. But, this book was too flat for my taste and I can only hope that the sequel will be the grand finale of awesomeness since this is a duology. I can't wait till next year to see what else the author has in store for us. What are your opinions on this book? Let me know on good reads or in the comments below!