In My Mailbox (6)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It's designed to put new books on people's radars, and encourage blogger interaction.

Here's what I received this week:






Library:

• The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook
• If I Stay - Gayle Forman (eBook)
• Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead (eBook)
• White Cat - Holly Black

Won:

• Across the Universe - Beth Revis (thank you, Amber!)
• The Christmas Brides - Linda Lael Miller (thanks to Goodreads First Reads & Harlequin)

For Review:

• The Day Before - Lisa Schroeder (GalleyGrab)
• In the Storm - Karen Metcalf (eBook)
• Running from Secrets - Stephanie Void (eBook)

Free eBooks:

• The Iron King - Julie Kagawa (love this book!)
• Raising the Dead - Mara Purnhagen (novella, part of the 'Past Midnight' books)

**All links lead to Goodreads

Wow, lots of stuff this week! I'm behind on my Google Reader, so I can't wait to go back and see what everyone else got.

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

Release Date: February 15, 2011
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 320
Review Source: Netgalley eARC for honest review

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
Me? A Leader? Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew. That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion - between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again - while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust. But then we learned that there's outside and then there is Outside. And something from Outside wants In.
 
My Thoughts:
In some ways I liked this novel better than its predecessor ‘Inside Out,’ yet in other ways I was disappointed by it. In terms of action and trying to solve a mystery, ‘Outside In’ was far superior. Everything that was going on kept my interest, and I was very curious about who was behind all the accidents and sabotage that were occurring Inside.

Character-wise, though, there wasn’t anyone that particularly stuck out. Trella was still interesting, but I thought she was quite immature at times, and Riley always referencing Sheepy (a stuffed animal of his from when he was little), which was really cringe-worthy. Trella and Riley are okay together, but I never really felt the chemistry. They were just together all the sudden, and it got so serious so quickly.

As mentioned, the action in this book is far superior to the previous book. There was a lot of cool exploration of Inside, and there were explosions and fights, yet it wasn’t too action packed that there weren’t quieter moments to balance it out. Unfortunately I found the whole explanation for everything (which I can’t discuss, or I would ruin the book) a bit lame. Maybe it was just the way I read it, but it felt very Cold War-esque: the powers of freedom versus these alien people who had a very Soviet Cosmonaut feel to them.

Again, I liked this book in general. It was a quick and enjoyable read, I just once again failed to connect to it on any deeper level. Other people seem to really like these books, though, so I would definitely recommend checking them out to form your own opinion.

Rating:


Find Outside In by Maria V. Snyder on Goodreads, Book Depository, & Amazon.ca

Most Read Authors

As you may have noticed, Goodreads has been adding all kinds of features lately, one of which is called "Most Read Authors." Kristi over at The Story Siren posted about her Most Read Authors, and I thought it would cool to do the same. I'd love to hear about yours, as well!

1. Meg Cabot
Books Read = 43

This one doesn't really surprise me. Meg has written about a zillion books: I haven't even read all of them, I don't think. The crazy thing is that all these ones I've read by her? I own them too. The Princess Diaries, Heather Wells, Mediator, 1-800-Where-R-U, Queen of Babble, etc.

2. Francine Pascal
Books Read = 35

This one surprised me at first, because I would never expect that name to be up there, but then I remember my Fearless series collection. So yah, that's what this is. Never mind all the Sweet Valley books written/not really written by her that I devoured as a kid/tween.

3. Robin Jones Gunn
Books Read = 31

Another non-surprise. Robin Jones Gunn is a Christian author who I really love. I own the Christy Miller series and Sierra Jensen series which are 12 books each, plus the Glenbrooke books (stand-alone Christian romances that are loosely connected and based in the same Oregon town; so good!), Sisterchicks books, Katie trilogy, and her stand-alones.

4. Kate Brian
Books Read = 24

I love Kate Brian/Kieran Scott so much, but I didn't realize I had read 24 by Kate Brian already. I LOVE the Private books, and the Privilege books are good as well. I think I've read all her stand-alones, though I'm not the biggest fan of them, except 'Megan Meade...' which is amazing.

5. Melissa de la Cruz
Books Read = 16

This one was a surprise! I like Melissa de la Cruz, but I didn't realize how many of her books I had read. Most of the Blue Bloods, The Au Pairs, the Ashleys (middle grade series that I had to read just because of their names, haha), plus stand alones. I so wish that the 'Girl' series had continued!

TIE for 6. Hailey Abbott
Books Read = 13

Really wasn't expecting Hailey Abbott to be on the list, mostly because I didn't even know she had 13+ books, for some reason. She wrote all those 'Boy' and 'Summer' books, and my friend Mistee owns them, so I was reading them over the past few years. A couple favourites = 'The Bridesmaid' & 'Getting Lost With Boys.'

TIE for 6. Emily Franklin
Books Read = 13

Emily wrote the Love books, starting with 'The Principles of Love.' This is quite a good boarding school/coming of age contemporary series, but I haven't heard a lot of people talk about her books. She also wrote three 'Chalet Girls' novels, and some adult and YA standalones.

TIE for 8. Louise Rennison
Books Read = 10

No guessing with this one. The Georgia books! Too hilarious. I can't wait for 'Withering Tights' to come out over here.

TIE for 8. J.K. Rowling
Books Read = 10

7 Harry Potters, probably my favourite series ever. Then there's 'Tales of Beetle the Bard', 'Quidditch Through the Ages', & 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

TIE for 10. Scott Westerfeld
Books Read = 9

Uglies series (amazing!), Midnighters books (also very good), + first two Leviathan books.

TIE for 10. Sarah Dessen
Books Read = 9

Funny how one of my favourite authors is at the bottom of this list. However, she's one of my favourites because of the amazing stand-alone contemporaries she writes, and these are all of her books. I could technically say I've read more (okay not really) because I own two different versions of 'Keeping the Moon' and I have the 'How to Deal' bind-up as well as 'That Summer' and 'Someone Like You' individually.

TIE for 10. Janet Evanovich
Books Read = 9

Ugh, I don't even know how I managed to read 9 of her books. I was just making a comment about the Stephanie Plum books last night on someone's blog. I own the first book and I think it's so funny and ridiculous and slightly amazing. The next few are fairly decent, as well. However, instead of making Stephanie a ridiculous but still smart and strong woman, as the series went on Evanovich turned her into someone who does STUPID things, endangering her life by being foolish, NOT brave. And don't get me started on the Stephanie/Morelli/Ranger love triangle. The second Ranger became a "love" interest I was like "are you kidding me?!", and I moved on pretty quickly after that.

So, those are my most read authors. Who are yours?