Review: Outside In

Trella started a revolution that changed her world. Now the people should be mixing together. The people should be performing jobs. The people should be happy to be free.

Instead resentment grows as the old connotations of the Uppers and Scrubs still exist. The Scrubs don't want to perform all the menial tasks and the Uppers don't want to work. The misconceptions build until no one wants to work.

Trella's frustration grows with the committee who spends more time arguing than acting. Instead, she begins to seek out solitude and solutions on her own. She learns that there's a group sabotaging their world. Then she learns they aren't the real threat. There's a much greater threat coming from Outside.

My Thoughts: The sequel to Inside Out. I love this author! I loved her transformation where she learned to let in emotions. I love her logical approach to a problem along with her toughness and her sarcasm. I enjoyed reading what came after the rebellion and how the world changed.

Cover Thoughts: Pretty good.

Source: My Library

Cover Reveal: Touch of Power

I LOVE Maria V. Snyder!
I can't wait for her new book TOUCH OF POWER. Coming out December 20, 2011. Check out more information on her blog

The US cover: It's ok.
The UK cover: Which I LOVE

December seems SO far away!

Contest: Win Spy Glass

Yesterday, we had the good fortune to chat with Maria V. Snyder. She's graciously offered to host a contest on the blog: One Lucky Winner will win

To Win:

1. Leave a comment by midnight 10/27
2. include your email address

*I'll announce the contest winner 10/28*

Chatting with Maria V. Snyder

I want to welcome one of my favorite authors. I picked up Poison Study a few years ago because I Loved both the title and the cover - and then fell in love with the series. Since then I've devoured Maria's other books and become a fan girl. I met VERY briefly at BEA this past year and had Inside Out signed!

What made you choose to write YA after The Study series? I had the idea for INSIDE OUT for a number of years and had even wrote about 7 chapters. I wanted to try something different and my publisher and editor were very supportive.

Where do you write best? At home in my office. I write from 10 p.m. until 3 – 4 a.m. – it’s the time I’m most creative and no one bothers me at that time of night J Then I slept in until 10 or 11 a.m.

Wow, that's a unique answer.

How do you get your ideas? Do you use real events in your novels and if so, can you describe one? My ideas can come from anywhere. I get ideas from newspaper and magazine articles, from something I see on television, from something that comes up in conversation, from dreams, or from something my children say or do. I tend not to lack for ideas just time!

I don’t use real events in my novels, but I do take parts of events and incorporate them into the stories. For example, when I learned how to work with molten glass, many of the mistakes the new glassblowers make are ones I made.

How did you come up with your titles? I had a hard time coming up with Poison Study at first. I knew I wanted Poison in the title, but wasn’t sure about the rest. I thought of Poison Education, Poison Test, and Educating Yelena, but none really grabbed me until I thought of Poison Study. Usually the publishers will change a title, because it’s very important to have an engaging title. My editor kept it and Magic Study was a natural title for the second book. My editor wanted to title Storm Glass – Glass Study, but since I had a new main character I thought that would be confusing to my readers and they might be disappointed that Yelena was no longer telling the story. She liked Storm Glass so that was good J Inside Out was originally Inside, but my critique group at Seton Hill thought it was too plain, so they started brainstorming and the real Tricky came up with Inside Out.

I do love your titles.

Can you tell us a little bit about Spy Glass? SPY GLASS picks up a few months after SEA GLASS. Opal is home recovering from a struggle where she had to sacrifice everything in order to save another. Now without her special magic, she's feeling lost and directionless until she discovers that there may be a way for her to become powerful again. Determined to reclaim her powers, Opal will do anything to get them back. Or so she believes.

I loved this series. You can read my review of Spy Glass here

What did you do on your release day? I sent out an issue of my free email newsletter to let my subscribers know the book was available. Most of my promotion is done online, so I probably spent the day on the computer. I don’t celebrate every release – I had a huge party when POISON STUDY was released and that was a ton of fun and a ton of work J

You seem to do a lot of hands-on research for your books. Do you have a favorite or worst research memory? How about my scariest research? I toured a maximum security prison for men to do research for SPY GLASS. Walking among the prisoners was the biggest surprise to me. I thought my tour would be behind bullet-proof glass or at a safe distance, but the facility isn't all maximum security and my friend showed me the cell blocks, the cafeteria, the gym, the classrooms and the exercise yards. The cafeteria was filled with prisoners and we passed a bunch when we entered the block. We were outnumbered 50 to 1, but everyone was nice and polite. There were correctional officers nearby, but only a few, and they weren't even armed. That was uncanny and scary. And one CO (the real Black Sergeant – which he told me was how to address him) asked me what I was doing there and he called me Visitor number one three six five! He made an impression and the Black Sergeant made a cameo appearance in the book. I quoted him exactly.

That sounds scary - but great info for the book.

Will you write more books in this world? (I know I would LOVE reading stories from the other characters) There are characters from the Study and Glass books that I would love to expand on and see what happens to them. Reema and Teegan or Fisk or Heli (the young Stormdancer) or Quinn. I would also like to write another Yelena and Valek story – I am writing a short story about them for my free email newsletter subscribers right now. I'm also thinking about expanding that story and flashing back to Valek's past when he meets the Commander and assassinates the King of Ixia. But for right now, I need a break and a new creative challenge to keep my writing fresh. I do intend to go back to Ixia and Sitia in the future.

Oh good! I'd love to read about Fish and Jenco and Ari. Plus Valek and Yelena well you get the idea!

Can you tell us a little bit about Outside In? OUTSIDE IN picks up about 12 weeks after the end of INSIDE OUT. The world of Inside has been turned…er…upside down ;> and there are many changes and problems involved with the aftermath. Trella feels she has done her part and can now relax and explore, but soon events drag her back into the thick of things.

I can't wait to read the next installment. You can read my review of INSIDE OUT here

What’s up next after Outside In? After OUTSIDE IN, I’m going to work on a new fantasy novel set in a world that is recovering from a deadly plague. Her world has blamed the plague on the healers and has hunted them down. She is finally caught only to be rescued by a group who wants her to heal their Prince. The group's leader, Kerrick, knows the healers aren't to blame for the plague and that she could do some good for a change instead of hiding. Unfortunately, she believes this Prince is the one who started the plague as an attempt at biological warfare so she isn't risking her life for some pampered Prince. As they travel to the Prince's hidden location, they're pursued by others who have realized having a healer around might just be a good thing for them, but not necessarily for her.

Oh, sounds awesome!

What was the last book you’ve read that you’ve been recommending to everyone? Soulless, by Gail Carriger! So funny – it’s a Victorian Steampunk with werewolves and vampires as part of high society. I suggest that everyone listens to this one – the reader/actor Emily Gray was fantastic!

Are there any authors you’d love to meet? One of the perks of being a published author is I’ve already met a bunch of my favorite authors and have made friends with a few. I would like to meet J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer just so I’d have an answer to when people ask me if I’ve met anyone famous J

Do you have a favorite literary quote? Nope. I’m not the literary type – I’m a pop culture – genre fiction kind of girl J I do have a favorite movie quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. When the main character Tula complains about her father being the head of the family to her mother, the mother, Maria says, “He may be the head of the family, but I’m the neck. And I can turn that head any way I want.” Love it!

Listing if your favorites:
Candy - Swedish Fish
Pizza topping - Pepperoni Genre of books - Fantasy
Singer and/or Song – Current band/singer favorite is 3 Doors Down / but I love the song, The Reason by Hoobastank.
Restaurant – Olive Garden
TV show /Movie – Bones / The Princess Bride
Color - Red
Shoe - sneakers
Video Game – Dance, Dance, Revolution

Interested in the books? Find the first chapters of all the books here: http://www.mariavsnyder.com/books.php

Maria also has a new blog: http://officialmariavsnyder.blogspot.com and is on Facebook and Goodreads and welcome new friends.

Review: Spy Glass

Opal has lost all her magical powers. She feels lost without them. without her magic, she doesn't know what to do with her life. Opal's moping about her parent's house trying not to face her new reality.

Since she's lost her powers, she's unable to create the glass figurines that allows magicians to contact each other from a great distance. Thus the council is unhappy with her. She's not about to confide in them that she's also immune to magic.

Someone plants a seed into her brain as her blood may have been taken unwillingly during a torture experience. With her blood, she may be able to gain back her magic through a dark magic. Just as easily, her blood may be given to another person and her powers transferred. This pushes Opal into motion.

She sets her plan in motion. With Valek's help, she trains for the biggest mission of her life little knowing that it could not only cost her her life, but also everything and everyone she loves dearly.


My Thoughts: This is the end of the trilogy that comes after Poison Study. I read this directly after reading Mockingjay and both books are highly emotional reads with traumatic and horrific events happening to the main characters.

I love Maria V. Snyder. I hope that she continues to write tales in this world because I'm not ready to say goodbye to the characters. I love the unique magical elements magicians possess. I love the characters, it's hard to pick favorites. There's so much danger in this world, hatred, and anger but it's offset with amazing friendships, love, and bonds to tough to break.

The Cover: Awesome!

Source: Purchased.

Spotted: Spy Glass and Outside In

If you read this blog, you know I ADORE Marie V. Snyder. I briefly got to meet her at BEA this year, which was awesome. Here's her next two books, both of which I can't WAIT to read!

I'm super excited for the final installment of the glass trilogy which comes out September 1st. Isn't the cover gorgeous?

You can read the first chapter here!

***************
Also, here's the cover for Outside in, the 2nd book from her YA series. This one comes out in March of next year. The first book was amazing - so very different from her adult books and set in a very creative science fiction world.


I'm loving both of these covers!

Spotted: Book Trailer for INSIDE OUT

I adore this author and her books. You can read my review here, but check out the awesome book trailer. Add this to your books to read. It's amazingly good.

Spotted: Spy Glass

Here's the cover for Maria V. Snyder's Spy Glass

It's out in September - can't wait to read this conclusion!

BUT she'll be at BEA this May (not sure if this is the book she'll be signing, but I might have to schedule my day there around the signing as I would LOVE to meet her)

Inside Out: from www.teensreadtoo.com

Trella is a scrub – but she’s not your average scrub. She has one friend and prefers to spend her time in the pipes rather than with the overcrowded living quarters of the other scrubs. They’re forced to clean the Inside for the Uppers. Trella doesn’t know much about the world, but when her friend comes to her and says there’s someone who wants to meet her, she’s suspicious. What she discovers is something she never imagined. Unknowingly, she starts a revolution. Now, people who once scorned her are helping her complete tasks, steal food, and giving her valuable information, all for the hopes of a better life. Everyone wants to know what’s on the Outside. Everywhere Trella goes, danger follows. The Pop Cops have captured her best friend. He’s sentenced to die if she doesn’t get to him in time. They’re watching her every move and questioning her acquaintances. Plus, she doesn’t know who to trust. She’s going by her instincts, but the last time a rebellion occurred, the leaders were betrayed. Trella’s hoping she trusts the right people and, with time running out, hoping that they find something that makes all their sacrifices worthwhile.

I reviewed this one for www.teensreadtoo.com
where I gave it a:


Inside Out is an edge-of-your-seat science fiction action adventure ride filled with twists and turns you’ll never see coming. Maria V. Snyder has quickly become a favorite author of mine. I love her Glass series and her Study series. I can’t wait to see what she and Trella have in store for us in the next book of this series.

Intrigued? Check out the first chapter here

* comes out in April*

Sea Glass

Opal's been betrayed and tricked into thinking someone she loves is really him, when in actuality, he's used magic to switch souls. She's on a mission to change their souls, when she's ordered home by the Council. She defies the Council to track them down. Meanwhile, the Council's anxious to see Opal considering her new found power. With her defiance, they're not sure they can trust her or her new powers. When she finally returns to the keep, she's kept under constant surveillance and is ordered back to classes. The magicians she's trusted no longer want to hear her story. Instead, she's left almost alone. Now she's not sure she trusts the Council - as no one believes her and she's forced into virtually no privacy. It's a battle of wills and Opal's realizing she has some power as she's the only glass magician who make the magical glass messengers. Will she use that power to bargain with the Council now that graduation's near?

Sea Glass is the sequel to Storm Glass. Opal's adventures will continue in a third book due out next year (I'm hoping it comes sooner as Storm Glass came out in May and this one just came out, it seems strange to have to wait so longer for the final chapter). Maria Snyder's books always make me want to do nothing but read. It's dangerous to open them if I don't have much time to read. They're THAT addicting. The stories are amazing - the magic, the characters, the romance, and the danger are all fabulously written. Plus the covers are enticing. If you haven't read her works, start with Poison Study.