The Lakehouse & Maximum Ride novels

[Michelle]

I love James Patterson, and I am well on my way to reading all his books. I read The Lakehouse before, but I'm re-reading it. It has a character named Maximum who can fly and the people raising her aren't her real parents. I'm pretty sure The Lakehouse was written before the Maximum Ride series. Why are they so similar? Are they the same character? Let me know. Thanks!

[Hope]

I loved The Lake House and When the Wind Blows (#2), James Patterson wrote those ones first and then the Max Ride novels. I don't remember why exactly he used the same Max-like character, but it had something to do with when he wrote the series for his son. IDK, I'm sure it says it somewhere either in the Max Ride books or online somewhere.