Melissa de la Cruz
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| Melissa De La Cruz | |
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| Born | 1971 Manila, Philippines |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genres | Young Adult Fiction |
Melissa de la Cruz (born 1971, Manila) is the author of many books for teens and adults, including the best-selling Au Pairs series, which has been published in ten countries and was sold to Warner Bros. Studios as a major motion picture. Her other books include the Blue Bloods series, the trilogy Angels on Sunset Boulevard and the novels Cat’s Meow and Fresh Off the Boat. She coauthored the tongue-in-chic handbooks The Fashionista Files and How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less. She has appeared as an expert on style, trends , and fame for CNN, Fox and E! and has written for many publications including Glamour, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Allure, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and McSweeney’s. She is a graduate of Columbia University. Melissa lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Her forthcoming young adult series titles include, The Ashleys (debuting in 2007) and Social Life (coming in 2008). She can be found online at www.melissa-delacruz.com.
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[edit] The Au Pairs Series
The Au Pairs focuses on a group of three young girls who travel to the Hamptons for their summer vacation to play au pair to a family's young children. They all come from different backgrounds and agree upon the job for very different reasons. Each girl finds her own trouble and own fun, but through their experiences become friends for life. The first book The Au Pairs, was released in 2004. Skinny Dipping, Sun Kissed, and Crazy Hot, are the second, third, and fourth books in the series respectively.
[edit] The Blue Bloods Series
When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish, John Alden, and Constance Hopkins. But the Pilgrims were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires. They had been thrown out of Heaven and wanted to go back, but couldn't. The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated “blue bloods” of American society. They are the rich, the famous, and the celebrated. But in Plymouth and Roanoke, something happened and an entire colony of immortal vampires disappeared. The Blue Bloods agreed to keep the secret of what had killed them forever. But then, in present day New York City, teenage vampire Aggie Carondolet from The Duchesne School (a private high school for New York City's elite) is found dead in the back alley of a popular nightclub drained of all her blood, making her chances of reincarnation impossible. Exactly like Plymouth. Schuyler (pronounced the same way as "Skyler") Van Alen is a goth-like sophomore at The Duchesne School. When Schuyler turns fifteen, she discovers a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arms and starts to crave raw food. These are all signs that she is a Blue Blood. She soon finds out that she is only a half-blood, though, because her mother, Allegra Van Alen, was a Blue Blood and her father was her mother's human familiar, or the human whose blood she regularly sucked in small amounts in order to live. Because of her parentage, Schuyler is not one of the original angels banished from Heaven. Her mother in fact was blood bonded to another blue blood named Charles Force, but she refused to be with him, and she married her familiar instead. Charles was furious, but he later married another blue blood, who had a set of twins. He is the father of twins Mimi and Jack Force. Schuyler's father had died when she was young, and her mother went into a coma while she was still young because she didn't want to feed on another familiar; she loved Schuyler's father, Steven Chase, too much (the book alludes to Charles Force also plays a part in Allegra's coma at the end of Masquerade). Even though Allegra is still alive, she has not woken from her coma. Schuyler falls in love with Jack Force and makes an enemy with Mimi Force, his twin sister only to find out that Jack and Mimi are blood bonded; this means they are meant to be together forever. Now Schuyler has to figure out and stop whatever has been attacking the Blue Blood Vampires and discover secrets about herself, her family, and her friends Oliver Hazard-Perry, Dylan Ward, and Bliss Llewellyn. In masquerade Schuyler Van Alen and her destined human assistant, Oliver, begin the book by traveling to Italy in search of Schuyler’s outcast grandfather. Her grandmother just passed away in this cycle and advised her to get help from her grandfather. She finds him, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in helping her fight the Silver Bloods, who have tried to get rid of the Blue Bloods throughout history. No one believes her insistence that they’re back, but she knows that some teens and her grandmother had help dying from the Silvers. Mimi and Jack Force are leading the Blue Bloods in getting ready for the traditional Four Hundred Ball. They will be presented officially at the ball, with their vampire names and identities. Mimi begins to plan an exclusive afterparty for the teen vampires, but she is most looking forward to letting everyone know that she and Jack are destined to be together from history. He may be attracted to Schuyler, the half-Blue Blood, but in each life he and Mimi have ended up together. Bliss, the Blue Blood who moved from Houston with her Senator father, finds herself in strange locations. One time she wakes up at the bottom of a lake, and an unknown vampire helps her. She blacks out more and more frequently and doesn’t know why. She still feels that Dylan, her boyfriend who disappeared in the first book, is alive. He must be the one helping her, she thinks. On a modeling gig with Schuyler, she feeds for the first time with a crew member, only to regret it as they then share a bond. At the afterparty, Schuyler is kissed by a masked vampire, but she thinks it’s Jack. He has ignored her ever since she announced her feelings that the Silver Bloods have returned. She grows weaker and weaker as vampire and human mixed bloods fight in her for dominance. It becomes clear that she must feed for the first time on a human. She wants it to be Oliver but wonders if that will change their friendship forever. A very attractive new student, Kingsley, enters Duchesne and gets to know all the important players right away. He encourages Mimi in her jealousy of Schuyler, and when some dark magic affects several of the teens, Mimi lands in serious trouble. Could she really be a Silver Blood? Loyalties are tested, and Schuyler struggles the most with this question. Get ready for more surprises and dark secrets in this compelling series. In the end of Masquerade, Bliss discovers that her mother is also Allegra Van Alen. There is a sequel to this series titled "Masquerade", which has already been released. The sequel to "Masquerade" is to be called "Revelations" to be released October 28, 2008.
[edit] Bibliography
- Cat's Meow (2001)
- How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less (co-author) (2003)
- The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-Inch Heels and Faux Pas (2004)
- The Au Pairs (2004)
- Skinny Dipping (2005)
- Fresh off the Boat (2005)
- Mistletoe (contributing author) (2006)
- Sun-Kissed (2006)
- Blue Bloods (2006)
- Crazy Hot (2007)
- Angels on Sunset Boulevard (2007)
- 666 (contributing author) (fall 2007)
- Masquerade (A Blue Bloods novel) (2007)
- 21 Proms(2007)
- Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys (contributing author) (2007)
- The Ashleys: There's a New Name in School... (January 2008)
- Revelations (A Blue Bloods Novel) (October 2008)
- The Ashleys: Jealous? You Know You Are... (April 2008)
- The Ashleys: Birthday Vicious (August 2008)
