Mel's Shopping Diary
Rave Review of ANGELS on SUNSET BOULEVARD in Kirkus!!
February 28, 2007 Well. It finally had to happen. Kirkus LOVED one of my books!!!ANGELS ON SUNSET BOULEVARD - Melissa de la Cruz
"Sex, drugs, and rock-'n'-roll, combined with a popular internet cult, dominate this mystery about the dark side of finding fame in Los Angeles. Nick is new to the TAP, the website all the kids haunt, but Taj is a founding member. When a new rock star popularized by TAP literally vanishes, Nick and Taj try to find him. Every week TAP sponsors parties, gives participants a drugged drink and holds secret rituals in dark back rooms. Worse, kids disappear, including Nick's younger sister. As Nick and Taj delve deeper into the mysteries of TAP, serious consequences ensue. De la Cruz hits all the buttons sure to entice YA readers. Fame, wealth, music, romance, ultra-hip characters and looming danger abound. She deftly spins it all together in an angels-or-devils story that grows ever darker, but ends with a twist. A Faustian morality tale and a certain hit."
THANK YOU KIRKUS!!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!
Angels on Sunset Boulevard is my 9th book and 5th novel, and I've gone from devastatingly bad to just plain bad reviews in Kirkus, to okay-but-restrained, to good-but-trashy...and now finally, a SOLID RAVE!!!!
See, just like that New York magazine article about "The Danger of Praising Your Kids" says, if you don't succeed the first time, try, try again...and maybe on your 9th book, they'll finally like you!
You just have to stick around long enough...or maybe, um, get better at writing books, and one day, you'll win over even your toughest critics.
Like Stephen King, who was TRASHED by critics for years, until finally even the literary establishment had to accept he was a good writer, and now he writes for the New Yorker, for godssakes.
But you know, I didn't write ANGELS for the critics. I wrote it for myself. And for my readers--if you like sexy, hot, scary, and fast-paced, you'll love ANGELS ON SUNSET BOULEVARD.
xoxo
Mel
On March 16, 2007, Abby had this to say:
Congratulations!
I can’t wait to read it!
And I LOVE the cover.
I’m going to order it off of Amazon as soon as I get some money from the Bank of Dad. Haha.
I FINALLY read Blue Bloods!
And I loved it!
I love it just as much as The Au Pairs, and that is a WHOLE lot. =D
I can’t wait to Pre-Order Masquerade!
You are a truly amazing writer! =]
Kirkus was totally ridiculous to trash you before.
Now they see their huge mistake! =]
<3 Abby