Melissa de la Cruz

Mel's Shopping Diary

Some Frequently Asked Questions

January 12, 2008

Hey guys,
Getting tons of email about some of the same stuff so I thought I would address them here...also, I’m SO SORRY but it really is taking a LONG time to respond to your emails. I’m afraid if I just respond to emails I won’t be able to write books and hang out with my family anymore. But I do READ them all, and I do mean to respond...just please understand if it takes a long time to get to you. I heart you all!

FAQ: When is the new Blue Bloods novel, REVELATIONS, coming out?

Blue Bloods III: REVELATIONS is coming out December 23, 2008! I know it’s a long way away, but I’m still writing this book, and I’m trying to finish up so we make this publication date! Even if I finish the book very soon, it takes a whole long year of editing, proofreading and marketing and promotion to make sure we make the December date. I know, I’m sorry, but this is the way the book industry works. Believe me, the fact that I’m still writing it and it’s to be published in December already means that we’re cutting it really close.

FAQ: Will there be more Blue Bloods books? How many books will there be in the series?

Yes! There will be tons more! I plan to do three trilogies, two “going forward” from Blue Bloods and a prequel trilogy about Michael and Gabrielle and what happened to them. So there will be nine books in all, but three satisfying three-book arcs so that major points of the story are revealed and the story picks up in a totally different place for trilogy #2 (books 4-6). Books 7-9 will most likely be the “prequel” trilogy.  Or it might be the other way around. We’ll see.

FAQ: Will there be a Blue Bloods movie? Or TV show? And can I be in it?

RIght now the rights have been optioned, so hopefully the Blue Bloods will come to the big or small screen at some point. But with the writer’s strike, who knows what will happen. I continue to be optimistic and patient, which are two attributes you need to have if you work with Hollywood. I have no say in anything whatsoever castingwise, but if there ever is an open call for auditions I will let you all know.

FAQ: Will there be more Au Pairs books? Are you writing a fifth Au Pairs novel?

Sadly no. I am not writing an Au Pairs book at the moment. I’m so glad you enjoyed that series, I really enjoyed writing it! But right now I’m really happy with where all the characters ended up, and I want them to enjoy their happy ending for a while.  Also, I’m writing a HOT new series that’s a lot like Au Pairs called SOCIAL LIFE. The first book comes out Summer 2009, and it’s going to be SO much fun: lots of social-climbing, boy drama, over-shopping, friend-bonding and all the stuff you love and I love to write about.

FAQ: Will there be an Au Pairs movie?

Hopefully! It’s been bought by Warner Brothers and Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and the wonderful lady who brought you The O.C. and the Gossip Girl television show is writing the script. So hopefully it will happen! Patient optimism!

FAQ: In the Ashleys, you write about “rank calls” where girls call boys they like and ask the boys to rank them from 1-10 in categories like looks, smarts and personality. This sounds hella fun! I’m throwing a sleepover and I want to know how to do a rank call. Can you tell me?

Warning this is a VERY silly game that is NOT to be taken seriously! Okay. First of all, you have to get all your BFFs together. Then you have to have the school phone directory or know the boy’s phone numbers. Before the sleepover, you have to tell the boys you are having a sleepover. The way this works is, the boys KNOW you are having a sleepover and they are EXPECTING the rank call. That way when you call, the boy is home, and takes the call, and everyone has a lot of fun. Okay. Now everyone is gathered around. You dial the boy’s number. You have a sheet of paper in front of you--with ten attributes. It can be any ten, and I don’t remember all ten. But here’s what I do remember: body, hair, face, personality, intelligence, laugh, sense of humor, smile, clothes, car. I know, CAR??? Well. We were thirteen. We were shallow. Okay. So this is a totally shallow game. You don’t have to play! It sometimes results in bad feelings and hurt feelings and also, do you guys really want to know what the boys think about you? Yes. I know. I did too. Sigh. Anyway, the boy gives a number from 1-10 on all ten attributes. Then you total it up. That’s it. You can call a lot of boys. What happened when I was playing this game was that the boys would have THEIR own sleepover too, so you could pass the phone around to all the boys and all the boys could rank all the girls. You know what would be REALLY fun? Turn the tables on the boys and rank THEM. See how much they like it!

Okay. Maybe I should not have told you how to do this. But you asked!