Also: more information on my Book Expo Appearance!

Friday, May 29, 2009
1:30-2:30 PM, Table 13
Jacob Javits Center
655 West 34th Street
New York, N.Y. 10001

I will be promoting Blue Bloods: The Van Alen Legacy at BookExpo! This is an industry event, so you will need to pay admission (which is high) to get in to see me. But you will receive MANY free books while at the Expo. HOWEVER, we will not have copies of Van Alen at Book Expo because the book is not even printed yet. I will be signing the paperback copy of Revelations. Yeah, I know. But still: free Revelations! Good stuff!

xoxo
Mel

I’m going to Tay-has!! Texas, to those who do not speak Melvina. (One of my main gays always calls me Melvina. Which I think is Mel plus Diva?)

Come see me!!! I will read from the first chapter of Van Alen Legacy. And I don’t know yet when we will be able to send them out to our email list – the marketing people at Hyperion are checking right now. But you will get it before the book comes out, to be sure!!

June 12, 2009 (7:00 PM)
Reading at the Blue Willow BookShop
14532 Memorial Drive
Houston, TX 77079
I will be reading, signing and chatting about Revelations, Girl Stays in the Picture, sneak-peek at Van Alen Legacy, or whatever you want to talk about!

June 13, 2009 (3:00 PM)
Barnes & Noble Signing in Texas!
1201 Lake Woodlands Dr., #3008
The Woodlands, TX 77381
Reading, signing, chatting about Revelations, Girl Stays in the Picture, sneak-peek at Van Alen Legacy, whatever you want!

xoxo
Mel

KIRKUS weighs in on GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE!!!

AND IT’S A GOOD REVIEW!! PHEW!! A bit backhanded, as always – but that’s Kirkus…(better than average??? why not just say “Good”??) But I like being called a REIGNING QUEEN. Coronations are always my bag…Thanks Kirkus!!

Here it is…Ta-dah!

de la Cruz, Melissa GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE

Better-than-average teen fluff from a reigning queen of the genre. De la Cruz quickly—and broadly, at first—sketches her three co-heroines: Devon is the back-from-rehab pop tart; Livia, the newly svelte daughter of an über-producer; Casey, the fresh-faced ingenue toiling as an underappreciated personal assistant to her hometown best friend, Summer. The four girls convene in Saint-Tropez for the summertime shoot of a biopic about imaginary 1970s showbiz casualty Juicy Joslyn; Devon and Summer are starring and Livia’s dad is the producer. Readers will relish the on-set dramas and ever-changing constellations of romantic entanglements, but those expecting a cynical tale of Cavalli- and Hermès-draped bitchy catfights will be largely disappointed: The only backstabber in the bunch is the All About Eve–channelling Summer. Although celebrity and brand names festoon every page, Devon, Livia and Casey’s considerable appeal is rooted in their realistic flaws and down-to-earthiness as they navigate the tricky business of being themselves, not what the paparazzi expect of them. Readers looking for a Gossip Girl with heart will be thrilled. (Fiction. YA)

Book comes out June 1st!

xoxo
Mel

YOU GUYS.

You really know how to get to an author’s heart.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out!! There were so many of you my husband said, “Wow, you’ve come a long way since Fancy Nancy’s fancy booth almost choked you with her fancy feathers!” Hehe. Fancy Nancy, you know we kid because we love. (Although backstage at the Target VIP greenroom, the Target PR people were also talking about how many feathered accessories Fancy Nancy brought for her appearance! They be fancy!)

Thank you to Target. We were picked up in a limo and then driven into the festival, with the Target sign. Mike and I were talking about how all this Target love really shows that they MUST know that we buy all our stuff from Target. I mean we are there EVERY SUNDAY. And we spend, baby. We are all down with the Terax Crema conditioners and the Method cleansers and the 600-thread count sheets. I only shop at two places: Target and Barneys. I am not a middle-ground girl.

But most of all, THANKS YOU GUYS. Thanks for coming out. Thanks to all the Blue Bloods girls and the boyz! That is so cool! Boyz! Readling the Bloods! And Kat! Who came all the way from Florida! And the Ramona Convent girls! And thanks to all the MOMS! And DADS with their cellpone cameras! I’m so glad I got my hair done. I was going to wear my Chloe dress but I heard I had to sit down in the Big Red Chair on stage and I was worried my skirt would ride up. So I just wore my go-to all black outfit.  And Karen! I’m sorry for spoiling Masquerade for you. Sigh. Oh well. There are other things that happen that are not spoiled.

Anyway. This is it. I have to finish the book THIS WEEK or I am dead, dead, dead. Or should I say undead, undead, undead.

If you follow me on Twitter you know if you email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with the subject line: SEND ME THE VAN ALEN SNEAK PEEK!!! We will send it to you sometime soon. I said June but I have to check with my publisher if that is OK. I sometimes say things and then forget that I have to check with the Big Mouse House first. Anyway? Why aren’t you following me on Twitter? I have to have a wrestling match with Larry King before you follow me? What? (Btw, I saw Larry King the other day in Bev Hills. He was wearing a velour tracksuit, and with his big glasses and on his cellphone. Just how you would picture Larry on his day off.) Anyway: http://www.twitter.com/melissadelacruz.

xoxo
Mel

Hey all,

Don’t forget! If you are in the LA area – come see me at the Target stage on Sunday at 3:15! I do a little song and dance. Not really. More like the Danse of the Vampires. Bwahahaha…. Okaaaay. My brain is a little fried from the Van Alen Legacy crunch. But I will make it worth your while.

Sunday
April 26, 2009
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
UCLA Campus (follow the flags—the children’s area is in front of the Music Bldg I think)
Stage: 3:15-3:35 PM
Signing: 3:45-4:30 PM

And the rapper Common (or just, to us in the know, Common) will NOT be at the Target stage. I was looking at an OLD program. But the good news: Alonzo Mourning will be following me! The famous basketball player! Cool!! And right before me – Julia DeVillers and Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan will be presenting their book “Princess of Gossip”! Awesome pawesome!

xoxo
Mel

I will be at the LA Book Festival next Sunday!

Sunday
April 26, 2009
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
UCLA Campus (follow the flags—the children’s area is in front of the Music Bldg I think)
Stage: 3:15-3:35 PM
Signing: 3:45-4:30 PM

I will be one of the featured speakers at the main Target stage at the LA Times Book Festival! The Target stage is the BIG one in the middle. Oh yeah! I’ve made it since sharing a tiny table next to Fancy Nancy, and having Fancy Nancy’s fancy feathered booth COMPLETELY block me. Also: the Fancy Nancy line envy. As a household that also owns multiple Fancy Nancy books, I COMPLETELY understand but it was still ugly-green-monster-inducing. Even though I write for teens and not hordes of five year olds and their helicoptering parents. (As a heli-parent myself, I smirk therefore I am.)

Come out and show your love! The Book Festival in the children’s area is a bit crowded with rampaging preschoolers. I know when I was your age, I was WAY too cool to hang out with the little brats. But there are going to be cool people before and after me, like Brooke Shields and rapper Common. Do I even have to say “rapper Common”??? And why come? Because I will be reading from the first chapter of Van Alen Legacy! And it is spoiler-y so you will know lots of things that everyone else will not know until October. (And yes: to the slew of emails. I will be sending sneak peeks via email before October. So do not worry. Even if you don’t live in LA-LA Land you will still get to read the chapter.)

And um, yeah. I’m still writing the book. But I should be done very very soon. I am way too ugly right now and I have to get this book done before I get beautified for all of you. I am hoofing it to Tracy Anderson’s studio THE MINUTE I turn my book in. I just realized it was next door to our favorite Indian restaurant! So you know, I can dance out the calories and dance into the tikka masala. Oh wait. I’m trying to get in shape here. Whatevs! Tracy and tikka the perfy combo!

You do realize I don’t talk like this in real life do you? But I do in emails because i think it sounds funny/annoying to say “rezzie” for reservation and “perf” for perfect and all that. I realize that makes me the kind of person other people roll their eyes at. Because I am slightly put-on and ridiculous. But so what? Whatevs! I’m perfy!

Also: a couple of you guys asked me if I will ever put comments back. Sadly: no. Here’s the thing: I can only write these blogs thinking that no one reads them. Once I have proof and comments! Dear god, comments! I don’t think I could handle that. First of all I will have to check the comments every five seconds to see if anyone replied. Which will be a huge time-suck (and believe me the every-five-second Amazon and B&N ranking check is enough of a time waster thank you). Then I will have to feel guilty about never responding (and I already feel guilty about so many things: not being able to respond to emails, not being on Facebook, not being able to take my kid to her swimming lessons cos of my deadline, etc). I’m so glad you read this blog, really I am. You guys shut down the server the other week! That’s crazy! But it’s better for me to believe that no one does.

xoxo
Mel

Nails: ragged, bitten to the quick.
Eyebrows: scraggly.
Waistline: fat.
Marriage: shaky.
Child: crying.
House: a disaster.
Book: Awesome.

Sigh. Is there ANY other way to do it?
Who says you can have it all?? Who???

Do not worry. We are okay. Just…you know, deadlines are hard on families. But we will survive as we have before…In the meantime, did you see the cover??? Isn’t that the most beautiful cover you have ever seen???

xoxo
Mel

Oh. My. God. Is this NOT the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?

Ta-DAHHH….

Talk about motivation to finish to the end!!!

xoxo
Mel

Just in case some of you are still looking for Jack’s story, here is the link:

The story I wrote from Jack’s point of view is now available to everyone! Go to http://bluebloodsbooks.com/target/, the password is BLUEBLOODS in all caps!
Remember to read it only AFTER you have read Revelations.
We are aware some browsers are not displaying this story correctly and we are hoping to get this fixed soon. The secret story will also be available in the paperback version of Revelations, coming out this July.

Work is going well. Regular life will resume once BB4 is in the hands of my publisher. October, ho!

xoxo
Mel

FEVERISHLY attempting to finish book. Literally. I have a cold and a bit of a fever. It’s kind of a delirious time right now. The final stretch is always the hardest—cramming everything in and making sure that everything not only makes sense but reads beautifully and has a satisfying ending. Aaaah! Stress! I want this book to be so so so good and I think it really is the best Blue Bloods so far. And I’m not just saying that I swear. Even though I toot toot toot my own horn all the time.

Plus Mattie is having her terrible twos. And our nanny is going on vacation next week! And school is out! It’s Spring Break! It’s pre-school. It’s six hours a week. But still! No school! No music class! No junior gym! No activities! And mommy has a deadline! Thank god we found a replacement nanny or I was going to combust!

That is all.
xoxo
Mel