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Paperback
320 pages
ISBN-10: 1416917470
ISBN-13: 9781416917472
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DESCRIPTION
Sometimes when the sun shines, it scorches.
Third time's the charm as Mara, Eliza, and Jacqui head back to the Hamptons. This summer the au pairs are doing it right: in style, in step, and "in" everywhere.
Mara has the VIP hookup at all the new clubs --- not to mention sweet digs living with bf Ryan on his parents' yacht. Eliza's nights are steaming too, since she and Jeremy are in total relationship bliss. Too bad she's spending her days at a fashion internship where the hot new designer goes all Devil Wears Prada on her. Jacqui is newly single, and on the prowl, with three boy millionaires next door competing for her affections.
The girls seem to have the whole package this summer. But looks --- as all good Hamptons girls know --- can be very deceiving....
AUTHOR BIO
Melissa de la Cruz is the author of the novel CAT'S MEOW and the co-author of HOW TO BECOME FAMOUS IN TWO WEEKS OR LESS. Her work has been translated into several languages. She writes regularly for...
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INTERVIEW
Q: What’s your sign?
A: Virgo, with Gemini rising. I’m a Virgo in that I’m very critical and nitpicky about certain things (like fashion details in my books), but I’m also massively disorganized --- my life is on a hundred Post-it notes that litter my desk, so I don’t know how Virgo that is. I like my Gemini rising sign, I think it keeps me interesting. Geminis are so mysterious, aren’t they?
Q: Where were you born?
A: Quezon City, Philippines. My family immigrated to the United States when I was twelve years old.
Q: What is the first thing you do every morning?
A: Check my e-mail. Faithfully. Then I check out Gawker, Salon, the New York Times, Myspace, my bank account somewhat neurotically to make sure no one has pulled some kind of computer identity theft break-in and transferred everything out to some bank in Brazil.
Q: What brand is your cellphone?
A: Palm Treo. I caved in to the e-mail addiction.
Q: What is the most dog-eared book on your shelf?
A: Right now, it’s MRS. ASTOR'S NEW YORK for research for my new series, Blue Bloods; LOS ANGELES: THE ECOLOGY OF FEAR --- two books about Los Angeles that I’m using for my new trilogy, Angels on Sunset Boulevard, and THE MICHELIN GUIDE TO THE FRENCH RIVIERA, where my next fab series (Social Life --- about three jet- setting teens) is set.
Q: What is something that you have been surprised by lately?
A: "The Bachelor" Travis picking Sarah over Moana!!! What on earth was he thinking? I was so sure he would pick Moana, the cool chick from LA over perky kindergarten teacher Sarah. I really felt for Moana when she said “Guys like that don’t pick girls like me” --- it reminded me of "Sex and the City" when Carrie sees Mr. Big marry that bland model girl, which makes her think of The Way We Were with Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand. Why do guys always pick the safe, boring girls? I love "The Bachelor" but I was ready to throw my TV out the window when he picked Sarah.
Q: What do you consider “heaven on earth”?
A: The Tranquility Package at the Ole Henriksen Spa on Sunset Boulevard. Four hours of massages, body scrubs, peels, it’s soooo relaxing and afterwards you just float away in a cloud.
Q: What do you like to make for dinner?
A: Pasta with broccoli and Italian sausage. It’s so easy --- just garlic, broccoli, sausage, penne, red pepper flakes, and a dash of Parmigiano Reggiano (as Mario Batali calls it, “the king of cheese”) and you’re done. I probably make this twice a month. It’s so easy.
Q: What is your coolest article of clothing?
A: My five-inch-wide braided-rope Marni belt that I wear over everything --- blouses, T-shirts, jackets. I’m really into belts this season.
Q: What is your most prized possession?
A: Right now it’s my classic Chanel handbag. I bought it a few months ago and I haven’t even taken it out of the box. It looks so precious and perfect inside it, I don’t want to disturb it!
Q: Your TV screen is . . .
A: Fifty-inch flat-screen Philips Plasma HDTV. The picture is so clear, you can see the makeup on people, and their pores. Reese Witherspoon has great skin. We watched the Oscars on it.
Q: What do you do when your friends come over?
A: We watch TV, whatever’s on, usually some reality show. Not a lot of drinking and smoking as in years past, we live in LA, everyone has to drive, and we’ve all sort of tried to quit smoking now, so it’s just talking and TV.
Q: What was your first financial splurge?
A: Clothing-wise, it was a Todd Oldham abbreviated biker jacket with white fur collar. It was all pleather since Todd is kind to animals, but so fierce; I remember it was $800, which was the most money I’d ever spent on a piece of clothing. I was twenty-two, and this was in 1993, and Todd Oldham was THE designer of the moment and I had to have one of his pieces so badly. I wore it to death at all the Soho clubs that year. I still have it in my closet.
Q: The TV Show you never miss is . . .
A: "The Amazing Race." Totally addicted.
Q: What is something you want to do before you die?
A: The funny thing is that now that I’m a working writer, that’s pretty much all I ever wanted to do in life, so I’m pretty content. I do want children, though, so right now I guess the wish is to become a mother before I die. And hit the new Marni outlet in Florence. Whichever comes first.
Q: What must you have with you when you fly?
A: At least three novels, six magazines, and a huge bottle of Evian. I never watch the movies. I just read the whole time.
Q: People would be surprised that . . .
A: I do not own any pets. Is that surprising? Maybe because I had that photo of me with my friend’s dog in the first Au Pairs book. The only pet I have currently is our Aibo robot dog. We love our Aibo!
Q: What book are you reading now?
A: Zadie Smith’s ON BEAUTY, MY LUCKY START by Joe Keenan, EXPOSURE by Kathryn Harrison, UNEXPECTED MAGIC by Diana Wynne Jones, LOVERS & PLAYERS by Jackie Collins.
Q: What is on your Ipod playlist?
A: Broken Social Scene, Jeff Buckley, Elliot Smith, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Stella Star --- also listening
to a lot of moody LA music right now for Angels on Sunset Boulevard, and I love “Southside” by Moby
and Gwen Stefani. For Sun-kissed I listened to a lot of Gwen Stefani and Kanye West.
Q: You can’t start your day without . . .
A: An Internet connection. I forgo breakfast many a time, and I don’t drink a lot of caffeine, but if the
Internet is not working, forget it.
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