Young Adult

Hi Melissa,

Thanks so much for taking the time to do an interview with Enchanting
Reviews.

1. Why young adult?

I love writing for teens because I feel like I'm still a teen myself.
I still get really really really INTO things, tend to play the same
song over and over, still remember every grudge and insult hurled at
me in high school, and still feel "rebellious." But I think the real
answer is because the books I LOVE are books I read as a teen--my
favorite books until now is still the Lord of the Rings trilogy, my
favorite book when I was 13. You know?

2. What do you love most about being a writer?

Everything! Really, it's all great--the flexible schedule, being able
to get lost in your characters' worlds, just being able to PLAY. I
think I love being able to tell stories that I want to hear myself. I
think that's the coolest--and then realizing other people want to hear
them too, that's beyond cool.

3. What's one thing you can't write?

Hmm. I think really dark things--like violence to children and that
sort of thing--I admire books that handle them well--like the Lovely
Bones and Elizabeth Scott's Living Dead Girl. But I don't think I
myself will ever be able to "go" there. I don't want to be in that
world.

4. What sparked the idea for 'The Au Pairs: Crazy Hot'?

I wanted to tie up the series, because I felt the girls' lives were
kind of coming to an end--at least an end of the Hamptons era, and so
I wanted to give them a nice bright finish, that hinted at their
possible future but also closed their storylines. It was a difficult
book to write because I felt like I was saying "good-bye" which is
always hard.

5. All the girls in The Au Pairs series are so different, what is your
favorite quality of each girl?

I love Eliza's brattiness, I think the pampered princess thing is so
funny and also I show that you know what, it's OKAY to feel entitled
to things--to the nice things in life. Like when Eliza gets a great
room at a hotel because of who she is--there are good factors to being
a princess.

I love Jacqui's laid-back attitude, she's so cool and sexy and I love
that about her--that nothing rattles her and she's always up to
whatever comes her way. I also like how hard she works to be more than
a beautiful girl with a great body. She really wants to try to be more
than that, and not just rely on her good looks.

For Mara, I think I love her naivete a bit. She's always kind of
making mistakes, like dating David and not believing that she and Ryan
are meant to be, because oh my god, he's like perfect and she thinks
she's so average. I think she's very human in that way, and very
likable.

6. Which girl do you have most in common with?

I am most like Eliza--all her snotty thoughts I have to admit are my
own! Haha. And Mara is a lot like me in that she wants to be a writer
and is trying to figure out where she fits into this jet-set world.
Jacqui's laid-back attitude is like mine too, I'm pretty easy-going.

7. Do you have a scene that sticks out in your mind as your favorite?

I love the scene at the crazy Fourth of July Party that's like a
Moroccan bash. It's so over-the-top and tres Hamptons.

8. Are you sad to see the series wrap up?

A little. It's always sad to say good-bye to characters you love. But
it's not the end of the chapter yet. There's a movie in the works, and
I hope that maybe one day to continue their stories. But that would be
far away in the future yet, as I'm pretty happy with where the series
has ended and I'd like it to stay that way for a while.

9. What would readers be surprised to know about you?

That's a hard question because I kind of feel like I'm an open book.
I've written about so much of my personal life when I was a
journalist, and I blog too. I think they would be surprised to know
that they don't know everything. I think I read another writer say
they "hide in plain sight." Which means that while it seems like I
write about "everything" in my life, I keep a lot of things private
and very very few people really know me very well.

10. What's next for you?

My Ashleys series heats up in August with Birthday Vicious, and the
paperback of Angels on Sunset Boulevard comes out in October. And the
long-awaited third book in the blue bloods series, Revelations, drops
October 28th just in time for Halloween!

Right now I'm also working on a new series for my Au Pairs fans--it's
called GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE and the first book comes out next
summer. It's about three girls and their crazy hot summer in St.
Tropez. It's so much fun!

THANK YOU!
xoxo
Mel

Interview by Lisa
June 2008