Melissa de la Cruz (born 1971) is a Filipina-American writer known for

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. Her young-adult series include ''Au Pairs'', the '' Blue Bloods'', and ''The Beauchamp Family''.

Early life and education

Melissa de la Cruz was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and says that she has wanted to be an author since she was eleven years old. She immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 13, in 1985, and they settled in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where she graduated from

Convent of the Sacred Heart High School A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

. She went on to study art history and English at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City."About Melissa"
Melissa-delacruz.com. Retrieved 2010-10-03. After graduation she worked as a computer consultant.

Personal life

De la Cruz is married to Michael Johnston, another writer, with whom she co-wrote the Heart of Dread series. They and their daughter live in Los Angeles and

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

Career

De La Cruz wrote her first full-length novel at 22 while living in New York City and working at

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpor ...

. That novel ultimately didn't sell, but an editor at

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...

suggested she become a journalist to work on her professional writing credits. She started working

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

and published her first essay in New York Press in 1996. She also worked as a beauty and fashion editor until she sold her debut novel, ''The Cat's Meow'', in 1998. De la Cruz has published articles in periodicals including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'', ''

Seventeen Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

'', ''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', targeted at teenagers. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and celebrities. Since ...

'', and ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

''. After publication of her debut novel in 2001, and layoff from the U.S. investment bank

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

, she pursued writing full-time. Work as a fashion writer for ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' was the inspiration for ''How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less'' (2003) by de la Cruz and Karen Robinovitz. Work as a nanny and visits to

The Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one of ...

formed the background for the 2004 to 2007 series ''The Au Pairs''. De la Cruz has also written original novels for Disney's '' Descendants'' franchise, with the first published in 2015.

Series

* Au Pairs – featuring three girls working as

au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a monet ...

s in

, inaugurated 2004 with ''The Au Pairs'' * Blue Bloods –

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

novel series inaugurated 2006 with ''Blue Bloods'' * The Ashleys – featuring girls who attend an exclusive prep school, inaugurated 2008 with ''The Ashleys: There's a New Name in School'' * The Beauchamp Family – featuring a family of witches in the Blue Bloods universe, inaugurated 2011 with ''Witches of East End'';

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

as 2013–2014 television series ''

Witches of East End ''Witches of East End'' is a 2011 novel by author Melissa de la Cruz and the first entry in her ''Beauchamp Family'' series. It was published on June 21, 2011, by Hyperion Books and follows a family of Long Island witches struggling against dar ...

'' * Wolf Pact – spin-off from Blue Bloods, released September to December 2012 as four short ebooks * Heart of Dread – co-written with her husband Michael Johnston, inaugurated 2013 with ''Frozen'' * The Ring and the Crown – historical fiction about five young adults embroiled in love, politics, and magic during a London coming-of-age season * Alex and Eliza – historical fiction following the 18th-century romance between American founding father

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

and his wife

Elizabeth Schuyler Elizabeth Hamilton (née Schuyler ; August 9, 1757 – November 9, 1854), also called Eliza or Betsey, was an American socialite and philanthropist. Married to American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, ...

, from 2017 * 29 – contemporary fiction featuring a South Korean teen and her path to finding love, from 2019 * Never After – inaugurated 2020 with ''The Thirteenth Fairy'' * The Queen's Assassin – inaugurated 2020 with ''The Queen's Assassin''

Works

Test Au Pairs #''The Au Pairs'' (2004) #''Skinny Dipping'' (2005) #''Sun-Kissed'' (2006) #''Crazy Hot'' (2007) The Ashleys #''There's a New Name in School ...'' (2008) #''Jealous? You Know You Are ...'' (2008) #''Birthday Vicious'' (2008) #''Lipgloss Jungle'' (2008) Heart of Dread"Series: Heart of Dread"

ISFDB The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...

. 2022-04-29.
De la Cruz and her husband Michael Johnston wrote the Heart of Dread trilogy together. # ''Frozen'' (2013) # ''Stolen'' (2014) # ''Golden'' (2016) The Ring and the Crown"Series: The Ring and the Crown"
ISFDB. 2022-04-29. #''The Ring and the Crown'' (2014) #''The Lily and the Cross'' (2017) Disney Descendants"Series: The Descendants Universe (Disney)"
ISFDB. 2022-04-29.
The Isle of the Lost novels are one series of print books in the Descendants franchiseinaugurated by the 2015 Disney musical fantasy TV film '' Descendants'' #''The Isle of the Lost'' (2015) #''Return to the Isle of the Lost'' (2016) #''Rise of the Isle of the Lost'' (2017) #''Escape from the Isle of the Lost'' (2019) Alex & Eliza # ''Alex and Eliza'' (2017) # ''Love & War'' (2018) # ''All for One'' (2019) 29 # ''29 Dates'' (2019) # ''29 Boyfriends (2019)'' Never After"Series: Never After"
ISFDB. 2022-04-29. # ''The Thirteenth Fairy'' (2020) # ''The Stolen Slippers'' (2022) # "The Broken Mirror" (2022) The Queen's Assassin"Series: The Queen's Assassin"
ISFDB. 2022-04-29. # ''The Queen's Assassin'' (2020) # ''The Queen's Secret'' (2021) Blue Bloods universe"Series: Blue Blooks Universe"

Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...

(ISFDB). Retrieved 2022-04-29. : Blue Bloods # ''Blue Bloods'' (2006) # ''Masquerade'' (2007) # ''Revelations'' (2008) # ''The Van Alen Legacy'' (2009) # ''Misguided Angel'' (2010) # ''Bloody Valentine'' (2010) # ''Lost in Time'' (2011) # ''Gates of Paradise'' (2013) :* ''Keys to the Repository'' (2010), "companion novel", or collection : The Beauchamp Family :* ''Diary of the White Witch'' (2012), prequel to the 2011 # ''

'' (2011) # ''Serpent's Kiss'' (2012) # ''Winds of Salem'' (2013) #''Triple Moon'' (2015) #''Double Eclipse'' (2016) : Wolf Pact : ''Wolf Pact'' was first published October to December 2012 as four ebooks entitled ''Wolf Pact: Part One of Four'' and so on, followed by a paperback first edition of the whole. :* ''Wolf Pact'' (2012) : The New Blue Bloods Coven # ''Vampires of Manhattan'' (2014) # ''White Nights'' (2017) Stand-alone novels * ''Cat's Meow'' (2001) * ''How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less'' (2003), by de la Cruz and Karen Robinovitz * ''The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-Inch Heels and Faux Pas'' (2004) *''Fresh off the Boat'' (2005) *''Angels on Sunset Boulevard'' (2007) *''Girl Stays in the Picture'' (2009) *''Surviving High School: A Novel'' (2016) *''Something in Between'' (2016) *''Pride & Prejudice & Mistletoe'' (2017) *''Someone to Love'' (2018) *''Once Upon a River'' (2018) *''Gotham High'' (2020) *''Jo & Laurie'' (2020), by Melissa Stohl and de la Cruz *''High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Road Trip'' (2021) *''Cinder & Glass'' (2022) * ''A Secret Princess'' (2022, expected June), by Melissa Stohl and de la Cruz Short stories * ''Mistletoe'' (2006) – anthology with de la Cruz a contributing author * "Shelter Island", in ''666: The Number of the Beast'' (2007), anthology * ''21 Proms'' (2007), anthology by de la Cruz * "A Manhattan Love Story", in ''

Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys ''Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys'' is an American reality television series that premiered on December 7, 2010, on the Sundance Channel. The series chronicles the lives of four gay men and their female best friends. Season 2, which saw the sho ...

'' (2007), anthology * "Shelter Island", in The Eternal Kiss (2009), anthology * "Code of Honor", in ''A Thousand Beginnings and Endings'' (2018), anthology, eds.

Ellen Oh Ellen Oh (née Ha) is a Korean-American author, and founding member and CEO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She is the award winning author of young adult and middle grade novels including the Prophecy trilogy, also known as the Dragon Ki ...

and Elsie Chapman

References

External links

*
Melissa De La Cruz
at

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

The Au Pairs
official)
Blue Bloods Books
official) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De La Cruz, Melissa 1971 births Living people Writers from Manila Writers from San Francisco American children's writers Columbia College (New York) alumni Filipino emigrants to the United States Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni American women novelists American women children's writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Nannies American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Filipino domestic workers