Melissa de la Cruz
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
About When Stars Align:
Three girls in Hollywood who thought they’d rule the world. Reality bites in a touching novel about success, friendship, and redemption by a New York Times bestselling author.
Best friends Miranda Montana, Germaine St. Germaine-Chang, and Sicily Bell were the darlings of Hollywood who rose from teen success to in-demand idols of screaming fans and paparazzi. They rode the momentum like there was no tomorrow. But nothing lasts forever.
Now Miranda, the wild-child movie star, drifts from rehab to dead-end relationships as she tries for a comeback from a very public fall from grace. Germaine, the daughter of billionaire hotel moguls, has lost her purpose. And then there’s Sicily, the all-American pop star who had a record deal, sold-out concerts, and controlling parents who squeezed the very life out of her. After a decade, fate reconnects these three young women for a long-awaited confrontation with the secrets, betrayals, heartbreak, and family traumas of the past.
Settling old scores is just the beginning. It’s also time to repair the damage done and to hold fast to the most galvanizing success of their lives: their friendship.
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
Author I draw inspiration from:
2025: I will always buy any and all books that David Sedaris publishes. Every book is funny and wise, and I was heartbroken when I realized his mother died before he became famous. She is so alive in all his work, it was actually a shock to discover this.
2019: Stephen King
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
Favorite place to read a book:
2025: Anywhere. I don't have a favorite place, but mostly I read in bed.
2019: The yellow Saarinen womb chair in my office - so comfy!
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2025: I'd like to be stuck with Violet Sorrengail from Fourth Wing because she will be able to call her dragon and get us out of there!
2019: Gandalf because he can probably get us out
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2025: When I was eight years old and could read Dr. Seuss books and fairy tale books on my own. I just loved reading and I loved stories. People scared me, I preferred books. And I wanted to write my own the minute I could read.
2019: Reading Dr. Seuss when I was 8 years old
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2025: I love hardbacks because I can never wait for the paperback, but they are heavy to pack for trips. I prefer to pack paperbacks but books I want to read immediately I always buy the hardback so I never have paperbacks really. I do read ebooks because sometimes I can't wait to go to the bookstore, and must read it now, so I will read it on a screen. I never do audiobooks, I don't listen to podcasts or NPR, I don't like "listening" I prefer reading.
2019: Hardback
The last book I read:
2025: Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Balder. I LOVED IT! The cozier the better and it's like a warm fluffy blanket of cozy reading.
2019: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
Pen & paper or computer:
2025: Computer ever since I could type. I do everything on a screen except for final reads of my books, that's when I print it out and go over it by hand.
2019: computer
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2025: Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry. She reminds me a lot of myself and I think we would bond on our worldview. I loved how practical she was, but also deeply romantic.
2019: Hermione, because we would have been in all the advanced classes together
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
2025: I was a fashion and beauty editor and I was OK at it. I enjoyed it but I was a better writer. I loved working in magazines and I miss how integral they were to the culture. Now we have Instagram and influencers, which is great, I follow a lot of my former colleagues on it. But I don't think I'm suited for that.
2019: I have been a fashion editor, a beauty editor, a journalist, a computer programmer.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
2025: The 70s and 90s were the coolest always. Kate Moss in the 90s is always the goal style-wise.
2019: changes every time. But I like current trends, so whatever is really hot right now, I like it, but for me the defining style was early 2000s Marc Jacobs
Place I’d most like to travel:
2025: Anywhere in Italy. I can't choose. I love it all: Amalfi, Capri, Lake Como, Tuscany... this year we are going to Sicily for the summer.
2019: I love Italy, Capri is my favorite place on earth. Heaven.
My signature drink:
2025: Dirty martini, Grey Goose, blue cheese olives.
2019: Aperol Spritz, Cosmopolitan, or Dirty Martini.
Favorite artist:
2025: I love Jeff Koons because he's so nihilistic about art that it's inspiring.
2019: Jeff Koons
Number one on my bucket list:
2025: We are going to be empty nesters this year, so I told my husband I'd love to live somewhere for three months and write our next book there. Thinking we might be in Florence!
2019: I’ve had a wonderful life. Every day is a vacation honestly. But probably number one is moving back to New York City.
Author Interview - Melissa de la Cruz
Anything Else You’d Like to Add:
Rings of Fate, my first adult romantasy comes out this September from Red Tower Books. I'm so so excited about it!
More from Melissa de la Cruz:
https://www.instagram.com/authormelissadelacruz/
https://x.com/MelissadelaCruz
https://www.threads.net/@authormelissadelacruz
About Melissa de la Cruz:
Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times, #1 Publisher’s Weekly and #1 IndieBound bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for readers of all ages. Many of her more than seventy books have also topped USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists and been published in over twenty countries. She is the principal and founder of Melissa de la Cruz Studio at the Walt Disney Company, which creates and develops intellectual property for Disney throughout all its platforms. Witches of East End, based on her book series, was an hourlong drama for Lifetime. She also penned four Hallmark Christmas movies and Disney's Descendants.
