From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Melissa de la Cruz, comes a thrilling return to adult fiction with The Birthday Girl, a novel centered around a mysterious woman's birthday celebration—and the secrets it unveils.

Ellie de Florent-Stinson is celebrating her fortieth birthday with a grand celebration in her fabulous house in Palm Springs. At forty, it appears Ellie has everything she ever wanted: a handsome husband, an accomplished college-age stepdaughter, a beautiful ten-year-old girl, and two adorable and rambunctious six-year-old twin boys. Her lush, well-appointed homes in Los Angeles, Park City, and Palm Springs, along with a thriving career as a well-known fashion designer of casual women's wear, make her life seem picture-perfect.

But everything is not as perfect as it seems. Ellie is keeping many secrets. This isn’t the first of her birthday parties that hasn't gone as planned. Something happened on the night of her sweet sixteenth—a night she’s tried hard to forget. But hiding the skeletons of her past comes at a cost, and all of Ellie’s secrets come to light during her fabulous birthday party in the desert.

With old and new friends, frenemies, stepdaughters, business partners, ex-wives, and ex-husbands congregating, the glittering facade of her life crumbles in one eventful night. Beautifully paced and full of surprises, The Birthday Girl is an enthralling tale of a life lived in shadow, and its unavoidable consequences.