What is the title of your latest release?
THE RALLY
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
White Lotus meets The Wedding People: a young founder, ousted from the company she built, flees to Europe for a champagne-soaked classic car rally — and finds reinvention, romance, and just a little revenge.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I did a rally like this one in my twenties, so the setting came straight from life. It’s glamorous on the surface but a pressure cooker underneath — and there’s something about beautiful places that makes people drop their guard. Perfect for a story about secrets.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely. Charlie is brilliant and a little bit of a mess, which is my favorite kind of person. I’d want to take her out for a drink and tell her to stop apologizing for taking up space.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Magnetic, guarded, and a little bit of a control freak.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That fiction can tell a truer story than the truth. There were things about ambition, power, and being a woman in those rooms that I could only really say by inventing them.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Honestly? I’m a bit of a mess. I skip all over the place — I don’t write in order at all. But I do try to hold off on real editing until the draft is done, because otherwise I’d polish the same chapter forever and never finish a book.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Sushi — good omakase especially. It’s gotten so outrageously expensive that I pretty much have to sell a kidney before I go, which is exactly what makes it an indulgence.
Describe your writing space/office!
Wherever I can carve out a space! I love my local library, but it’s closed for renovations, so lately I’ve been working in a little conference room in my building. It’s great — except my neighbors are always stopping by to say hello, and now that the book is out, they finally know what I’ve been doing in there all this time.
Who is an author you admire?
So many. Barbara Kingsolver — she’s just absolutely incredible. And Chris Bohjalian and Jennifer Weiner, both of whom were kind enough to blurb the book, which is still completely surreal to me. And Emily Everett, whose novel ALL THAT LIFE CAN AFFORD was a Reese’s Book Club pick and feels like a sibling to mine — she gave me such a lovely blurb too.
Is there a book that changed your life?
The first book I ever read was CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Roald Dahl, when I was five. It took me an entire year to get through it, but I fell completely in love with reading — and with the idea that someone got to make these stories. That changed everything for me.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
THE RALLY was out on submission for a long time, and honestly, I thought it was dying on sub (as they call it). Then, right before Memorial Day weekend, my agent texted me to say a couple of editors were interested and wanted to set up calls. A week later we ended up going to auction — so it had a very happy ending.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Smart, escapist fiction — a glossy surface with something sharp underneath. Basically, rich people behaving badly.
What’s your favorite movie?
I’m not a huge movie person, but if I have to pick — anything with Audrey Hepburn. How to Steal a Million especially: the fashion is just divine. There’s a scene where she’s in head-to-toe black Givenchy with a little black lace mask over her eyes, and it’s the most impossibly chic thing I’ve ever seen.
What is your favorite season?
Probably spring. I love the anticipation of summer.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With friends, good food, and good wine. Honestly, all I want is to sit and share a meal with people I love — that’s my idea of perfect happiness.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. It’s a great news roundup and they always have something interesting to say — I pretty much never miss an episode.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian, no contest. I could live on pasta. I’d eat it for all three meals if someone let me.
What do you do when you have free time?
I’m usually with family and friends — often cooking something or sharing a good meal. I’m also a big horseback rider, which I love. And of course, curling up with a good book whenever I can.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’ve been working on something a little more romance-forward and a little spicier — the Red Flags series. Which means, unfortunately, this is the one I’ll have to hide from my mom.
THE RALLY by Carla Vass
A Novel
In this sparkling debut for fans of The Wedding People and The White Lotus, a young tech entrepreneur—ousted from her start‑up and reeling—escapes to Europe for a glamorous car rally, where she must contend with the excesses of the über‑rich, betrayal, and love.
Professional overachiever Charlie has spent the last four years consumed with building Flutter, the dating app she co‑founded in college with two classmates. Despite Charlie’s own lack of dating experience—she’s never even had a boyfriend!—Flutter is instantly successful. Perhaps too successful. After rejecting the romantic advances of her co‑founder, Charlie finds herself unceremoniously ousted (probably just a coincidence).
Devastated and directionless, she books a last‑minute flight to Europe to join her best friend on the Rally—an extravagant road trip where an eccentric cast of characters drives classic cars and parties their way through breathtaking locations. Although feeling out of place, Charlie embraces her new freedom, indulging in the Rally’s hedonism. But just as she begins to regain her footing, Charlie realizes she can’t outdrive her past: Instead she must reckon with the fallout from her ouster, her company’s buried secrets, and an unexpected attraction that complicates everything.
Women’s Fiction [ Union Square & Co., On Sale: September 29, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9781454967309 / eISBN: 9781454967323 ]
Buy THE RALLY: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Libro.fm | Audible | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Carla Vass
Carla Vass holds a degree in English literature and economics from Barnard College, Columbia University. She began her career at Goldman Sachs before joining Uber in 2013. At Uber, she helped build the rideshare business in New York City and was part of the founding UberEATS team. In 2018, Carla was recruited by Waymo, Google’s self-driving car division, to develop their delivery business, and then went on to found Civi in 2020, a tech startup focused on safety in Latin America. Born in New York City, Carla and her husband now live in Miami, Florida. When not writing or reading, Carla enjoys spending time with loved ones, traveling, cooking, and horseback riding.
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