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The heroine of Becoming Latina in 10 Easy Steps, Marcela Alvarez, is having an ethnic identity crisis. After a vicious cousin gleefully lets Marcela in on the family secret—that Marcela’s mother had an affair with a guero (white guy), oh, just about nine months prior to Marcela’s birth—Marcela thinks that perhaps her family’s habit of making her feel like less of a Latina because of her life choices, might be grounded in the non-Mexican blood flowing through her veins. So she sets out to become more Latina. She makes a list of stereotypically Mexican things, all things she’s previously avoided or never felt passionate about, like dating Mexican men, getting serious about her religion, and learning to cook Mexican food, all of which she believes will prove to one and all—including herself—that she’s just as Latino as everyone else.

There are many steps in Marcela’s journey—from dealing with her anger over being lied to by her parents, to contacting her birth father, and seeking out her ancestors’ roots in Mexico—and Rios wisely allows the story to unfold over time, giving weight to Marcela’s emotions and time for them to organically ripen in believable fashion. Marcela is a complicated and flawed heroine who is always believable, whether she’s responding sexually to the machismo and danger that pour from Armando, her cousin Pepe’s gang banger friend, or indulgently listening to her Tia Sonya’s Chicana political leanings. Marcela lives off the page because her actions are well motivated and she’s intelligent, even if she doesn’t always see herself or what she needs and wants clearly.

One of the highlights of Marcela’s story is George Ramirez. George is the only Mexican Marcela can think of to date and that is a rather humorous commentary on Marcela’s state of mind, one that is perhaps lost on readers not familiar with Southern California’s demographics: Marcela not knowing where to find a Mexican man in Southern California is a bit like not seeing the trees for the forest and that’s exactly Rios’ point. George is a gem, a sigh-worthy hero, memorable for being a guy—a real guy—with genuine feelings, as opposed to the archetype Alpha male heroes who could be picked up from one book and dropped into another with no one the wiser. George and Marcela are romance at its best: a couple that starts out with real world obstacles, a couple that readers can root for throughout, and their story concludes in a way that’s satisfying and appropriate for what has come before it.

Unlike some books with Spanish speaking characters that unconvincingly wedge a word or two of Spanish into their English dialog, Rios writes Latino characters who speak English sprinkled with Spanish and sound like real Latinos. She understands the rhythm and patois, so the mi’jas, papis, and ahis that make it into her characters’ English dialog never feel tacked on. At times, Rios’ narrative falls into telling and relating the story versus showing the action which can make for an inactive read. Additionally, Rios puts little into physical descriptions or surroundings. The story isn’t weaker for either of these points. Both are noticeable and just as quickly forgotten to the enveloping tale.

Becoming Latina in 10 Easy Steps is delightful. Marcela is a thoroughly modern chick lit heroine who, on her journey of self-discovery, finds herself in a romance that is never a foregone conclusion, never feels like so many of the romances that have come before it and is always sweet and tender. Becoming Latina in 10 Easy Steps succeeds and proves Lara Rios is one to watch.

You can visit Lara here and buy this book here and here.