The winner for the January/ February contest is Loretta Wilson

Congratulations!  Loretta has won a copy of A FAMILY FOR RAFFI.

For March/April, I’m proud to announce that I’ll be giving away a Lara Rios bookmark created by the very talented artist of Heaven Sent Jewelry.  Handcrafted with the colors of the BECOMING LATINA cover, this bookmark has the color of the flowers and a lime green (peridot).  In the center is a sterling silver heart bead with a letter L, and lastly a red Swarovski heart.  It’s gorgeous and since there will be a limited number made, something you can treasure forever!  Don’t forget to enter the contest!!

WEBSITE UPDATE

Book signing appearances and upcoming presentations are now listed in the Meet Lara section of my website.  If you’d like to attend any of these, please check out the dates and times.

Also, the new cover for BECOMING AMERICANA is now out and it’s fantastic!  Let me know what you think.

BECOMING AMERICANA

For all of you who have read BECOMING LATINA, and wondered what ever became of Marcela’s protégée, Lupe . . . well, her story is coming up on BECOMING AMERICANA.  Here is the back cover blurb:

Ever since an article about me ran in the UCLA paper, I’ve become the poster child for the American Dream: East L.A. bad girl who slashed cop makes good! I go to school full time, work in the food court, and volunteer at a center for at-risk teens. Against all odds, I turned my life around. The thing is, I never asked for all this attention.  Now my professor wants me to write a gigantic thesis about what Americanization means to Mexican immigrants…and I’m not even sure yet what it means to me. Like for example…

Does familia always come first?  I love my family. But I had to get out when my drug dealing brother threatened my life, and my parents took his side over mine. 

Can’t I have my own Declaration of Independence? I don’t want to be anyone’s charity case. So why do my friends get annoyed when I won’t let them help?

Can West Side Story ever have a happy ending? Things with Will, the guy who wrote the article about me, are getting serious—and it’s freaking me out. How are his rich parents going to feel when they find out he’s in love with a chica like me?

I’ve got a lot of people looking out for me, but I need to find success on my own terms.  Who knew it would be so hard for a Mexicana to find her place in this Americana world?

BECOMING AMERICANA will be out in November!

BECOMING LATINA IN TEN EASY STEPS 

Thank you to everyone who has read BECOMING LATINA and emailed me to tell me how much you enjoyed it, and shared your personal stories.  I LOVE to hear from you and try to respond within a day or two.  Keep the emails coming!  And thanks for your support

BLOG

Don’t forget to stop by and visit my blog at www.lararios.blogspot.com

You can leave comments or just read what I’ve been up to on a more regular basis than with the newsletters. 

Until next month!

Much Love,

Lara