Houston, we have a problema

Gwendolyn Zepeda
Grand Central Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9780446698528
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (4/09) 


Jessica Luna is single, attractive and smart. She has a job that pays relatively well, freelances in a field that makes her happy, goes partying with good friends and has a devastatingly handsome lover, if not quite a boyfriend. There are tons of people more than willing to advise her on how to lead her life. Her mother’s advice on whom to date and whom not infuriates Jessica greatly, since she thinks that advice will only lead her down the same path her sister Sabrina took. Sabrina married a nice guy, but not a Latino, and in Jessica’s eyes she’s a bit of a “coconut” (brown on the outside, white on the inside). Her coworkers think she should try for a promotion within the company; her friends think she should take her freelancing full-time and forget the corporate world. Her lover, Guillermo, makes her happy in bed, but also makes her feel neglected and forgotten most of the time outside of it. Jessica’s also extremely superstitious and looks for “signs” in any and everything, which also means she consults the local psychic, Madame Hortensia, before any decision, no matter how small.

Madame Hortensia’s readings are ambiguous at best, but Jessica follows them like gospel. When those readings announce the upcoming major change, Jessica braces for it – but is she really ready? A not-so-chance meeting with one of her brother-in-law’s coworkers, Jonathan, throws her for a spin. Is she ready to date outside of her race? Is Jonathan seeing her as “exotic” and only dating her because of that? Should she return to Guillermo?

I’ve greatly enjoyed Gwendolyn Zepeda’s “Houston, we have a problema” by Gwendolyn Zepeda.  While it is clearly geared towards the Latina population, Jessica’s struggle with her identity as well as her growing-up process should strike a chord with any chick-lit lover. Sprinkled with enough humor, and written in an engaging, chatty style, the book delves quite deeply into the matters of one’s identity and quest for it. The characters are engaging and fully fleshed, and their dilemmas, actions and reactions fresh and interesting. Whether the reader is among the many who like to consult psychics or firmly in the ranks of skeptics, I am sure that Madame Hortensia’s explanation of readings will amuse them greatly.  Contemporary, engaging and heart-warming, this book screams for a sequel!

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