In 1997, Alvarez published "Yo!", a sequel to "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents", which focuses solely on the character of Yolanda. Drawing from her own experiences, Alvarez portrays the success of a writer who uses her family as the inspiration for her work. "Yo!" could be considered Alvarez's musings and criticism of her own literary success. Alvarez's opinions on the hybridization of culture are often conveyed through the use of Spanish-English malapropisms, or "Spanglish"; such expressions are especially prominent in "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents". Alvarez describes the language of the character of Laura as "a mishmash of mixed-up idioms and sayings".