Vampires of El Norte is a historical romance, with horror elements, that plays in 1840's Mexico (Southern Texas) during the invasion of Mexico by the United States Army, which resulted in the annexation of Texas. (Though technically, the invasion wasn't limited to Texas but so happened in other states but I will leave it out as the book plays just in Texas.)

Plot-wise, Magdalena "Nena" is the daughter of the rancher who owns the Los Ojuelos ranch, and is therefore expected to marry well, so the ranch gains additional cattle but also men and support against the encroaching Anglos. When she's 13 years old, she sneaks out one night to find hidden Spanish silver with her childhood sweetheart Nestor, when something attacks them and mauls Nena brutally. While he carries her back to the ranch, he flees shortly afterwards as he believes that she is dead. Nena didn't die though and grew up to be a young woman who believes that her childhood sweetheart just left the ranch "to stretch out his legs", and is utterly hurt by it. When the threat of the Anglos becomes more prominent, Nestor returns to the ranch and they both realise in the following chapters how wrong they were.

The story plays mostly on the Los Ojuelos ranch, which is roughly 45 minutes away from Laredo (by car). Whenever the story isn't set on the ranch, it will be around Laredo or in the area down to Matamoros. If you feel lost now: just open Google Maps. The UK version has no map, so I was constantly looking up where everything is because my geographical knowledge of Texas is limited to the positions of the major cities like Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. Despite using Google Maps regularly, I still felt often lost enough because the book demands a good knowledge of the area. They crossed several rivers and I still try to figure out if they crossed the Rio Grande (which seems likely as they fled from the battlefield around Matamoros) but later, were close to a river again but I don't know if it would be still the Rio Grande or one of the other smaller rivers. Aside from the lack of geographical orientation: the book requires a good knowledge of the history between the US and Mexico. Maybe US students learn about it in their history classes but we never discussed it in my history lessons in Germany, so I felt rather lost until I read the Wikipedia page about the invasion/war. In the author's note at the end, the author mentions that she did intensive research for the book (while writing her dissertation for her PhD) and you notice it. It's in all the small details that will make sense to someone who is familiar with the history and the Mexican culture but it really went over my head most of the time. Though luck, I know.

So, with these two points out of the way: the book is mostly a romance novel. The vampires add some horror but it's extremely mild. Yes, they are beast-like vampires (occasionally called El Cuco too) and not the sparkly kind or the overly sexy kind. Unfortunately, the vampires and their attacks aren't creepy enough. In the author's note, the author quotes one of her sources for the book that inspired her to include vampires. In the source, vampires were an analogy for the Anglos stealing Mexican land and killing people. That's it. So, instead of making the Anglos even worse, the vampires get shoehorned into the story as a supernatural element that is used by the US Army. There's no explanation why they exist, there's no actual connection to existing Mexican folklore. I wish the author would have either concentrated on the Anglos and their encroachment as the scary part or would have put an actual effort into the vampire element. (Because the end of how Nena deals with the vampires makes me so fucking mad.)

Concerning the romance: Nena and Nestor are starcrossed lovers and their romance is based on the forbidden romance trope. While I found their connection as teenagers understandable, I couldn't wrap my head around why both still pined after each other FOR NINE FUCKING YEARS. Yes, in Nestor's case, he puts her onto a pedestal and worships her as he considers her dead but it's still odd. In Nena's case, it's even worse because it's the constant "I still like him" vs. "I have to be hard, he left me!". Their miscommunication for the longest part was extremely exhausting.

TL;DR: my expectations were rather high and I was disappointed as they weren't fulfilled. I wanted more vampires (since the title is Vampires of El Norte who are treated as actual monsters. I would have loved a map and a glossary for all the Spanish words because I was so lost when it came to them. Yes, an eReader has a translate feature, which is helpful, but if you don't speak Spanish and are reading the hardcover/paperback/audio, you will be lost. If you like historical romances with a forbidden romance element, you might enjoy it more than I do. If you want a gothic horror novel with vampires: skip it.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this more the further I got into the book. I think it has a solid 4/4.5 star ending but the journey to get there, woof. There was a lot in the middle that felt like an extended third act conflict - aka the part I like least in romance books - where I just wanted to bash the main characters' heads together. Thankfully, the vampires were SO FASCINATING, I pushed through because I wanted to know more. I've read a lot of different vampire takes this year, and I thought this one was wonderfully unique. I loved how downright creepy and animalistic they were. I wish the horror was more to the forefront because as it stands, this is 90% historical romance with 10% horror sprinkled in sporadically. This author can do creepy so well! I wholeheartedly loved her previous book, The Hacienda, for its sinister atmosphere.

I saw a review that described this as Gone With The Wind but make it Mexican and yeah, pretty much.

I received this for free on NetGalley.

Following "The Hacienda" comes the new novel by Isabel Cañas which surpasses her already great debut in almost every regard. Must-read for horror fans!

Another hit from Isabel Cañas! I absolutely loved this. It definitely leaned more on the romance side than the horror side, but it was such a gorgeous gothic tale and the main characters were so down bad for each other I couldn't find it in me to care. I can't wait to see more from this author!!