Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating at time of review: 3.97 Stars Content Rating: R (profanity, violence, gore, sexual content) Trigger Warnings: Violence, blood, abuse, war. As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh. And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn. (goodreads.com) I’m not someone who is usually drawn to the horror genre, but every once in a while I’ll come across a book that piques my interest. Though there are definitely horror elements to this book, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a horror story. It’s really more of a historical romance that happens to have scary vampires and even scarier colonialism. Since I’m not a regular scary story reader, there were parts that gave me the creeps, but I think someone who regularly reads horror would probably find this book tame for that genre. There wasn’t much that I didn’t like about this book. Personally, I don’t care for sexual scenes in my books, but the majority of that content was “off-screen” in this book anyway, with just a few easily skimmable parts with vague descriptions. So that wasn’t terrible. Apart from that, the only thing I didn’t really care for was how the ending was tied up so neatly. Not that I didn’t appreciate a happy ending, but it was maybe a little too perfect. The characters in this story were fantastic, I was fully invested in chapters from both Nena and Néstor’s perspectives and rooting for both of them, even though they were fighting each other at times. I loved the way their relationship developed and that they were reunited after such a long time. The background characters, for the most part, felt real and well rounded, not just cardboard cutouts for the main characters to bounce ideas off of. The only people who did not seem like real people were the invading Americans, and since they were set up to be some of the monsters of the story, that made sense. The vampires were not the cape wearing, castle owning sort. So, if you are looking for suave seductive vampires with cunning plots, this is not the book for you. These vampires are described like wild animals and act like it too. There is nothing romantic about them as they attack random animals and melt out of their skin from time to time. Very gross. Since English is my first language and I have forgotten most of the Spanish I learned in high school, I was frequently looking up words. There are many terms in the story that are spoken in Spanish exclusively and a few phrases as well. Even if I hadn’t looked them up, the context that these words are used in still lets you know what’s going on, but if you, like me, have to know every detail of what is being said and you don’t speak Spanish, it might be helpful to have a translator app nearby while reading. This is a really random note to throw into this review, but this is my blog and I make the rules, so I’m going to throw it in anyway: my first experience learning about Mexico and the surrounding area during the 1800’s was from reading the Josefina American Girl books. Because of this, much of my mental image for the setting is based on the illustrations for the Josefina books. In a way, it almost made this book feel weirdly nostalgic, which added to my enjoyment. So, if Josefina was your favorite American Girl growing up (she’s in my top three favorites) and you like gory vampires, then this may be the perfect book for you! I’ve been in a reading slump most of the summer and now into the fall (partially because I’ve been focusing on my writing, partially because of work, and partially because the internet is way too distracting). It has been taking me forever to get through books, even when they’re really good. There’s one book I’ve been slowly reading since the beginning of June and it’s late September now. However, with Vampires of El Norte, I could have read it in one sitting if stupid things like life hadn’t gotten in the way. This is a good read for the upcoming spooky season, even though the book is set in the spring. The atmosphere feels almost autumnal, especially with the cold nights spent sitting close together watching in trepidation to see if a vampire will show up. If you like historical romances and don’t mind a bit of sexual content and strong language and a lot of violence then I recommend giving this book a try! I’m off to go hide my cows from the vampires! I’ll see you in the next review! Thanks for reading! Image sources: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4590322-meet-josefina https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/63892214
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