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v_neptune's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
ali_k0's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As the Anglo army matches South into Mexico, childhood friends Nestor and Nena are thrown back together after years apart. Nena yearns to prove herself vital to her home and avoid being married off, Nestor yearns to prove himself worth marrying her and to be seen as more than a "lowly" vaquero.
Isabel Cañas mixes horrors of the imagination and the real horrors of history, reinventing vampires and weaving them into the long history of the Rio Grande Valley. Along the way, she pairs it with a love so bright it burns away all darkness.
Keep one hand on your heart and the other in a bag of salt as you journey back in time to 1840's Mexico-America to fight the Vampires of El Norte, but remember, the true monsters aren't always the ones who lurk in the night.
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing and Fire/Fire injury
h4ppycupcake's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
About the ending:
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
alisonvh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I loved both Nena and Nestor’s characterizations. I fell in love with both of them and was rooting for them. Her writing is so visceral it makes your heart skip a beat or ache for these characters.
There are quite a few Spanish words throughout the book but it’s not hard to look up any unknown words. I will also note that I think the book is romance first with the vampire plot being a sub-plot but still very significant. Overall I really enjoyed this read.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death
trollmila's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
maeverose's review
This book is mismarketed. The Hacienda had this problem to an extent, but I feel like that one wasn’t as far off. This is historical romance, with monsters and war blurred out in the background. Within the 42% that I read, it was 90% Néstor and Nena thinking about each other. I was most interested in this for the vampires and history, but at least in the part I read those weren’t the focus. I went into the Hacienda for the Rebecca retelling and horror elements and ended up actually liking the romance the most, unfortunately that wasn’t the case with this one.
My main issues:
1. Unnecessary relationship angst. The reason for their drama (this is in the synopsis) is because of a huge misunderstanding where Néstor thought Nena was dead and he was to blame, so he ran away only to come back nine years later and find that she’s been alive the whole time. She’s mad at him for leaving, he’s feeling guilty about his mistake. The problem I have with it is 1. We find out that Nena’s brother is able to contact Néstor, which begs the question as to why nobody told him in the nine years he was gone that Nena was alive. And 2. the fact that when he finds out she’s alive, instead of immediately talking to her and explaining everything, they avoid each other and sit in their angst. For c h a p t e r s. I dnfed before they finally resolve things so idk when that even happens.
2. It’s overwritten. The Hacienda was also a bit overwritten at times, but for the most part it didn’t bother me. Maybe it’s because this one is focusing on a romance that I dislike, but it felt painfully drawn out from the beginning. It frequently cuts to unnecessary flashbacks in the middle of scenes (about every chapter has at least one flashback, one even had a flashback within a flashback). And is so focused on the characters’ thoughts and emotions rather than what’s happening in the scene, despite the fact that I would’ve expected this to be a more plot focused book.
Some other things that bothered me:
Certain words are repeated excessively. Part of it may just be that I don’t speak Spanish so I notice the words more than I might if they were in English, but I feel like I would still be noticing them even if they were the English equivalent. Those words mainly being rancho and ranchero. I feel like they’re said multiple times in every chapter, often multiple times on one page.
If you want a slow paced, angsty, gothic historical romance then I’d genuinely recommend this, if you want a book about vampires and a historical war, skip it.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Alcohol
Somewhat detailed descriptions of animal (cattle) carcasses. They’re not exactly gory but they could definitely be disturbing for some people. Being as I didn’t finish the book, I can’t say if there’s anything worse than that.