A review by adancewithbooks
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas, Isabel Cañas

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

  Thank you to Solaris and Netgalley for the review coy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.

Vampires of El Norte is an interesting romance novel, that is mostly interesting because of the backdrop of historical Mexico at war with the United States and the addition of vampires. 

We meet Nena and Nestor as kids. Nena is the ranchors daughter while Nestor is son to indentured workers. In search of the hidden treasure, they are attacked by a monster. Something that they can't quite name. Thinking that Nena is dead, he runs away. When they find each other years later, not only their old feelings resurface but also the monsters. 

I found it really interesting to see the historical setting in Mexico. The rancher life, the social hierarchy and the way the woman are treated, learning about vaquero. A lot of it we kind of know but it is different to see it in text like this. How Nena's fathers word is law and how she was treated by her mother after Nestor saved her. How dare she be in danger and be saved by a vaquero which meant she was alone with him. The author manages to add in a real atmosphere of that time period, added in with a bit of terror because of the vampires. 

The vampires itself aren't on the page that much. I found the idea of them interesting. No face. And the bond at the end. There was no humanizing of them and I think that is also something we need within the vampire fiction. There was some dehumanzing of the united states, but hey, they kind of deserved that. 

As for our characters, Nena was a bit of a wild child but after her attack she became the perfect ranchors daughter. But she wants so much more. Not a marriage for convenience but to become a true asset to the ranch, to people. She is the type of person that would care about those working beneath her if her parents had allowed that more. There wasn't much room for that though. 

Nestor on the other hand remained a wild child. He has become a succesful freeelance vaquero. He does what he wants, for the most part. But he is working towards a goal. Saving money to buy his own ranch. They compliment each other nicely. 
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