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A review by lucybbookstuff
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Quite liked this! Thankfully, I had been prepared for it to be more romance than horror, so I think my expectations were in the right place.
While I did like the romance, I liked the historical and horror elements more. I feel like the true horror in this book is the horror of colonization. And there are layers to that, too, because Nena's family (if not everyone depicted) are also descended from Spanish colonizers. Mexico has had a long, fraught history, and this really made me interested in learning more about it.
I went into this book unsure how I'd feel about the vampires, because I'd realized in the last year that they are not a trope I care about or that I'm drawn to. But this book made me further realize that I'm definitely into vampires as a monster (especially when used in a unique way, such as here or in the show Midnight Mass). I am not into vampires as a sexy love interest. 😆 But the use of them here was so creative and cool, and definitely eerie. I felt legitimately spooked on more than one occasion.
One other thing I really liked was the "Southwestern" atmosphere. That was really enjoyable for me as an Arizonan (though the irony of me saying that as a white person in another part of former Mexico is not lost on me).
As for the romance, I did like it, but it also got extremely repetitive and the miscommunication grew very tiresome. I was rooting for them, but I also found Néstor's indictment of Nena as a brat to be very true much of the time. 😅 I appreciate her struggles for sure, but I did find her stubbornness and her obliviousness of their power dynamic annoying, so I was on Néstor's side in pretty much all of their fights.
However, it was sweet and I'm down with the HEA, even though it was not an HEA for Northern Mexico after the events of this book. :( Definitely going to look into some Mexican history.
While I did like the romance, I liked the historical and horror elements more. I feel like the true horror in this book is the horror of colonization. And there are layers to that, too, because Nena's family (if not everyone depicted) are also descended from Spanish colonizers. Mexico has had a long, fraught history, and this really made me interested in learning more about it.
I went into this book unsure how I'd feel about the vampires, because I'd realized in the last year that they are not a trope I care about or that I'm drawn to. But this book made me further realize that I'm definitely into vampires as a monster (especially when used in a unique way, such as here or in the show Midnight Mass). I am not into vampires as a sexy love interest. 😆 But the use of them here was so creative and cool, and definitely eerie. I felt legitimately spooked on more than one occasion.
One other thing I really liked was the "Southwestern" atmosphere. That was really enjoyable for me as an Arizonan (though the irony of me saying that as a white person in another part of former Mexico is not lost on me).
As for the romance, I did like it, but it also got extremely repetitive and the miscommunication grew very tiresome. I was rooting for them, but I also found Néstor's indictment of Nena as a brat to be very true much of the time. 😅 I appreciate her struggles for sure, but I did find her stubbornness and her obliviousness of their power dynamic annoying, so I was on Néstor's side in pretty much all of their fights.
However, it was sweet and I'm down with the HEA, even though it was not an HEA for Northern Mexico after the events of this book. :( Definitely going to look into some Mexican history.