Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas
A book review by Mina Nguyen
I’ve never read a book similar to this plot, and I loved every second of it. Nena is a daughter of a rancher in Mexico during the 1840s, and her home is constantly threatened by Anglo settlers from up north. However, there is something else that hides near the ranch: a vampire. Nena was attacked nine years ago, which prompts Nestor’s run from the ranch,
which he moves ranch-to-ranch to forget about Nena’s death. When the U.S. attacked Mexico in 1846, they crossed paths, Nena as a healer and Nestor as a vaquero.
This has definitely become one of my top books for 2025. I loved how nuanced the characters were. They were constantly making mistakes. I feel like a lot of books have this issue with miscommunication, and it typically is very one-sided, but this book embraces that both sides made mistakes, and it’s up to both characters to see if they can move on together. I also found that even though this book, under my impression, was geared a little more romance heavy, the world-building was done magnificently. I fell in love with the way the descriptions were done, and this book was so much more than a romance. It involves family through various generations and how people’s decisions are impacted by the future of the family, making their love story much more involved for the audience. It involves culture and what home is. I did find that the vampires weren’t as creepy as I thought they would be. I also thought they would be a bigger plot of the book. I would say that the book is balanced and that I wouldn’t call this a character-driven book, but I definitely wouldn’t call it a vampire-heavy book. It’s not as gory as I was expecting, but I don’t find horror as a reading genre I enjoyed. I was immediately drawn from the first chapter, and I finished this book within one sitting. The chemistry between Nestor and Nena was so well done. It was really easy for me to believe that they truly did love and respect each other, and that their relationship was worth fighting for. This book is dark, atmospheric, and romantic, and I would recommend this to anyone. I would find it hard for someone not to enjoy reading this!
Put Vampires of El Norte on hold here.
Books similar to Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas
● Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
● Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
● The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova
