Vampire of El Norte by Isabel Cañas had me hooked from the start. The creatures here are exactly what I want from a vampire story. They were dark, menacing, and genuinely terrifying. Cañas leans into the monstrous in a way that feels true to folklore while still keeping the danger unpredictable. What I loved most, though, was the reminder that the vampires aren’t always the worst monsters in the room. Sometimes greed and cruelty let humans leave the deepest scars.
That said, the romance subplot drove me up a wall at times. Miscommunication is one of my top-hated tropes, and this book leans on it hard in the early chapters. Watching the two protagonists initially fail to reconnect simply because neither will just say the thing left me shouting “just use your words!”
Despite that, I really enjoyed the story overall. It’s gothic, unsettling, and layered with a historic atmosphere. The balance between supernatural horror and very human horrors gives it real depth. I felt just as uneasy reading the battlefield scenes as I did the vampire ones.
If you enjoy vampires, historical fiction, and a bit of yearning, this book is a fantastic read.
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