Vampires of El Norte

March 1, 2023

When Nena is left for dead after being attacked in 1800s Mexico by a blood-drinking creature, her beloved N�stor flees, thinking that she is dead. Nine years later, war along the U.S.-Mexico border brings them together again, with Nena a curandera and N�stor a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros intent on blocking an Anglo invasion from the north. But that blood drinker is still around. Following Ca�as's acclaimed debut, The Hacienda, optioned for TV. Prepub Alert.

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Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2023
Cañas (The Hacienda) hits a bit of a sophomore slump in this uneven gothic fantasy, set in an alternate 1840s South Texas as plagued by giant vampire bats as it is by invading Yankees. After 13-year-old best friends Magdalena “Nena” Serrano, a ranchero’s daughter, and Néstor Duarte, the son of a vaquero, are attacked by a many-fanged monster, Néstor flees the Serrano estate, believing Nena to be dead. He returns nine years later to join a militia created to fight off the Americans and the vampires they employ. He’s tasked with guarding the militia’s healer—who turns out to be none other than Nena, alive and furious with Néstor for abandoning her. When this feuding duo is separated from the rest of the militia, they must work together to survive. Cañas toggles between her protagonists’ perspectives, often retreading the same plot points from a new point of view. Meanwhile, her metaphor-heavy prose occasionally obscures meaning, as when a scar is described as “erupting with the crawling legs of a thousand insects.” Is this a moment of supernatural body horror or does the character simply have an itch? These repetitions and vagueries turn a desperate flight from the colonizers into a clunky slog. All but Cañas’s most devoted fans can skip this one. Agent: Kari Sutherland, KT Literary.

July 15, 2023
Childhood sweethearts reunite in the shadow of the Mexican War and the threat of vampires. N�stor and Nena were inseparable as children on the Rancho Los Ojuelos, though not everyone thought it was appropriate, Nena being the daughter of the owner and N�stor the son of a vaquero. After a treasure hunt goes wrong when they're 13, N�stor thinks Nena is dead and he leaves the rancho, planning never to return. Nine years later, threats of Yanqu�s moving south finally bring him back to help with the fight only to discover that Nena survived that night and is none too happy at having been abandoned. As the two head into the fray, they must find a way to work together again while avoiding Yanqu�s, Rinches, and creatures reminiscent of the one that attacked Nena all those years ago. Ca�as draws upon a wealth of research in re-creating the Rio Grande Valley in the 1840s, richly weaving in the Mexican War while also delving into horror. The vampires of this tale are incredibly original, a whole new brand of folklore that slowly unspools as the story progresses. There are three different narratives here: a love story, a war story, and a horror story. Each is compelling in its own right. Unfortunately, the book's weakness is that it can handle only two of them at a time. It isn't until the last stand that everything comes together, but it's powerful when it does. Nena and N�stor, who are both point-of-view characters, are equally charming and infuriating in some of their choices. The side characters are not very well fleshed out, though they add to the sense of place. While perhaps not greater than the sum of its parts, the parts themselves are quite good.

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Starred review from June 1, 2023
Ca�as' latest (after The Hacienda, 2022), is a lush, supernaturally infused historical romance mixing vaqueros, vampires, and the Mexican-American conflict of 1846-48. The chapters alternate between the voices of Nena, the daughter of a wealthy Mexican patr�n, and Nestor, the son of a vaquero who works for her father. Despite custom, they have been friends since childhood, but when they are thirteen, a late-night attack by a strange, human-like creature causes Nestor to run away, believing Nena dead. Nine years later, Nestor, now a highly skilled, independent vaquero, receives a letter from Nena's older brother, asking him to return to the rancho to join an allied civilian squadron to unite with the Mexican Army to defend against an Anglo invasion force backed by the U.S. government. When Nestor returns home, he is shocked to find Nena is alive and dismayed to discover she wants nothing to do with him. But war and long-held misunderstandings are not the worst problems they will face. The blood-thirsty monsters from nine years ago still lurk in the dark and, along with the Anglos, threaten all that Nena and Nestor hold dear. Ca�as delivers a horror novel full of expressive, sumptuous prose and enlightening historical details.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2023

In 1837, young Nena, the daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher, and her best friend N�stor, the child of her father's workers, escape into the night to look for silver. After a mysterious creature attacks Nena, N�stor carries her lifeless body home and runs away. Nine years later, N�stor returns to the ranch to help defend it from the United States army and is shocked to see that his years of grief were unnecessary, as Nena turns out to be alive and working as a curandera, a healer, at her father's ranch. Nena, however, has spent the last nine years angry that N�stor abandoned her. Ca�as's background as a historian is on full display here as she writes a rich, confident, and compelling story wrapped in an authentic and detailed frame, with a satisfying romance. The inclusion of vampires intensifies the unease and danger of life in this place and time. VERDICT The many fans of The Hacienda will be eager for Ca�as's second novel, which will also thrill and chill readers who'd enjoy a mash-up of Alma Katsu's historical horror, Andy Davidson's In the Valley of the Sun, and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.