by Isabel Cañas
First published 2024
Nena grows up on a Mexican ranch in the 1840s, where Anglo settlers pose one threat and blood-draining monsters pose another. Nine years ago, these creatures attacked her, and everyone believed she died. Her childhood love Néstor has wandered from ranch to ranch ever since, working as a vaquero and drowning his grief in drink. When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, war throws them back together. Nena works as a curandera, desperate to prove her healing skills so her father won't force her into marriage. Néstor rides with the auxiliary cavalry. Their shocking reunion unleashes Nena's fury over his apparent abandonment, but deadly creatures soon overshadow their personal wounds. The monsters that once nearly killed Nena have returned, and this time they threaten everyone. Nena and Néstor must reconcile their painful past and unite against the supernatural menace, or neither will live to see another sunrise.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, adventure, horror, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, reunited-lovers
Setting: Mexico, United States
Period: 1840s, 1846
400 pages · Paperback · Vintage Espanol
Content warnings: violence