The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Title: The Hacienda

Author: Isabel Cañas

Publisher: Berkley 2022

Genre: Horror

Pages: 352

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; I Read Horror - Ghosts

Where I Got It: Book of the Month May 2022

During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.

But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark the doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?

Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her.

Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.

Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

A perfect ghost story for this week! I can’t believe I let this book sit on my floor for this long before reading it. This was the perfect blend of atmospheric ghost story featuring a (potentially) unreliable narrator and a beautifully remote setting. I love these types of books and this is no exception. I couldn’t help rooting for Beatriz immediately after meeting her. This entire story including the characters really reminded me of the movie Crimson Peak. Beatriz is swept away to a house that is supposed to be her safe harbor, but quickly becomes something else. I loved the chapters we get from Andrés’s point of view as we learn more about the house and its inhabitants. The last third of this book is really a nonstop ride the I loved. And we get a great conclusion with a fun ambiguous last paragraph. Loved it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Title: Vampires of El Norte

Author: Isabel Cañas

Publisher: Berkley 2023

Genre: Horror

Pages: 371

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; BOTM Cleanout

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

I’ve been going back and forth about this book for the last few days. We’re reading this for the Nerdy Bookish Friends selection for October and I am a little disappointed. I was hoping for a very gothic tale of vampires in the wilderness of Mexico. A fight for survival with some super creepy scenes. There are a few of those scattered through the book, but mostly we get a will-they-won’t-they romance as the focus. A big part of the conflict within Nena and Néstor’s relationship is a big case of miscommunication. This is my least favorite romance trope and it really shows in how much I disliked certain parts of this book. Beyond the romance, the vampire scenes are very few and far between. I did enjoy the comparison of the monstrous vampires to the white colonizers and wished we had spent more them on that angle. I’m looking forward to my discussion on Sunday with the Nerdy Bookish Friends. My rating may just drop to a 3, but right now I’m sticking with a 4.

Next up on the TBR pile: