chaparral. moonlight. thin-skinned beasts. rosemary. gunpowder. clouds of smoke. vaqueros. rancheros. sticky heat of summer. shiny silver. thick skirts. bright smiles. tendrils of hair. black eyes. piercing screams. desiccated flesh. dissolving into ash. rings of salt. eerie stillness. memories that soothe. a woman who finds her voice. a man who returns again and again.
one fateful night nena and her dear friend néstor are out chasing a myth. they expect to find spanish silver that would bring them immediate riches and shake them from the solid trajectory of their lives. what they don’t expect is that the night will indeed shake them, and set them along new paths where danger lurks at every turn. what results is a story of dramatic rising tension as the characters find their ways back to each other and have to team up to fight multiple fronts of evil that threatens their land, lives, and everything they love.
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the vampires in this book were uniquely horrific, and how they in themselves were a mystery to unravel. are they human? beasts? are they conscious of the damage they cause, or are they simply acting out of instinct, products of their environments? this, combined with the horrors of the yanquis, the white colonists who raze through the Texas-Mexico border they hope to conquer. which poses the greatest threat? which will breach the safety of their home first?
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i enjoyed the blend of western & horror & historical elements in this book, which all mix to create a truly immersive setting with rich characters. but the true shining star, the “strange, warm light” in this book is the romance at its heart, which gave it extra sprinkle of magic that kept me turning the pages: “nothing mattered but this: a bolt of yearning as wide as the sky. a certainty so brilliant it shattered every vision he once had of the future.” i loved how the horror mounts along a similar trajectory as the romantic tension — at times ratcheting up the drama of the other, a push and pull that creates delicious suspense.
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after reading this, i’m convinced i need more horror-romance in my life (and you do, too!) 🧛🖤