Celebrating Latiné Heritage Month with 50+ Book Reviews

In Honor of my Papa Isaac Solis (My Favorite Human)

Sep 15, 2026

Before I get into linking up these individual reviews, here are my author spotlights (because I have read so many of their books)

Cynthia Pelayo- Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award–winning and International Latino Book Award–winning author and poet — the first Latina and the first Puerto Rican to win the Bram Stoker Award. She writes fairy tales that blend genre and explore grief, mourning, and cycles of violence. Chicago is not her setting. Chicago is her cosmology. She holds a Master of Science from Roosevelt University and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is pursuing a PhD in English. In 2026 she completed the Odyssey Writing Workshop and was in residence at Ragdale.

Santa Muerte
Poems of My Night (first book I read)
Children of Chicago
The Shoemaker’s Magician
Lotería
Forgotten Sisters
Into the Forest and All the Way Through
It Came From Neverland

Silvia Moreno-Garcia- Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Cachanilla and Canuck, originally from Baja California, she now resides in Vancouver. She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), Mexican Gothic (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), and Velvet Was the Night (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Macavity Award). She writes in a variety of genres including fantasy, horror, noir and historical.

Mexican Gothic- I CANNOT FIND MY REVIEW OF MEXICAN GOTHIC!! It was in a magazine…
Silver Nitrate
The Tiger Came to the Mountains
The Lover
Untamed Shore
The Bewitching

V. Castro- I’m V. Castro and storytelling is my passion. As a Mexican American from Texas, many of my tales are about my heritage and the history of my ancestors. They include monsters in both human and inhuman forms. Some of the stories have a pretty high heat level if you like that kind of thing (I do!) You’ll also get a bit of sci-fi as it’s another genre where I can allow my imagination to go places I can only dream of. There is something for everyone!

Goddess of Filth
The Haunting of Alejandra
Out of Aztlan
The Queen of the Cicadas
Mestiza Blood
Hairspray & Switchblades (first book I read)

Mariana Enriquez- Mariana Enríquez (born 1973) is an Argentine journalist, novelist, and short story writer. She is a part of the group of writers known as the "new Argentine narrative".^[1] Her short stories fall within the horror and Latin American Gothic genres^[2] and have been published in international magazines

Things We Lost in the Fire (first book I read)
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
Our Share of Night
A Sunny Place for Shady People

Isabelle Cañas - Isabel Cañas is a Mexican American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, Turkey, and New York City, among other places, she has settled in the Pacific Northwest. She holds a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage.

The Hacienda (first book I read)
The Vampires of El Norte
The Possession of Alba Díaz

& Agustina Bazterrica- Agustina Bazterrica (born 1974) is an Argentine writer. She is noted for her short stories and her novels, and she has won multiple literary prizes

Tender is the Flesh
Nineteen Claws & A Blackbird- I have this great review on Instagram and I have to find it!
The Unworthy

The Secret Lives of Insects/Bernardo Esquinca (trans. by James D. Jenkins)

Piñata/Leopoldo Goût

*The Bullet Swallower/Elizabeth Gonzales James

On Earth as it is Beneath/Ana Paula Maia (trans. Padma Viswanathan)

Eartheater/Dolores Reyes (trans. Julia Sanches)

Bloody Summer/Carmen Maria Machado

Cenote City/Monique Quintana

Clean/Alia Trabucco Zerán, (trans. Sophie Hughes)

Camp Slaughter/Sergio Gomez

Sanctuary/Valentina Cano Repetto

Into the Dream House/Carmen Maria Machado