The cover kicks butts, and I can’t wait to see how the Author makes us root for the Impaler (hint: read the post from the Author).

Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix releases tomorrow in the Historical, Young Adult genre.

Vlad Dracula has long lived in the shadows cast by his bloodthirsty father, the voivode, and his older brother, Mircea. Despite their cruelty, Vlad has yearned to prove himself worthy of the throne his whole life. In the cold halls of the voivode’s palace, Vlad can only rely on his cousin and closest friend, Andrei Musat.

When Vlad and Andrei meet Ilona Csáki, the daughter of an influential boyar, they each find themselves inextricably drawn to her. But then Ilona is betrothed to Mircea as part of a political alliance, and Vlad’s resentfulness of his brother begins to seethe into something far darker.

Ilona has no desire to marry the voivode’s eldest son, but love and marriage are the least of her worries. The royal family’s enemies have already tried to put an arrow through her back—and if anyone discovers her blossoming feelings for Andrei and Vlad, she may just wish they’d succeeded.

Beneath the shadow of impending war, the only battle that will be deadlier than the one for Ilona’s life will be the one for her heart.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51561742-heart-of-the-impaler

Purchase: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3D5QrpC

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart-of-the-impaler-alexander-delacroix/1136522264?ean=9781250756169

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/heart-of-the-impaler

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/heart-of-the-impaler/id1561620460

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=IjgnEAAAQBAJ&rdid=book-IjgnEAAAQBAJ

AUTHOR BIO

Alexander Delacroix earned Masters degrees from Brigham Young University and Western Governors University. As an undergraduate he majored in French, Russian, and German but ultimately became a Language Arts teacher. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and writing. Heart of the Impaler is his debut novel. 

The hardest part of writing this story.

The hardest part of writing this story was getting into Vlad the Impaler’s mind. I wanted to understand what might have transformed him into the brutal monarch he became, but a mind like that isn’t one you’d particularly want to spend much time in. This task was made easier by starting out earlier in his life. I chose to imagine that Vlad started out like most normal toddlers would. Innocent. Coddled. Protected by a loving mother. That happiness and sense of security, however, were cut short for Vlad when his mother was sent back to her family so his father could take a young Moldavian princess as his new bride.

Trauma like that would take a toll on any child — especially if his father and stepmother took little interest in him. This was my starting point for developing Vlad’s character: a boy with little parental love, a spare heir to the throne who is ignored by his father and his stepmother and demeaned by an older brother. This Vlad would be a young man who is driven to prove himself. A prince who begins to seethe with rage. Someone on a slow path to insanity. That’s where Vlad is when Heart of the Impaler begins.

But there also needed to be hope for him, and this was more challenging. Vlad hadn’t yet become “the Impaler,” and I wanted a chance for love to change him. One source of it would be the brotherly love he shares with his cousin Andrei, his only real friend. Another potential source would be Ilona, a Transylvanian outcast who ends up — against her will — betrothed to Vlad’s older brother Mircea. Complicating matters, however, is Andrei’s growing attraction to Ilona despite his desire to remain loyal to Vlad. How this all works out and how history is ultimately affected by it unfolds in the pages of Heart of the Impaler. I hope that readers who enjoy a tense love triangle and are drawn to history will find what they’re looking for in this novel.

Author links:

https://www.alexanderdelacroix.com/

https://www.facebook.com/alexander.delacroix.3114

https://twitter.com/alxdlcroixhttps://www.instagram.com/alx_dlcroix/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51561742-heart-of-the-impaler

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This post is part of a tour. You can find the schedule here (http://xpressobooktours.com/2021/09/14/tour-sign-up-heart-of-the-impaler-by-alexander-delacroix/).

Giveaway:Tour-wide giveaway (INT)

• Print copy of Heart of the Impaler

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d04251234632/

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Xpresso Book Tours