Blog Tour- Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix

Item: Heart of the Impaler
Author: stuckint

Posted December 10, 2021 by stuckint in Blog Tours / 1 Comment

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog tour stop for Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix hosted through Xpresso Tours. For my stop today I am thrilled to share a spoiler free review.

You can find the full tour schedule here.

About the Book

Blog Tour- Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix

Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix
Published by Swoon Reads on December 7, 2021
Pages: 452
Goodreads

Ilona Csáki 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 her betrothed's cousin Andrei, and younger brother, 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.
In this dark, historical YA debut, two young men—one scarred and dutiful, the other wickedly magnetic—fall for the same young woman. But is it safe for her to love either of them back?

Goodreads

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About The Author

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.

My Thought

This debut historical romance novel is not what it first appears to be. Told in three alternating perspectives, Delacroix’s debut is a meandering tale about a love triangle (which I found only moderately compelling) set against the back drop of court life and impending war.

First, let me acknowledge that Heart of the Impaler is a debut novel and as such it was a fine read. I would curious to see how the author’s writing progresses through the course of his career.

I will say that I am the type of reader who tends to grow bored with novels that only focus on court intrigue and, if there’s not much action, it is difficult to hold my attention. Heart of the Impaler did a decent job at balancing the court intrigue and the twists and turns of the plot. I think for me, it was missing the character development as well as world building. As someone who is not terribly familiar with the time period, I found myself having to look up words and pronunciations.

I think I would have enjoyed the book more if there had been more character development, especially where Vlad was concerned. Ilona was also a little but has potential to be compelling and I definitely think Andrie was the most complex of the three.

Overall, I gave Heart of the Impaler 3🌟. It was a little slow and meandering for my taste and felt more like a set up for a future novels than a book meant to hook you on a series. I would, however, recommend it for anyone who enjoy Kiersten White’s And I Dark series, loved that period in history, or books full of political intrigue and court machinations.