Book Review: “The Heart Trials” by J. Elle
“The Heart Trials” by J. Elle (2026)
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Romance, Dystopian
Page Length: 400 pages (paperback review edition)
Synopsis:
In Ethyria the highborn may love; the lowborn may only feel what the Benevolent allows.
Saltblood lowborn Axira Merreri survives the decaying districts by keeping her heart locked tight, couriering goods by day — and smuggling the ruler’s euphoric Heartfillers to the highborn by night. Until a drop goes wrong and her execution looms.
When she strikes a dangerous bargain to steal something from the Tournament of Hearts, a ruthless dating competition for highborn citizenship, she enters. Not for love. For freedom. But as the twisted allure of the competition turns deadly, an unexpected connection cracks her defenses, forcing her to confront a truth she In a regime built on engineered happiness, the most dangerous weapon she has is her heart.
Review:
“I can’t bargain with love. That cheapens it.
I can embrace it. Hold it. Protect it. Fight for it Even if it costs me everything.
“That is a freedom not even Skyborn have.”
The Heart Trials is a YA novel set in a dark dystopian world, where true emotions are dangerous. The people of Ethyria rely on “heartfillers” to subdue their feelings and distract from the pain of their lives. The most lethal weapon of all is love which is controlled by the leader (Benevolent). Axira, manages to enter the Tournament of Hearts in order to bargain for something precious. In her journey to win this deadly competition though, she has to confront the feelings she’s kept bottled up for too long.
I have read many dystopian style novels of competitions surrounding romance. What made this novel stand out was how it used the concept of heartfillers to regulate and also influence the trials and its participants. Every one of the characters meet in this novel are ruthless and determined (by their own motivations) to win at any costs. In doing so, they fail to see how easy they can be manipulated by the game and members of the high society (Skyborn).
My only complaint about this book is while it does a great job of world-building and creating an engaging world, the concept doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. There are a few gaps in the story where I wanted more explanation of the magic system, the social classes, the history of the prince, etc. This is a duology so I hope that things will be cleared up in the sequel, but more needed to be shown on page in book one.
I did appreciate the social commentary laced within the novel and how it takes some elements of other series such as The Hunger Games and makes it into it’s own. I wanted more of it and a deeper look at what makes society. I wanted less of the romance actually (strange coming from a life-long romance reader) and more focus on the action and world itself. I was happy with the romance being slow-burn and how it takes its time to develop at its own pace.
I would recommend this to reader who love a gritty dystopian story with romance, action, and high stakes.
Final Verdict:
*3.8
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
