The Heart Trials

In a world where love is forbidden, one girl must fight for her heart and freedom through deadly trials in the first book of a new dystopian romantasy duology from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Elle.

Welcome to The Heart Trials.
The prize is love.
The cost is everything.

In Ethyria, the highborn are allowed to love; the lowborn may only feel what the Benevolent permits.

Saltblood lowborn Axira Merreri survives the decaying districts by keeping her heart guarded, working as a courier by day and secretly smuggling the ruler’s euphoric Heartfillers to the highborn by night. But when a delivery goes wrong, she finds herself facing execution.

Desperate to survive, Axira strikes a dangerous bargain: steal an object from the Tournament of Hearts, a ruthless dating competition where the prize is highborn citizenship. She enters the deadly contest not for love, but for freedom.

But as the twisted allure of the competition grows more dangerous, an unexpected connection begins to break through her defenses, forcing Axira to confront a truth she has always feared: in a regime built on engineered happiness, the most dangerous weapon she possesses is her own heart.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Elle delivers a breathtaking series opener that is bold, bone-chilling, and wholly original. Perfect for fans of the ruthless competition of The Hunger Games, Love Island, and Powerless, this dystopian romantasy explores what happens when the heart becomes an empire’s sharpest blade.