Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu: Book Review

Heavenly Bodies was not what I expected. I’d just come off the emotional high of reading Road of Bones (which I loved, by the way), so I picked this up hoping for a similar vibe. But the two books are completely different beasts. Where Road of Bones was more focused on its world and characters with a slow-burn romance, Heavenly Bodies dove headfirst into romance and the fantasy felt like it was just there for vibes.

Don’t get me wrong, I love romance. I live for yearning and enemies-to-lovers tension. But this book felt like a bunch of regurgitated fantasy and romance tropes that everyone is tired of, especially me.

Spoiler-free verdict: If someone tells you this book is a slow burn full of yearning, don’t believe them! Where was the yearning, where was the slow burn? Do people even know what these words mean? Anyway, apologies, this sort of stuff just irks me. Overall, probably not the worst book ever, but the world is undercooked, the characters a random mashup of every other romantasy character you’ve ever read and the plot pretty much the same. Still, if you can get it on discount, I’d recommend trying it because it might be your thing, just don’t fall for the misleading things that are said about this book.

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• My rating: 2 ⭐
• Is it spicy? Yes.
• Standalone or series? Part one in a series
• Read if: You want a romantasy that feels familiar but doesn’t make you wait for the romance, and you don’t mind a lackluster world.

Looking for some really good fantasy romance? Browse my list of the top romantasy titles, hidden gems and series!

Heavenly Bodies Summary

Heavenly Bodies is a romance-heavy fantasy where the aesthetic is gorgeous, the magic is confusing, and the romance moves at warp speed. It follows a fallen princess and the enemy prince she’s forced to work with, featuring tropes like:

• Enemies to Lovers
• Forced Proximity
• Fated Love / Soulmate Vibes
• Political Intrigue (light touch)

If you’re looking for swoon-worthy romance with some fantasy window dressing, you might really enjoy this. But if you’re here for rich worldbuilding, slow-burn tension, and a cohesive magic system… this probably isn’t it.

If you dislike insta-love and prefer slower stories, I highly recommend these fantastic slow burn romance books. And I promise they’re actually slow. Like in some of them, the characters don’t even admit to attraction to each other until the end of book one in a series.

Content Warnings

• Violence and death
  
• War, colonization themes
  
• Attempted sexual assault
  
• Kidnapping and captivity
  
• Trauma, grief
  
• Mild torture references

The Setup

The story follows Elara, a princess whose realm is destroyed after a deadly prophecy involving a Star (this world’s god/s). She’s kidnapped and taken into enemy territory and forced into the service of the people who were partly responsible for her kingdom’s fall. She ends up training under Prince Enzo — handsome, angsty, son of her captors — and what follows is a whirlwind of betrayal, tension, and longing.

Sounds promising, right? And it is, in theory. The book is built around high-stakes politics, gods who manipulate people like chess pieces, and a romance crackling with potential. But the execution didn’t fully land for me.

The World

The world itself felt more like a carefully curated Pinterest board than a lived-in place. Everything is described in this dreamy, aesthetic-heavy way but it’s all surface-level. There’s little explanation for how things actually work. Like, why is the world like this? The light is blue and purple tinted in Elara’s kingdom, but then orange (I’m assuming like in our world) in the enemy kingdom. But there’s no geographical border, like mountains or anything between the two, nothing to explain why or how this works. It seems that these kingdoms have completely different climates, but then they aren’t separated by anything significant. You can literally walk across a straight line from one kingdom to another.

These things need to have an explanation of some sort. I’m all for magical whimsy, but this world is created with the intention of being taken seriously. You can clearly see that in how serious the plot/stakes appear to be (not that they feel important or serious, but that’s another matter). So how am I supposed to take this world seriously if My Little Pony makes more sense.

Speaking of which — the magic system was… confusing. Each star gives their “children” powers, and Elara’s include illusions, dreamwalking, and shadow manipulation. They kind of work thematically, but they also feel like a grab-bag of cool fantasy tricks rather than something thought through. And then Enzo’s powers are light, fire, and the ability to see truth/future stuff? Again — cool! But it felt more like “what do we need to make the plot spicy” than “what would make sense in this world.”

The Romance

This book is marketed as enemies-to-lovers, and I was ready to yearn and swoon. I love a good slow burn with all the tension and mutual hatred and repressed feelings. Literally, the biggest reason I read this book is that someone on Goodreads said that this book brought back yearning. What a lie.

Like… she’s just been kidnapped. Her family was killed. She’s been dragged into enemy territory. And her first thought when she meets Prince Enzo is basically “he’s hot.” And then he immediately has a spicy dream about her on night one. And these people are meant to be enemies!

There’s no build-up, no real sense of these two hating each other enough to make the eventual love story hit hard. They have every reason to despise each other — he’s literally the enemy prince! — and yet, they’re attracted almost immediately. Where’s the burn?

I honestly wish the first half of the book had leaned more into that hatred and conflict before pivoting to romance. The potential was there! The setup begged for tension. But no, they get together (ish) at less than 50% of the book and at the stupidest time possible.

Looking for some truly amazing love stories? I have a roundup of the best romance books of all time here (including fantasy books)!

Writing Style & Vibes

The writing isn’t bad at all — at the beginning. But a lot of the dialogue felt kind of curated for BookTok or something? Like, the characters sometimes talk in a way that feels less like people having real conversations and more like they’re performing cool, clipped lines meant to go viral.

That said, there is chemistry. I did find myself rooting for the romance a little. But it still felt like I was watching the author puppeteer everything from behind the curtain. The emotional beats didn’t always land because I could feel the structure underneath, like I was reading a script more than being immersed in the moment.

Final thoughts

It’s not a bad book by any means, it’s just not the book I wanted it to be. I went in hoping for a fantasy with romance. What I got was a romance with fantasy (and not even a good one at that). And if that’s your jam, go for it! But for me, it ended up being a disappointment.