You Pierce My Soul

by Jessica Mary Best

In the utopian city of New Ionia, everyone gets a soulmate and Zada can’t wait for hers. Now that she’s eighteen, it’s her turn to meet her destiny with the help of Heartsong, an algorithm that chooses your perfect match for you.

Then Zada crashes into her soulmate, setting off their shared Heartsong, and the unthinkable happens: She feels nothing for him. But the program doesn’t make mistakes, and by the end of the night, Zada is engaged to a man she doesn’t love.

Desperate, Zada turns to a surprising ally: her daringly beautiful former best friend, Daphne. Despite their estrangement, Daphne may be the only person who can help Zada uncover the truth about Heartsong. But can she trust her after all this time? And if what they find upends everything, can Zada find the courage to choose what she believes—and who she loves?

Packed with shocking plot twists, You Pierce My Soul is a romantic and thrilling queer dystopian YA novel from a writer to watch.

Genres: Queer, Young Adult, Lesbian, Romance, LGBT, Dystopia, Science Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

Expected publication May 5, 2026

About the author

Jessica Mary Best is a multi-award-winning freelance writer/editor, an amateur singer/songwriter and a well-intentioned ball of pure quivering anxiety. She is based out of Columbus, Ohio. Her previous projects include the scripted audio dramas THE STRANGE CASE OF STARSHIP IRIS and KEEP IT STEADY. She was also a staff writer on Hartlife NFP's critically acclaimed podcast UNWELL: A MIDWESTERN GOTHIC MYSTERY.

Reviews

[Jane (whatjanereads)]

Excuse me THAT COVER????!
If you heard someone barking - it wasn’t me.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Quirk Books & NetGalley for the chance to read the eARC!

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Calling this a dystopia would be wrong, as wrong as calling it a utopia. However, this is what New Ionia is supposed to be: a promised land after a (presumed) climatic cataclysm, a beacon of hope among destroyed lands.
In New Ionia, rules are made and dictated by The Core, which comes to be defined better after the middle of the book so I won't insist on it. People live, study, work, and get married by the decisions of an algorithm that aggregates their info, and is allegedly never wrong.
And then we have Zada, who is in love with music and notes and song, until the day when she questions the one that should shape her future: her own Heartsong.

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I must confess that the world-building got me hooked, while the characters were shaped nicely and interesting enough to keep me engaged. I will defo follow the author in the future, as I enjoyed the writing, and the topics approached were extensive and in line with my interests.

[zara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

one of the few dystopians lately that actually delivered on uncovering the rotten oligarchic government system and i live for that! the execution could've been done better, and the romance, while cute, wasn't moving me as much. But this was still a solid read and it served its purpose well

[billie ☆]

such a stunning cover like woww

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVEEEE LOVEEE LOVEEE

This was so damn good, easily one of the best YA novels I've read in ages! I'm not a huge dystopia fan but worked so well and the romance was such a good addition.

The only real criticism I have is the ending was wrapped up much too quickly In my opinion, it moved at a really good pace but then the last few chapters felt sooo rushed and it really limited the impact of the ending which was a shame. I think some of the dystopia aspects could have been tightened up a bit but this wasn't a huge issue.

Will definitely be grabbing a copy of this once it's published!

Thanks to Netgalley and QuickBooks for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

[rachel x]

obsessed with this cover, paint it on my eyelids

[✨sophie✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book <3
Got it from my English teacher and it was very cute and lesbian :D

[Aimée Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bridgerton meets Black Mirror. A sapphic post-apocalyptic world where a secretly corrupt algorithm determines your soulmate. Incredible world building and packed full of chest-aching moments of yearning. I loved this, thank you NetGalley and Quirk Books for this ARC!!

[Fanna]

a ya dystopian sapphic romance with high stakes in a post-climate crisis world where an algorithm decides your marriage match.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit I requested this book because of the title. Quer, Jane Austen inspired dystopia? Hello...

I will say that this was a pleasant read. The characters were lovely, the world-building didn't overshadow the story, and it was easy to get into the system of New Ionia.

Basically, rich people run a city on a hill with the help of an ever-present algorithm that determines every aspect of the citizens' lives. They have been told that it was time to go back to a simpler time (vaguely Regency-ish with corsets and etiquette lessons, no touching before marriage, etc) and the ultimate thing to aspire to is to eagerly await the moment the algorithm reveals your perfect soulmate. Big fancy wedding and then eternal wedded bliss.

But Zada, with the help of former close friend Daphne, soons starts to see beyond the perfection. Together, they try to prove that the system is deeply flawed, and no algorithm can ever truly know you.

Yes, it's nothing new. It's every early 2000 dystopia YA. But I actually enjoyed the nostalgia of it all.

I was hoping for more nods to Persuasion, but other than Zada reading it at some point and some character names being used, there wasn't much. Which I thought a shame, but. Oh well.

I will say the ending seemed a bit too wasy for me, but it fitted with the overall light-dystopia-vibe in a way. This isn't on the Hunger Games side of things, more of an exploration of how data is used and algorithms impact our lives more and more with a light bit of evil society tries to to keep their people ignorant.

All in all, this was a very pleasant, nostalgic read for me and I will definitely keep an eye out for future books by this author as I really enjoyed the writing style.

*I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Luciana (Luz) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it! I was able to read it early and really enjoyed it! It conveyed love realistically, with a nice slowburn, and it had queer characters that weren’t made into a gag or a joke. The utopian/dystopian trope was really interesting! It’s believable and it shows perfectly how dystopian societies work in real life. And there were a lot of plot twists that I wasn’t expecting, many of them made me gasp out loud and throw myself off a building from shock :0. I also liked how the lesbians were shown as for their love, and not “intimacy” because a lot of books often sexualize and fetishize lesbians, making them seem more like a sexy thing for men, more like an identity for women (And enbies, non-men, etc…) and the nonbinary representation? Boomshakalaka, they/them pronouns were used, and their birth gender wasn’t made extremely obvious, but more mysterious; as a way to say “If you’re nonbinary, your old gender doesn’t matter anymore”. But yeah, I really REALLY REEEAAAALLLLYYYYY loved the book, please make more books, don’t go bald, don’t go homeless, and keep making queer characters! Also sorry I forgot when I started reading it and when I ended it because I got distracted with life and stuff and homework. But GOOD BOOK, if i haven’t said it before; don’t go bald please you’re so cool

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

To start with the positives, the cover for this is absolutely stunning, it's what drew me into requesting the book in the first place. The concept for the story is also quite strong in the way it brings quite old school ideals of people being expected to be married into traditional relationships together with modern, futuristic technology of algorithms that determine your match. I went in with quite high hopes but unfortunately I don't think the execution was particularly strong, I wasn't that motivated to keep reading which feels like a shame. I could see this book finding an audience as Zada is likeable protagonist and the WLW storyline will appeal but unfortunately this book missed the mark a bit for me.

[Tiffannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You Pierce My Soul is a stunning blend of queer romance and dystopian drama. Jessica Mary Best crafts a world where soulmates are assigned—but love refuses to follow the rules. Zada’s journey is emotional, rebellious, and full of twists that kept me hooked. Beautifully written and deeply resonant, this book pierced my soul too.

[Ads! · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best ya book i’ve read in years. I loved every second and I cannot recommend it enough. If you want a book with an abundance of social commentary, heists, romance and a twist- you’ve found the one!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a bit of an easy rater, and I give out five stars pretty often. Then, I read something like You Pierce My Soul which makes me regret giving all those other books such high scores. If they’re 5 stars, this is a ten. At least.