This is well written and I loved the fantasy , dragons and the rawness 3.7 stars

I was nervous about reading it due to the description and the authors personal take on their mental health. As much as my heart went out at times some things i wasn’t on par with. You could say that’s probably because I was searching for comfort in regards to my mental health. However I will say it was beautiful to read the healing process as you go through the story.

I would like to mention how stunning that book cover is.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this Arc in exchange for an honest review

4 stars.

Definitely felt original to me and I really enjoyed about that. The content warnings definitely prepared me for a lot of things that happen in this book.
I honestly would recommend this book for any fantasy lover and who really enjoys writing.

A wonderful, beautiful and devastating version of a dream that many fantasy writers share. Trapped in a world of her own making the ‘author’ must fix the mistakes in her manuscript and help her characters save their world. The only way out is through and the journey is tumultuous and captivating.

A slightly slow starter for me but once it got its hooks in me I couldn’t stop reading.

I was great full to get an ARC for this book. I will give it a 3.5.

The middle felt like it dragged somewhat. The plot and discussions on depression kept me reading. I was hoping for a happy ending. Maybe not fairytale happy ever after but at least a happy for now. So I kept reading and wasn’t disappointed.

The writing wasn’t my favorite. I can’t put my finger on it; the writing style wasn’t my favorite style.

I differently got very wizard of oz (hit your head and in a new world vibes) as well as Alice in wonderland (fall down a hole and in a new world).

The book had different themes then I normally read and I liked that.

Trigger warnings for suicide and suicidal thoughts and attempts.

This book made me want to get back into lucid dreaming. Are main character, the author, thinks she's dreaming when she realizes she in the body of her favorite character of the novel she's writing. As Kyla she doesn't have magic in this fantasy world she created. As the books author she also knows all her friends are going to die unless she finds a way to save them.

This is such a beautifully written story. I see it like that painting of a man, looking in a mirror to paint himself. It's a world in her book, possibly in her head.
I LOL IRL when she said, ".... If this was a book..."
The parallel of fighting demons in this world with magic and swords and the demons in our life with therapy and personal growth, are well put.
(Slight spoiler) Also, how the author, like most people will fight harder to save her friends rather than herself. Not that people with mental health issues don't try to save themselves (writing can be therapeutic) but we will often go farther for our friends and even see them as more worth saving, then ourselves. And that's a powerful message to send to someone struggling with their demons.

I enjoyed this one and found myself able to relate a lot to the Main character's journey! I don't think it will stick in my mind for a long time after but I would recommend!

4.5 stars. One of the most interesting books I've read so far this year. This book weaves together epic YA fantasy (without too many cringe-worthy tropes), mental health, and a personal and world-altering journey.

The protagonist falls into her own story in which her depressed mind has only made an unhappy ending to conclude her series. After realizing that this is more than a dream, she must fight her inner and outer demons to change herself and the ending of her books. This book has wonderful things like found family, dragons, reverse representation, a magical journey, and self-discovery. There are definitely trigger warnings for depression and bad mental health, as the author deeply describes her depressed mental state profoundly and intimately. The author weaves these aspects together in a well written beautiful book. I thought the conclusion was so well done and made the whole journey worth it. I definitely recommend this book to people who like fantasy and want a unique adventure that takes place in the inner and outer worlds.

I loved the concept of this book, and there are many things to love about it. I did find it hard to finish at times, but it was 100% worth keeping going. The pacing was a bit strange at times but I'm keen to see what the author does next!

Unfortunately DNF'd this one at 47%.

Kill Your Darlings is about an unnamed author who wakes up in the body of her main character in the world of her bestselling fantasy series. The MC of said series is named Kyla, which is what the author goes by in this world, so that’s what I’ll call her here. After realizing this isn’t a dream, Kyla quickly discovers that it’s up to her to defeat the evil overlord villain and save the other characters – who were fated to die in her unfinished conclusion to the series. The task will not be easy, especially as Kyla is forced to confront her poor mental health and how she’s been neglecting herself back on Earth.

Okay – killer premise, first of all. That is definitely what first drew me in (+ the fact that Kyla is asexual!). I still think many will enjoy this book and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, but it didn’t work for me personally. I struggled to connect to the characters and emotions of the story, and didn’t feel like the worldbuilding was all that original or interesting. I also didn’t click with the writing style, which would often favor Kyla’s long explanations of her world, rather than letting us see and feel the setting and characters in a more tangible way.

While I appreciated the mental health plotline, I had similar issues there. I know the author is writing from experience and I don’t doubt that this aspect of the story will connect with other readers. But for me, it never clicked into something more. There were descriptions Kyla offered about how she feels empty/sad/hopeless, and some Classic Millennial Depression Jokes, but the feelings never transcended beyond description and into the emotions the book was trying to evoke.

I wish this one worked better for me – it really does have a lot of promise, and I hope it finds its readers once it’s published!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchanged for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the premise of the book and the storyline. I sometimes wonder what it may be if I was transported into one of my favorite reads, and this author explores that curiosity. I did end up not finishing the book at around 20%. Although I love the premise of the book and believe that stories about mental health are crucial, I could not fully get into the book. I hope to give this book another chance in the future, as I feel like this is a "right book, wrong time" kind of situation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity to read this ARC.

W book, W author (thank you for the email, I genuinely regretted missing out on the archive date). The title initially drew me in, but the characters forced me to sit back down and read it in one go. Magnificent work of art.

I really enjoyed reading this book, especially the last part. At the start it is a bit hard to get into, but the ending really makes it worth reading it.
This book feels like such a personal story to the author, because it translates the mental health struggles into fantasy style battles and quests.
I did struggle a bit with following the story along of what the plan was and where they were, and there were also some small things that seemed unexplained to me (like Vasher getting the unicorn horn stuck in his chest).

What really stood out for me were the dragons in the story, who were all well done with separate personalities.
I did wish the story was more fleshed out, the world had sometimes just too many elements to keep track of. Such as every fantastical creature in it.
I would've also liked more explanation on the magical powers, since we only really got to really know two (light and dark magic).

I also wish we had a bit more time in the end of the story where we could have seen the main character reuniting with family and friends, and continuing their story.

The ending was written really well, I enjoyed reading it and was on the edge of my chair the whole time.

Fun and interesting read. I’ve never come across a book with a premise like this one. The author of a best selling book series consistently enters into a lucid dream of the world she created and wrote about. Only problem is, this time, she doesn’t wake up. She’s stuck in the world she created—one on the brink of doom—in the body of the main character Kyla, however, while Kyla is blessed with a very special type of magic that makes her and her friends capable of saving this world from certain destruction, our author is powerless.
Can she save not only Kyla’s friends from the deaths she wrote for them, but all of Solera from the wrath of Zalor?
Kill Your Darlings was vivid, captivating and entertaining from end to end.

An author stuck in a world of her own creation sounds fascinating but I wasn’t able to get into the book. Too many characters; too much background to take in; a stereotypical sameness in the relationships, so on. It was a struggle to go on reading in this format.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

Thank you to netgalley & LE Harper for an arc copy of this book! I honestly didn’t expect this story to go the way it did but it was a very surprising and touching read. It has a lot of hard subject matter so be aware before going into this.

I loved the Author and felt like she really did all she could to save her fantasy world and her ‘darlings’ as she calls them. I like that it was quite meta and that she told them who she was and that she killed them for dramatic affect and all the things she put them through were for a good story. It does give you a different perspective when you’re reading because it’s like if these characters were real it would be really shit 😂.

I personally like many people would LOVE to be dropped into my favourite fantasy world and you do feel her wonder to be in this world that she created and see the characters she loved. It did take me a little bit to connect with the characters but by the first battle I was fully in.

I love how much it deals with depression and kind of forces her to think about it and how she feels about it. It was such a shock that she was dying in the real world and that this world was dying when she was seeing parts rotting and dead were not because of Zalor, but because of her. Our minds can be terrible and beautiful and can do things to us that some people don’t understand.

Zalor was a great representation of her depression and I liked the line of that he was feeding on her while she was getting more and more depressed. That her characters were able to give her that piece of mind to WANT to live and connect with the people that inspired them and to make that leap to choose to live was really great. It did get a bit graphic at the end but I think that was the point. It is a war and you’re not gonna win every time but it’s just choosing to fight is the main thing.

Overall a really good and thoughtful read.

*please take the authors trigger warnings seriously !

Kill Your darlings by L. E Harper is a story about mental health dressed in the clothing of an adult portal fantasy and I love it.


The pacing , dialogue, and character development drew me into this world but it was the weight of concern for what I suspected was happening with our main character that kept me turning the pages .

4,5

I can only say this book resonated with me. I really felt some words, some situations and I just saw a younger version of myself trying to find a place in the world. It's not perfect, the first 40% was a bit dragging, but the last part was perfect for me. Seeing on paper those feelings was hard and beautiful at the same time.

When I started this book I was sure I was going to read of an author somehow entering her own book, fighting battles, making friends along the way and just go back to her world once she completed her quest.

What I didn't expect was this. This book is for everyone struggling, with themselves and with their lives, those who think they are not enough and there's only a way to get peace. It's a journey, and us readers go on it with all the characters, living the adventure and the dreams.

There's always a solution, but it's ok to struggle and get lost along the way, but there'll always be people there with you and this book was so complex on this side that I still have goosebumps thinking about the hard choices the main character had to make.

We often have to fight our own demons and the author of this book tried to explain it in an almost lyrical way.

For when we don't feel like we are enough: "It's a battle worth fighting". Always.

I was intrigued by this book, both curious and scared. Turns out, it was great! 1. it has dragons which I love. 2. it has a queer main character who's asexual and it's so rare to find this kind of representation. 3. the found family trope was amazing. I also liked how Kyla explored her own demons and struggles through her characters. really recommend to anyone looking for a fun fantasy novel with dragons! my only criticism would be that the villain felt very...villainous? I like some nuance but this was a little too black and white for me. 4.25 stars

The author wrote this deeply personal story of struggling with mental health issues and comes with a list of trigger warnings at the beginning and an "about the author" at the end explaining that the reader finishing the book now knows her challenges. For those who find writing cathartic or have wished for a different, fantastical life, this book juxtaposes the main character's life as a writer in NYC, whose novel characters are based on her imaginings of friends/family and even a fictional love interest, with the hero of her story.

What if you knew what would happen to your book characters and were thrust into the middle of their story? How could you return home? Would you even want to leave a place with magic to return to the struggles of your life elsewhere? That's what this book asks. As a reader who hasn't faced suicidal ideation, depression, or other challenges, I felt very empathetic toward the main character/author who did.

Authors experiences show through in their work. None more so than in this excellent piece of fantasy writing, that is so much more than just that. Although I personally didn’t need it, take the author’s trigger warning to heart. And on that note I think this fantasy book is definitely not for very young readers. This book is a story of an unpublished author, really struggling with mental issues and finding themselves transported into the fictional world they had created. Can they save the only people they seem to feel connected with, their fictional characters, their ‘darlings’ in the title, after they had decided to really mix up their series and kill them off? Can they save themself? I hope writing and publishing the book has ultimately been a positive experience for the author. Even though some parts are dark I enjoyed reading the book. Thank you to L.E. Harper, Shivnath Productions and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.