Book Review: Kill Your Darlings by L. E. Harper
BLURB
Fantasy author Kyla knows dreams don’t come true.
Isolated and grappling with debilitating depression, she copes by writing about the realm of Solera. Fearless heroes, feisty shapeshifters, and mighty dragons come alive on her pages. She adores her characters, but she doesn’t believe in happy endings. And if she can’t have one, why should they?
Kyla’s on the verge of giving up on everything when she wakes one morning, magically trapped in her fictional world. Now she’s with her most cherished characters: the friends she’s always yearned for, the family she’s never known. There’s even someone who might be Prince Charming (if Kyla could get her act together and manage some honest communication). She’d surrender to the halcyon fantasy, except she knows a nightmarish ending awaits.
Solera is at war, and its defenders are losing against the insidious villain spawned in the depths of Kyla’s mind. He feeds on the energy of dreams, seeks the destruction of all who oppose him-and Kyla’s become his number one target.
Kyla must trade her pen for a sword and fight to change her story’s ending, but this isn’t a fantasy anymore. No happily-ever-after is guaranteed. And mental illness has robbed her of everything she needs to succeed: love, fighting spirit, hope.
If Kyla can’t overcome the darkness inside her, she’ll die with her darlings.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Depictions of mental illness including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm.
REVIEW
Kill Your Darlings may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.
♥”…here I have fantastical, otherworldly tools at my fingertips. Knowledge. Magic. Friends.” ♥
The mystical magic we all know and adore — dragons and necromancy and unicorns, oh my! — is awesome.
♥”…I know what Kyla’s suffered. And like her, my suffering has defined me.” ♥
As a current author and a former psychotherapist, the struggles related to literary creativity and mental illness (especially as written by someone who faces depression daily and survives one sunrise after another to tell the tale) gave me new insights and perspectives on the condition, and the author, as I read.
♥”He’s worn his mask so long that it’s become his truth.” ♥
But the magic that mortals hold in their hearts every day is present in these pages as well. From the hex of self-loathing and the enchantment of friendship, to the jinx of regret and the voodoo of love.
♥”A good story has a magic of its own. A great story has the power to change the world.” ♥
If you are looking for an ultra-intimate story about challenging the darkness within and around ourselves, pushing to become just a breath stronger than we were yesterday, and forging the life we’ve always dreamed of with our own battered hands, Kill Your Darlings should already be on your TBR list.
♥”How many more lives might I save if I shed my fears, walk in the light, and own my scars?” ♥
