I absolutely loved the meta way that fairytale retelling concept was presented through this novella. I have never thought about fairytales as critically as I have through this story: their origins, their purposes, the way they function and the meaning they hold. Because the MC has an academic background in folklore the whole story was so self-aware, and it felt like the reader is at times part of the story and at times in conversation with the author as it went, which was just really interesting. I also couldn't stop appreciating how brilliant it was to make the narrative voice be so relatable 21yo girly pop and include moments that are absolutely preposterous and seem silly and unserious up front, just to then switch it up and throw in so much commentary on the way assumptions mislead us and how women show up in fairytales and the roles they take on to get through them. Like this is a story about survival that plays on our preconceptions and misconceptions of fairytales as feminine and of femininity as shallow. Great as always to get both chronic illness and queer rep, and I loved the story of friendship in this too. The only thing keeping this from 5 stars for me is really just that the ending, while I understand it, just wasn't totally satisfying to me which is a bit of a bummer. I know there's a sequel though so maybe that explains it, and there's hope for a better one at the end of that!