As far as "dying girl" stories go, this is maybe the best.  I like the cut of your glib, macabre energy Zinnia Gray.

If there's one thing I've come away with from reading this, well it's this:  I need to have a not-so-Disney Movie marathon. All I know is I am itching to watch Maleficent and maybe Brave, a story with NO prince and no dude helping the helpless princess.  *SIGH* I love Merida and that accent.  But back to Aurora's story or in this case Aurora by way of Zinnia and Primrose.  I loved this retelling.  I loved the illustrations that first present as sweet fairytale joy but upon a second look, you realize there are heads on plates and Fae creatures dancing with glee. When you look again, the images look like blood vessels and sinewy muscles.

If you like something, like it hard, because you don't have a lot of time to waste (Zinnia on her Sleeping Beauty obsession )

What a novella!

Plot/Storyline/Themes: You know when she mentioned the set of "A Knight's Tale" All the warm and fuzzies of nostalgia came rushing back so I had to pause and watch a Heath Ledger reel.  That done - this story is epic, it also reminds me of that Tumblr post on the r/curatedtumblr subreddit with the user defending Maleficent's actions.  I mean she's Fae. Not inviting her to Aurora's birth was a humiliation and just rude to Faerie Folk. -Man I wish I had saved that post.  I digress, this novella is the best sort of  "save yourself you're the only one who knows how to do it right" kind of story.

Character Development/Favorite Character: Two girls, one cursed to sleep for almost forever and wait for some dude to kiss her awake and one dying of a rare incurable disease whose parents are waiting for some scientist to fin a cure to basically kiss her awake and into a life worthy of a young woman. The theme of taking action, giving oneself agency even though she had to go to another dimension to do it.  And rewriting their own "destiny" is tackled so well in maybe the first 5 chapters.

The five stages of grief have played out in Zinnia's life, she went from hopeful, not really denial but a version of it by almost ignoring her illness, threatening to run away as a child and more.  Primrose was at one point suicidal. Such delicate concepts are given a dark humorous twist through Zinnia - the Dying Girl's narration.


Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
I loved the birthday party scene.  It felt like it was already taking place in another dimension and the buildup to the splinter prick was just pregnant with this fairytale possibility.
 
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
●All its angles seem subtly wrong, off-putting in no way I can name. I want to
laugh at it; I want to run from it. I mentally compose a text to Charm instead:
it’s Magic Kingdom for goths. Gormenghast by Escher. (Zannia on basically the essence of this dimension )
●A few hours ago it had seemed like a perfectly fine idea to go have a little
adventure, face down a fairy, rescue a princess (and maybe, somehow,
myself), and zap back home like Bilbo strolling back into the Shire. (Zinnia on "The Quest" )

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
Prince Charming is a smug opportunist.
Harold is an annoying, albeit beautiful, prince charming - that tracks and he has absolutely nothing to do with the real story. 
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 genre books by 2025