I think I like this book better than the first, but I think the problem with this story is that it doesn't lean hard enough into any of the worlds' plots to have narrative flow or a feeling of place of its own.

The entire thing feels very liminal, which is not generally how I like to dwell in a story space.

I also think that it was a mistake for the author to give readers an uncertain ending. I'm actually all for uncertain and open-ended endings USUALLY. I think a lot of the time they are much more poignant than the three-act encore you get with a lot of novels. But--being that this is very intentional metafiction which heavily emphasizes that all stories HAVE TO END should have come to an end conclusively.

The first book was all about Deus ex Machina and using narrative elements to manipulate events. This story was about characters' agency and the inescapably of one's own story.

A lot of the themes explored were walking back some of the characters decisions to interfere with others' stories. But I've got to say that Primrose definitely improved upon her situation by yeeting on out of her toxic universe.

The "fairy" who put that curse upon her, however.... I think she could use some time in the naughty corner for taking away people's choices and using the most bludgeoning tool in her arsenal to apply a one-size-fits-all solution to preventing their fates.

I think it's messed up that Charm is so hard on Zinnia about looking elsewhere for her own happiness while conveniently forgetting that her own wife is from another dimension. I feel like Charm and Primrose are being very self-centered by pulling Zinnia back to a world where she won't even have a room ready and she's going to die quicker.

What a cruel thing to do to someone you claim to care about. It genuinely seems like Charm is trying to tie Zinnia to her and Prim due to unresolved feelings. And the way Zinnia seems miserable around her friends would seem to confirm that they are no longer her happy place.

.....Sometimes I could swear that I wrote this book and just forgot. So much so that I'm finding that I don't want to compliment it too much because I feel like that's giving myself a big pat on the back. It's absolutely uncanny.

Like, I would be genuinely surprised IF I DON'T have some sort of Tyler Durden split personality thing going on with this author.

"Busting through stories like a fairy tale Kool-Aid Man" how did anyone but me say that wtaf

I like that there's a bit in here that has the main character doing a Stranger Than Fiction thing and consulting a literature professor, lol. Add that the professor is genuinely distressed by the mental breakdown she assumes the mc is having.

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Spoilers, Sweetie

I think a happy ending for Zinnia would have been the choice to die somewhere where she was happy. And we are left with a vague possible Deus ex Machina....but I'm not happy with that.

Not to be nitpicky or anything, but isn't that apple with the secret message going to go bad before it can be eaten? Is it a cure for GRM? Does it actually do nothing? How effing annoying.

After saving countless Sleeping Beauties its time for Zinnia Gray to fall into a new story and just maybe finally find her own happy ending. Zinnia is tired of the same stories, of saving and helping the sleeping beauties all get their happily ever afters, she just wants something else. When trying to escape she finds herself pulled into a new story, the story of Sleeping Beauty except the person who pulled her in is the Evil Queen aka Eva. Eva wants to escape her fate, she’s fated to die every single time and she just wants it to end. Eva wants to find a way to escape her story and finally be freed, and the only person with the answer is Zinnia. But soon Zinnia and Eva find themselves falling into different Snow White stories and not all Snow Whites are kind an good and maybe Eva isn’t as evil as Zinnia believes. Zinnia and Eva will have to work together to navigate these new territories, and along the way find that they aren’t as different as they think and that they actually do understand one another... and maybe even fall in love with each other. I absolutely adored this continuation of the story, in fact I loved it even more than the first book. Eva and Zinnia are everything and I NEED A THIRD BOOK OF THEM PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE. I AM DESPERATE FOR MORE. Eva and Zinnia are two people trapped and constantly trying to outrun their fates, they want to survive, they want to find a way to just be happy outside of their designated fairytale story. I just adored this book.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

***THE VERSION OF THIS THAT I READ WAS AN ARC***