Ash, Malinda Lo

I have burnt out on secondary world fantasy with quasi-European settings, I dislike fairies and I'm not fond of Cinderella retellings, so this book had three strikes against it from the start, and it was not entirely surprising when I spent the first 134 pages grumbling at it. Fortunately, the second half has lesbians - the main reason I picked it up at all - and is also just overall generally stronger, although still light on actual plot.

( Fairly specific description, although there is no way I consider the plot of Cinderella to be a spoiler. )