Katrina Nguyen escapes her abusive home with nothing but a few dollars and her violin. A connection within the LGBTQIA community brings her to the San Gabriel Valley in hopes of starting fresh. But the scars (literal and figurative) of her past are not easily erased and she's not sure what she'll do next when her beloved violin is stolen by the "friends" who promised to help. Enter Shizuka Satomi.
Shizuka is a world-renowned teacher and all six of her last students of the violin went on to wild success and acclaim. There's a reason for that. Shizuka made a deal with the devil. Those six students, all of whom agreed, were part of the deal Shizuka made to deliver seven souls to the devil. In exchange she'll be able to once again claim her own music. When she hears Katrina playing in the park, Shizuka knows she's found her seventh soul. But as she gets to know the young transgender runaway, Shizuka begins to doubt her ability to go through with the plan. Adding to her confusion is an interstellar refugee, Lan Tran, who's running a donut shop which fronts for what will be an star drive.
If all that sounds a bit much? Don't worry. It all makes complete sense in Aoki's sure hands.
This is a delightful, creative ride of a book and I enjoyed every minute.