There is no greater love than a lover who is your true friend. You are the best friend I ever had and could ever hope for. You have helped to make me smile again, to want to live, because you are in my life and I don’t want to miss a moment we could have together. There is little chemistry or sizzle between the two and one brief love scene, but there is deep love between Aoki and Toho: You helped me heal.
There is a brief subplot about Sho avenging Aoki, but it is not enough of a driving force to sustain the story throughout its 112 pages. There is a lovely cadence to Guillone's writing and a subtleness of emotion that I really enjoy, but the plot had such a narrow focus (Aoki and Toho) that the pace felt very slow. When Aoki is brutalized by a lover, Toho alone holds the key to helping his friend recover. Toho, now almost an adult, has a series of disturbing dreams about Aoki and returns from Edo to make sure his dear friend is safe. Kind and nurturing Aoki, a kabuki actor and former kagema (prostitute), was instrumental in Toho's recovery and is Toho's dearest friend. We first met Toho when he was taken in by Sho and Hirata after the murder of his parents. I would suggest reading the first two books beforehand because characters and background from those books figure prominently here. Set in 1800's Japan in the world of samurai, a rigid caste system and feudal lords, Blossom of the Samurai is the third and final book in the Sword and Silk Trilogy.
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