Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties : A Novel

Leticia Marisol Estrella Torrez moves north to Los Angeles in an attempt to break from her past: from Nana, the traditional grandmother who raised her, and also from the seductive Weeping Woman, the siren of Mexican folklore who is said to fly through the skies at night to steal troublesome children and who has courted Leticia since her adolescence.
Leticia quickly finds herself immersed in the post-punk, post-queer hipster scene in Los Angeles, and begins a short-lived and doomed affair with the devastating Edith, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Weeping Woman. After this affair runs its course, Leticia is introduced to K, a tall, dark, and handsome Old Spice-wearing lovely from Philadelphia who airbrushes murals on the sides of vans in east Los Angeles. K and Leticia tumble into "candy heaven" bliss, with, to Leticia's amazement, her nana's blessing. They decide to move into a "gingerbread house" together, and as Leticia's confidence in herself and her own sexuality grows, she assumes an identity that K refers to as "shy bookworm sweater femme boy." But her newfound happiness is brutally shattered when Nana suffers a stroke, and when Leticia makes the disturbing discovery that K is not as trustworthy as she seems.