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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780971769748
ISBN number: 0971769745
Label: Urban Lifestyle Press
Manufacturer: Urban Lifestyle Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 250
Printing Date: February 12, 2006
Publishing house: Urban Lifestyle Press
Sale Popularity Level: 990704
Studio: Urban Lifestyle Press
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Brief Book Summary:
Claudia Martinez and Angel Hart ran away from an abusive foster home, only to find themselves selling their bodies for a place to live. Overnight their dreams of having everything they could ever want come true, when Ruben Palacios takes them under his wings and his roof.
Life couldn't be better, until Raymond 'Black' Smith decides the turf he's built into a money-making empire is too small for both him and Ruben. He sets out to take what he feels is rightfully his, even if it means snatching Angel and destroying lives in the process.
Angel might only have been seeking his love, but when Claudia realizes Black—the same man who killed her sister ten years ago—is the mastermind behind her friend's fall from grace, it becomes a straight-out war.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Claudia and Angel are two best friends whose lives lead them to cross paths in the California Foster Care system. There, they form an unbreakable bond as not only best friends, but as sisters. Unfortunately, the girls are unable to deal with the abuse of their foster parents and they become runaways who live the only way that they know how- by selling their bodies as prostitutes. Claudia and Angel's lives change when Rueben, an old friend from the foster home rescues them from the streets and introduces them to the finer things in life- a life fueled by Rueben's life as a hustler.
Tennis Shoe Pimp was initially a little slow in the beginning. Yet as the story began to develop, the reader will find themselves caught up Claudia and Angel's lives. The insecurities and feelings of the characters can be easily related to. Tennis Shoe Pimp is gritty and real. The author does a great job of weaving this tale of survival in the game of the streets that will engage the reader and keep your attention until the very end.
Tamara Grant
Words of Inspiration Book Club
Rated by buyers 
-
Claudia and Angel meet as foster children living in the home of an abusive foster dad. Through the trials and abuse the girls form a bond and eventually run away only to find themselves on the streets selling their bodies. They find life on the streets is just as bad as being in the house. Then a chance meeting reunites Angel with Ruben and Diego, two brothers who once lived in the foster house with her. From the outside looking in the girls think life is good for Ruben and Diego, but behind the scenes their empire is about to take a hit. A former member of their gang wants to be his own boss and is willing to take any one down to get to the top. When he finds that Ruben and Angel are together, he knows just what to do to bring the brothers down. What he doesn't know is that someone from his past is ready for revenge and plotting his downfall as well.
TENNIS SHOE PIMP by Jacqui Smith is a gritty tale of drug life, gang wars, sex, and deceit. It is full of action and drama but pacing issues keep the book from being as entertaining as it could be. The twist and turns that are supposed to enhance also become somewhat predictable. Lastly, the ending fails to bring the novel full circle as if it is being left open for a sequel. However, Smith's novel still remains a realistic depiction of West Coast street life and the consequences it brings.
Reviewed by Criss Coles
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rated by buyers -
Claudia Martinez and Angel Hart left an abusive foster home only to live in another hell - the streets. They were turning tricks and living life on the edge until Ruben saved them. Ruben moved them into his mansion and allowed them to taste the good life. Angel was able to shop and be the mistress of kingdom, while Claudia set back and relaxed.
Just as quick as their life changed for the better it turned again. Angel, wanting more of the finer things in life fell for the charms of Ruben's arch revival - "Black". Claudia didn't want Angel to ruin her life, so she developed a plan to rescue her friend and seek revenge at the same time. But Claudia may be too late since Angel has sold her soul to Black.
Tennis Shoe Pimp webs an intricate story of love, betrayal and the ultimate revenge. The characters develop slowly throughout the book adding drama to the storyline. The war between the rival gangs is hectic at times but nothing that we haven't seen before. Hmmm, good combination of action, love and suspense with a sprinkle of spelling errors - that's urban lit worth reading!
Reviewed By - Deltareviewer
For Real Page Turners
Rated by buyers -
Of the violence in the cities of Oakland and Richmond, and Bay View/Hunter's Point in San Francisco, assassins kill innocent people along with their marks; it helps to have some understanding into why. Any insight into the drug and vice trade at the emotional level where murder, revenge and abuse occur--not rarely--is moving forward. Jacqui Smith's book, Tennis Shoe Pimp, an escape-hometown, bodice-ripper is a gritty page-turner. The story follows the semi-romantic life of two teenage girls living hard and fast. The author drops us in a world of unscrupulous drug and vice gang bangers separated from civil society by a Barbary Coast of San Francisco or Five Points of New York mentality where pirates reign with no consequence for immoral profits.
There is innovation and strength and truth in the story--either gotten by great research or lived by someone close--thanks for putting it out, Miss Smith. It is rowdy and real.
The author's main characters portray the lives of moral people set in an immoral world. (But then, isn't this the human condition in modern society?) Here we are within the landscape of street soldiers, a pit-bull eats pit-bull world of ignored, no-stakes neighborhoods. The violence may be the violence that breeds another kind of soldier--for an obscene occupation in a war faraway, generating more violence back home.
One character has a vivid flashback of psychic pain--spoken clearly to the effect of: "the deeds been done, now grab the loot." We recognize this phrase--a hypnotic cue that signals the outward consequences stemming from the PTSD within the story.
Dangling a glimpse of the final act at the beginning: "to understand the ending, go back to the beginning," Miss Smith places the reader in a seductive loop of unresolved pain, a dreamlike quality.
The friendship between Angel and Claudia is a moving kinship and cues how foster care is mentoring at highest. The terms and phrases of the novel's dialogue are rich, alive. The hard-boiled relationships and hoodspeak drive the edgy and surprising plot in a setting that is probable but probably unfamiliar. It really is all new to this reviewer who grew up in the suburbs of Orange County.
Other stories of revenge come to mind, Nevada Smith, Get Carter, and Blade Runner, and it's true, Miss Smith brushes the hair of Daniele Steele's romance novels. Throw in the loose and rough sex and you have a shocking tale of the far side of The City. Miss Smith would be wise with her talent and determination to purchase Syd Field's classic, Screenplay, The Foundations of Screenwriting to etch out the story for a wider public in the aspect of screen or stage. File down the edges, Miss Smith, and get the message out--because we cannot afford to underestimate or misplace any body in this town.
Rated by buyers -
We all have heard about gang wars on television, at one time or another. You never hear why the war got started, but when bodies start dropping that is when we know that they are at war. Jacqui Smith offers a tale of two gangs from the West Coast, in her urban street literature, Tennis Shoe Pimp.
The Kings and Ten Deuce will not stop until some one cries mercy. How far will Ruben, the leader of The Kings, or Black, the leader of Ten Deuce go before the war ends? How did this gang war start? Does it have to do with women, drugs, territory, or plain manhood?
Claudia Martinez and Angel Hart have been friends since they met at a foster home. They ran away only to find in order to survive the streets they had to become prostitutes. When a bad night with a trick occurs, Angel is saved by Ruben Palacios, a guy she once knew at the foster home where she lived. Ruben supplies her and Claudia with a roof over their heads and they do not have to walk the streets anymore. Will they be able to stay off the streets? What turn of events starts the bloodshed, and who will be left standing?
Tennis Shoe Pimp had a few editing issues, but the biggest of all was the spelling of the title on the spine of the book. It might not be easy to find the book in a book store due to this misprint. The sexual implications are rather harsh, at times. This would be a great read for someone looking for a glimpse in the life of gangs.
Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub
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