Tennis Shoe Pimp [Paperback]

Jacqui Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2006

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Urban Lifestyle Press (February 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971769745
• ISBN-13: 978-0971769748
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,338,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pimping is Not Easy, May 2, 2007

By 

Jennifer Coissiere "The Tough Critic"... (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tennis Shoe Pimp (Paperback)

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tennis Shoe Pimp, March 24, 2007

By 

Sybil Sadler (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tennis Shoe Pimp (Paperback)

Tennis Shoe Pimp is a book that keep you flipping the pages from start to finish. It give you an idea on how some people who have come from abusive back ground might act when they have not had a strong foundation from childhood. It makes you understand the emotional pain that Claudia Martnez and Angel Hart have delt with from their childhood. For example, Claudia witness her older siste being murder. Because of the murder of sister. She is determine to get revenage on the person who is responsible for her sister death. I highly recommend that every body read this book

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dog's Been Shaved, Get The Sweater, March 7, 2007

By 

OOSA Online Book Club "O.O.S.A. Gets It Read!" (World Wide Web, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tennis Shoe Pimp (Paperback)

Claudia Martinez and Angel Hart are working the Track. Though the great state of California placed them in foster care when their parents weren't able to continue on, the girls ultimately decide that it's better to sell what their rotten foster father keeps stealing.

An ethnic version of Pretty Woman, Angel is rescued from a treacherous trick by brothers, Ruben and Diego Palacios, who'd also been in the same foster family. Angel and Claudia are right away offered the chance at new lives, luxuries and love. Is this too good to be true?

Things appear to be going well. That is until Black, a former associate now turned enemy, initiates an all out war on his main competitor, Ruben. With greed fueling Black's retaliation, is it possible that he's left the gate open?

While I'll agree that Tennis Shoe Pimp does a good job at holding your interest, I couldn't help but doubting that I'd finished the book. There were still so many unanswered questions.

Reviewed by: Crystal