Eve

January 16, 2006
In this juicy, hard-hitting hip-hop romp, K'wan (Hoodlum
) paints an almost too raw, black-and-white portrait of Eve Panelli, a banging little Harlem outlaw who's had to grow up fast since the murder of her parents—Joe-Joe, her Italian-Irish dad, a "soldier" in an Italian mob family, and Shanice, her black mother. At 17, Eve feels like a $5 whore when she gets out of juvenile detention after taking the heat for two fellow Harlem gangstas, Felon, whom she's secretly sweet on, and Butter, his closest road dawg. Felon loves Eve, but he's also a hustler who'd "rather be cold and rich than warm and broke" when he begins dealing with Carlo DeNardi, the degenerate son of the mobster who offed Eve's parents. Aside from her cool Uncle Bobby, a vet in a wheelchair, Eve's true "fam" becomes the Twenty-Gang sistaz. The brutal murder of Cassidy, Eve's best home girl and crime partner, leads to Eve's heart-stopping opportunity for revenge and a thrilling conclusion. Author tour.

February 1, 2006
Urban/hip-hop fiction readers, look out! Here comes Evelyn Pannetti, or Eve, as she is known on the streets. Orphaned at a young age, Eve has run with gangs most of her life and by age 17 has already done time. Back on the street, she must take control when the powerful drug-dealing DeNardi family hits Harlem and her best friend is murdered. Readers will be living a tough life vicariously as the beautiful, cunning, and dangerous Eve confronts crime, love, loss, and revenge in the Big Apple, wonderfully detailed here. The gritty, in-your-face violence will attract some readers and repel others, but this gangsta romp is indisputably a page-turner. K'Wan's ("Hoodlum" leap into the world of the Mafia is a bit cliché d but will prove intriguing to readers who enjoy this type of fiction. Recommended for public libraries with contemporary African American fiction collections." -Lisa Jones, Tuscaloosa P.L., AL"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2006
Evelyn Panelli is of Italian, black, and Irish descent, with red hair and blue-green eyes and with the demeanor of a boy. She has lived a rough life in the streets as a member of the all-girl family, Twenty-Gang. At 17 she is sentenced to a jail term of no less than 18 months but no longer than two years in a juvenile detention center. Upon release, Eve quickly resumes her criminal lifestyle as a strong-arm robber. She also comes home to discover that her former partners, Felon and Butter, are now kings of the street. She and Felon have always had an attraction to one another but have maintained a business relationship. The DeNardises, a powerful Italian family, want to do more business in Harlem, but the son, Carlos, hates doing business with Butter and goes after his girl, Cassidy. The stakes are raised when Butter learns that Cassidy and Carlos have been dealing with one another. The conflict escalates, which forces Eve to single-handedly seek revenge for her family. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)