Eve

by K'wan

The only family Eve Panelli has ever known is the infamous Twenty Gang. Orphaned as a small child, Eve quickly learned the art of the hustle, and by age seventeen she had spent two years in prison. But now Eve is eighteen, back on the streets of Harlem with her gang and up to one of her old strong-arm robbery. Despite her edge, she's got a soft spot for Felon, the up-and-coming street king.

Eve's life takes a serious turn when the powerful DeNardi family, the city's biggest drug supplier, tries to tighten its hold on Harlem. And when Eve's best friend, Cassidy, is murdered in the crossfire, Eve seeks revenge―starting all the way at the top.

Genres: Urban, African American, Audiobook

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

In 2002 K'wan hit the scene with his debut novel Gangsta, under Triple Crown Publications. It was the first novel released by the budding house and would eventually become the building block for what is now a multimillion dollar company. What started as a therapeutic release went on to become a part of urban-lit history and an Essence bestseller, as well as drawing rave reviews overseas.
After penning his second novel, Road Dawgz (2003), K'wan drew the attention of St. Martins press. The literary powerhouse quickly signed K'wan to a multi-book deal, the first of which being Street Dreams (2004). In 2008 he received the Black Author of the year award from Black Press Radio for the novella Blow.
Since his insertion into the publishing world K'wan has been featured in Vibe, Pages, King, Felon, Big News, The Library Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Press, Clutch and most notably Time Magazine, to name a few. He was also interviewed by MTV News for a feature on Hip-Hop fiction, and a guest on Power 105s morning show as well as NPR (national public radio). In addition to being an accomplished author, K'wan is also a motivational speaker, mentor to at risk children and the C.E.O of Black Dawn, Inc.
K'wan currently resides in New Jersey where he is working on his next novel.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/kwan

Reviews

[Carol Hornsby-mccoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Bittersweet revenge. Eve may have been young but she was indeed very courageous. When she set her mine to do something, she came through. She had both victory and lost love in the end.

[Shakeisha Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

K'Wan is one of my favorite authors no doubt, but this was not his best work for me. The characters were somewhat unbelievable, just hard to imagine a 18 yo girl going up against the mafia & the super hardcore persona. I did enjoy how the author showed the different POV's the characters and how he really had me sucked into the action, but I didn't like how the plot was so prolonged and really was so much false hope throughout the book with a typical ending.

[Mana · Rating 3 out of 5]

So i was given this book on them whim of another. My initial skepticism of this genre of books proved to be false. While usually books of this nature I feel are poorly written, convoluted with unnecessary hood stereotypes, and blatant cash grabs this wasn't. This actually told a story and had a purpose. Any extras only served to advance the story and give context. This was a real page turner that you won't want to put down. You just have to see how it ends.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Eve by K’Wan. I swear I love every book that I have read by K’wan. This is a book that you will not want to put down. You will want to know what is going to happen next even after the book is done.
The book starts with young Eve just being released from doing 2 years in jail. She has to make a decision on how her life will turn out. Will she go 100% legit or will she go to a life a crime. I know if I just did 2 years I would be going straight as an arrow. LOL!
Eve reunites with her friends and it is as if she never left. Eve is Gangsta.
This book will surprise you. It will remind you to not take things, people or feeling for granted. Don’t wait until it is too late to do the things in life you really want to do or tell people how you really feel. Thugs need love too.
MoeGold

[Socalledsosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book, loved the hardships each character followed and the heartbreaks as well, i feel like the relationship between eve and felon was rushed even though we did get a back story on how they been feelin each other. lmao, i also loved the backstories on many charters and how we got to see what each main character was doing at the time stuff was going down. only gave it four stars because the end, it didn’t make much sense and i hate how she basically lost all her friends even though in reality that is the hood for you but i could tell it was heartfelt and a more so plot driven book.

[Deszion Nasir · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite K'wan books. My heart bled for Eve as she struggled to find out where she fit in the world. She didn't always make the best choices and let her emotions get her in - and out - of a lot of jams. I am still waiting eagerly for her to resurface somewhere in another K'wan book...

[Siobhan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like ending

[Latonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing to say except Eve is a beast!!!!!!! This book was so good.

[Carrie Campbell-jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a GREAT story!! This story made me laugh, cry, and run through a gamut of emotions. I wish there was a happier ending but it was still bittersweet! Dang K’wan….

[S. Reid]

I have TWO COPIES OF THIS BOOK &I JUST LISTENED TO THE AUDIBLE IN FULL hoping that I'd find out who this EVE/EVELYN Panelli is & whether or not I would find her story as intriguing as I had MOST of K'wan's characters.
I also wanted to find out more info or the back story of Frankie Angels, but I don't think Frankie Angels had been mentioned in the entire near 12 hour audible.
It WAS NOT MY THING & I'LL CHALK IT UP TO.... getting a glimpse into EVE'S time in the 20 GANG.
MAYBE THE AUTHOR WILL INCLUDE EVE INTO OTHER CHARACTERS' JOURNEYS.

[Vermillion · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to give kudos to the narrator Cary Hite. I’ve listened to almost all of K’Wan’s audiobooks. But for some reason I’ve never noticed what Mr. Hite was giving us in his narration until this title. I all of a sudden noticed that not only was Mr. Hite giving us a performance, he was at the same time enjoying the effort. I could hear it. I give you 5 sincere. Wholehearted stars for the level of effort and passion you put into this one.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read but not my favorite K'wan book.

[Shannon Godfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eve is the real deal...

[Tiffany Lawes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

[Page Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As expected,this was a rough,gritty read that kept you guessing on what would happen next.Good read

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bitter sweet ending but this book was everything!!!! It had me captivated from the beginning to the end. Eve, Felon, Cassidy and Butter will really have you tied into their stories.

[Melony White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawn out. The plot was forgettable. Don't remember the ending.

[Jazminn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about Evelyn (known as Eve) who grew up on the block. She is of mixed heritage, Italian and Black. She was raised by her Uncle Bobby after her parents were slain by a member of the mob. She gets locked up over a mistake by her friends made. After she's released, she goes back to the streets to hustle for her money. She ends up falling for her friend that helped get her locked up. He also works with the mob. Eve finds the connection, and decides to end it all. She ends up losing a few friends along the way, but she keeps the best one.

This book was really good. It was written in the mindset of young, black people. There were a few typos that I didn't understand, but I'm not going to go back in the book to find them. I didn't like how he promoted himself in the book, either. If you're a good author, you don't need to do that. Fans of your work will pick it up without you telling them. Another thing I don't like (though it's something that is really small and probably nit picky) is that the woman on the cover of the book isn't the main character. Why would you put somebody on the cover which subconsciously puts that image in our minds, when it's not the character in the book?

[Drenna Gurl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let the record show that I love K'wan's books but this one is my absolute favorite! I received this oldie but goodie as a Christmas present this year and I had to force myself to stop reading it so that it wouldn't end too quickly.

Evelyn Panelli is a young woman fresh out of jail from doing a two year bid. In this book we learn that her parents were horribly murdered and she was almost killed as well when she was a little girl. Raised by her Uncle Bobby, she is a little rough around the edges but still quite beautiful. Upon her release, she bumps into her old friend Felon, whom she always had a secret crush on. Take a ride with Eve as she struggles to keep some money in her pocket and deal with the curveballs life has thrown her way. Battling demons, enemies and hustling is this girls way of life!

K'wan wrote an amazing story with this one! Amazing word play, well-executed plot, and the characters are all believable. One cannot go wrong with one of his novels!

[Blow Pop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content warnings: murder, death, violence, implications of rape/non consensual sex and sexual acts, excessive use of the n-word

This was a better book than I thought it would be.

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Beast especially his love of rescuing animals. Especially for rescuing a pit that was used for dog fights. Poor dog.

I both like and dislike how the ending of the story was. And I love that Eve and Bobby finally got their revenge to lay their demons to rest over her family. It sucks that she had to lose so many people who were close to her though.

That's really all I can say about it at the moment. I might add more later. It's a good book though.

Also him name dropping himself and his books in this book amused the hell out of me.

[Anissa Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eve was a young girl who had been serving a sentence for being caught with a weapon in the car after doing a "job" with some neighborhood guys. She ended up being the only one getting caught but wouldn't tell who she was with so had to do some time. After her release she goes back to the hood & links up with her old friends & starts back doing the same things.
When one of her friends is found murdered & the police don't care & aren't gonna do anything, she takes matters into her own hands. Ater evaluating the situation she realizes the situation is much bigger than she initially thought & knows she definitely has to get revenge.

[Diane Rembert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evelyn Panelli is a young lady that has been thru a lot in her early years, which caused her to be angry. As a member of Twenty Gang, she is determined to prove her position, but never bargained on falling in love during the process.

As always, K'wan did not disappoint and proves why he is at the top of the Urban Fiction fame. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

[D Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this book before and it’s still as good as the first time. Eve was a lot of things but she had a good heart. I loved her relationship with Beast and I wish that she would have had more time with Felon. I would have like to have read more about Uncle Bobby but this was a young folks story.

[Kianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book not expecting it to be as good as it was... but it was GOOD! Before i read this book i had never read a K'wan book but it turned out that i really love K'wan books and i don't think i could do without them HAHA!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

To me this book started off slow as hell, I didn't really get into it until almost the end. I only gave it 3 stars because it didn't have your normal happy ending like I expected. Overall it was well written.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is honestly one of my favourite books. I am constantly raving about it. I got this book when I was in Grade 9 I rememeber when my friend pasted away and that when I even started reading books.

[Joyanne8f]

This book is within my sister's possesion, she has said it to be a good book and promised me I could read it afterwards.

[One step at a time]

A friend told about his book. They said it seemed good and wanted to read it. I'm going to read this book after her.

[Tamieka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a typical drug dealing/hood love story. If you have read one...you've read them all. Eve is a bad chick though...