Bad Girlz

Book excerpt: The bestselling author of B-More Careful, Shannon Holmes, delivers Bad Girlz, another wild adventure into the streets. The setting this time is the Badlands, one of the toughest and poorest communities in Philadelphia. Bad Girlz takes you into the mysterious and often dangerous lives of young women who turn to the streets and strip clubs as a means of survival. These are girls who, along the way, suffer bad breaks and find themselves ripe for exploitation by men and women who pretend to be their saviors. Tender and Goldie were taken under wing by Kat, a veteran stripper, who enjoyed the life and the risks she had to take to stay in the mix of the sex trade. Both of these young and beautiful girls had ended up in dire straits and in need of Kat's help in different ways, but ultimately for the same reasons: They lacked the love and support that most of us expect to get at home and in our communities. Where they live, illegal money is often the only money to be made, and the difference between the law and the outlaw is tough to discern. Holmes tells a page-turning story of sex, money, and murder in the name of survival and reveals the many ways that good girls, trying to get by in desperate situations, become Bad Girlz.