Rementa "Remmi" Broughten has a plan. She's gonna be somebody, no matter what it takes. With only a high school education but possessing a strikingly beautiful face and body, she's pretty sure she knows what success will require. After all, she learned this lesson early from her mother. "A girl's gotta eat."

With Shannelle Anderson, her best friend since grade school, now a stripper in a Harlem club by her side, Remmi schemes to transition from an extra in music videos to a star in the entertainment industry. All she needs is a break. And she'll take one wherever and however it comes, whether by getting the best of a criminal enterprise or laying with a married mover and shaker in the entertainment industry.

Yes, both Remmi and Shannelle know what success requires— scheming and exploiting their bodies to get ahead—but do they really know what such success will cost them? When unexpected tragedy befalls Remmi and Shannelle, Remmi begins to reevaluate her choices. Too bad she has to tie up a few loose ends—and she'll do it the only way she knows how—before she'll be free to enjoy the success she so desperately craves.

A GIRL'S GOTTA EAT examines the choices made by young women who desire celebrity, fame, and fortune and who learn way too early through sad and difficult circumstances that their bodies are a valuable commodity. The fast-paced story draws the reader in and keeps her riveted until the last page, even when the main characters and their choices are, at times, contemptible. Michelle Valentine presents an all too real slice of urban life in excellent fashion. She paints Remmi, a bright young woman, as someone equally deserving of empathy and dislike. Because empathy wins in the end, A GIRL'S GOTTA EAT is a recommended urban fiction read.