Thug Lovin' was an eye-opening novel for me; an introduction to a hip-hop world of crime and drugs.  Tasha and Trae are a couple from the "hood" who have made their way through to the world of wealth and prestige. Trae's insane stash of drug money will buy them anything.  Life is good.  Tasha is expecting twins, and is busy decorating their new Hollywood home.  Trae plans to open a night club, but it's hard to stay away from the life in the hood as they knew it, and even though they live in Los Angeles, and everything is going their way, Trae Macklin is compelled to return to the East Coast to perform a revenge killing after his cousin Shaheem is murdered.

Once open, The Club New York is a West Coast hot spot that comes complete with a Chinese mobster and his daughter, Charli.  Trae is attracted to Charli, and Charli is trouble that he doesn't need. Then when a witness to Trae's New Jersey crime moves to L.A. and tries to blackmail him, the action goes into high gear. In a milieu of sex, crime, and drugs, these are dangerous people in a dangerous world.

Filled with ethnic ideas and language, the multi-level, fast action plot opens up a whole new world that an elderly, white granny like me would never even guess existed, but that is definitely Wahida Clark's territory.  She started writing this series while incarcerated in a federal prison. This is the fourth novel in the Thug series, and I think it would be better—the concepts more relevant—if the novels were read in order, since starting with number four leaves a lot of Tasha and Trae history to try to piece together. It is, nevertheless, a mesmerizing read with a shocking ending that I didn't see coming.