Today, I'm happy to welcome Chicki Brown to The Character Depot. Chicki has a new book that's well worth checking out, so without further delay, here's your intro to Inner City Blues ...
Buy links:
Kindle - http://amzn.to/2fssIXM
Nook - http://bit.ly/2eFLdcr
Coming soon in paperback on CreateSpace.com
Author bio
Contemporary women’s fiction/romance author Chicki Brown has been featured twice in USAToday. She was the 2014 B.R.A.B. (Building Relationships Around Books) Inspirational Fiction Author and also the 2011 SORMAG (Shades of Romance Magazine) Author of the Year. Chicki was also a contributing author to the Gumbo for the Soul: Men of Honor (Special Cancer Awareness Edition). A transplanted New Jersey native who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, Brown still misses the Jersey shore, the pizza and the hot dogs. Nia Forrester, Beverly Jenkins, Iris Bolling, Lisa Kleypas, and J.R. Ward are among her favorite authors.
Online contacts:
Blog: http://sisterscribbler.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@Chicki663
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chicki.brown
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/chicki663/
Amazon Central Author Page: http://amzn.to/l2kjXQ
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/qcsiMD
Blurb:
Dr. Jesse Stafford, successful surgeon, husband and father of three lives in an exclusive enclave in Atlanta. He volunteers his time at a neighborhood free clinic in one of the roughest parts of Atlanta where his wife, Cydney's family still lives. When an unarmed thirteen-year-old boy is shot and killed by the police in this neighborhood, Jesse finds himself in an ethical dilemma and at odds with some family members. His involvement puts everything he’s achieved on the line.
Excerpt:
Cydney, Rhani, Gianne, Cherilyn, Adanna and Mona followed their mother-in-law into the kitchen looking as though they were trying to keep from collapsing in laughter. Cyd had been married to Jesse for six years, but it still amazed her how his mother maintained order in a family where she was outnumbered seven to one. She wasn’t pushy or domineering, yet she could squash conflict better than a WWE referee. And her sons never argued with her the way they did with their father.
“I swear!” she fussed and snatched an apron from a drawer. “Why does Victor always have to start some mess? We can never have a holiday without some kind of conflict.”
“I believe you just put a quick end to it, Mama,” Adanna said, eliciting laughs from her sisters-in-law.
“Yes, only I shouldn’t have to do it to begin with.”
“What were they arguing about this time?” Rhani asked, passing an apron to each of the other women.
Cydney sighed. “Jesse got arrested the other night.” A collective gasp bounced off of the marble and stainless steel.
“What’d he do?” Mona’s eyes stretched wide, unintentionally emphasizing that she was wearing full make-up at nine o’clock in the morning.
“He got picked up at the demonstration against the decision in the Darren Givens case. Things kind of got out of control, and they arrested everyone.”
“Ooh, I can see why Daddy is upset.” Rhani took the three dozen eggs her mother-in-law handed to her. “Greg told me all about how he reacted when he got arrested.”
“He means well,” Mama said, passing cans of refrigerated biscuits across the island. “But he usually goes about it the wrong way.”
Gianne sprayed an assortment of cookie sheets with non-stick spray. “I’m just happy he and Marc worked out their issues. I no longer have to worry about them trying to strangle each other whenever they’re together.”
The women worked in tandem scrambling eggs, frying the breakfast meats, buttering biscuits and filling glasses with juice. Mama called the family to the dining room. Jesse and Daddy managed to keep it civil during the meal. The men did their due diligence and cleaned up the dining room, loaded the dishwasher and returned to their spots in front of the TV in the family room. The younger children busied themselves with their toys and games. The older ones disappeared downstairs to the theater to watch a movie.
Cydney’s favorite part of celebrating holidays with her in-laws was when the toddlers were down for their naps, and each of the couples cuddled together. Inevitably one or more of them fell asleep.
Once they finished breakfast, Adanna quietly communicated with her parents in London by Face Time on her iPad, while Marc and Charles caught up with each other, speaking in hushed tones. Gianne got lost in a novel she’d brought with her to read on the plane. Rhani napped with her head on Greg’s shoulder as he and Nick watched ESPN. Vic crashed with his head in Mona’s lap, and she lovingly stroked his hair.
This kind of peace would never happen with her family. They didn’t get together often. When they did, the day included her autistic brother’s loud verbal outbursts, the inevitable showdown between two or more of Richaun and Rasheed’s baby mamas and their menagerie of children who were all being raised with different rules and behavioral expectations.
All of this took place amidst an apartment full of cigarette smoke with the constant throbbing beat of rap playing in the background. Cydney always found a reason to escape early.
These were the two contrasting worlds between which she still maneuvered. She loved her family, but usually left her mother’s apartment agitated and in desperate need of a woosah. Her husband’s world calmed her, even when a conflict arose between family members. Whenever that happened, at least it never deteriorated into the I’m going to cut you, bitch threats hurled from one of her brothers’ exes to another.
Kindle - http://amzn.to/2fssIXM
Nook - http://bit.ly/2eFLdcr
Coming soon in paperback on CreateSpace.com
Author bio
Contemporary women’s fiction/romance author Chicki Brown has been featured twice in USAToday. She was the 2014 B.R.A.B. (Building Relationships Around Books) Inspirational Fiction Author and also the 2011 SORMAG (Shades of Romance Magazine) Author of the Year. Chicki was also a contributing author to the Gumbo for the Soul: Men of Honor (Special Cancer Awareness Edition). A transplanted New Jersey native who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, Brown still misses the Jersey shore, the pizza and the hot dogs. Nia Forrester, Beverly Jenkins, Iris Bolling, Lisa Kleypas, and J.R. Ward are among her favorite authors.
Online contacts:
Blog: http://sisterscribbler.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@Chicki663
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chicki.brown
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/chicki663/
Amazon Central Author Page: http://amzn.to/l2kjXQ
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/qcsiMD
Blurb:
Dr. Jesse Stafford, successful surgeon, husband and father of three lives in an exclusive enclave in Atlanta. He volunteers his time at a neighborhood free clinic in one of the roughest parts of Atlanta where his wife, Cydney's family still lives. When an unarmed thirteen-year-old boy is shot and killed by the police in this neighborhood, Jesse finds himself in an ethical dilemma and at odds with some family members. His involvement puts everything he’s achieved on the line.
Excerpt:
Cydney, Rhani, Gianne, Cherilyn, Adanna and Mona followed their mother-in-law into the kitchen looking as though they were trying to keep from collapsing in laughter. Cyd had been married to Jesse for six years, but it still amazed her how his mother maintained order in a family where she was outnumbered seven to one. She wasn’t pushy or domineering, yet she could squash conflict better than a WWE referee. And her sons never argued with her the way they did with their father.
“I swear!” she fussed and snatched an apron from a drawer. “Why does Victor always have to start some mess? We can never have a holiday without some kind of conflict.”
“I believe you just put a quick end to it, Mama,” Adanna said, eliciting laughs from her sisters-in-law.
“Yes, only I shouldn’t have to do it to begin with.”
“What were they arguing about this time?” Rhani asked, passing an apron to each of the other women.
Cydney sighed. “Jesse got arrested the other night.” A collective gasp bounced off of the marble and stainless steel.
“What’d he do?” Mona’s eyes stretched wide, unintentionally emphasizing that she was wearing full make-up at nine o’clock in the morning.
“He got picked up at the demonstration against the decision in the Darren Givens case. Things kind of got out of control, and they arrested everyone.”
“Ooh, I can see why Daddy is upset.” Rhani took the three dozen eggs her mother-in-law handed to her. “Greg told me all about how he reacted when he got arrested.”
“He means well,” Mama said, passing cans of refrigerated biscuits across the island. “But he usually goes about it the wrong way.”
Gianne sprayed an assortment of cookie sheets with non-stick spray. “I’m just happy he and Marc worked out their issues. I no longer have to worry about them trying to strangle each other whenever they’re together.”
The women worked in tandem scrambling eggs, frying the breakfast meats, buttering biscuits and filling glasses with juice. Mama called the family to the dining room. Jesse and Daddy managed to keep it civil during the meal. The men did their due diligence and cleaned up the dining room, loaded the dishwasher and returned to their spots in front of the TV in the family room. The younger children busied themselves with their toys and games. The older ones disappeared downstairs to the theater to watch a movie.
Cydney’s favorite part of celebrating holidays with her in-laws was when the toddlers were down for their naps, and each of the couples cuddled together. Inevitably one or more of them fell asleep.
Once they finished breakfast, Adanna quietly communicated with her parents in London by Face Time on her iPad, while Marc and Charles caught up with each other, speaking in hushed tones. Gianne got lost in a novel she’d brought with her to read on the plane. Rhani napped with her head on Greg’s shoulder as he and Nick watched ESPN. Vic crashed with his head in Mona’s lap, and she lovingly stroked his hair.
This kind of peace would never happen with her family. They didn’t get together often. When they did, the day included her autistic brother’s loud verbal outbursts, the inevitable showdown between two or more of Richaun and Rasheed’s baby mamas and their menagerie of children who were all being raised with different rules and behavioral expectations.
All of this took place amidst an apartment full of cigarette smoke with the constant throbbing beat of rap playing in the background. Cydney always found a reason to escape early.
These were the two contrasting worlds between which she still maneuvered. She loved her family, but usually left her mother’s apartment agitated and in desperate need of a woosah. Her husband’s world calmed her, even when a conflict arose between family members. Whenever that happened, at least it never deteriorated into the I’m going to cut you, bitch threats hurled from one of her brothers’ exes to another.
