Desember is a true hustler! She would sell just about anything to make money, except her body and her loyalty. I loved this character and I’m sure everyone who’s introduced to her will too.
[Byrd’s Eye View]
I recently caught up with the Lovely Nikki Turner at the beautiful Hudson Hotel here in Manhattan.
I am a long time fan of Ms. Turner’s books for so many reasons. One being that her stories start right away and almost grab you. We chatted about her new book “Natural Born Hustler” which is about the character “Desember” , who is very multi-facited. She grew up hard, watched her mother struggle and be very dependent on the men in her life. So she made a promise to herself; never to be like her mother.
Desember is a true hustler! She would sell just about anything to make money, except her body and her loyalty. I loved this character and I’m sure everyone who’s introduced to her will too. She gives us her edgy slice of the street life. This character started out as just being a character for “hustler’s wife 3” which is called “A heart Break of a Hustler’s Wife.” But Ms. Turner felt it would be a disservice to her readers if she didn’t introduce her before she shows up in Virgina as a cast member for HW3, which will debut April 2011.
I have always enjoyed Nikki’s style of writing. “I want my books to be what I want to read. I wanted when some one pick up a Nikki Turner book that it’s entertaining from start to finish” she told me.
And they are: full of juicy drama; her novels leave you wanting more at the end and she reels you along by saying “to be continued…”
So you’re waiting impatiently for the sequel. Reading ” Natural Born Hustler,” I saw a few things that could be created from this story. One being a movie! So I asked Ms. Turner, who is at the top of her game–she told me that she will be taking a screen writing class so her work goes from book to Big screen. We will be watching out for the movies for sure!
The young, fresh and creative writer, says one way she maintains energy and reader anticipation in her work is by focusing on one book at a time, giving it her total attention until the end then she’s brain storming about the next.
I was intrigued to learn that before Nikki starts her novels she has to have the entire story in her head first or she won’t write it! This and the fact she has written vivid page-turning books tells me she was born to write. The New York Times agrees because they crowned her as a Times best selling Author.
There are so many things readers can take away from “Natural Born Hustler.” Desember had issues with her mother, didn’t know her biological father, and had to be strong and protect herself and her mother.
But what I took away was that it was a teenage love story–That hard love. Most of us have experienced this in some shape or form. “I do this for my readers. I will go as far as they want me to go. Some people when I meet them say they don’t read those kind of books because they think that my books are all gutter and grimmy; and they are raw, but I think that everyone should have that “Nikki Turner Original” experience. It’s like a massage, some say they don’t get them but once they’ve had that one massage—they get it. It’s the same way with my books,” she told me. 
If you don’t already have a copy, go and pick up “Natural Born Hustler” at your favorite bookstore or online. You can visit Nikki’s site at www.nikkiturner.com.
You can reach fashion and entertainment editor Shavaughn Byrd at [email protected] Also check out www.shavaughn.com
