Lost in NashVegas, by Rachel Hauck

Every once in awhile, a novel comes along with a story so captivating I'm compelled to read it all the way through until I finish - sometimes, in one sitting. Now, with the advent of teaching, the start of graduate school, my own writing and a blooming family, that happens less these days - and usually only a pulse-pounding thriller churned out by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ted Dekker or Robert Liparulo is enough to do the trick.

Needless to say, when I found myself suddenly on chapter thirteen the same day I started Lost in NashVegas, by Rachel Hauck, it took me by surprise. Not too much of a surprise, really, because in the last six years since meeting my wife and watching my fill of movies on Lifetime and discovering the wonder of The Divine Secrets of the Yah-Yah Sisterhood, (also, John Cusak is one of my favorite actors, which makes romantic comedies a must), I've come to appreciate the power of "chic lit". However, this particular story grabbed me by the collar and wouldn't let go, which was still unusual for me.

Robin McAfee is a Nashville-bound country-singer hopeful pinning for the dream all creative artists chase: being in the spotlight, displaying your creative powers for all, and having your name known. Her mother - holding painful secrets of the past close to her chest - disapproves of Robin's silly dream; her boyfriend has a much more pedestrian vision: them married, living off his wages from stocking freight at Willaby's and having ten or more kids, and Robin faces a daunting obstacle barring her way to music stardom - she has stage fright. Not just the "butterflies in the stomach" variety, but "look out, I'm going to throw-up", "run for the nearest exit" kind. If Robin had a nickel for every time she's chickened out from a performance, she wouldn't need stardom.

However, she plunges in anyway - music is her love and life, something God has stamped upon her very soul. Braving cynical, "I've seen it all before" music producers, vicious competition, and unscrupulous folks who plot about stealing your songs while patting you on the back - will Robin snatch her dream, or will she become one more "wrecked songwriter wanna-be" in the musical junkyard?

Lost in NashVegas beautifully captures the soul of what it means to pursue a dream; especially a performing, creating one, and that's what reached inside and tweaked me, in particular. Though this is a novel everyone can enjoy, those of us pining away for our own dreams of creative success will find an intimate connection with Robin. Her travails represent the truth of breaking through in any creative or performing endeavor - to make it, one must have a unique blend of patience and dogged determination, self-confidence and humility, a touch of brashness sprinkled with a willingness to learn and be taught.

Hauck's style is frank, she catches the "lingo" of Tennessee and the South perfectly, and she's a bit brash herself. Not all Christian women fit into the stereotype that's been crafted for them within Christianity and church life, and though Robin's faith is what carries her forward, this is not a woman who's going to be browbeaten into the "wives, submit to your husbands" category, she's the type who'll submit when she finds one worthy of submitting to - an important truth for Christian men and women everywhere.

For those looking for their own bit of stardom, and those who just enjoy a wonderful story about the power of a dream, pick up Lost In NashVegas today.