I love country music. And it’s not just because the country music world is the host for a bunch of cute singers (case in point, Brad Paisley, Tim Look-At-those-Muscles-McGraw and Kute Keith Urban), but because I can identify with the songs. Like Trace Adkins puts it, they’re “songs about me.” Except, well, I don’t have a pickup, and my husband hasn’t left me with a crop in the field, and I didn’t grow up with a coal-mining daddy…okay, so they’re not so much about me as they embrace the down-home side of me. The me that is just a regular girl running after her dreams.
Which, probably is why I loved Rachel Hauck’s new book, Lost in NashVegas. It’s like a country music song in a book, only better because it lasts longer. A delightful story about a girl who has a dream, and is willing to work for it, Lost in NashVegas is about secrets, and sacrifices, about dreams lost and reborn, and surrendering to God, only to discover He gives back more than we can imagine.
It’s a story about an everyday girl like us who reaches high, and finds God reaching back. I dunno about you, but I need that kind of encouragement, sometimes.
And I love not only the plot, but the writing is also top-notch. Some of my favorite excerpts:
“The afternoon moves into evening and I still haven’t made my announcement. Fireflies dart around the porch, flashing green, urging me to go, go, go.”
Nice! Can you just see it, feel her anticipation?
Here’s another, that so well captures Robin’s voice:
“We don’t know when Jesus plans on coming back, and I sure-as-shooting don’t want to be caught holding my one dinky talent over a hold in the ground. “Ooops, hey Jesus, I’ve been meaning to do something with this…”
Makes ya think, huh? (Okay, it made ME think…)
And this one brought out the romantic in me, aah..
“The night wind whistles through the trees. It’s cold and crisp. Love is in the air and I’m taking a deep, deep breath.”
Okay, now here’s the part where I confess that Rach is my good friend, and I have a special affinity toward Robin and Birdie and Bit, and the entire gang from Freedom, ‘Bama. I love their down-home charm, their camaraderie, the way they love each other. Reminds me of when I lived in Tennessee and learned to eat soup beans and corn bread and made friends who taught me to say “dawg.” Rach did extensive research for this book, hanging out in Nashville, following country music stars, interviewing songwriters. She dragged her friends to the Bluebird Café and made instant friends with the owner (how does she do that?) The scene I love most is at the Frothy Monkey, because it was there that Rach hashed out the plot, where we disturbed a couple college boys studying for class, where I knew this book had down home, southern-style magic.
Just like a good country-western song.
Lost in NashVegas. Get the book, read it…and sing along with me.