This is Pramela Cory's debut novel. First in a trilogy.

I liked the novel because of its' mechanics. The writing was direct and the dialogue believable. Most main characters were clearly portrayed.

As for the story, this is bildungsroman, a classic story of a 17 YEAR OLD (I need to emphasize the age) who runs away from her small town home in Texas because her stepfather is abusing her and her mother does not believe her. She lands in Vegas....yes sin city. She's 17 years old and she heads out to Vegas to start a singing career. She hooks up with the owner of the Sands casino (who sounds to be almost twice her age) and lives the life of Riley with her lover while caught in the middle of a pissing contest between said lover and Frank Sinatra (who I figure had to be about 44 at the point in this story which would make him seem like a horny old man).

I had several problems with this story line and the protagonist Hassie Calhoun. First she's 17 but as you read the novel, she's whipping up drinks like a pro (as well as drinking like a pro), becomes assistant manager at the Copa Club and jet sets around with her controlling lover and she hasn't reached her 18th birthday. However, as unbelievable as her character may sound, upon deeper reflection you see that yes she is young and she makes all the mistakes someone of that young age would make.

Other reviewers found Hassie heroic, courageous, gutsy, but I found her tiresome. Here I applaud Ms. Cory's writing skills because she has created a character who makes you pull your hair out with all her wrong decisions and her blindness to all the warnings she receives from those who love her. Ironically, the first question in the book club questions in the back of the book is "How many times did you want to slap Hassie"? Ms. Cory knew the character she created was extremely flawed and she ran with the concept. I give her kudos for that!

Pamela Cory definitely has a great writing style and is able to subtly weave a story to showcase her skills.