At seventeen years old, Kristen Brownell drops out of high school, runs away from a broken home, and escapes to Las Vegas with one suitcase to be with a man she hardly knows (as you do). With no money, no diploma, and no job experience, she starts out washing dishes in a casino restaurant. A homely, uncoordinated geek who’s spent her life observing others, she doesn’t expect to accomplish much in a city where wallflowers finish last. Then a chance audition at a talent agency changes everything.

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On her journey to becoming the world’s most unlikely showgirl, Kristen gets an extreme makeover, meets and falls in love with a fellow performer, and gains access to everything the city has to offer both on stage and off. But her success doesn’t come without consequences. Despite reaching the top, Kristen is swallowed by the Vegas underbelly like so many before her, a tale as old as time in a town known for its mercilessness. When she finally bottoms out, she finds herself homeless and alone with a seemingly grim future. 

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Despite losing everything, all is not lost. With the help of family, friends, and fierce determination, Kristen pulls herself out of darkness, destruction, and despair. She rebuilds herself and her life through higher education and goes on to become an educator herself. Told with humor, heart, and harrowing honesty, Lost Vegas: Memoirs of a Showgirl is a powerful story about resistance, reinvention, and, ultimately, redemption.