What Stays In Vegas by Beth Labonte

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Publication Date: 5/30/2011
Publisher: Beth Labonte

 

Bored administrative assistant, Tessa Golden, is trapped in a life of lousy weather, irritating bosses, and mind-numbing secretarial work. Her dreams of being an artist have rapidly deteriorated into building things out of paperclips while on hold with tech support. To make matters even worse, the love of her life has gone off and married another woman.

So when Tessa is suddenly transferred to the Las Vegas branch of her company - playing wingwoman to her freshly divorced boss, juggling a client from hell, and catching the eye of one very eligible coworker - will her life finally be shaken up enough to straighten itself out?

**I received a copy of this eBook from the author in return for an honest review**

I was in the mood for a light, fun read and this book definitely delivered; very few books have made me literally laugh out loud, but this is one of them.

I enjoyed the main character, Tessa, immensely. She was so spunky and hilarious, yet completely relatable. I think most of us have experienced feelings for another person that were not returned and so I felt for what she was going through, being in love with her best friend, Nick. Tessa is also stuck in a job that she doesn't enjoy and has aspirations of doing other things, like pursuing her passion for art. What I really love is how witty she was; there were several times I found myself laughing throughout the book. I bookmarked a couple of my favorite quotes, so here they are for your reading pleasure:

 

I could do this job with my hands tied behind my back and my head in a paper bag. Some Mondays I've been tempted to do this job with my head in a plastic bag. But let's not get morbid. (Tessa, pg. 8)

I know that he's probably deliriously happy, goes home each night to his lingerie clad wife, and they make love on a bed of rose petals and puppies. (Tessa, on Nick's marriage - pg. 10)

There were plenty of other parts that cracked me up, but I chose to share my two favorite ones.

I thought I had everything figured out when it came to Tessa's love life. I completely adored Nick; he seemed to be so caring, funny, and an all around good friend to her. It was impossible not to fall in love with him too, although the fact that he was a married was a major roadblock. When she goes to the Las Vegas office and meets someone else, I was completely against it! How could she possibly find someone she loved as much as Nick? Then, as the story progressed, I began to see this new guy as a better and better fit for her, until I wasn't sure which man I liked better. I won't give away any big spoilers (notice I didn't even give you the name of the guy she becomes smitten with in Vegas), but I will say this: you will be very satisfied with the ending. One more thing I have to share, an extremely sweet quote from the one who sweeps her off her feet in Vegas:

 

"You know" he said. "I've lived here for years now. I hate the club scene, I never desired to go to the Bunny Ranch, and I never once wished to see Wayne Newton in concert. But ever since you came here," he leaned down and kissed me, "it kind of feels like home." (pg. 126)

*SIGH*, just love that. How could you not fall for him after that gem? 

 

This book was amazingly funny and had some great romance in it as well. Any novel that can make me laugh out loud gets a huge thumbs up from me, and I'm very thankful I got the chance to read this one. If you like romance with some extremely comic moments thrown in, I promise you will love What Stays In Vegas.

If you would like to learn more about the author, Beth Labonte, check out her webpage and Twitter.