Title: Levitating Las Vegas
Author: Jennifer Echols
Publisher: May 7th, 3013 by Pocket Star
Format: ebook, 300 pages
Source: Publisher, in exchange for an honest review

Nothing up her sleeves…or so she’s been led to believe.

Showgirl Holly Starr is sick and tired of assisting her dad, a celebrity magician, in his Las Vegas casino magic show. As soon as he keeps his promise to her and shares the secrets to his tricks, she can break out on her own. But can she really make it? For years Holly has taken medication to stave off crazy hallucinations that she can levitate objects. Just when she thinks she’s ready to make a career and a life for herself, her medicine—and her luck—run out.

Elijah Brown suffers from a similar delusion—that he can read minds—and he’s out of medicine too. Determined to save himself and his old flame Holly, he kidnaps her and takes her straight to the source, a town high in the Rockies where their medicine is made. What they discover there leads them to suspect their powers are not imaginary after all…and neither is the intense attraction they feel for each other.

They make a pact to stick together as they return to Vegas to confront the people who kept them in the dark so long. But soon they’re pitting their powers against each other in a dangerous world where the nightlife is seductive, domination is addictive, the sex is beyond belief…and falling in love is murder.

Elijah asks Holly out on a date during their sophomore year of high school. When her parents find out, they force Holly to break the date and give her a flimsy excuse. While stewing in her anger, she discovers she can levitate objects (including herself) with her mind. Her parents walk in on the levitating and suddenly she’s in a doctor’s office being told she has a terrible disease that gives her delusions. To stave off the symptoms, she must take medication for the rest of her life. Elijah discovers that very that night that he has the same disease, and must take medication to prevent his delusions of being a mind reader. Seven years later, when the pharmacy runs out of the medicine, Elijah becomes so desperate for more that he kidnaps Holly and drives all night to the source. Once there, they figure out that they don’t actually have a disease, they have real powers.

Holly was an interesting character, a bit unusual in the new adult genre. She was a showgirl, and perfectly comfortable parading on stage in a spangled bikini. She was smart and determined and (gasp!) a virgin. (Why is that always supposed to be such a shocker?) She had a nice relationship with her parents, they were a tight family who spent a lot of time together. Elijah was close to his mother, with no father in the picture. Considering they lived in Vegas and worked in a casino, they were pretty average kids.

Their parents, however, were awful people. They knew their children had these powers, and instead of teaching them how to be responsible with them, they scared them into thinking they had a horrible scary disease, then drugged them. In fact, a lot of the adults were real asshats. The old “We’re doing it to protect the kids” excuse didn’t cut it.

There were a lot of little bits that bothered me. Like how Elijah and Holly just accepted their diagnoses with no question. I don’t know about you, but when I get the tiniest little symptom, I’m on WebMD checking to make sure I don’t have the bubonic plague. But they never did the first Google search. Even 7 years later, they still took those pills without question. Speaking of their pills – the name of the miracle drug was Mentafixol. As in “Mental Fix All.” How cheesy is that? Also (highlight the text to view the spoiler), Holly and Elijah were practically in love, then within a few short minutes, they were threatening real violence to each other. Holly’s best friend betrayed her and she was okay with that? And not to be too picky, but “the sex is beyond belief” is quite the exaggeration. There’s 1 sex scene total, and it’s not all that spectacular. There was definite chemistry, but nothing I would consider super sexy.

And this was probably the thing that bugged me the most – Holly spent at least 3 quarters of the book in her showgirl outfit – a sparkly sequined bikini and heels. That’s all. She walked around Vegas in it, rode a mass transit bus in it, slept in it overnight, then continued to wear it while walking around another town. Never once did she suggest stopping at a WalMart to pick up some shorts, or that she might be uncomfortable or underdressed. That just smacked of improbability.

There were also a few unanswered questions (I really dislike those). For example, one scene clearly described how someone used their keys to open a slot machine specifically to touch the metal inside while exerting their powers. But why they had to that was never explained. I can only assume that the metal helped to conduct powers…?

That was a lot of nitpicking, so let me mention some of the things that I liked about the book. It was very zippy and the plot sped along, so I was never bored. The writing was very descriptive and I enjoyed the dialogue. I loved how strong Holly was, she was confident and friendly. The chemistry between her and Elijah was great, lots of sexual tension and longing looks.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to overcome my issues with the book. Near the end, in the middle of the climactic final scenes, I literally found myself thinking “I really should care about what’s happening.” But I didn’t. I honestly didn’t care how the book ended, but by then there was less than a chapter left, so I figured I’d just finish it.

I just couldn’t get into the book. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and had only a mild interest in what happened to them. On the plus side, it was a quick and entertaining read.