Sexy Serenity, A Memoir

"No matter what anyone says, I'm not a whore." That becomes Miranda K. Simon's daily mantra as she struggles to save both her soul and her sanity dancing in some of the seediest strip clubs in Hollywood and Las Vegas. Her biggest challenge: Can she make it out of this shady underworld with her self-worth, ambitions, and priorities as a mother intact? "Sexy Serenity" is Miranda's unabashed diary of her life as a young college student who is forced by poverty to betray her long-held morals and become a dance hostess at an infamous underground club in downtown Los Angeles. With a one-year-old son, nowhere else to turn, and a hearty dose of naďveté, she does what she must to make ends meet. From the beginning of her new career, Miranda constantly struggles to adapt to nightly grinding sessions with the city's creepiest men and the pressure to date clients outside of the club. When she feels her safety has been compromised, she tries to escape hostess clubs and her clients by stripping off her values and her clothes. She transforms herself into exotic dancer "Serenity," a woman who has no problem getting naked for men and refuses to cry every night about it. Between dressing up as a cop and being fingerprinted by one, Miranda's life plunges into chaos. After earning (and paying for) her college degree, she lands a new corporate job but faces brazen discrimination against single mothers. She still can't afford rent so she's compelled to work weekends at the clubs. It seems every time she attempts to quit dancing, some new expense gets in her way. But when one of her past clients shows up at her office, trying to win her back with diamond earrings and cheap promises, Miranda can no longer ignore her past nor the power it still has over her. In order to save her reputation, her son, and her future, can she say goodbye, finally, to the twisted allure of stripping?