Tales From the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell

Tales From the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell is a charismatic novel about a group woman struggling in different aspects of their lives. Lee, the owner and instructor of a yoga studio, is having money and marriage troubles. Her husband Alan recently moved out of their home, but Lee is determined to make it worth with him. Katherine, who works as a masseuse at Lee’s studio, is a recovering addict who stumbles into what may be love, but she doesn’t feel worthy of receiving it. Graciela is a dancer who was recently injured, and is turning to yoga to try to help recover. Imani, though a successful actor and wife to an adoring husband, suffered a miscarriage and is feeling lost after her devastating experience. And Stephanie is determined to be the best screenwriter, but her namedropping and egotistical manner turns everyone away from her. The girls all meet at Lee’s studio, and form odd friendships to help each other through their journeys.

This novel seems to be getting plenty of mixed reviews, but I liked it, I really did. I love yoga, so it was fun for me to know the poses they were performing and to learn new ideas. There is a big “corporate yoga” scandal in the book, which I thought was really interesting to read about. There are essentially five main characters, and each has their own small sections to discuss their lives. I think five may be too many. Or else Mitchell needed to give more time to each character. Just when I thought I was getting to connect with one, I would be yanked into another’s world. But I thought each woman brought an interesting characteristic and authentic problem to their group, and I enjoyed watching how they would interact with one another. I really never did understand where Graciela’s injury came from though. Or why Lee was so blind to her husband’s obvious wandering eye. But overall, I thought this was a good story and I am hoping for some sort of spin-off with a few of the characters.