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Tales From the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell
Chick Lit Review

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.
[Rating: 4]

April 15, 2011
4 Comments
In My Mailbox: Week of February 27
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In My Mailbox: Week of February 27

In My Mailbox: Week of February 27

Title: Tales From the Yoga Studio
Author: Rain Mitchell
Received: From Rubyna Mansuri @ FSB Associates
Synopsis: The yoga studio is where daily cares are set aside, mats are unfurled, and physical exertion leads to well-being, renewal, and friendship. An aggressively expanding chain of Los Angeles yoga “experience centers,” has Lee and her extraordinary teaching abilities in its sights. They woo her with a lucrative contract, a trademarked name for her classes, and a place for her handsome musician husband. But accepting the contract means abandoning the students at the homey studio Lee runs in L.A.’s Silver Lake district- and leaving behind four women whose friendships are suddenly more important to her than retirement benefits and a salary increase.
Tales from the Yoga Studio is an insider’s look at the current obsession with yoga, told with enough humor, wit, and warmth to charm and delight readers, whether or not they’ve ever done a Downward Dog.

Title: Everleigh in NYC
Author: Cathleen Holst
Received: From Cathleen Holst
Synopsis: Cheating boyfriend aside, Everleigh Carlisle picks up the shattered pieces of her life, determined to put them back together. On a whim, Everleigh and her BFF Christina visit a voodoo priestess while celebrating Mardi Gras in the Big Easy, where an unspoken wish is granted, unknowingly altering the course of Everleigh’s life. Two years later, her dreams are set to come true when she lands her dream job as a columnist for New York’s premiere fashion magazine, TrĂ©s Magnifique. Everleigh’s life quickly becomes complicated when her ex re-declares his love for her, and she meets Robert Cates, only to discover three things: 1)She is extremely attracted to him. 2) She has the bizarre ability to hear his thoughts. 3) He is her new boss. Everleigh takes a long awaited bite from the Big Apple, but are her eyes bigger than her appetite?

Title: Rock Bottom
Author: Erin Brockovich & CJ Lyons
Received: From CJ Lyons
Synopsis: Ten years ago, Angela Joy Palladino left home as a pregnant seventeen-year-old in trouble. Now, after winning and losing a career as an environmental activist, dubbed by the media as “The People’s Champion,” she hopes to start over by taking a new job with a lawyer who is fighting to stop mountain top removal mining.
As a single mom of a special needs nine-year-old boy, Angela is happy for any work she can get, even if it means returning to the West Virginia hometown she left in disgrace. But when her new boss turns up dead and his daughter’s life is threatened, Angela discovers that her own secrets aren’t the only ones her mountain hometown has kept buried.
Hitting rock bottom, Angela must face the betrayal of those once closest to her and confront the harrowing past she thought she had left behind.

Title: Little Miss Teacher
Author: Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar
Received: From Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar
Synopsis: Told through the eyes of Candace Turner, a high school English teacher straight out of college, Little Miss Teacher details one woman’s struggles through the important initial stages of her career and her life as a grown-up. While teaching her students about writing and literature, Candace learns her own lessons about life. As she worries about fitting in with the faculty and conquering piles of essays to grade, Candace also pursues an old crush. Through her endless attempts to succeed in both her job and life, she has many adventures within and outside of her classroom walls. Ultimately, Candace hopes to finish the school year with a feeling of triumph at having touched the lives of her students
 and having survived.

In the vein of both Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’s The Nanny Diaries and Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Teacher is a story about a young woman dealing with the ups and downs of work and life. In experiences that are sometimes amusing and sometimes sad, Candace endures everything from chaperoning the prom to helping a friend deal with a problem. In her earnest, self-conscious, conversational manner, Candace gives a voice and an all-access pass to the often embarrassing life of a young educator.

February 27, 2011
2 Comments