Review: "Balancing Acts" by Zoe Fishman

Charlie used to dominate Wall Street, but has changed paths and now runs a yoga studio with two fellow yoga-lovers; the reason behind her sudden switch from her old, fast-paced life to yoga remains mysterious. Naomi used to love to be behind the camera, but her life changed when she got pregnant with her son, Noah, now 8. Now she's trying to deal with the fact that Noah's once-absent father (and her ex) wants back into her son's life after years of being uninterested. Sabine is the editor of romance novels, but would rather be writing them than editing them. She's single and living in New York City, but can't help wanting a little more. Bess is currently writing snarky captions for a celebrity gossip magazine, but longs to break out and write something worthwhile that will get her noticed in the literary world. She's also missing her boyfriend, Dan, since he's moved to LA to pursure screenwriting.

These four women happen meet up at their 10-year College reuinion and despite the fact that they are so different they all agree to sign up for a beginners yoga class at Charlie's new yoga studio, Prana. In the six weeks that they take classes together all of the women will find out something new about themselves and will learn to face the things in life that they fear most. They may even form new friendships that will last beyond Saturday morning yoga class.

The stories of these four different women are what made Balancing Acts so hard to put down. Each woman has a different story, yet all seemed realistic and none seemed far-fetched or overly dramatic. Sometimes I'll read a book and find myself thinking that the things that happened to the main characters were hard to envision happening in real life, but the stories in this novel carried with them enough reality to make them plausible. I did find the writing itself to be stiff and awkward at times, but the plot helped to carry me through those parts. Beware: this book will make you want to try yoga if you haven't already. By the time I was done the book I was itching to haul my yoga mat out of storage (okay, okay, out of the package) and practice my downward dog.

Despite the rough patches here and there this is still a debut novel worth picking up. You can browse inside this novel here or find out more about the author here. Thank-you to HarperCollins for this review copy!

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5
Recommended to: Fans of both fiction and women's fiction, as this book falls somewhere in the middle and will be enjoyed by fans of both genres
Challenges: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge 2010