Meditations with Miya Blue

by Gretchen Anthony

Meditations with Miya Blue is an upbeat, irreverent story of a wellness influencer living her best (sponsored) life. That is, until a very un-Zen series of events threatens to pull the thread of Miya's calm and unravel her carefully woven world.

Miya Blue was raised in the public eye as the darling child star on reality show Communal, a hit series that documented the joys and dramas of 36 people experimenting with communal living in rural California. Now in her late twenties, Miya has grown her fan base and created a multi-million dollar brand called "Bluem", selling her philosophy, meditations, and lifestyle products to people all over the world.

In a pivotal moment for the company, the launch of a new line of "nutritional" supplements goes horribly wrong when customers (and, worse, bloggers) complain that the products are making them sick. Then, one of Miya’s most loyal employees, April, abruptly quits, all while her big plans for the next phase of Bluem start to come undone. The whole brand - and Miya’s livelihood - is suddenly on shaky ground. And Miya will have to leverage both her spiritual strength and her killer business sense to save it.

Genres: Audiobook, Fiction

Unknown Binding

About the author

GRETCHEN ANTHONY is a speaker, humorist, and author of Tired Ladies Take a Stand, a book that the Minneapolis Star Tribune predicted “will almost certainly be snapped up by books clubs everywhere.” Her previous titles include The Book Haters’ Book Club, and Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners. Her novel The Kids Are Gonna Ask received the 2021 Alex Award from the American Library. She lives in Minneapolis with her family, where she stays on the hunt for a good story while listening to 70’s classic rock and scouting a great Manhattan.

She also hosts The Middle Book Club, a virtual book club dedicated to reading novels that feature midlife heroines.
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Reviews

[A.A.B · Rating 1 out of 5]

The good: it's short, which is how it ended up in my queue.

The not so good: The story isn't about anything, so it ends up reading as spiteful gossip. My world is far away from social media and influencers, so I have no clue whether Maya Blue is supposed to be recognizable as someone(s), but the whole book seemed like it had someone in mind and was aiming its jabs very carefully, while striving to pose as sympathetic innocence.

Without such agenda it's completely pointless and empty. If the agenda is indeed there, it's at the very least unsavory and unpleasant.

I'm guessing I am not the target audience here.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, Miya is a whiney, annoying, 1st-world-problem, privileged brat. It was pretty hard to feel sympathetic to her at any point and like a bad wreck I many times wanted to put it down and walk away but couldn't due to morbid fascination. Possibly based on a real-life Karen. Hope to never read about this particular unfortunate stereotype again.

[Melissa Shearer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole lotta nothin’!

[Angelika Silva · Rating 2 out of 5]

The protagonist is pretty fake and awful.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this story just from the title, thinking it was about practicing meditation, which various doctors and therapists have been on me to do, and it was free audio book, so I started it - and was very surprised to discover it was a fiction story about a successful influencer.

(Sure, I would have known more going in if I had read the blurb - but I've been developing the habit of not reading them to try and get more of a surprise out of stories, since so many blurbs are so spoiler heavy.)

So we get the story of Miya, who seems almost a parody of all current health trends rolled into one character. She gets upset when first things don't go exactly her way, and then really snowball out of control. Conflict swoops up and down, ending on what she claims is a high note for her, but she doesn't change AT ALL. She continues being her self centered self, glossing it over with a lot of words about 'the universal' and such.

Early on in the story, one of her main employees calls her out for not giving her any credit for her many major contributions to the company's success and quits. And at the end, the former employee apologizes to her for quitting so dramatically and Miya does not apologize back for her selfishness and STILL does not get it that taking all the credit and saying things like, 'well now your energy is part of the universal, aren't you glad you helped people?' is old fashioned gaslighting and being an ass.

So I was entertained - especially by that retirement party scene! - but not sure how I feel about a story ending with a rich white lady just going on her merry way, not changing, and not ever thinking she might be part of the problem.

[Sharondblk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short free book about nothing much. At times I thought they were parodying wellness, at other times they seemed to be sympathetic. Miya's relationship with her father was inconsistent, which undermined the story. A pleasant listen while cleaning the house, but not much of anything really.

[Tina Schmitz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. I asked Google to find me a quick, funny listen for a drive and here we are, a 1 star. Not a great story, pretty mundane with no real bones. I only kept listening because I was driving and couldnt search for a new book. And no, not at all funny. Google gets 1 ⭐ for that too

[Andleeb · Rating 3 out of 5]

It help me pass time.

[JT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, short audio book.

[Felicia B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible freebie, super super short

It was ok. Wish the last 5 minutes were different.

[Sara Gerot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like the main character . . . but I don't really need to like a character to enjoy a story. It was an interesting concept thinking about a commune that becomes a reality show.

[Mia Andrews · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main character is a terrible, awful, self absorbed and entitled person with an ugly personality.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick listen. The author was able to fit in a lot of characterization into this. I enjoyed it.