Rooville: A Novel

Featured as a top read in Buzzfeed, PopSugar, YourTango, and San Francisco Book Review TV weatherman Owen Martin is relieved to leave Southern California—the monotonously mild climate and the holistically hip trends—and head home to Iowa, back to the four seasons and the simple life he knew before his father died. But he can’t predict the atmospheric pressure awaiting him: The town his family founded has become the center of the Transcendental Meditation movement and host to all things alternative. There are mass meditations and dosha discussions, a vegan cafe has replaced the burger joint, and all the doors now face east. Far worse, however, is what the meditating mayor has planned for the Martin family’s farm. In a town divided between “Regulars” and “Roos” (gurus), Owen is sure where he stands—until he falls for a levitating yogi. Before he knows it, he’s caught in a veritable tornado of midwesternness vs. mindfulness. Can he save the farm, get the girl, and reunite the town? Maybe . . . if he’s willing to forecast a change in the weather.