REVIEW: You Should Smile More by Anastasia Ryan

You Should Smile More by Anastasia Ryan: If farcical corporate take downs with whacky characters are your thing, then this debut novel by Ryan is definitely for you. When Venessa is fired due to her face, she returns home to her foster-kittens and absorbs the blow to her self-esteem by getting drunk with her colleagues Jane and Trisha. Interestingly enough, Jane is likewise fired for allegedly conspiring with the likes of Nessa and her face, and Trisha received a ludicrous probation period whilst forced to write an essay about making better work choices in order to keep her job.

As one crazy situation leads to another, Nessa’s mother and her Bridge Brigade construct something of a murder wall to display in Nessa’s lounge room and more then just a ball of wool begins to unravel.

Initially, it was difficult to determine if the novel was going for realism style RomCom or whether it was attempting heavy-handed satire. And thankfully by the end, it kind of landed somewhere in between given it was clearly parodying shifty employers and the reasons given for people being fired. That, combined with a literal entourage of very dynamic and idiosyncratic characters made for a very light hearted read that had some good comic timing albeit ridiculous.

Mostly though, Nessa was a really likeable character and when unemployment officer Carter literally falls in her lap and the two bond over Calico kittens, there’s not a whole bunch to complain about, particularly given there are 5 kittens in total and an unhinged ex-boss who gets crazier by the second. All in all, this was a very fun read, and the last few chapters pull the whacko’s together neatly, creating multiple happily ever afters that feel satisfying and complete.

Book Info:

Publication: 17th January 2023 | Sourcebooks Casablanca |

Telemarketer Vanessa Blair isn’t in love with her job. It pays the bills and feeds her foster kittens, but offers only one other perk: her friendships with Jane Delaney and Trisha Lam. But, as mind-numbing as her job is, things are about to get worse. Xavier Adams, her self-absorbed boss, calls Vanessa into the conference room and fires her. The reason? Her facial expressions. Apparently, her resting bitch face is wide awake, and it doesn’t matter that her sales numbers are stellar or that she organizes office events.

After a girls’ night of schnapps and imagining retribution, Vanessa awakens to find that Trisha is more literal than she thought, and has implemented a revenge strategy based on the classic business book The Art of War by Sun Tzu. At first, Vanessa wants nothing to do with it. She wants to file for unemployment and move on with her life, possibly with Carter Beckett, the cute, cat-loving unemployment rep assigned to her case. But when Xavier contests her unemployment and ruins her shot at her dream job, Vanessa is all in…