This was such a fun palate cleanser - I loved it !
A zany work place comedy with a narcissistic and barefooted boss, a litter of kittens and the bridge brigade headed by an overprotective southern mom protecting her daughter from disaster (or contributing to it ?!?)

I listened to the audio and it is the kind of audiobook that made me laugh out loud and probably looking odd with my headphones.
Vanessa and her co-workers seek revenge after Vanessa and Jane are fired from their tele-marketing jobs and their friend Tricia is put on probation. Since they are let go for oddly specific and hurtful reasons - in Vanessa’s case for her face and her facial expressions and are disparaged by the company when applying for new jobs they try to get back at their former boss. I loved this book. It is a debutant it is a great one - I’ll look for more by this author.

9 to 5 meets The Office. Vanessa was fired from her job because of her face. She files for unemployment but, of course, there are issues. During a drunken night her friend Jane who was also fired and Trisha who is on the verge of getting fired, plan to get revenge on Xavier, their boss. Their plan involves Bitter Barbie, Bob-ert, a glitter bomb delivered through the AC, Sun Tzu, a southern mom, an unidentifiable foot fungus, and a bunch of playful kittens, Of course there is also Carter from the unemployment office who may be more than just Vanessa’s case worker. Will the trio succeed in giving Xavier what he deserves, will they end up in prison, or will Haiku the cat kill Xavier before the plan is in place.

I love cats and their attitudes/personalities and this book gives Duo an entertaining one. The book was funny and I loved Vanessa’s mom, the Bridge Brigade, and the murder wall. I would want the group of women on my side of any investigation. I imagined Vanessa face palming a lot when she was interacting with the Bridge Brigade. Even though I guessed what was happening early on I wanted to see how it would end and I wasn’t disappointed. This is an easy listen with humorous moments and no overly tense scenes. This is not a romance with kissing plus scenes. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys reading fiction.

Listened to the first chapter at normal speed then continued at 2.0 speed. I liked the narrators voice, it was clear and conveyed the ups and downs of Vanessas life.

Based on the premise of this book (and the title), I was hoping it would be a little more satirical or a feminist anthem. There is something missing in this story and I'm not sure what it is.

Vanessa works as a telemarketer and her boss is the worst. He doesn't wear shoes at the office. He insists on team building activities but off the clock so people don't get paid for their time in escape rooms or prom-themed parties. Out of the blue, he fires Vanessa because he doesn't like...her face. And, yes they do have an HR department and he STILL said this. He claims the displeasure on her face comes out in her voice when she is talking to customers. He also offers a very generous (sarcasm) severance package of three days of PTO provided she signs an NDA and doesn't file for unemployment.

Two of her work friends find themselves in a similar situation. Jane got the ax as well, and Trisha is on a performance improvement plan. They bond over their miserable careers one night while getting drunk at Vanessa's place. Trisha is obsessed with Sunzi's The Art of War and comes up with the idea of bugging the boss' office to see if they can find out why they were really fired. Unfortunately, one of the five adorable calico kittens Vanessa is fostering plays with the device and it gets stuck behind a washer so Vanessa literally cannot escape her tyrant of an ex-boss.

So, there is a lot of hi-jinx in this book, a potential romance with the guy who is handling Vanessa's unemployment claim (he has a cat tattoo on his arm so they are obviously MFEO, meddling mothers, and kittens, kittens, kittens. Overall, the book felt a little juvenile to me and was reminiscent of novels from the early aughts like The Devil Wears Prada, The Nanny Diaries, and Confessions of a Shopaholic (no hate on those, I devoured them back in the day). Overall, this book was fine, I just would've preferred a bit more bite.

I received the audio book as an ARC for my honest review thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media.

After Vanessa is fired because of her unpleasant face, she finds herself needing to file for unemployment. Her friends help her come up with a revenge plot, and in the process they start to learn many secrets about their former company that could get it in huge trouble. Additionally, Vanessa begins to find there is chemistry between her and the unemployment representative assigned to her case.

This was a quick read with a fun premise and some very entertaining moments. I thought it was hilarious that Vanessa was fired for her face, and enjoyed all of the jokes that came from that. The mystery aspect kept me intrigued and I needed to know what sketchy things were happening at her former company, and like Vanessa wanted to get to the bottom of all the issues. The mystery was more entertaining to me than the actual romance as was the revenge plot, which truly made me laugh out loud at times.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Dreamscape Media for the advance copies!

This was such a charming and quick read. The audiobook narrator did a great job of giving everyone their own personality through dialogue, the story concept was silly but still believable. It was cute and witty and overall I really enjoyed it. I would recommend and check out more of the authors work in the future!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC audiobook for an honest review.

You Should Smile More
by Anastasia Ryan
Pub Date: 02 Feb 2023

I absolutely loved this! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was brilliant bringing all the characters to life. The entire book was so quirky and hilarious with memorable characters and awesome snarky dialogue. The friendships, the sweet romances, the "bad guys", the "bridge group," the kittens...everything was pure comic relief that made me smile and laugh and happily sigh. Yes, the whole storyline is over the top, but it glitters with something special. I could totally see this as a movie or TV series!

5 stars

What a fun read! Vanessa is let go unexpectedly from her telemarketing job because of "her face". From there, the book goes through a journey with her two friends to get back at her boss and the company who let her go.

The characters are so lovable. The main character fosters cats, for goodness sake! How could you not be on her side?

I was lucky enough to listen to the audiobook of this book. This was an easy listen with a storyline that I feel anyone could relate to. Who hasn't been frustrated by the office environment sometimes? The narrator was fabulous and kept my attention the whole time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC!

I absolutely loved listening to the audiobook of this book! It was gripping, witty, and funny and I loved it.

I laughed out loud while reading this one. I was reminded about some of the terrible jobs I have had over the years. Vanessa is fired from one such awful job for having a resting b*tch face. Her friends plan revenge on the company and chaos ensues. I loved the friendships in the book both new and old. There was a little romance that was sweet. Also there were kittens! Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this starting over after getting unjustly fired women's fiction book. Equally hilarious and deeply relatable, this was an easy listen PLUS the FMC, Vanessa gets involved in a in helping a pet shelter. Try as she might to move on though, her old boss attempts to thwart her at every move, blocking her unemployment application and placing the blame on her. A bit of a modern day 9 to 5 story with a touch of romance, this was great on audio too narrated by Hilary Huber. Would definitely recommend this new to me author and I look forward to reading more by her! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of You Should Smile More by Anastasia Ryan. This is the perfect revenge story. The MC loses her telemarketer job for her... face. She sets out to exact get revenge and she gets it.

This was so fun to listen to! It was hilarious and I related so much to the main character. I have chronic RBF and have been told by managers, customers, and just men in general to “smile more.” I’ve never understood how my face correlates to my job performance but I digress. I felt many of the same feelings as Vanessa did, in regards to her work environment and “team building” experiences. I loved all of the characters, Vanessa’s mother and the bridge brigade were especially hilarious. The narrator was easy to listen to and I genuinely had a smile on my face for almost the entire book. This was a light and quick read, and so enjoyable

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I have conflicting feelings on this book. As part of my new year reading goal I really wanted to branch out and try books that are away from the thriller/mystery genre I usually gravitate towards. This one seemed perfect - women’s fiction with a humorous plot that’s not all about romance.

After reading the synopsis I guess I misunderstood, I thought Vanessa was fired due to a different reason but they covered it up by saying it’s her face..but no..the boss stands by it in an over the top way, going on rants about how her face is like Medusa…the fact that this ADULT female feels like she needs to be ashamed of her face now is actually just ridiculous. It’s disappointing that this is the catalyst for everything and made to be such a focal point to the story. The rest of the plot with Vanessa and her friends coming up with an implementing a revenge scheme is what made this book tolerable and this really should have been more if the focal point.

The characters were poorly developed and I could not root for Vanessa as most of her internal dialogue was ‘oh poor me and my face’. She didn’t even like her job - time to move on.

I was going to give this two stars but the plot was interesting and fresh so I will give it 3 despite the execution falling short for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Vanessa Blair doesn’t love her job as a telemarketer, but she loves that it pays the bills and brought her two close friends. Out of the blue, her boss calls her into the conference room to fires her for her RBF.
He friends hatch a revenge plan, but she just wants to move on. She has been assigned a cute unemployment rep though…

Quirky and unusual premise. Interesting characters that had me hooked from the beginning.

The quest for revenge, the besties, the cats, the hunky tattooed unemployment rep, hilarious and quick paced/easy to get into.

This was a great debut!

Perfect book for the doldrums of Jan and crappy weather. This was bright, funny, and refreshing. I enjoyed the honest book that just made me happy for some reason.

Synopsis:
"When Vanessa Blair is fired because of her "resting bitch face," her friends help her launch a revenge plan that'll bring down the whole company."
Thoughts
What a fun read! It was really quirky, the plot was pretty unique, and I really enjoyed the side characters! I really gravitated towards this book as someone who has been told they have an RBF many times
This book was really lighthearted and it made me giggle and roll my eyes at the ridiculousness (in a good way).
I saw it labeled as a few different things, including romance. I wouldn't label it as romance, even though there is a small relationship forming as a background story. I think I would consider it women's fiction (which is also how NetGalley described it).

I really need a few kittens now! And maybe chocolate chip muffins.

As someone with a face that unfortunately shows my every thought (and even some thoughts that I'm not thinking) I find this book's main character 100% relatable. I've been given poor reviews and harsh critiques due to something my face is doing that I can't even see. It's frustrating.

This story was delightful, from Vanessa's co-workers, to the Bridge Brigade, to the unemployment office, to the zany eavesdropping. It was a fun and wild ride. Her former bosses complained that her face was horrible and she acted like she was smarter than them and it's frustrating because it's true! Bobert, Excalibur, and Gary didn't seem to keep it together long enough to run a successful fraud scheme. Trisha and Jane are great friends. I liked that there was a little bit of romance, but it was almost a byproduct of the story and wasn't the main event.

I listened to this on audio and that the narrator did a fantastic job. Characters had distinct voices and the voice was engaging. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to listen to this book.

First off….HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!

This was my first Anastasia Ryan and from what I see in GoodReads, she is new to the scene.

What I did like: the simplicity of the plot line, it wasn’t too complex but there were a lot of moving pieces and characters included. The quirky comedy was excellent and who doesn’t love and animal lover..or love built on loving animals for that matter. Vanessa’s complex feelings about her feedback from her boss I feel are valid, people say things regularly that they don’t think about the effect of.

What I didn’t like: the flow of the book seemed to all really happen in the end, there was a lull between 50%-70% that could have been filled with more build. While the whistleblower aspect was excellent, I think it’s easy to say that people wouldn’t have stayed in that kind of environment and I wonder a bit what’s truly realistic. I’ve heard of lawsuits like Wells Fargo before, but it seemed unrealistic to me personally. 3.5 ⭐️

I think Ryan has a ton of potential and I look forward to her future works! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, I finished it just in time!

You Should Smile More by Anastasia Ryan is a fun and quick read. Most of the characters were well developed (Jane was unfortunately one dimensional) and added to the story. When reading, it never crossed my mind that it was Anastasia's debut novel, which is always a plus.

While I understand the reason behind it, I didn't enjoy the Art of War references at the beginning of each chapter, nor Nessa and others saying random things in Latin. I found neither really added to the story.

Overall, I give You Should Smile More 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I am a stan of Hillary Huber - and she didn't disappoint with this book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with an ALC.

I really enjoyed this read! The narrator was great, the story was entertaining, the girl power vibes were top notch and all those fluffy kittens were the cherry on top! I was rooting for the girls the entire book to undercover the truth about Xavier’s shady business and get what was coming to him. The only thing I would change about it would be adding more romance into the book, but that is my preference and doesn’t take away from the story as long as you go in expecting a girl boss book with a touch of romance. Overall, very happy I read the book and I hope Anastasia Ryan continues to write more titles in the future!

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Anastasia Ryan for allowing me to read this book in advance in exchange for my honest review.