Resting Beach Face by Siofan Davies

This photo was provided by the author LOL I have never had a bath this luxurious in my life but maybe I start? I saw a bunch of Canadian bloggers posting about this book and felt left out because hello! we are Canadian bloggers (lol). I love a good chick-lit novel and been a while since I've dug into one, and what better than a self-published first novel from an author in the GTA? Davies was kind enough to send us a copy of to my in-laws' Kindle, so this was her debut novel and also my debut Kindle experience.

Resting Beach Face is about a cynical-jaded type named Olivia who has to go to the Caribbean for her sister's wedding with a bunch of people she dislikes (including her mom) to sit in the sun, which she also dislikes. I love the both the Caribbean and a wedding but I immediately related to Olivia's lack of enthusiasm for organized events and small talk with people you haven't seen in way too long.

There's a lot of teen-soap level drama throughout the course of this wedding week and of course, teen- soap romance. In fact, my biggest criticism of this book is that the plot points and characters lean into such extremes and stereotypes that at times the book leans towards young adult (although, still my kind of young adult).

Siofan Davies

I really liked Olivia's character and that's obviously huge while reading chick-lit. I can't think of a single book in this genre I enjoyed where I disliked the main character or wasn't rooting for them. She has a lot of depth given the fluffiness of the plot. There's a whole bit where she reflects on falling for someone she IM'd for a few months who then ghosted her and I couldn't help but think how much more interesting this genre will get for me and my generation as we begin to read more talented authors our own age rather than oldies like Danielle Steele- nothing against Danielle Steele, I love her, but I am here for the IMing storylines over the sexy barn hand storylines. 

No I was [into him], but I just honestly cannot dedicate the mental energy it takes to keep the slow drip, drip, drip of casual dating going. It's like watching a glacier melt and with it take chunks of my self-esteem."

Despite the fact that some of the writing felt immature (there's a line about the world being her "boyster" that made me want to melt into my seat and die but maybe Davies just loves dad jokes), I really couldn't put it down for about three days straight. I think it helped that the backlight on the Kindle meant I could read this in bed well past when my husband went to sleep, but I have a baby as well, so to be reading into the late hours really says something. 

Davies has really good pace, sets up perfectly dramatic plot twists, and thoroughly builds out the main characters. There are a lot of great jokes and a particularly Bridesmaids-esque plane scene with a shitty kid that had me loling. But mostly reading this had me feeling inspired. How cool that Davies just wrote this perfect beach read during quarantine and published it on her own? Someone so close to me in age and location (albeit not in ambition)... I felt weirdly proud of her reading this- a complete stranger- and it made me want to write a chick-lit novel too although I'm not sure where the content will come from as I have 0 imagination.

I think any 'chick' would love this. It's easy to read in the best way and don't we all just want to relax? To not think? To go to Olivia's sister's wedding in Mexico in our heads?