The Shampoo Effect: A Read with Jenna Pick
A Novel
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4.2 • 120 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY | AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
“Funny, drama-fueled, and full of Jackson's breezy wit. . . Brilliant.” —Coco Mellors, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Sisters
“The platonic ideal of a beach read.” —The New York Times
An ambitious young woman insinuates herself into a tight-knit social set, shaking up friendships and marriages in a small seaside town. A frothy novel of love, money, sex, and friendship, from the New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a fleece-wearing, litter-collecting kayak enthusiast with long, floppy hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: His ex-girlfriend, Bailey, a beautiful girl who attracts men like moths to a flame; Augusta, old money, horsey, and snobbish; and Fran, surrounded by brothers and sons, too fed up with boys to ever consider marrying one.
Together, the group runs wild through the marshes, beaches, and bars of Greenhead, drinking on houseboats, spending long afternoons sunbathing with their children, and playing games the way they always have. But when Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next—in a potent mix of fury and heartbreak—exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather.
Dazzlingly funny, sexy, and as juicy as it is astute, The Shampoo Effect is a story of late-night parties, early mornings with small children, the dawn of midlife, and a group of old friends finally growing up despite all their best efforts to the contrary.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This charming, easygoing novel explores the difference between friendship and love—not to mention the challenge of growing into adulthood with the people who still remember your junior-high haircut. When aspiring writer Caroline moves from New York to a cozy North Shore Massachusetts town, an embarrassing first encounter turns into a casual situationship with local environmental scientist Van. It even comes complete with admittance into Van’s tight-knit circle of lifelong friends. But when an idyllic summer of beach hangs, cookouts, and decades-old in-jokes gets suddenly upended, everybody has to reconsider what they want from themselves and from each other. Jenny Jackson (Pineapple Street) has written what feels at first like a light and frothy New England beach read, but as the story rotates from one character’s perspective to another, the all-too-real insecurities and blind spots just under the pals’ breezy banter click into focus. The Shampoo Effect goes down like a fizzy summer cocktail with an unexpected kick.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jackson (Pineapple Street) serves up an enjoyable tale of a writer who makes new friends and then steals their stories. Caroline Lash, the 28-year-old daughter of a famous author, chafes at the idea that she's a nepo baby. After she sells a story to the New Yorker, she quits her mid-level publishing job and leaves New York City for an 18-month fellowship in coastal Greenhead, Mass. Traveling there by train, she has a meet cute with environmental scientist Van Whittaker, a Greenhead local, who gives her napkins after she gets a jelly donut all over her white jeans. They meet again in Greenhead, and he invites her into his circle of high school friends, including his ex-girlfriend, Bailey. Not long after Caroline and Van begin hooking up, Bailey announces she's pregnant with Van's child. As Caroline tries to figure out how she feels about the news and navigate her place in the tight-knit group, which she's already come to treasure, Jackson weaves in chapters focused on Bailey and the others, showing the story from their points of view. Further complicating the truth is Caroline's thinly veiled novel in progress about Greenhead and her new friends, which heightens their interpersonal drama. Jackson has a knack for local color and well-rounded character work, as she gradually picks apart Caroline's "ingrained snobbishness" about "life outside the city."This has plenty of heart.
Customer Reviews
Incredible read
I read this book in a day and a half I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend