Respectfully, we believe the best beach reads lean a bit more dishy than they do feel-good — what can we say, we love mess. If you agree, we’re betting you’ll love Jenny Jackson’s The Shampoo Effect.
The novel follows Caroline, a 28-year-old writer, who, upon moving to a town in coastal Massachusetts, falls hard and fast for local dreamboat Van, a 34-year-old environmental scientist. She quickly becomes enmeshed in his tight-knit circle of childhood friends — which includes his on-again, off-again ex-girlfriend, Bailey.
Shortly after Caroline and Van get together, Bailey reveals she’s pregnant…with Van’s child. This Jerry Springer–worthy news tests the friend group’s long-held dynamics, and secrets threaten to emerge as Caroline nurses a broken — and furious — heart. We asked Jackson a few questions. Here’s what she had to say…
Q: What’s one thing everyone needs to watch?
Jackson: Colin from Accounts. It’s an Australian rom-com featuring a dog named Colin.
Q: What’s the last book you read that you can’t stop thinking about?
Jackson: On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, which is like a supersmart, female Groundhog Day.
Q: What’s the one thing you can't leave the house without?
Jackson: My emotional-support hair elastic.
Q: What’s the one place everyone needs to visit?
Jackson: Crane Beach in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Visit the castle, the brewery, and Clam Box.
Q: What’s one thing that makes you laugh without fail?
Jackson: Thinking about when my friend’s cat escaped his carrier on an airplane and was discovered in the galley by an irritated flight attendant.
Q: What's one unpopular opinion you have?
Jackson: Every person should have outside clothing and inside clothing. You should change as soon as you get home and never sit on your couch or bed in your outside clothing.
Q: What’s your shortcut to relaxation?
Jackson: Pour a shot of tequila into a Spindrift, change into pajamas, turn on Bravo for background, and search Etsy for the weirdest thing you can have customized. (Bedazzled pill case! Stamps with your own face!)
Q: What is your most prized possession?
Jackson: My collection of signed books by authors like Joan Didion, Cormac McCarthy, Anne Tyler, Michael Ondaatje, and Kazuo Ishiguro.
Meanwhile, on the internet…
The best way to say “I’m rich” is with this unexpected nail look. Finally, a trend we’re already good at.
We cannot express enough how much we’re here for this ’90s makeup look taking over TikTok. BRB, slipping on our cork wedges and going to the Cheesecake Factory.
We can’t say we saw this menswear trend coming, but we’re into it. Give ’ ‘em the old razzle-dazzle…