'The Shampoo Effect' Is a Beach Read for People Who Love Mess

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…