Outside their comfort zone - THE SHAMPOO EFFECT by Jenny Jackson and ROAD TRIP by Mary Kay Andrews

 Wow, August was a different time for me. I read several grown-lady books just for fun! These two were back to back and as I was trying to remember what I found so endearing about them, I realized the similarity between them. They are both stories of women who leave home to try something different to get themselves on the path to a more rewarding life. 

In THE SHAMPOO EFFECT, Caroline has won a prestigous writing fellowship in coastal Greenhead, Mass. (standing in for Ipswich, a town I know fairly well). I loved the local aspect and was charmed that she met her man friend at Castle Hill, one of my favorite places to take out of town visitors. Caroline is not as self-aware as she thinks, which makes it fun for the reader. She is a young woman in flux who becomes involved with a man who has a tight friend group, a complicated baby-daddy status and a lot of nerdy passions. He is a less-fleshed-out character, but he does the job of holding down the boyfriend drama pretty well. 

His friend group is fascinating! There are a ton of issues that are revealed to the reader in chapters focused on the female members of the group. They are delightful and well defined and I loved them all. To tell you what happens would be to ruin a perfectly plotted reveal, so I shan't, but it frustrated and intrigued me in turn. I have some friends with excellent taste who did not care for this and I think it is because Caroline makes some shitty. shitty decisions in instances where she should have known better. Nonetheless, I found it fascinating, funny, and enjoyable.

With ROAD TRIP you know just what you are getting. MKA is a favorite. Lots of revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-southern from her and I am hear for it. In this one, two very disparate sisters embark on a trip to Ireland to investigate a painting that may be incredibly valuable (and solve their very oppressive financial troubles) at the behest of their recently deceased mother. They begin the trip distrustful and resentful of one another and it is no spoiler to tell you that they mend fences in the process. Come on, who would read it otherwise? But there is a delightful story wrapped around the interpersonal stuff that ticks so many boxes. There's a murder, a mystery, origin stories, larceny and romance. It was the full package, baby, and I adored it!