The Bucket List

Twenty-five-year-old Lacey Whitman, an ambitious New York City fashion trend forecaster, tests positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation, which significantly increases her risk of contracting an aggressive type of breast cancer in Clark’s heartfelt and sexy story of surviving and thriving in the face of a potentially life-altering medical diagnosis. The decision to wait and see or to get a preventative double mastectomy looms, so Lacey and her best friend, Steph, create a bucket list for her breasts. In six months, Lacey will make a final decision about a mastectomy; in the meantime, she plans to indulge daring sexual fantasies. But a flirtation with Steph’s cute roommate, Cooper, and a wild, passionate affair with an older, in-demand fashion designer—not to mention the demands of her career—are overwhelming. Lacey must also come to terms with her fraught family history, including her mother’s death from cancer at 31, and her complicated relationship with her combative sister, Mara. Lacey is a funny and relatable narrator; her uncertainty and fear in the face of her diagnosis will resonate with readers. Clark balances the romance and sexual exploration with more sobering matters such as the financial realities of serious illness and when Bee, a woman Lacey meets in an online cancer support group, becomes ill after surgery and asks for her help.. Though the ending is pat, it is nonetheless a crowd-pleaser; Clark (The Regulars) navigates the reality that comes along with this type of diagnosis with sensitivity and wit. (Aug.)