“Absolutely unputdownable, a real page turner. Be prepared to clear your schedule for the day.” —Wall to Wall BooksIn the town of Hollow Creek, South Carolina two separate murders, fifteen years apart, unite fifteen-year-old Pleasant Day and sixty-year-old Clarissa Blackwell. As Pleasant struggles with her mother’s distance, her father’s infidelity and the death of her best friend, she draws … her best friend, she draws closer to Clarissa, an older woman with an uncanny, almost psychic, ability to ‘read people.’
As Clarissa uncovers the stories behind the murders, both Pleasant and Clarissa’s worlds are transformed by the truths they’re forced to accept, and both find solace and strength in the shared histories that have shaped them.
more
This book forced me to clear my schedule just to finish it as it was impossible to put down once I started turning the pages. The southern fiction is a beautifully told story full of mystery and charm. Cook draws delightful characters and combines an interesting tale with wonderful humor. It creates for an eventful evening with the tone of the book presented as it is easy without sugar-coating anything. The book is certainly not meant for those who are squeamish about violence, swearing and sex and the suspense the author creates with turns and twists around the mystery of murder proving more than enough entertainment in a single sitting.
The book centers around two characters who are years apart in age difference but who are brought together, and it takes you on an imaginative ride of your life. The tale of an old mystery surrounded by a dark secret is created in a well-plotted story that draws you shrouded with enough suspense and drama. I liked the character of Pleasant Day given her straight-talking manner at such a young age. Fans of southern fiction are guaranteed one of the best stories with this book.
Pleasant Day is a murder mystery with just enough humour to keep the story from becoming too dark and taking away from the more positive elements of the book such as the friendship between Pleasant and Clarissa, and Pleasant’s the personal growth. The book is full of twists and I found it to be quite surprising throughout. The various characters are cleverly woven together as the story progresses and the ending was fantastic – everything became clear once the murderer was identified. Highly recommend.
Pleasant Day by Vera Jane Cook is surprisingly humorous, though it is a murder suspense novel. A teenage girl, Millie, is murdered and her boyfriend is cleared. Somewhere there is a killer. Pleasant Day is bound to find the killer of her friend, putting her in danger. Clarissa doesn’t believe the man who went to prison for the murder of her goddaughter is guilty of her death. She was just another number to claim. The question still remains where did her infant daughter go? How are these two murders connected?
The triangle of lies and secret loves makes Pleasant Day an interesting coming of age novel. Vera Jane Cook keeps the reader hooked as the story unfolds into multiple depths. The killer, or killers, could be anyone. The connection with Pleasant Day is baffling until the killer is revealed. I loved the twists and turns within the story and the complex connection between the characters.
‘Pleasant Day’ by Vera Jane Cook is a great mystery novel. It follows teenager Pleasant and Clarissa, the super-intuitive 60-year-old as they unite to unravel the mysteries of Hollow Creek and the two murders that shook the town. There is suspense, danger, plenty of twists and turns, and a little romance thrown in for good measure.
I loved the relationship between Pleasant and Clarissa and how their friendship developed over the course of the novel. They find real comfort in strength in each other as they confront their shared histories on their quest to find out who killed Pleasant’s best friend.
I think Pleasant and Clarissa make a great team, and hope they pop up together in more novels in the future.
This is a fantastic book and you should definitely read it! It’s a great little mystery with some very dark overtones mixed with the standard coming of age challenges faced by teen girls and modern day family drama. I really liked Pleasant and thought she made a great lead character; independent, smart and strong minded. The plot was brilliant, exciting and thoughtful, and I really enjoyed the whole experience.
I really enjoyed this coming of age, mystery and crime novel all in one. All the characters were fantastic, especially Pleasant who is a strong and independent young woman. The plot while being quite realistic was really entertaining and I enjoyed the book the whole way through. There are so many little twists and turns and surprises throughout the story and I think it’s a great read, I loved how everything came together.
This is one of those crime novels that wonderfully combines a dark and intriguing mystery with some lighthearted humor and sweet character relationships. It is a great summer afternoon read, engaging, and fun. The story is of two murders fifteen years apart that both come back down to main character Pleasant Day. The first is her best friend and the second was her father’s mistress. I really liked the relationship that was built between Pleasant and Clarrise, who was her father’s mistress’s godmother. They bond over the loss of loved ones and work together to solve the murders. The bond they have is heartwarming and sweet. I also liked that Pleasant has a close relationship with her family. The book definitely can get dark at times as death, loss, and family secrets are major elements of the book, but there is no gratuitous violence, and I wouldn’t call the story scary. The story is fairly original, although there are plenty of tropes from the murder mystery genre. This was a fun read that had me smiling and guessing along to the mystery from beginning to end. All in all, this book is a very compelling read that I would definitely recommend to readers of murder mystery novels.
The body of a teenage girl has been found in the home of one of her classmates. Pleasant, a 15-year-old girl, friend and partner of both, decides to solve the crime that has taken her best friend, while trying to understand why her mother behaves distantly with her and why her father seems to be more at ease in the company of other women than with his wife. Clarissa, a 60-year-old psychic, confused by the motives and mechanisms of a betrayal, seeks to solve another crime of the past in which she lost a loved one. An accident will cause the paths of Pleasant and Clarissa to join, and some uncomfortable truths from the past will get afloat, uniting them forever in a friendship that will help them understand the mysteries that enclose their lives.
With a plain, simple and direct language, typical of the ages and circumstances of the characters, the plot develops naturally and with a very good rhythm. The characters are very well developed and their reactions feel very real at all times. The plot is full of twists and details through which the stories of several of the characters are interwoven in unexpected ways and make up a complex and carefully written universe.
I have enjoyed reading this flawless, well written, well reviewed and totally human story. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a realistic story, starring very well built characters.
Pleasant Day by Vera Jane Cook is southern women’s fiction with a cast of intriguing characters. Pleasant Day is actually someone’s name, in this case a young teenager who loves to read literature. This is certainly at odds with her family, as they each have their own quirky personalities. Her mother is aloof, her father is an adulterer, and her brother is borderline effeminate. Pleasant is quite the character with a dirty mouth, and inquisitive nature, not your typical teenage girl. The gist of the story revolves around a murder mystery, one of Pleasant’s friends actually. This plot device is paired nicely with another mystery from the past, and when Pleasant meets Clarissa, an older woman, they find history is intertwined. Overall, a good book, strong plot, and very well described and quirky characters. A very light touch of editing could improve some sections and word usage, but overall, an interesting and compelling book. Fans of southern and women’s fiction will love this book because it rings so true on many levels.
Pleasant day, a pleasant read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, this is an intriguing murder mystery with a lot of suspense. So much in fact I couldn’t stand it, I desperately wanted to know who the killer was, I loved the way they went about solving the murder. There is also a romantic twist to this story which makes it even more intriguing to read. I got through the book in one weekend because I didn’t want to put it down. If you are a fan of murder mystery with a touch of romance, I would highly recommend this book!
If you are fan of mystery and romance novels then Pleasant Day by Vera Jane Cook is the perfect one for you. Pleasant is a teenage girl who tries to discover who killed her friend Millie. She meets Clarissa who has a great gift: psychic ability. The two start work together to solve the mystery of the murders and secrets of Hollow Creek.
If you think it sounds like typical chick-lit (a term I’m not fond of anyway) then there is much more in here to surprise you. The book contains real depth of plot and characters and plenty twists and turns perfect for great summer reading.
The book is definitely page turner. I found it an easy-read and easy to get into the story.
Author Vera Jane Cook has a handle on Southern women’s fiction. PLEASANT DAY is her eighth novel. The tone for the ‘Southern Gothic’ tale is set early on as we meet young Pleasant Day – an apt name for the lead character of this novel. ‘It’s other people boggle the mind with nonsense. That’s why I long to be alone most times, completely alone under a blue sky in Hollow Creek. That’s in South Carolina, not too many people heard of it. Shakespeare would have though the same ‘bout Hollow Creek, that it brings the poet our in people, well, at least in me. Shakespeare was a nature lover and he had his own Hollow Creek over there in England, must have had. He fully understood the perfection of a summer day…’ And this sensitive young girl begins the tale of two murders and two females, the other woman being the insightful older Clarissa Blackwell. The magnetic manner in which Cook paints her story of these two women’s interaction with two murders, fifteen years apart, unveils the strengths and needs of each and bonds them in a touching manner.
The language is raw, as is apropos of young people’s vocabularies, and that aspect when spared with the poetry that influences Pleasant makes for a strong exposition of the story. The description of the murder of the one-armed Millie Grady, Pleasant’ best friend, is fittingly gruesome – a touch of Southern darkness that wisely pervades this book – and the Clarissa’s memory of the murder of Chloe Rappaport shares the space. At the same time there is enough side humor in the language and thoughts of these two women to make it all seem real. A strong story by an artist who knows her craft.
Good day my fellow prospective reader. I am here to tell you that this mystery set in the Southern state of South Carolina, will surely have you intrigued and entertained as you read it from cover to cover. It is the story of a tough, strong teenager named Pleasant Day, yes, that’s her name who hears about the murder of her dear friend Millie, whose body was found in the box springs of the bed of another friend of hers John Peter. Now Pleasant is a girl with a lot of male friends instead of galpals. There’s Angus, there’s Bodean, there’s her brother Sawyer (who is gay) and there’s her dad whom she adores (and vice versa) named Graham. Now it just so happens that with the death of Millie, a lot of old skeletons are let out again. This includes the murder of a woman named Chloe who previously had an affair with Graham and the coincidental meeting of Pleasant with Chloe’s godmother Clarissa Blackwell.
The story feels very familiar when I was reading it because I’ve come across similar novels in the past with a group of teenagers involved in a murder and no one will come forward to claim him or herself as the killer of Millie. Clarissa Blackwell has visions and so when she says that she keeps seeing a two-headed man kill her goddaughter, Graham’s dead mistress, I was like this better be good. And in the end, it was alright. There were some elements about it that made me say to myself that I’ve read more advanced whodunits but in this case since the location is in the South, I figured oh well, that’s probably because in the South life is simple and everyone knows everyone there. Since this is a novel for women, it felt like one of the movies I’d watch on the Lifetime channel. The romances that Pleasant Day makes herself involved in is typical of small communities and to my delight, Pleasant herself is tough and strong enough to survive an almost rape when she goes with Bodean (a bully in the making) in his car. The killer is rightfully the killer in Clarissa’s visions. You will find out why Clarissa saw a two-headed man instead of a normal human being.
I recommend this book to all female readers who are fans of mysteries and romances gone wrong. I also think it will be enjoyed by those who love the Lifetime channel. This book was a breeze to get through and you can finish it all in one night although I had to read it for four nights because I am a busy man myself. Okay, all’s sorted. Have a great Springtime and God bless!
Pleasant Day by Vera Jane Cook is a novel with so many elements to appeal to readers with lots of different interests. There is humor, human connections, love, mystery and great twists. There is also a great Southern feel throughout the story in the characters dialogue and the setting which I enjoyed. There were a ton of fun Southern phrases and sayings that were nice addition. This lent to the authentic feel of the story and the characters.
This novel centers around two women who are generations apart but living in the same town and connected by murder and much more, as it turns out. The reader gets a first-person perspective of the life of young Pleasant Day, a smart and witty character dealing with difficult family struggles. She meets Clarissa, an older woman, and they build a friendship. But their connection runs much deeper than friendship and takes them through family secrets and deceptions, lies, and murders.
Cook’s writing is vivid with apt detail, I felt the story could have moved a bit more rapidly but it was not stagnant by any means. There were a lot of lines that struck me and stuck with me like when her dad says that he never meant to hurt anyone and Pleasant says, “in life the things we do are always the things we meant to do” or something like that. Her mom says, “it’s not what you know but what you do with what you know.”
This is such a tragic storyline in many ways but there was so much warmth built in amongst the tragedy that the story left me with a feeling of redemption. Overall, this is a well-written novel that takes the reader through a great storyline with lots of unexpected elements. I highly recommend for a fun and entertaining read. I could see this being really enjoyable on a long plane ride or a trip.
This is definitely a book targeted for woman, however that doesn’t change that it’s a good book. The book follows Pleasant and her struggles in life, particularly with her family. The story is unique in that it brings a huge generation gap together, as Pleasant befriends an older (in her 60s) woman after a tragedy ties them together.
The plot and flow are okay, there are spots in that kind of drag on and seem to just be filler. I couldn’t find any real issue with the writing itself. Cook does wonder with descriptions, both in the physical world and emotional, as she worked through the story. There is often an issue with balance, but cook nailed it in this book.
Overall this is a great book to read, even though it’s focused as a story for women, it’s really a great read for anyone into a well-written story, just be patient through some of the slower sections.