A thrilling read with so many different dynamics. Emma Jane Holmes has created a great story! Who knew a story about a stripper and a funeral home could go so well together

I loved this memoir. Set in Australia in the present time. Emma Jane Holmes works at two separate jobs. Her main career is working as a Funeral Director working in all aspects of the funeral industry and sometimes assisting as a mortician.
When she was not working night shifts, she worked as a lingerie waitress performing pole dancing and lap dancing.
I loved the way Emma describes her work in the funeral industry. At times, the descriptions were very graphic especially when she described dealing with decomposed bodies.

Equal parts honest, heart-breaking and hilarious; this is a memoir you won't want to put down. Emma Jane Holmes explores how she found herself post-break up at the intersection of exotic dancing and mortuary science. A unique addition to the flooded genre of autobiographies that I highly suggest you pick up.

Absolutely loved this memoir from start to finish. Emma Jane lives two lives, mortician by day and exotic dancer at night. An open and honest telling of how after her marriage ended, she truly found herself and discovered that life is short and should be lived. Once I started this I did not want to put it down, honest, raw, funny at times and also downright sad at times.

One Last Dance is a unique memoir by Emma Jane Holmes, who for a time was employed in both the taboo industries of death, as a funeral assistant, and sex, as an exotic dancer.

In the wake of a bitter separation, Emma Jane Holmes has to start again and so decides to fulfil a life long dream by finding employment at a funeral home. Whether it’s collecting the body of a deceased person, assisting with burial preparation in the mortuary, or standing graveside she revels in her new role, she describes her activities with candour in this fascinating memoir. Facing death is uncomfortable for most of us, especially if it’s our own, so some details might be confronting, but I agree with Emma Jane that demystifying the subject is beneficial. The squeamish may not appreciate the details of a decomposing corpse, or the processes involved in preparing a body for viewing but I did find it interesting, though it’s cemented my wish to go directly from the morgue to a crematorium oven, leaving my loved ones to choose what they wish to do with my ashes.

While Emma Jane loves her job, she finds she is struggling to pay her bills, and to supplement her income, answers an ad for an agency that supplies scantily clad/topless waitresses. In the second half of the book, she explains how she came to be an exotic dancer under the the alias Madison, working nights at a Sydney strip club, while continuing to work at the funeral home during the day. Emma Jane enjoys dancing, not just the extra money, but also the friendships she forms with her colleagues (though to be truthful they seem pretty shallow). She feels strongly that like death, sex work should be de-stigmatised, and I agree with her advocacy. Emma Jane does find it difficult to juggle the two jobs though, and eventually has to make a choice between them.

Written with sensitivity, humour and a casual, confiding tone, One Last Dance provides insight into two very different worlds few of us have access to.

Though I’ve read several nonfiction memoirs about the funeral industry including Good Mourning by Elizabeth Meyer, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Dougherty, and The Undertaker’s Daughter by Kate Mayfield, this is the first from the Australian experience. It’s not the first memoir of an Australian exotic dancer I’ve read though, having recently finished Sunshine by Samantha C. Ross, who may well be the ‘Samantha X’ Emma Jane refers to in her Acknowledgements.

This is a great memoir. It's confronting s isn't for the squeamish, however I found it really interesting.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this ebook via Netgalley.

Stripper by night and funeral home/mortician’s assistant by day.

Emma Jane Holmes recounts her life being involved in both of these professions. I’ll be honest there were parts that grated on me, but it could be my interpretation of the way I have read something, rather than the way the author has meant for it to come across.

I applaud her for presenting the idea that the women who work in the adult entertainment industry are like most other women the world over (mothers, sisters, girlfriends, wives, etc) and that they are just doing a job. This is something I think a lot of people don’t get. I liked how she doled out the actual ins and outs of this profession and it didn’t shy away from things or promote it as a completely glamorous life.

I also liked learning about the Australian funeral industry. I have read a number of books on different aspects of the industry, but always from a foreign experience. I liked her perspective and outlook on death and the profession in general.

Overall, I think people will relate to this book because the idea that you can put your career aspirations before others and not feel bad about it is what a lot of people look for today.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for the opportunity to read this one.

Wow what a read! I devoured this memoir by Emma Jane Holmes in one sitting as her life and especially the insight into the mortuary profession was just so interesting!! Warning that if you do get squeamish then some of the content may be quite confronting but it’s definitely worth it as this is a book you definitely want to add to you TBR List! ⚰️👠
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A big thank you to Harlequin Australia and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy to read and review! One Last Dance is available on 3 March! ✨

***Warning: confronting, not for the squeamish or easily offended***

I liked the sound of this book, a lady who works in the funeral industry and is a stripper by night. An excellent premise for an interesting book, indeed, and since I know nothing about either job, it appealed to me.

Unfortunately, I nearly gave up reading it, about 20% into it. I appreciated the author's candor when it came to describing people in the stages of decomposition, but even though she tried hard to tell us that it really bothered her that someone was left for so long without being found, the message I got was that she was more bothered about ruining her $300 shoes. There was a flippant kind of vibe in the first third of the book which really grated on me. However, I persevered, and I am glad that I did.

When Emma Jane starts describing how she got into the adult entertainment industry, the book started picking up. This was an interesting world and she talked about it really well. I could imagine the setting, the smells, sights, sounds. This was, hands down, my favourite section of the book. I liked that there were rules around what the girls could and couldn't do and that someone was always looking out for them. I also appreciated the author's honesty about what happened with Amy, the good and the bad, and the fact that the women who worked at the club were sisters, mothers, partners - just women doing a job and should not be looked down upon.

The last third of the book was also interesting. All the different parts that make up the funeral industry was something I hadn't really given much thought to. I do wish, however, that the author used the correct titles for the jobs she was doing. For example, she said herself that it took years of training to become a mortician and that she hadn't done that training, but she described herself as such, which seems a bit arrogant. She was the mortician's assistant, not the mortician.

All in all, this was an interesting read. I think it could have done with a bit more editing, perhaps. Or perhaps, since the author is my daughters age, I am kinda the wrong demographic for it. I mean, I couldn't care less about owning a pair of Louboutins, but then again, I never have, fancy brands and labels don't interest me at all.

Anyway, quite an interesting book, bit of a clumsy execution but it has good bones.

3.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Harper Collins for an honest review about this book. I was very excited to see this pink, sparkly cladded image of a coffin on my NetGalley shelf!

As an Australian reader, I have yet to come across a book that shows the POV from an Australian in the Mortuary profession. If you are an overseas reader, don't fear, we aren't doing anything insane to the dead in Downunder (or I imagine to patrons of the adults-only dance clubs)

I am one to enjoy the more morid things in life. I have always believed this is due to my anxiety and wanting to be in control of the known. I thoroughly engaged with this book as I love to read about the secret lives of those who have fascinating jobs. Well, didn't the author Holmes provide me some entertainment: a funeral home assistant and a dancer in the adult industry; both industries occasionally viewed as scandalous and contemptible professions. Holmes gives the average consumer insight into the worlds of funeral homes and adult entertainment; breaking down walls as she goes.

One Last Dance: My Life in Mortuary Scrubs and G-Strings provided exactly what I am after. Interesting perspectives, uplifting content, deep-down dirty secrets, and lively anecdotes. Holmes' voice is an advocate for those in the profession and provides the reader with her view of death. We need more women like Emma Jane Holmes. I particularly enjoyed her passion for her job that this even disrupted relationships with her family and husband. I believe many women could relate to this and feel empowered by Holmes' propensity to place her career and passions first.