The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer was extremely slow to capture my interest. Somewhere around 55 to 60% in, things started to click for me and my interest in the characters and story shifted. After her grandfather dies alone while she’s out of the country, Clover becomes a death doula to help others so they don’t die alone. She starts 3 journals, Advice, Confessions and Regrets, to help chronicle these deaths and the wisdom departed from the dying. She learns a lot of life lessons and what to do when she’s faced with her own regrets. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a contemporary fiction that is about Clover, a death doula that has preferred the company of the dying to the living. The last wish of a dying woman sends her on a trip across the country where Clover finds herself trying to figure out herself, romance and friendships.

While this could have easily been a morose story, I loved the uplifting way it navigated the hard topics of death, regrets and grief. As for Clover, she was a very guarded character and learning where that was coming from and seeing her open up was definitely rewarding. Her naiveté about all things life was a bit confusing as she had a deep understanding of her clients, but I still found the story heartwarming and interesting.

I thought this one worked well on audio, it has a relatively straightforward plot and smallish number of names and Jennifer Pickens' captured Clover's voice really well!

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for the gorgeous finished copy and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

Clover is a 30-something death doula. Her parents died when she was six leaving her grandfather to raise her. He seemed like a great guy and gave her a lot of attention and taught her a lot. Clover was in college studying dying and while she was on a trip to Cambodia her grandfather passed away. She became a death doula so people wouldn't have to die alone. For most of the book I didn't like Clover. She did a good job leading people to a peaceful death but she had no idea how to live a full life and she seemed to go out of her way to push people away until a new neighbor, Sylvie, moved into the building. In a death cafe she met Sebastian who hired her to be with his grandmother, Claudia, who had pancreatic cancer. She finally took to heart some of the lessons she learned from the dying and became a lot more likeable.

I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy.

From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. Then when her parents die in a freak accident while on a trip, Clover is sent to live with the only living relative she has left....a grandfather she has only seen a handful of times. Clover and her grandfather live a happy and fulfilling, if not somewhat isolating, life. Clover goes off to college, and then travels to several different countries, studying the death and burial customs of each culture. While in Cambodia, her grandfather passes away, alone in his office at the university. To atone for not being there with him when he died, Clover decides to become a death doula. Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story––and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.
This book was amazing. I smiled, I sobbed, I became disgusted with the way some people treated Clover because of her profession, and I silently cheered her on when she met the love of her life. This book is perfect for fans of Cecelia Ahern, Gail Honeyman, Matthew Haig, and Lucy Gilmore. I highly recommend it!

A touching and inspiring story of a woman who learns to live while helping others die. Brammer’s writing is graceful and compassionate.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Collected Regrets of Clover
Author: Mikki Brammer
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: May 9, 2023

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies of this book from St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Distinctive • Endearing • Thoughtful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story—and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.

💭 T H O U G H T S

After reading the synopsis and learning Clover was a death doula, I knew The Collected Regrets of Clover was going to be a book for me. Books with open and compassionate dialogue around death and dying are a niche genre I gravitate towards because of my own personal experience with grief.

The Collected Regrets of Clover, Mikki Brammer's debut novel, is such a slow-paced, unique and enlightening novel. Clover is an incredibly relatable and introverted main character, as the story progresses her personal connection to and obsession with death is slowly revealed, which I thought was fascinating. It allowed me to reflect on what it would be like to have the immense privilege of being privy to people's last words.

One of my absolute favourite parts of the book was how Clover's Grandpa used the analogy of matches to explain life and death. Some matches fail to light, some burn out too soon, and some burn all the way down. It touches on how so many factors beyond our control can impact how a match burns. This analogy seemed so spot on and absolutely beautiful.

Despite loving so much about this novel, the reason it doesn't quite meet my 5-star criteria is because my attention did wane slightly around the 60% mark. There was so much building and unraveling on Clover's story that took time, but for me something shifted in the second half that didn't hold my attention like I wanted it to. The audiobook, narrated by Jennifer Pickens was very well done. It helped add a layer of emotion to my reading experience, and also helped me getting through that lull.

At the end of the day, The Collected Regrets of Clover is a book tackling the topic of death. Yet it does so in such a gentle way that it becomes so much more. It's a book about living, a book about time, a book about ageing. It's filled with so much inspiration of reflective moments. It's an uplifting read demonstrating how discomfort is a natural part of life, and a reminder to celebrate life because we just never know when our match will burn out.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a hug in book form
• fans of unlikely friendships

⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, grief, terminal illness, cancer, abandonment, infidelity, medical content, car accident, alcoholism, sexism

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Being denied the chance to say goodbye to a loved one left stubborn emotional scars."

"I don't think it's weird at all. Death is a natural part of life. In fact, it's the only thing in life that we can really count on."

"People who were complete strangers to me less than a year ago had forever shifted the trajectory of my life. The fact that all of us were entangled - that everyone on the planet somehow shaped the course of one another's lives, often without realizing it - felt like almost too much for me to comprehend.

But perhaps that's the point. Do we actually need to understand the world and all its patterns?

You can find meaning in anything if you look hard enough, if you want to believe that everything happens for a reason. But if we completely understood one another, if every event made sense, none of us would ever learn or grow. Our days might be pleasant, but prosaic.

So maybe we just need to appreciate that many aspects of life - and the people we love - will always be a mystery. Because without mystery, there is no magic.

And instead of constantly asking ourselves the question of why we're here, maybe we should be savoring a simpler truth: We are here"

From reading the jacket synopsis you will know this book is about a death doula - but it is important to know that there is a lot of death in the novel. Clover has her own unique superpowers to help people navigate those losses, however the deaths still weren’t easy to read about, especially reading about her childhood traumas. That all said, the book does lean toward the inspiring vs depressing.

Clover is her own kind of endearing quirky, and I love seeing various neurodivergent traits portrayed in independent individuals.

My absolute favorite part of the book was the conversation between Clover and her Grandpa where he uses the analogy of matches to discuss the length of life - some burn out too soon, some are broken before they even light, and some burn all the way with a full bright flame.

The Collected Regrets of Clover releases May 9, 2023. Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for providing access to a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a book about grief, death, and living life fully. Clover is a death doula who guides people in the last days of their lives. As for her personal life, she doesn't have any friends except for an older neighbor. Clover's life is impacted when she becomes a death doula for Claudia, the grandmother of someone she met at a death cafe. This book was a bit slow in the beginning and through the middle, but the end picked up and it turned out to be a sweet story. It was worth getting to the end for the heart-warming message, but I didn't feel fully invested in Clover's story for much of the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Author: Mikki Brammer
Source: NetGalley ARC
Pub Date: May 9, 2023
🕯️
Clover is a young woman who knows a great deal about loss. Specifically, Clover lost her parents in a car accident, but she also lost out on experiencing parental love from an early age. As a young girl, death preoccupies her mind resulting in the loss of friends. It’s a creepy preoccupation. But most of all, it makes Clover hesitant to move forward in life. As a “Death Doula,” Clover develops a rare skill; she helps the dying meet their life’s end. But in helping those who pass on, she realizes that she needs to move on in her personal life as well. She needs to grow her living skills—an interesting book about a challenging topic. There’s a lot to learn from folks at death’s door. #Thecollectedregretsofclover #netgalley #MikkiBrammer #stmartinspress #womensfiction #generalfiction #life #death #future #hope #deathdoula #endoflife @stmartinspress @netgalley @mikkibrammer
🕯️
I received a complimentary copy of this ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and the author for the opportunity to read this book. Pub. Date: May 9, 2023.
🕯️
#book #books #bookaddict #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagramer #bookshelf #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #reader #booklove #bookreader #reader

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

Clover is a thirty-six year old death doula living in New York. Besides her interesting career, Clover lives a very simple and safe life. Being unable to unpack grief and guilt from her grandfather's death, Clover lives through other people's experiences rather than her own. That is, until Clover meets Claudia, a 91-year old woman who is on her deathbed. Claudia's stories, experiences and regrets help Clover recognize that she has the chance to take charge of her life and live it to the fullest. As our wise Claudia said, "Be cautiously reckless."

I absolutely loved the storyline of this book. I haven't read a book that discusses death in such a positive, beautiful way. While I felt sad for Clover at times, I realized she is thirty-six years old and still has so much life to live. "Don't let the best parts of life pass you by because you're too scared of the unknown."

The only reason I'm not giving this book a five star rating is because I felt that the first half was very slow. The first couple chapters were excellent, but then it kind of dragged up until about 30%. Once I got to about 40%, I could not put this book down!

Every once in awhile we get lucky and we hear a story that affects us in a long lasting and profound way. This was The Collected Regrets of Clover for me. A uniquely told story about a death doula, it’s a beautiful, unique, and moving book about what it means to live. I loved this book and it’s characters, I loved the musings on grief and death. I found myself highlighting so many passages I think I have at least 20 new favorite quotes. I will be thinking about this book for quite awhile and I highly suggest you pick it up too. I’m going to end this review with a few of the quotes that really struck me:
-“Maybe we have different business with the same souls in each lifetime. And it doesn’t always work out how we want it to in every one of them.”

-“Grief is just love looking for a place to settle”

Such am endearing story. I was expecting The Collected Regrets of Clover to be a bit more morbid and dark, a little depressing but it was actually inspired and uplifting. Yes, Clover is a death doula and yes death is one of the main topics.. it's so much more than that. It's about how people live their lives and how we think we have time to figure it all out. When in reality things happen everyday and we need to live a life we don't regret. Clover as a character is flawed, and at times I wasn't her biggest fan. But there are some great supporting characters that help the story move forward.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

The challenges I had with THE COLLECTED REGRETS OF CLOVER are that I read it right after CASSANDRA IN REVERSE and the books share some similarities that border on tropes. The biggest: the death of parents, not witnessed by children but left poorly explained to them, will be so calamitous to their development that they will be severely disturbed as adults, specifically unable to connect with other humans. This developmental/emotional disability will camouflage behavior that can best be described as autism spectrum disorders but has not been. I don’t know why that would function as a plot device when the author(s) are capable of telling such good stories and write so well. I admit I am not appreciative of it. So, that’s my bias. I admit it. This book is well-liked and otherwise engaging. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Know that this might be a painful read if you've recently experienced a death and are grieving but know also that it's a well written and thoughtful look at life, death, and personal growth. Clover's parents died when she was 6; she moved in with her grandfather, who showed but never said he loved her. She has had a lifelong fascination with death and now works as a death doula, sitting by the side of those about to die. It's a small life with only one friend- her upstairs neighbor Leo who is 87- a dog, and two cars. And it all changes when she meets Sebastian, who hires her to spend time with his grandmother and her new downstairs neighbor. She's a fascinating character who is quite self aware. There's interesting insight here as well as a bit of romance. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I am a firm believer that books come into our lives when we need them. This one has been on my shelf for months but I finally felt compelled to pick it up the other day and once I did, I couldn’t put it down. Clover, the main character, is prickly and as a reader, at times I struggled to root for her. But the book beautifully addressed grief in many forms and was unexpected in many ways. 3.5/5 stars

I wouldn’t have imagined a story starring a death doula would be quite so enjoyable. Clover isn’t exactly antisocial, she just never learned how to be social so she’s a loner who works with dying people. I loved her personality and felt for her at each awkward attempt to talk to others. The novel contains several apt observations of people’s reactions to another’s impending death and reflections on life regrets.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC to read and review.

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a debut novel about a death doula who, in caring for others at the end of their life, has forgotten how to live her own.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until she meets Sebastian in a death cafe. Sebastian hires Clover to help his dying grandma Claudia.

Clover is very apathetic and intuitive in her job; in her personal life she is a bit of an odd duck. She lives such a solitary life, she doesn't have a single friend apart from her geriatric neighbor Leo. She is in her mid-30s. She is too naive. She has never dated, never even been kissed. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.

I found the concept of death doula quite interesting. Even though this book is the author's debut novel she comes from a journalism background so she clearly has done her research about death doulas. I really enjoyed the way the tidbits were sprinkled throughout the story about different end-of-life rituals and traditions from different cultures.

Even though the book is about dying people, it is never morbid. It is even uplifting in ways. Only, I anticipated feeling bigger emotions but sadly, I didn't. There were a few cliched plot points that could have been avoided (going on a trip to find a client's long lost love or checking off the things that her clients regretted not doing)

The Collected Regrets of Clover was a good, bittersweet story that conveyed a beautiful message about living life with as few regrets as possible. It was easy to read. I enjoyed it.

3.5 stars

This was a combination of book/audiobook thanks to the publishers.
Grief is just love looking for a place to settle.
This book has a unique theme, a death doula. I am vaguely familiar with that term, but finding it in a modern setting was something I didn’t expect.

A slow paced story, I mostly listened to the audiobook since it wasn't until the last third that things started to really grab my attention.

Clover is an interesting character, she has demons of the past which is reflected in her lifestyle. Given her chosen occupation one would thing this would be a depressing and gloomy story. But it isn't, I found it heartwarming that those without family or friends had someone with them in the end.

There were parts of the story that just didn't resonate with me, aside from the slow pace. Though she grew up sheltered, for someone who has traveled the world by herself and given her job I found her to be somewhat immature in both action and her thought life. However, the audiobook is very well done, and without it, I might have given up on the book.

Overall, The Collected Regrets of Clover is a unique and heartwarming story that will appeal to many readers. While it may not have been my cup of tea, others have given it a higher rating, so it's worth checking out. The book is set to release next week, so keep an eye out for it.

My thanks to both Macmillan Audio and St. Martins Press for advanced copies in exchange for a honest review.

I need to preface this review with this; this book is absolutely NOT the kind of book I gravitate to [the blurb makes it seem like there is more romance than there is, and what is in there is so real-to-life I was weeping at several spots] as I am not a fan of contemporary or LitFic at all [I usually run hollering and screaming when presented with either LOL], but it was a teeny bit intriguing, so when the publisher approached me to read/review this, I reluctantly said yes.

Imagine my surprise when I started this and finally emerged, 4 hours later [on the first night of listening], weeping and also NOT wanting to quit AND wondering just when this author, whom I do not know, entered my brain and wrote about my life. I am completely gobsmacked. This book was absolutely glorious. Gorgeous. Very much what I needed right now [it is tough to live in extreme loneliness, but much like Clover in the book, one adapts and learns to live their life the best way they know how within that loneliness, and it was one of the many things I completely related to within Clover's story], and I am 100% glad I read this [it will stay with me for a very long time].

I am not really going to give a bigger review than this, simply because I think one should experience this with no preconceived notions [ignore the blurb too - it is VERY misleading] and just let the story of Clover unfold naturally. It will be a better read for you if you do it that way.

I have had some real trouble with narrators lately and I knew nothing about the narrator for this book when I requested it,[she was completely new to me] and that always makes me nervous. Well, I totally lucked out here too. The narration completely makes this book. The narrator reads this much like she IS Clover and she is just having a conversation with you and it was just fantastic. I have a new favorite narrator and will be looking for other things she narrates. What a great job!!!

I was asked by St. Martin's Press to read and review this book and I thank them, NetGalley, Mikki Brammer, Jennifer Pickens - Narrator, and Macmillan Audio for providing this ARC and audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautiful book filled with many lessons for a life well lived!

Clover's unusual job as a death dula sprung up from her early encounter with death when her parents died when she was 6, and then again when her beloved grandfather who raised her died alone. People she meets aren't very accepting of her job, either scornful, disbelieving or disgusted, so she's chosen to be an introvert, rarely socializing, never dating and spending her time watching rom-coms alone in the apartment she and her grandfather lived in, still filled with his belongings.

A chance encounter at a death cafe introduces Clover to Sebastian. While this doesn't pan out into a romance, it does provide Clover with a job, helping his grandmother ease into death. She and Claudia become close, and Clover begins to ease out of her self-imposed isolation and experience life. Also thanks to Claudia, Clover meets Hugo, the grandson of Claudia's former lover.

Death and its impact on loved ones is very sensitively handled by the author. This is not a morbid book, it is hopeful and uplifting. As someone still struggling with grief, many of the passages spoke to me. I actually wish someone like Clover had been with my Dad when he died.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.