Clover, a 36-year-old death doula living in New York, knows far more about death than she does about life. Fascinated by death from an early age, she holds a master’s degree in the study of death and has traveled the world learning about various practices involving death. Despite her knowledge and travels, she is isolated in her personal life. Clover has never had a romantic relationship and has just one friend to speak of, her elderly neighbor Leo. When one of her clients finally forces her to branch out, she sees how lonely she really is and her world begins to grow.

I was very intrigued by the concept of this book. I think the work of death doulas is fascinating, particularly in the US where death is often a taboo topic. While some aspects of this book satisfied my interest in the topic, other parts were tough to enjoy. I know there are plenty of people in the world who are lonely and socially inexperienced like Clover but her character still felt a little unreal to me. Some characteristics, namely her naivete, made her seem more like a teenager and therefore it was hard for me to connect with her. The one falls solidly in the average 3 stars category for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy of this book.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy of “The Collected Regrets of Clover.” All opinions expressed are my own.

Clover Brooks has dedicated her life to death. As a death doula in New York City, we follow Clover through her personal and professional life as she supports the dying in their last moments and investigates their documented regrets. “Most of them were recurring themes in my REGRETS notebook—people wishing they’d worked less, loved more, taken more risks, followed their passions. Sadly, regret was pretty predictable.” Clover’s regrets are revealed periodically, namely revolving around her own personal experiences surrounding death.

As Clover unearths how to live a beautiful life, the taboo topics of loneliness, grief, aging, and death are explored, and the importance of living a life true to yourself. Thought-provoking and celebratory, this is an admirable debut novel from Mikki Brammer set to be released on May 9, 2023.

Book : The Collected Regrets of Clover
Author : Mikki Brammer

"What's the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can't give yourself a beautiful life?"

Thanks so much NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review!

Let’s start with the cover! This cover is STUNNING. I am a sucker for a beautiful cover and I’d absolutely buy this just for the cover.

Debut what?! This debut was a home run! This book is simply beautiful. It is about life — death & all the things in between. The characters are wonderful, I adored Clover and she has got to be one of the most loved characters of all the ones I’ve read about.

Having gone through many many losses in just a short period of time myself recently, this book was great to see how the author respectively walked us through the topic of grief and all the aspects around it.

This book is such a beautiful story and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with it as much as I did. Clover will too become one of your favorite characters. This is absolutely a 5 star for the year for me. Run and put this on your TBR!

This did not do it for me. I thought the plot was all over the place and I found most of it unbelievable. Great idea but poorly executed.

4.75 stars rounded up to 5 stars: I read this entire book on a flight from Portland to Chicago and loved every second of it. Though Clover is a death doula, this book is all about life. Despite the backdrop of mortality, the story felt like a warm and comforting hug. I enjoyed all of the very real characters, even the ones that were maybe a bit more flawed than others. Everyone was likeable...or likeable enough (Sebastian)...and I was rooting for everyone. I will say that it seemed a little unrealistic that Clover was the way she was at the age of 36, so I had to suspend my disbelief a little bit with the main character. She was incredibly mature when it came to everyone else's life/death except her own (life). The story wrapped up awfully nicely, too, but I'll forgive the author for that because the road was a bit bumpy along the way and I REALLY wanted a proper ending for Clover. I will say that the older characters (Claudia, Clover's grandfather, Clover's neighbor Leo) were absolutely delightful and perhaps my favorite characters of the book. I would love the author to write her second book all about Claudia's adventures as a journalist! That would make a helluva story (and movie if Katharine Hepburn were still alive...that's who I pictured). So, while this isn't the perfect book, especially when it came to the main character, it was still a lovely reading experience that I highly recommend to others!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book! You know it's been a great book when I make plans to purchase a physical copy of the book when it comes out (5/9/2023).

I really enjoyed this book! It is the kind of book that when you have finished the last page you immediately miss the characters. Even though the theme of the book is death, the story gives one hope and happiness and makes me want to live my life to the fullest. Now I think I’ll start my own books of regrets, confessions and advice.

Clover Brooks is a 36 year-old death doula, a person helping people who are dying find some solace in their final moments. a student of her beloved grandfather, she has notebooks full of advice, regrets and confessions people share in their last moments. However, she wasn't present when her grandfather passed. She is lonely but does not necessarily want the company of others. Her only friend is her neighbor Leo, a man in his 80s. When a new neighbor moves into her building, an opportunity to form a friendship and broaden her horizons opens up. At the same time, Clover is immersed in her latest job, during which she bonds with Claudia, a former photojournalist with terminal cancer. Now, Clover finds herself reflecting on how she has been living and what she wants to do to make the most of whatever time she has left. A lovely, compelling story.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

A pretty cover shouldn’t make me cry this much…..

Jk jk this was beautiful and evocative and moving and everything I want in contemporary fiction.

I loved it.

Totally unique concept but unfortunately it was lacking something and I just couldn't get as into it as I had hoped.

How on earth is this the author’s debut novel? I am beyond honored I got to read this ARC. I savored every word. I didn’t want to leave Clover’s world. I felt so deeply for her as a character. The reflections on death and her job as a death doula isn’t morbid or depressing. It’s truly inspiring and not cheesy. I think I need to start my own notebook. I’ve been personally surrounded by death for over 30 years, so this book was good for my soul.

It’s best that one goes in knowing as little as possible, but I will say these few things: I absolutely loved how the story came together, I enjoyed how the supporting characters affected Clover’s choices and life evaluation, and I could have easily read another 100 pages. The only thing actually hard to believe was that NYC gem of an apartment being consistently affordable, but that’s lightly acknowledged. I can’t recommend this book enough, and this is one I intend on purchasing. Thank you Mikki Brammer for sharing such a beautiful and special story, and I can’t wait to see future work from you!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for kindly providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5⭐️
Pub day: May 9, 2023

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

After the death of her parents when she was just six years old, Clover moved to NYC to be raised by her grandfather. She is now in her early 30s and is a death doula who spends much of her time sitting vigil with people that are dying.

I finished this beautiful book on the last day of April and both the profound message and intricately crafted characters will leave a long lasting impression on my life. I’m not sure how to accurately express how deeply this touched my heart, but I will say that I cried both happy and sad tears on multiple occasions. The story did start a little slower, with a lot of background and character development but it only took about 20% until I was fully invested and loving every second of it.

This is a book that deals with the heavy topic of death so it might not work for everyone but I absolutely loved the journey and the feeling of hope after I finished the final sentence.

I did a combo of audio and digital, both of which would be great options. The audio was so good thanks to the narration by Jennifer Pickens. Her voice was so soothing and exactly what I expected.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc and St. Martin’s Press for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

*quotes from advanced copies may be different in the final copy.

If you are looking for heartfelt, uplifting story add Collected Regrets of Clover to your list. This story takes a unique approach to story telling but talking about one thing no one in American culture wants to talk about, death. Clover is a death doula, she helps people and families transition through the end of life. As part of her own journey Clover keeps notebooks of lessons along the way. It quickly becomes obvious that Clover is more.comfortable with death than living and taking chances. There will be times you will get frustrated with Clover but you will never give up rooting for her.

I received an electronic ARC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.
Clovis sees a lot of death in her profession. She is a Death Doula who is there with the dying to listen, care, and handle details. At first, it seems people stay away as they are uncomfortable with her career. However, as the story unfolds, readers see that Clovis, herself, is still deep in grief and regrets from her grandfather's death. I appreciate the way Brammer slowly reveals facets of her characters and lets readers draw conclusions that may not pan out as other characters and traits are revealed. Two deaths in the story are critical to Clovis figuring out how to move forward with her own life and let go of her own regrets and need to live in the past. She makes some major changes and learns to take risks and let others in to her life.
As much as I would love to see a sequel, I also appreciate being able to draw my own thoughts together as a reader.

Clover is a death doula, shepherding the dying to their next phase in this world. She has become severely detached from her own sense of self and emotions in the process, since her job requires every ounce of humanity she possesses. She writes down each dying client’s last regrets, confessions, and advice into notebooks that become somewhat like a guiding light for her. That is, until one day she has a client that opens her eyes to what more is out there in the world and how regrets should not be anything any human has in their vulnerable last moments. It forces clover to think about what she wants out of her life NOW and not only for the future. The book is incredibly poignant. I felt immensely for Clover as she flashes back to her childhood in an attempt to explain her current day personality. The discussions of death and dying could be a lot to handle for some readers, but I think that is the point and that the author uses Clover to make the note that death is just part of life. This book isn’t all doom and gloom, it is friendships, love, adventure, coming out of one’s shell, and coming of age all wrapped up in one excellent story. I will be thinking about this book for a long time and it will likely be one of my top books of 2023.

This is one of the best books I have read so far this year! This book takes you through Clover, a death doula's, life about finding herself, friends, love, and getting through her personal regrets after her grandpa's death. I loved almost every character in this book and how well the character development was. Even though Clover is SO good morally and so content with the life she was living, I love that all her clients still taught her about life and that everybody has work to do on themselves. 

I cried the entire last few chapters of the book, so be prepared!

Clover is a death doula who cares for people at the end of their lives. She stays with them, comforts them and keeps a notebook of their last words. While she is great at her job, she isn’t so great at living her own best life.

I loved the premise for this book, but unfortunately the story itself missed the mark for me. Prior to reading, I had never heard of a “death doula” although I find the concept interesting. I just didn’t enjoy the character of Clover; she was written as being a bit quirky, which I generally really lovedand relate to but it just seemed forced. She seemed lonely and it made me sad. I honestly had a hard time getting through this because it just felt kind of depressing, but I wanted to see if it got better.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! “The Collected Regrets of Clover” releases May 9th.

This was such a feel-good fiction debut by an Australian author to watch!

I loved Clover and really enjoyed learning more about death doulas. Perfect for fans of books like The brilliant life of Eudora Honeysett and fantastic on audio narrated by Jennifer Pickins with an author interview included at the end.

Clover will make you re-examine your life and tackle any regrets you might have or wish to fix while you can. Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Librofm for early digital and audio copies in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this book! Oh what an unexpected surprise. I have been in a bit of a reading slump, and this novel is out of my normal genre, it is just what I needed. The author brought the characters to life. It is reflective, poignant and a true tearjerker. I felt invested in the characters from page 1. The story takes on the hard topic of grief and brings a bit of peace to death. 5 stars

This is wonderfully written story about life and death. Clover is a death doula. She helps people prepare for death. Ever since her kindergarten teacher died during story time and her parents died a year later while on an overseas trip, she has had an interest in the topic of death and even studied it in college. She studied abroad and visited different countries to learn about the rituals related to death in other cultures. After her grandfather died 16 years ago alone in his office while she was away, she returned to NYC and dedicated herself to helping others peacefully approach death.

Clover moved in with her grandfather after her parent’s deaths and her only friend is an elderly neighbor. Her grandfather didn’t socialize, so she never figured out the friendship thing with her peers and it is hard to change her habits now. Through a chance meeting and a new neighbor, she starts to expand her horizons and rediscover the wider world. This is a really moving story and it will stay on my mind.

I received a free copy of this book to review through NetGalley.

Clover is a death doula. She helps people at the end of their lives prepare for what is to come. When a new tenant moves into Clover's building and she is hired by the grandson of a new client, Clover starts to realize that while she's helping people at the end of their lives, she's not really living her own.

I really enjoyed this one. Clover is really likeable and the story of her and her grandfather is so sweet. The relationship between Clover and Sebastian is wonderful and Sebastian's grandmother Claudia is exactly what Clover needed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available May 9, 2023.