Clover Brooks is a death doula. When she’s not spending her days ensuring people comfortably pass into the afterlife, she lives alone with her pets, and has her regular game of mahjong with her only friend, a senior named Leo who lives in her building. After she meets Sebastian, a man her own age, she is hired to be the death doula for his grandmother, who tells her a story about the love of her life–the one who got away–and Clover makes it her personal mission to reconnect them one last time. During this journey for Claudia, she begins to confront her fears and regrets around her self-made isolation that have festered after witnessing death all her life.

While unsubtle at times, this is generally well-written, charming, and introspective. The characters were the strongest part of this novel for me, each with palpable personalities and defining traits. I became so attached to each of them that by the end I was sad to see them go.

Through Clover’s POV, Mikki Brammer touches upon deep loneliness, the desire for invisibility and isolation, fear of connection after experiencing the pain of loss after loss, and the regrets you take with you to the afterlife. While witnessing Clover run away from every social interaction, and ultimately realising her loneliness is her own fault, I thought to myself, I have had ENOUGH with these authors reflecting my self-sabotage back at me!

Overall, I felt this was a great debut novel and I’ll definitely check out whatever Brammer publishes next.

Thank you St Martin’s Press for this wonderful ARC!

3.25⭐️

This book was a good look at how people deal with grief and the choices we make. Clover explores the regrets, advice, and confessions of her clients while grappling with loss in her own past. Started a little slow but the background was important to understand her journey.

This was extremely well written but timing is everything here and won't be for everyone due to the overall topic. Clover is a death doula and has experienced great tragedy in her own life, losing her parents at a very young age. Before that, she witnessed her kindergarten teacher dying while reading to the class and it had a profound effect on her as she navigates her own path. She spends so much time with the dying that she really doesn't focus at all on living. Until of course one particular woman has some final wishes that send Clover on an unforgettable journey. Deeply profound, this is one I won't forget. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for an advance e-copy. The Collected Regrets of Clover will be available on 5/9/2023.

This was such an unexpectedly refreshing book for me. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Clover and her story. I truly admired the author undertaking death and a lot of its caveats as one of the main themes here.

This story follows Clover who is a death doula. What is a death doula you ask? They are the people who sit with people who are on their way out. Clover had unintentionally been around death at a young age and ended up studying it in college. After her grandfather who was also her guardian passed away alone, she realized that she wanted to help avoid people dying alone as much as she could. She shepherded them through the process of death whether that was through discussing regrets or getting advice or talking about the best moments of their lives. What an absolute honor she has with these people. We learn that Clover is a bit of a recluse. She has no friends and no social interaction beyond the people she works with.

She meets Sebastian at a death club who ends up hiring her to assist his grandmother through the final stages of cancer. Clover meeting Claudia changes everything for her. She realizes how much she has been living for other people but not herself. She realizes that she wants to experience more in her life so that she doesn't have a lot of regrets before she passes. She ends up embarking on a mini adventure to help Claudia but ultimately ends up finding herself in the process.

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book. It is a perfect fast summer read! Enjoy :)

I had to mark this as a did not finish/could not get into. I've tried a couple of times and my heart just isn't into it. It's definitely the type of story you need to be in the right mindset to read.

I cannot finish this. I'm very sorry to say, as the premise and the story are so good. But I cannot stand Clover. Nor am I interested in a romance in my death heavy book. Especially one that starts with stalking and a dying grandmother. No thank you.

**Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC**

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a sentimental and moving debut that challenges life and death. Highly rec this one to all readers - would be perfect for book clubs!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC - The Collected Regrets of Clover is out now!

Clover Brooks is very familiar with death. In fact, it's a huge part of her life. Orphaned at six, she grew up with her grandfather, a kind, gentle man who instilled many of his ideas in her. While in Cambodia for herstudies, her grandfather died, leaving Clover bereft, and still grieving thirteen years later. Deciding to try to deal with her guilt over not being with him when he died, Clover decided to become a death doula, offering her services helping those close to death prepare themselves, and to be there as comfort.

Clover also spends some of her time going to a variety of Death Cafes around New York City; she has no friends except for an elderly neighbour in her apartment. Clover has deliberately isolated herself to prevent the inevitable hurt she'll experience when people discover both her calm acceptance of death as an integral part of life, and her profession.

All this begins to change when she's hired to sit with a man's grandmother; Claudia is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer, and Clover is quite familiar with the progression of a dying person's mental health and failing body as they approach their death. Clover finds Claudia to be a kind, forthright woman, and their friendship, as well as a slow friendship with a new neighbour in Clover's apartment begin opening Clover up, challenging her need for isolation and forcing her to confront her own regrets accumulated over thirteen years. That, and a trip to deal with one of Claudia's regrets push Clover out of her shell and into a new lease on life.

Clover is a wonderful character, a little quirky, sad, a little standoffish, and kind. Her journey from her desire to avoid anything other than surface contact with others to fully engaging with her new friends and surroundings made for a heartfelt, sensitive, affecting and lovely story, and is one of my favourites so far this year.

Thank you to Netgalley and to St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I didn’t know much about it, and the cover looks like something that could be hit or miss for me, but I don’t know, this one just worked.

Clover is a death doula, and I found it so fascinating to read a novel from her perspective. Like many, talking about death is not something that I feel comfortable doing. So it was interesting to read about death this way, and I actually found it quite healing.

I loved the friendships that bloomed and the romance that blossomed, but more than anything, I loved Clover’s journey within herself.

Although I do want to mention - I’m noticing more and more that “bad” love interests have a defining characteristic that they don’t like to read. On behalf of my husband, who is the sweetest man alive but does not enjoy reading, I would just like to say that this is not a toxic trait.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

It's been a while since a book packed such a punch that I was genuinely lost for words. That's how I felt about The Collected Regrets of Clover. When I first started reading it, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read a book that really dove into death, dying, and grief. Yes, it's a main theme since her career is a death doula, but this book is so much more than that.

It's a book about living with no regrets, it's about getting over fear, it's about being and feeling seen, it's about finding your voice and owning who you are. It's a book about embracing all the moments of life and living in the now. As someone who is always worrying about what's next and the future, some of the passages were so poignant that they made me take a step back and remind myself that now is more important than the future. Living each moment to its fullest makes a life that doesn't have regrets.

When I finished this beautiful book, I sat and closed my eyes, trying to absorb the beauty and messages within.

Read this book. You will laugh, you will cry, and you get angry, but most importantly, it will remind you to live life with no regrets.

Thank you, St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

Oh I loved this story! It is sweet and touched my heart. This one gave me a different perspective of life.

Clover is our thirty something main character. She's working as a death doulah which most people have a difficult time understanding but Clover finds it to be a satisfying field. She believes firmly that being there for people in their last hours is priceless and an honor.

Throughout the book, you learn that Clover has experienced a great deal of loss herself over the course of her short life. It's possibly one reason she became a death doulah. Much of her life has been spent surrounded by and dealing with death in some way. So, she's rarely spent time pursuing any other personal goals or relationships.

When Clover takes on a new client that she becomes particularly attached to, she starts to explore new experiences and meets other people. She finds that she is actually missing out on things in the life she's living. But until later in the story, she doesn't understand just how much.

It's simply a beautiful and touching novel about life and learning to live it. Many of the quotes about grief and poignant and quite accurate so I found myself highlighting quite a few. As sad as the premise of this book seemed to be, it left me feeling uplifted and hopeful. A lovely piece of work.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a hopeful and optimistic story about death and reinventing yourself, and it was such a special reading experience.

Our MC, Clover, is one of the most lovable characters I’ve come across in a long time. When we meet her, she’s a death doula working in NYC. She has no friends other than her 87-year-old neighbor, she’s never been in a relationship, and she’s living in a glorified time capsule of an apartment - unable to let go of her late grandpa who passed 13 years ago. Over the course of this story we witness her grow into a more self-assured person, able to start to let go of the past and embrace the future. I loved her journey and I loved all the people she met along the way.

Death can be a scary topic to read about, but this book approached it with grace and tenderness. You wouldn’t expect a book about death to be classified as a feel-good read, but this book definitely made me feel warm fuzzies all over as I finished the last page. I’m glad I learned a lot about letting go and moving forward from this book, because I had to use those new skills to move on from these amazing characters who I became so attached to! 😭 My heart was so full as I finished this beautiful story.

This book made me want to push myself out of my comfort zone and enjoy living my life to the fullest - and I’m so grateful for that 💕

Mikki Brammer's story about Clover, a death doula, coming to terms with how she feels about the life she has lived is a touching, moving, and thought-provoking story. Clover has studied death and how it is perceived amongst different cultures. She decides to become a death doula after her grandfather, who raised her, passed away by himself while she was traveling in Asia. She accompanies the dying in their final moments and tries to bring them peace as they approach death. In a curious case, she encounters Sebastian at a death cafe, and he chases her down for his dying grandmother, Claudia. Claudia's story and questions probe her as to whether she would be happy with her life in her final moments and prompts her to take the risks she would regret not taking. Overall, it is a story that makes you question your thoughts, actions and beliefs and can easily lead you to put yourself in Clover's shoes.

This book is hard to write a review about. I loved it and saw myself in the main character. I’m also in my thirties and extremely introverted and mostly afraid of the world. With that being said this book is deep and will make you think hard about the life you are living.

I also gravitate toward books about death and this one was a great look into that. I mean hello, BOTM picked it and everyone’s loving it!

A lovely story about death and what it means to truly live.

Read if you enjoy:
- discussions about mortality
- the midnight library
- deep conversations and thought provoking moments
- fiction with a small sprinkle of romance (does not overtake the story)

This was such a quick read and definitely a thought provoker!

You guys...This. Book. It’s taken me a long time to put together my thoughts for a review, and everything I write doesn’t seem to do my feelings justice. This is a very special story that will stick with me for a long, long time. After a very scary medical emergency nearly ended my life 7 months ago, I’ve thought a lot about death, life, and what it’s really all about. I’ve wondered why things happen the way that they do, why we come across the people we do, and if “everything happens for a reason” – even the bad stuff. This book addressed all these themes thoughtfully and beautifully.

My one and only critique – and I hesitate to even acknowledge it because I loved this book so much – is I wish Clover had been 26 instead of 36. Some of her nativities and extreme reluctance to put herself out there in the world would have made more sense to me if she were younger.

It was poignant, well written, and beautiful. I loved this book!!

The Collected Regrets of Clover follows Clover Brooks, a death doula in New York City whose job is to assist individuals go peacefully through the process of the end of their life. Her whole life revolves around the dying until the final wishes of an elderly woman send Clover on a trip across the country. Along the way she struggle to navigate romaine and friendship and her own life in general. This book is all about self discovery and finding happiness in your life. It looks at life, death, and how to enjoy the time you have left in this world.

Clover was an interesting main character. She’s very quirky, awkward, and introverted, with her whole life focusing on death and dying people. She only has one friend - her old neighbour Leo who was friend’s with her grandfather. It was fun to watch her grow throughout the story and make new friends along the way. However, I did feel her character was a little all over the place. Yes, she was awkward, but this also came off as immature at times. I also did not like that she spied on her neighbours with binoculars - this was a little off-putting for me.

As for Claudia, the elderly woman that Clover is assisting, she is a bad bitch, and I loved her and her stories. I loved the journey that Clover goes on to help Claudia find the love of her life.

Overall, the story was very well written. It contained so many life lessons with some great quotes to go alongside them. It was very thought provoking, and it made me reflect on my own life and choices. I think that this book will resonate with a lot of people.

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer is a story about a death doula, who sits with people during their final days and allows them to share whatever they need with her before they die. Clover ends up learning so much from all of these people, though, more than she could ever realize. This book is so heartwarming, so beautifully written, and I loved it so much. I highlighted so many different passages, Here's one of my favorites: "Grief, I'd come to realize, was like dust, When you're in the thick of a dust storm, you're completely disoriented by the onslaught, struggling to see or breathe. But as the force recedes, and you slowly find your bearings and see a path forward, the dust begins to settle into the crevices. And it will never disappear completely--as the years pass, you'll find it in unexpected places at unexpected moments. Grief is just love looking for a place to settle." Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

It was very brave for Mikki Brammer to write her debut novel on the subject of death. A topic that many find uncomfortable to talk about, read about, or even think about...

Somehow though, she has written a story about death that is uplifting. A hopeful, authentic story about overcoming your fears, finding a way out of loneliness, celebrating the life we've been given... in other words, 'living your best life'. She expounds on the validity of grief and how we must almost embrace it to endure it in a healthy way. Even when others are hoping we'll 'get over it' to make them feel more comfortable.

Clover Brooks, our protagonist, is a 'death doula'. She actually had a master's degree in thanatology. A word I had never heard of before reading this book.

At thirty-six years of age, she lives alone in a West Village, New York brownstone, and despite the fact that almost nine million people live in New York City, she has only one friend - her eighty-seven year old neighbour. Other than her dog and two cats, Clover is a loner who loves to read and dislikes socializing because she feels inept in social situations. She came to live in the brownstone at six years of age after her parents death. Her grandfather brought her up and she adored him.

"It's easy to glamorize the path you didn't take."

This was a novel that I'll remember for a long time. It addressed some very interesting issues such as loneliness, fate, interconnections, and welcoming change into your life.

The ending was beautiful without being saccharine or unrealistic. An outstanding debut! Highly recommended!