Clover has watched 97 people die. As a death doula, she spends her life with the dying, but is that enough of a life? Her only friend is an elderly gentleman in her building, and all of her knowledge of romance comes from movies. But now Clover finds herself with a new client with an attractive grandson, and a new neighbor, who seems determined to forge a friendship. What if the secret to a good death is a good life? Can Clover catch up?

The audiobook is perfectly paced and the gentle, soothing voice of the narrator perfectly captures the kind and thoughtful Clover.

After rereading this book at another stage in my life, I actually grew to appreciate the story and journey this book is. It did take me over a year to get back to this though.

Clover Brooks is a 'death doula'. She has a master's degree in thanatology, the study of death and the losses brought about as a result. She lives alone in a brownstone in the West Village of New York, and has only one friend, her eighty-seven year old neighbour. She is a loner, with a dog and two cats. She loves to read, but not socialize. She was raised by her grandfather after her parent's death and she loved him dearly. When he died while she was away, she became a death doula, to help others on their final journey, so they would not be alone. Clover is hired by Claudia's grandson, Sebastian, but the family is having a hard time dealing with her cancer, and they won't talk about it. Claudia has regrets and asks Clover to help her with one of her biggest regrets, so she heads off on a cross country trip and re-examining her life, her regrets and how to move forward in a less cautious way. Sebastian and Clover become attracted to one another, and there might be love in the air. There is also a new tenant in the building, and it looks like Clover might have a friend. with all this going on, it looks like Clover's life might be changing.

This was an interesting book, one that I really liked at time, and was ambivalent about at others. Clover was a character that I had a hard time liking. She was a confident twenty year old, traveling the world, then became a mid thirties recluse with no self-esteem. I know she was devastated by her grandfather's death, but she became really annoying at times. Her role as a death doula also had her recording the last conversations with the dying and found they were often regrets, but also secrets or accomplishments. Clover grows a lot in this story and decides she needs to open up to others and live. I really liked Sebastian's character, he was my favourite and I loved how he helped Clover come out of her shell. This is Mikki Brammer's debut book and I will watch for more of her work. I enjoyed the story overall, I just wish I had liked Clover more. The narration was performed by Jennifer Pickens and she did a nice job with the story. It was the first time listening to this narrator and I will listen to others.

I have never heard of a death doula, but Clover was an excellent one. She helps dying people get their affairs in order and sits with people as they die. She keeps a journal of the last thoughts of those people. One of her clients ends up causing Clover to travel in search of an ending and she finds a beginning instead. I loved Clover and the beautiful writing in this book. Kudos to Mikki Brammar. I can't wait to read more of her work!

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a beautiful book that I cannot get out of my head.
Clover Brooks is a death doula. Clover tends to keep to herself since so many people do not understand her work and she has struggled with her past relationships. When she embarks on a trip for one of her clients, she realizes just how much of life she's really missing.
I loved how open and honest this book was about death. I also loved how we see Clover grow throughout the book.

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer is a book that has stayed with me. It tackles grief in a unique way, as it follows death doula Clover. The individuals with whom Clovers comes into contact add richness to the story, and it allows the reader to think about death in a new way.

Brammer beautifully captures the fragility of life through this emotionally resonant story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a unique idea. I had just learned in the past couple of years of death cafes and didn’t realize there was such a thing as a death doula. I think it’s very inspiring: I liked that Clover learned things from her clients and would often do the things the clients most regretted. I thought that Clover could be a little immature at times, but I enjoyed seeing her grow.:

The narrator was good at voicing the different characters, but I felt she could have emoted a little more.

What an interesting book. I'm a big fan of books that don't diminish people who fall into the elderly category. I feel like literature and movies, etc. that don't diminish them helps make people a little less afraid of growing older.

The interactions between characters felt authentic. I enjoyed this book and seeing how the characters grew and changed. I appreciate the different kinds of love that were portrayed in the book. Sometimes books don't always show familial love or the love between friends, or the tentative moments when a friendship is new. "The Collected Regrets of Clover" does show different friendship dynamics, and I appreciate that greatly.

What a unique thought-provoking, lovely book. This book was filled with warmth, life, and love. The narrator did a nice job capturing the quirks of Clover. I love this journey with Clover and the other cast of characters. The overall message and insightful nuggets will stay with you long after the story ends.

I thought this was a fantastic look at death and the not so well known profession of death doulas, which is not often talked about in modern or popular fiction. As someone who has lost many close to myself, I appreciated the way this novel gave glimpses into different ways that people can approach death, and different ways that people cope with losing people close to them.

This book has been all over my feed for weeks, and so many of my book loving friends have recommended this to me, but knowing that it had a sensitive subject matter of death and the main character being a death doula, I knew I needed to be on the right head space for this when I read it.

It was such a beautiful debut, and an emotional and heartbreaking read. I loved the cast of supporting characters as much as I loved Clover, and loved how thought provoking it was.

🎧I loved the audiobook narration as much as I loved the print copy, and found myself craving the audio format as often as the physical copy.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-an emotional story
-themes of death and overcoming grief
-themes of acceptance over losing a loved one
-thought provoking

*many thanks to St Martins Press, Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a beautiful, sweet debut novel about a young woman's relationship with death. Brammer crafts an approachable and touching story filled with a cast of fascinating secondary characters. I loved Clover's role as a death doula, but some of her character development and plot arc were, at times, predictable or forced. However, the themes surrounding mortality were well considered. I definitely recommend this as an easy read with well-constructed prose.

While listening to this, my phone stopped working. Once I received my new phone and downloaded the Netgalley app I lost all my downloaded audiobooks. I was unable to finish.

The Collected Regrets of Clover follows Clover, a death doula who isn't your typical "main character". She's awkward and anti-social and spends more time with the dying, than she does living her life. Throughout an unlikely pairing, she learns that she deserves to live her life to the fullest.

This book made me finally feel SEEN when it comes to grieving, and the topic of grief itself. The author, Mikki Brammer, does a fantastic job of highlighting what it is like for the dying, and their loved ones. As well as the narrator, Jennifer Pickens, does a great job of bringing Clover to life.

This book may center on the dying, but it is also a book about learning how to LIVE.

I will never have all the words to articulate the special place this book has on my heart.

Clover loves her job as a death doula. The fact that she often keeps her job to herself though, has to do with peoples odd reactions to her career of choice. After losing her grandfather while out of the country, she just wants to be there and help others get through their death. As she learns others regrets, she starts to wonder if she is living a life that will end in her own regrets.

So when to not start this book…on a night you are in a funk. I much preferred it when I finished the second half the next day, but the first half I was in a super funk and this story just brought me down. Once I got myself sorted and finished the second half, I truly enjoyed this book! Clover was such a beautiful person, and it made me so upset that she kept to herself and didn’t allow others in. I adored the cast of characters that helped to bring Clover out of her shell, and learning more about her and she learned about herself.

Engaging and charming story about Clover's trauma responses, and how she had to get out of her comfort zone to learn how to live her life among the living. Narration was perfect for the story.

Audiobook ARC from publisher via NetGalley but the opinions are my own.

"I was still here, still living. But was I just existing out of habit?"

No, I definitely did not sob during many parts of this and use up half a box of tissues........okay, fine, you caught me!
This is one of the most beautiful, touching, and hopeful stories I have ever read. Some books just understand you in a way you didn't even understand yourself prior to reading them and this is one of those books for me. I won't go into a lot of detail about that, but suffice it to say, this book is special to me in so, so many ways, and I'm grateful it exists.

The Collected Regrets of Clover deals with grief, loneliness, isolation, and regret, but it never feels preachy. Mikki Brammer handles these topics with so much care, showing how fears can manifest into routines that feel too scary to branch out of, but how beautiful the end result can be if you slowly open up and challenge yourself little by little.

Clover is a death doula. She talks to and comforts people who are actively dying, listening to their confessions, stories, and regrets, ensuring they not only have a peaceful transition, but have someone by their bedside and aren't dying alone. The catch, however, is that she has social anxiety and rarely interacts with people outside of her job. But that changes when both a new neighbor moves into her building, and when she encounters a man at a death cafe who just so happens to have a grandmother in need of a death doula.

Clover's friendship with Sylvie is SO LOVELY. Seeing how apprehensive Clover was to trust Sylvie at first, and then build a friendship that felt so natural and ingrained in her that it became second nature to refer to her as "my friend" at the end...it was just so beautiful and powerful. I wasn't the biggest fan of Sebastian, though. Every time she brought up how there weren't any sparks with him, I think I cheered. Oops. But he was basically the reason she found such great companionship with his grandmother, Claudia, and then eventually met a guy she DID have sparks with.....so he gets points for those things, I suppose.

Finally, I absolutely love the dichotomy of Clover having such a social occupation, but going home to a dark and empty apartment. I think this separation makes so much sense for her character and is something I deeply relate to as well. She deals with so much anxiety about the unknown, about saying the wrong thing to people and people judging her. She doesn't have friends (aside from an elderly neighbor) and has never been in a relationship, and she spends so much time worrying about how little she understands people. Yet, she sits with people as they take their final breaths. As they make one last confession or share a life-long regret. What's interesting is that she says she doesn't understand how to connect with people, but what is death if not a wonderful way to forge new connections? To learn about who people were and how they lived and what they wished they had done differently; to listen intently and allow their memories to live in your actions? I like how scared Clover is to do things and meet people in her personal life, and how her guard falls down when she's at work. She thinks she's fumbling around in the dark, but her hand is actually centimeters from the light switch.

I paired this with the ALC, and I absolutely ADORED Jennifer Pickens' narration. She narrated this story with so much emotion and brought Clover's personality off the page and to life. I already loved the book, and Brammer's writing, but Pickens' narration made it feel like I was sitting with a friend who was telling me a story, instead of just listening to an audiobook.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC/ALC! I had a lovely experience reading and listening to this story <3

Well. A death doula. A topic that I knew pretty much NOTHING about – but it left me feeling like I had just discovered one of the most compassionate careers ever!! It was a strange read for me – I spent a lot of it confused but ultimately – I enjoyed it. I absolutely adored Clover’s relationship with Leo – and the precious love story that plays out. I wanted to take care of Clover and guide her thru life because it seems as thou she was so sorely misunderstood.
A digital copy of this book was supplied by NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Mikki Brammer in exchange for my honest review.

Loved loved this book so much! It was so good! The concept was great, I loved Clover’s character, and the side characters were also well developed. It was really well written with a lot of good life advice and it really made me think about how I am choosing to live my life and spend my time. It was poignant, deep, emotional and I really recommend listening to this one. I found myself rewinding parts just so I could hear them again.

This was a fascinating book. I love the idea of a death doula. I thought Clover was a fascinating, albeit broken character. For some reason I thought Clover was going to be queer, so I was disappointed that she wasn't--I was also disappointed that the book felt the need to include a love storyline for Clover, but that is my complaint with a lot of books I have read recently. Also, the blurb was a bit misleading, as the promised road trip happened very late in the plot.