Even though I read the synopsis of this novel, I quickly found the subject matter a bit heavy for me to get into. Although very well written, I found it hard to get through this book,
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this novel.

I loved this book! Mikki Grammar has woven a beautiful story about Clover and her experiences with life and death, love and loss, and courage. As a retired Medical Social Worker and Pastor, I found Clover's career very relatable and relevant. Her struggles within her personal life were endearing and I was rooting for her throughout the book. I stayed up too late to finish reading it and this book will stay with me for a while! Thanks #NetGalley #StMartinsPress

This, my friends, is a book about death. 💀
Sort of. 😂🫠

Clover, our main character, is a death doula, who helps people through the end of life process so they can pass away peacefully without regrets. After her grandfather who raised her passes away while she’s not there, she’s convinced he died lonely and with no one at his side, and becomes dedicated to her job, doesn’t make friends, and avoids any and all relationships. She has no life because she’s focused on everyone else’s death.

I thought the concept of this novel was interesting, but it stayed sort of surface level in that Clover really was only with people on their old age, who were in a position to start to prepare for death due to age or illness, but they were all older and had lived full lives. The novel could have gone darker, but since it was mostly focused on Clover finding herself while trying to help others, her job just sort of set up the story and at times helped moved along the plot as needed.

While there are some conflicts that come up, everything stays pretty light, there is some talk of grief, but even that is mostly just encouraging words and phrases you’d find in a book on grieving Also, there was a line that said “But the secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life.” I get the sentiment there, but what if you live this beautiful life and then get like, eaten by a polar bear? That’s tragic.

Anyway, I’m in a weird place right now and maybe should have read this book at a different time 😂. The ending was uplifting, Clover gets a happy ending, hugs all around.

This would make a great summer book club book, I think. It’s an easy read and would be a fun chat.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

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

Clover has experienced a lot of loss in her life from a young age and it really shaped her and her interests. She became an orphan at the age of 6 and went to go live with her grandfather in NYC. She grew to be very interested in death and even studied it and wrote her thesis on it. She travelled the world learning about how different cultures see and deal with death. During her travels her grandfather sadly passes and she feels immense guilt not being there and it sparks her into becoming a death doula. She helps usher people peacefully and into death and navigate any unfinished business. But although she helps people deal with their lives she realizes she may not have been living her life they way she should and works to live a life without regrets,

THIS STORY WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. I enjoyed this one so much I cannot express how meaningful the message of this story. Everyone has some fear or anxiety about death, or has dealt with loss and grief and this handled the subject matter so nicely. Clover was so relatable, and really imparted so much wisdom. I learned so much about a career path I had no idea existed and it was so well written. I truly have nothing bad to say.

I absolutely adored this book! It was unique, meaningful and full of hope. Clover is a Death Doula, so obviously this book deals with lots of grief and loss. However, this book is so beautiful and we learn a great lesson from all of the different people she encounters in her job. I thought the story was so interesting, and I could not stop reading it. I loved all of Clover's little quirks, and I was happy that she finally took some chances for herself. This book is full of life lessons, hard circumstances, grief, love, hope and lots of quirky lovable characters.

What I loved:
✨Introspective journey: Clover records advice, regrets, and confessions from her clients, causing her ponders how she’s lived her life.
✨Big Feelings: I was prepared to feel sad because this is a book about death. And I’ll be honest, I bawled ugly tears during specific points in the book. But I experienced joy, hope, laughter, appreciation, and contentment. Every relationship in this book I adored, and each one contributed to the vast array of emotions. Terrific writing Mikki Brammer!
✨Narration: Jennifer Pickens offers gentleness and quietness to Clover that feels perfect. I binged this audiobook over 2 days because her narration was that good!

I adore the message of living life to the fullest. I think this quote is so beautiful “We never know how long a life will last until we live it.” Reminding us that we never know how much time we have. So, you can let life move without experiencing it, or you can live each day as best you can, regardless of the time you have. I’ll leave you with one more quote, “The secret to a beautiful death is living a beautiful life.”

I highly recommend this debut novel - it’s thought-provoking, heartfelt, tender, and a little quirky. If you listen to the audiobook, don’t skip the author/narrator conversation!

Thanks to @thats.one.for.the.books for the buddy read! Both of us agree that this book surprised us in many ways, and we could never outline all its beauty unless we were writing a thesis.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Unfortunately, I could not get into this. The summary sounded really unique but I found myself losing interest with the slow pacing at the beginning. It is written really well and I think it's just a matter of taste. I encourage others to pick this up!

4.75⭐ on 🎧

By far one of the most unique and thought provoking books I've read this year. The titular character Clover is a death doula and I loved how Mikki explored both the profession and death itself. I think this has fundamentally changed some of my perception on death and made me smarter while also letting me root for a fictional character to find happiness.

I loved how Mikki created complex characters and subtly shared their flaws (here's looking at all those red flags, Sebastian) in a way that created a beautiful arc of growth for Clover. I will say there were moments where Clover's actions felt immature for a thirty-six-year-old woman but otherwise this book was a riveting listen/read.

I will be thinking about this book and Clover for a long time. A must read if you fear death and want to get more comfortable with your own mortality.

Also the audiobook includes an extra author/narrator interview!

What an absolutely beautiful book. I loved Clover and how her character develops throughout. She is beautifully courageous and I love that she starts to take cautious risks. I need to learn a thing or two from her. This is a heavy and powerful read that is truly inspiring. I was quickly drawn in until the very end. I didn't get bored or disconnected at any point which is so unlike me. I would recommend this book over and over again!

"Turns out, in the opinion of most medical experts, your grieving process shouldn't last longer than six months. And if you aren't over it by then, there's something clinically wrong with you. What the hell?

“It felt callous to be expected to resume life as normal six months after losing someone whose existence had been so indelibly intertwined with yours. ... That was one of the reasons I became a death doula - my grief felt more at home in the company of others who were grieving, whether it was loved ones or the dying person themselves grieving a life they knew they could have lived better."

- Mikki Brammer, The Collected Regrets of Clover

The Collected Regrets of Clover will be one of my top books in 2023. I loved this quiet story about a 30-something woman who's experienced a great deal of loss in her life and feels called to help others go through it. As a death doula, she's often the only person with someone in their last moments, and she respectfully records their final regrets and/or last words (hence the title). Clover's isolated life gradually enlarges as she allows more people into it, and her story is ultimately hopeful. I really appreciated the cast of secondary characters and the lessons they help Clover learn.

A book about death won't appeal to all readers, but grief is my unofficial reading theme of 2023 since my father died in January. I'm finding it very powerful to explore this significant event that happens to everyone but most are reluctant to discuss.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for access to a review copy of this emotional novel that is very worthy of its lovely cover.

First of all-- I love the cover. I'm a person who does judge a book by it's cover and it's why I was originally interested in this book. I've already purchased a copy for my library and recommended it to my readers. I found the main character as a death doula to be unique in literature. It sounds like it would be depressing but in fact it gave her a zest for life and I liked how she helped other people appreciate their lives. It was a sweet love story too!

Such s great book! If i had read this a year ago before losing my grandfather i wouldn’t have appreciated a story about grief as well as I do now. Grief has no timeline and everyone handles death differently. I loved Clover and her hesitancy to really live. Im Timid and don’t take risks often but maybe i should start taking cautious risks too!

Buckle up for a very moving, heartfelt journey in this debut novel by Mikki Brammer!

Clover is a death doula, offering her support and companionship to people as they die. When Clover was five years old, she witnessed her kindergarten teacher die. Then the grandfather who raised her in New York City passed away, and Clover ultimately decided to become a death doula. Clover meets an old woman who sends her on a mission across the country that forces Clover to examine her own life and happiness.

This book drew me in quickly and didn’t let go. I adore Clover and her unique outlook on life and death. It depicts many beautiful descriptions of her work as a death doula. The story also featured a cast of colorful characters who felt like dear friends by the end.

You may be worried that this story is depressing and sad, but rest assured that you don’t want to miss it. While there were a few moments that drew some tears, the rest of the story wasn’t at all hard to read. This book evoked some poignant memories for me around losses and regrets in my own life. This is a story that makes you question if you are really living your life to its fullest. I have a feeling it’s going to remain in my thoughts for quite a while! This is one of the best books I’ve read this year, for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book!

3.5 *

I enjoyed this unique story. I must admit that I had never heard of a, Death Doula until I read the blurb on the book. Kudos to the author on such an innovative debut novel!

Clover is an interesting character. She has had a fascination with death since her kindergarten teacher fell over and died in front of the class. Her parents were killed in a boating accident while on vacation in China when Clover was 6 years old. She was then raised by her Grandpa in NYC and was very close to him. She's never had any real friends or a love interest and at 36 years old she's still mourning the death of her Grandfather some 10 years later. Through her work as a Death Doula, Clover collects the last words of her dearly departed clients. In a notebook she has three sections: Regrets, Advice, and Confessions. Clover thinks about these things and ponders over them a lot. Through her work Clover meets an elderly lady named Claudia. This new client will help Clover in many ways to come.

I admit the morbid talk in this story was a little unsettling for me to read but I stuck with it. It really has an uplifting message. Essentially this story is about taking hold of the reins and living life to the fullest. A touching story.

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

Available from May 9, 2023 and onwards

I stopped reading this book at the 32%.mark. I did not connect to the characters or story. I found nothing intriguing or thought-provoking enough to continue onwards.

This bittersweet book was a game changer for me and possibly my favorite read this year. This book is different and sets forth a new path in this genre. What if we could try to leave life behind with fewer regrets? Or are we doomed and destined to die angry and bitter and cross at the notion of all the regrets we had while living?.. this was haunting and beautiful and really makes you think.

"The secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life." A compelling debut novel that juxtaposes the ideas of life and death. As Clover navigates the deaths of others, she slowly begins to find her self and really start living her life. A well written and relatable story that shows you that it is important to live life to the fullest and not regret not taking certain chances. As much as she deals with death of her loved ones, I was happy to see Clover find her happy ending.

Such a heartwarming, lovely novel, although it would be a tough read for those experiencing a recent loss of an elderly parent or spouse. Fairly predictable, although I didn't mind - it was still an enjoyable read.

Not all tropes play out the way you’d expect in this quiet, reflective tale about taking more chances. This book was completely adorable. Clover is an extreme introvert and is still experiencing grief from her grandfather’s passing. Despite Clover’s differences to my own experience, the author did a great job conveying her struggles and mindset to the reader in a way that made you feel sympathetic to her plight. I was rooting for Clover’s journey of self discovery.

I think what surprised me most about this book was how the author leveraged a few well-used tropes, like tracking down a lost lover, a well-lived older woman mentoring the young female protagonist, etc., in a new way. This story still had a few twists that kept it from being entirely predictable. It felt equally familiar (nice, cozy vibes) while also fresh and engaging.

Clover has been living her life in her comfort zone—which just happens to be dedicating much of her life to helping others die peacefully. But chance encounters with a few key people sets Clover on a path of self reflection; maybe there’s more to life than atoning for her biggest regret.

I was provided this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Collected Regrets of Clover" and all opinions expressed are my own. I have the kindle and audio book. I decided to listen to the audio book. This was so interesting! I really loved Clover, who is quirky and struggling to find her way. The narrator was really good. She became the characters and for me I felt like I was there with them. Although this is a book about a death doula, it is so much more. It's also about life, finding your way, finding your heart. a very unique book, I like unique.