Engaging and endearing, I loved this book. An interesting premise and definitely Thought-provoking. I'll definitely recommend this.

After reading the synopsis of ‘The Collected Regrets of Clover’ it was safe to say I was intrigued and it looks like this is already proving a popular choice amongst book bloggers.

Clover Brooks has forgotten how to live, which could be to do with the fact she spends her life as a death doula in New York City. Spending the last few days with someone so no one dies alone, it obviously takes its toll on emotions, and is Clover retreating from other people to cover up a regret of her own? When she meets feisty Claudia her outlook suddenly changes, will she remember how life can be an adventure again?

This book reminded me of ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ and that’s definitely not a bad thing! Clover is a very likeable character who, for various reasons, has closed herself off from the world and any relationships since the death of her grandad. I loved the description of her relationship with her grandad, who brought her up following the death of her parents at a young age and also how she wasn’t a ‘typical’ child into ‘normal’ things which makes her more endearing on her journey through life.

Obviously death isn’t an easy subject and there is a lot of discussion within this book due to Clover’s role as a death doula but it is never depressing, instead focusing on why people should focus on living whilst they can, limiting the regrets that may surface. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend everyone delving into Clover’s world and remembering that life is for living.

I loved the title of the book and the cover design too and I was prepared to love the story. I curled up with a mug of tea and initially loved it. However after a while I became rather downbeat. My mood flattened from cheery to not cheery and I admit I simply stopped reading. I was interested in the story though. I think the concept is great. I wonder then the text grew to heavily laden with her loneliness and friendlessness. I may try again but for now - not for me. I will give it three stars as I think its a good book.

``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's no magic ' , This is a very profound yet poignant truth which many of us stay blinkered too.
I was fully wrapped between every page of this book & loved Clovers character & later that of Hugo too. I truly recommend this book your life will be less of a life if you do not read it . #NetGalley, #Goodreads, #Amazon.co.uk, #FB, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/358a5cecda71b11036ec19d9f7bf5c96d13e2c55" width="80" height="80" alt="100 Book Reviews" title="100 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>.

Clover is a death doula who meets Sebastian at a ‘death cafe’ - a meeting for people to talk about all things death related. Sebastian’s grandmother is dying and he employs Clover to accompany his grandmother through the final stages of her life. Clover is a very insular individual and through the course of the book we discover why she is like this and how she can possibly find a way to change.

I very much enjoyed how the characters were drawn in this book - we all need a Leo in our lives! There is something to resonate with everyone here and many words of wisdom to help us get the most of the short time we are on this earth. However, I did find the story rather bland and a predictable romantic story. Claudia was a wonderful character and she was well drawn but something was missing with this book for me. We are all different though, and if you are looking for a relaxing, fairly formulaic romance this is the book for you. It would while away a pleasant few hours curled up in a chair. I probably wasn’t expecting it to be the sort of book it was. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this ARC

A very different story looking at the one guarantee in life. This was a great book with some real thought provoking moments.

This is a beautifully written book with few characters but all fantastically detailed and developed. The storyline is very unusual but feels relatable and well thought out. I really enjoyed reading this book, it would be great for a book club read as it poses many questions and subjects for discussion. I will definitely recommend

Clover Brooks is a death doula. She spends much of her life surrounded by the dying … helping to ease their passage as they take their final breaths. However, her compassion for those reaching the end means that she has sacrificed her own experiences. As she wrestles with her own sense of loss (with the help of a few kind characters and clients), Clover starts to reintegrate herself into the world of friendships and love.

This is a wise and very moving novel. Brammer examines the impact of loss on our lives … particularly unprocessed feelings associated with grief. Clover’s emotions are messily laid bare for the reader and the mixture of rational/irrational thoughts are sometimes funny; other times raw.

I have never read anything like this book and strongly recommend it.

Although it took me a while to read this off and on, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Clover and seeing her learn from the new people she was letting into her life.
Clover is a free spirit, travelling the world learning about death in different cultures, until her grandfather passes away. She then returns home and shuts herself away, becoming a death doula to ensure others don't die alone like her grandfather did.
Unfortunately, this means she is very lonely and it comes to people to force her outside her comfort zone to see what she is really missing.
I loved With the End in Mind, so seeing this subject be portrayed in a fiction book was great to read. I liked the way death was openly talked about and how Clover helped people through the end of their lives.
Claudia was a fabulous character and I loved how her older character helped Clover as well.
Friendships, death and living well is the message in this book and I highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a very interesting and thoughtful story. I enjoyed the characters. I already would like to read it again. I actually would like to read more about Hugo and his past and more about Clovers travels. I think a sign of a good book is often when you do not want to say goodbye to the characters but you are happy with the story conclusion.

This was so amazingly beautiful, with such heart warming messages that everyone should take into their life.] Going in I had never heard of a death doula before, but I thought this was such an interesting occupation and the premise is really unique. I loved the character of Clover and seeing her grow throughout the book and I also loved seeing the people she met along the way. Instead of being incredibly depressing as it could have been, I actually found it quite uplifting and I enjoyed seeing an insight into Clover's notebooks and "seeing" peoples last words and how you should use this in your daily life to live happier. Another thing I really enjoyed reading was about Clover's travels and how she learned about different cultures views on death, it was incredibly interesting for me. I can't recommend this enough whether you want an interesting read or something with a strong resonating message.

This is an absolutely lovely book.
The main character Clover is a death doula who feels safe caring for the dying, and struggles emotionally with living her own life. She is really only engaging with the world through the dying. As she cares for those people.who are dying Clover records their regrets and advice in notebooks, She meets a man Sebastian who engages with her and then asks her to care for his grandmother Claudia who has a short time left. These and other relationships enable Clover to review her own life and lead to her discovery that life is for living.
The books themes of living and dying resonated with me and they were handled with beautiful writing.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

A, thoroughly enjoyable book full of lessons to live by. Despite the subject matter this is definitely a light easy read. We follow Clover, a lonely and closed-off young woman working as a death doula in New York City, who collects advice, regrets, and confessions from her dying clients but struggles to live her own life to its fullest. Over the course of the book we see her come out of her shell and begin to let others in, with heartwarming results. At times some of the characters could feel a bit stereotypical or plot points overly sentimental, and while that usually bothers me a lot it really didn't in this book - a testament to the sweetness of the story.

What a lovely read this was. So many feelings, so many opportunities and Clover bundles them up and saves them for the dying. A heart of gold and full of love, it’s a book which makes you realise we would all love someone like clover in our lives, but I hope I’m not dy8ng when I meet her. Recommend.

I liked the title of this book and reading it did not disappoint me. Clover the main protagonist was a death doula. Don't let that put you off. The book is very sensitively written and turns the taboos of death into something more peaceful and there is a lot more in the book besides this. Clover was good at her work, as she spent time with the dying. However her own life was challenging, orphaned at a young age Clover was brought up by her grandfather, though they had a close meaningful relationship Clover found it difficult to navigate her way in the world. She was lonely and awkward. It is when working with a new client things started to change.
The book is about love and about people who may be considered different, a book I would recommend to others for many different reasons..

What a beautiful story
Mikki Brammer really captures such an atmosphere regarding adult loneliness, life's complexities and so much of the realities of death and grief. Despite the subject this is not at all a depressing or sad read, I found it uplifting with a theme of finding your passions, purpose and love of living. The characters were so loveable. This is a book I long to read again and to encourage everyone to buy

4 STARS!

I requested this book on NetGalley because I fell in love with the cover (don't judge me), which means that I went into this book blind. I'm a bit sad that the cover has changed because the first one was amazing, but this one is great too. But let's talk about the story now.

Clover is a death doula. Clover had experienced death at a very young age when her kindergarten teacher died right in front of her. The following year, her parents were killed in a boating accident and she was sent to live with her grandfather, who became her hero and role model. However, even as she grew older, her fascination with death never faded. Now she is 36 and she goes to death cafés, where people talk freely about death and face the subject without being judged. She never goes to the same cafés because she doesn't want to be asked questions about her life and her work, she just wants to talk and listen to other people's experiences on a subject that is so familiar to her.

The reason so many people die with regrets is because they live like they're invincible. They don't really think about their death until right before it happens".

She has never been close to anyone, she was considered a freak at school, no one wanted to stay around her and she was treated like an outcast, so at some point in her life she decided not to get close to anyone so she wouldn't suffer.
All the people in her life are people who have very little time left to live, she's afraid of surrounding herself with living people who might judge her and treat her badly, keeping everyone at arm's length to avoid rejection.
At a death café she meets Sebastian and through him, Clover meets Claudia who has stage four pancreatic cancer and only 2 months left to live. She also befriends her new neighbour, Sylvia and she feels like she has a friend she can count on. Thanks to all these new people in her life, she will learn not to be afraid of life and to trust people again.

"Don't let the best parts of life pass you by because you're too scared of the unknown."

You wouldn't say that this is the first book by this author, I read it in one day because I was so into the story and I wanted to know more.
I didn't read the blurb before I read the book, so when I found out what the protagonist did for a living, it hit me hard. I actually put my Kindle down and thought "I can't read this story, I can't read about death". I kept going and I have to say that the subject was faced in the right way and it wasn't a heavy read (but not a light read either, don't get me wrong).

I can honestly recommend this book, it was a moving and immersive read and it is different from the books out there lately, which is obviously a great thing.

Expected publication date: July 6, 2023

The perfect slice of uplifting, heartwarming joy that we all need in our modern world. Just pick this stunner up and thank me later :)

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I really enjoyed what I got. Well written, poignant and full of warmth.

I absolutely loved reading “The Collected Regrets of Clover” by Mikki Brammer. I completely fell in love with Clover.

Clover is a Death Doula in New York City and for a variety of reasons leads a very closed-off life. She does an admirable job helping people have a dignified death on their terms and also records in three books their Advice, Confessions and Regrets. She sometimes lives out the regrets of some of her clients. She took a five-week Nepali class after one of her clients regretted having never learnt Nepali, his wife’s native language.

She lives with her pets in the rent-controlled apartment that she grew up in with her grandfather. Her only friend is Leo, an octogenarian, who also lives in her building with whom she plays mahjong with weekly.

A new neighbour moves into the building who doesn’t take no for an answer and forms a friendship with Clover, pulling her out of her comfort zone. At the same time, she crosses paths with Sebastian, a young man, grappling with his grandmother’s imminent death. He hires Clover to assist his grandmother, Claudia’s, death. Claudia and Clover get along famously and it is Claudia’s biggest regret that Clover tries to put right before Claudia dies.

I loved how hopeful this book is. I love Clover’s awakening and how it is never too late to start living life to the full.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers Penguin General Viking for making this book available to me as an e-ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I can’t wait for Mikki Brammer’s next book!