CW: Death of a baby, grief

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for the eARC! If you want your heart ripped out and stomped on but then put back together with hope, this is the book for you. I don’t have many words to describe this because it was just so well written. You feel like you’re there with Cleo experiencing everything she’s feeling. The author’s writing style is so raw and realistic. There’s no sugarcoating anything and you get all the messy bits of life after the loss of a child. You really just want to give Cleo a hug for the duration of the story. There are also great discussions of grief in this book, especially since she ends up working in a funeral home. The way her relationship with her husband, friends, and family changed was very well portrayed. I honestly couldn’t put this book down. I would really recommend checking out this book, but definitely keep some tissues nearby cause you’ll need them.

Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead – Book Review

“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” ~ AA Milne

Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen is a book about Cleo Dang. She dreamed of becoming a mother and enjoyed every aspect of her pregnancy. She even got to share it with her best friend Paloma. But when they both go into labour at the same time, something goes very wrong and Cleo doesn’t leave with a baby like Paloma does.

As Cleo tries to figure out life after losing her baby, she ends up finding a job at a funeral home, where she surrounds herself with grief.
This book obviously has some trigger warnings of infant loss, suicidal ideation and grief.

That being said, this book is a beautiful, sad and honest look at grief and the impact it has on every aspect of your life. “To love anything is to jump on a speeding train to heartbreak” ~ Kenneth

This book was also funny. I cried, but I also laughed. As Cleo worked through her feelings, I wanted to hold her hand. As Cleo fought the urge to continue finding any sort of joy, I wanted to hug her. As all the other characters open up about the thoughts of love, death, loss and death, it made everything so real. And that was why I this book is a five-star read.

It’s never easy to lose someone close to you. And this book peels back the raw feelings that one goes through, and the stupid things people say to make you (and themselves) feel better. But it also looks at the way people can find connection through this difficult time.

It’s available on April 14, where all books are sold.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

#bookreview #booksof2026 #fiction #womenauthors #grief

It's been a pleasure to read "Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead" and I'm so thankful I was able to get an advanced reader copy from Netgalley.

Cleo Dang is pregnant with her first child and so is her best friend, Paloma. They live on the same street and everything was coming together so perfectly until it didn't... Paloma gives birth to a healthy baby boy while Cleo's daughter, Daisy, dies of birth complications only a few days after birth. Cleo's life unravels with the tragic loss of her precious baby girl and she ends up taking a job at the same funeral parlor her daughter's service was held at which connects and helps her in ways she did not see coming.

Cleo's story shows all the unique and lonely aspects of child loss grief. It's like nothing else. From inappropriate comments from friends, family, and medical professionals, to strange coping mechanisms, dark humour, relationship and job loss, and ultimately the unwilling reshaping of a person after such life shattering devastation.

What I loved about Nguyen's writing is how honest Cleo's grief portrayal was. It's messy and shows how even well intentioned loved ones misunderstand the grief process in their desperation to get the grieved person "back to normal" but grief, especially traumatic grief, takes all the time it needs. It needs to be heard, to be felt, and for that person to have a safe and supported space to go through that process. Cleo's story is also one of hope, in that it is possible to continue on but not necessarily to move on.

What makes this book so truly poignant and beautiful is that the writing truly comes from the heart, as Cleo's story is a fictionalized retelling of the Nguyen's own child loss, as she too, lost her daughter. Cleo's story, this tragic unfolding of real grief, is just what our grief illiterate world needs.

I wish I didn't find this book relatable but, like the author, I have also experienced child loss when my first born son's heart suddenly and inexplicably stopped beating when I was 27 weeks pregnant. The agony of his loss is still with me and is so aptly captured in Cleo's story. I saw so much of myself in Cleo. The story brought back some of the rawness of that grief but in the best way possible. As an avid reader, I have struggled to read since my son's passing and have not been able to relate to other child loss books I was able to get through, that is until this one. If you have lost a child, I am so profoundly sorry for your loss, it is not a club that anyone wants to be a part of but it does have the best people in it. This book will speak to you and the loneliness, you no doubt, feel and I highly recommend it.

I can't wait until this book is published so that I can get a copy to share with friends and family. Thank you, Mai, for writing this book.

This beautiful, heart-wrenching book absolutely blew me away. It was such an incredibly honest look at loss and grief with just enough dark humor and quirkiness to keep it from being too heavy.

Cleo Dang heartbreakingly lost her full term baby, and we join her shortly afterwards as she is struggling through her grief. She is lost in the darkness and we are with her through it all.

I knew even before I got to the author’s note at the end that this story was written from experience. As it turns out, the author Mai Nguyen sadly went through this herself, and writing this book helped her navigate her own darkness.

I can’t even begin to imagine what reading this book would be like for someone who has been through something similar. What a gift a true and honest story - even when told through a fictional lens - can be in helping us realize we aren’t alone even in our darkest moments.

Thank you to @simonschusterca for sending me an early copy of this beautiful book which publishes on April 14.

I honestly think this will be an amazing book, however being currently pregnant it is hitting a little too close to home for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC!

When I first received this book, I hesitated to start it, unsure if I could emotionally handle reading about infant loss—especially since I was actively going through my first pregnancy loss at the time. Still, I’m a big believer in fate, and I chose to trust the universe for placing this book in my hands when it did. I persevered, and I am so deeply glad I did.

This story is raw, beautiful, and surprisingly hilarious. The weight of grief is so visceral that, even without reading the author’s note, it’s clear it was written from lived experience. Nguyen captures the isolation of grief—the constant rumination over how things could have been different and the unwanted resentment that quietly boils beneath the surface—with such precision that it made me feel far less alone. Above all, the deep love Cleo had for her baby demonstrates how motherhood starts well before birth.

We so often see pregnancy announcements, yet rarely talk about loss. It’s a darker side of motherhood we cannot afford to turn away from. By weaving parts of her own story into Cleo’s, Nguyen gives us a heroine who gently clears a path for the rest of us to confront our trauma and begin to heal. And perhaps most beautifully, she uses humor to get us there—I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much while reading a book about grief.

This book has left a lasting mark on my bookish heart and will stay with me forever. I cannot recommend it enough. It is necessary reading for anyone who has experienced grief.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the advanced reader copy.

This is a beautiful, heartbreaking, darkly funny, candid book about grief. Though I’ve never had the experience of losing a child, I have had a number of losses in my life and so much of what the author has shared in Cleo’s story deeply resonates. Grief is such a journey.

I thought Cleo going to work at a funeral home was unique and I love all the interactions it brought into her life. I enjoyed Mai Nguyen’s writing style in Sunshine Nails and thought it worked well here too. There was a brutal honesty in Cleo’s actions and thoughts throughout the book that I appreciated.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel explores grief in such a raw and real way, that I almost felt as though I was living it. Mai Nguyen takes the reader through the wild ride of the hours after death, through the year of trying to learn how to live with it. I think one of the main things that have been imparted on me because of this novel, was that there is no right way to grieve and you shouldn't let others expectations on how you should grieve effect your processing.