A book that stares death right in the face in the way that this book does was always going to be a little bit confronting. I did appreciate the openness and respect around death that this book had however it did feel as little trite in places. The message of this essentially came down to living life to its fullest and basically that death comes for us all and we aren’t going to know when that is so today counts. This is a tricky message to convey without being a bit cheesy and a bit surface-level. It was a somewhat rare occurrence where I felt the need to roll my eyes at the almost Hallmark card moments and as a whole a pragmatic tone was maintained.

The strength of this book came from a focus on Clover being a death doula for one character, Claudia. We see Clover at other deaths however Claudia’s story is central to the plot as she has a beautiful approach to her own impending death as well as the way she approaches her “regret”. I just really enjoyed Claudia.

The main negative aspect of this book for me was the romance. By the end of the book, I understood that the romance felt awkward and forced because that was exactly what it was. Clover and her love interest were never really compatible so any romance overtures were going to feel a bit uncomfortable. 

At times, Clover’s characterisation was a little quirky in just the wrong way and it was hard to tell if it was a product of her nurture or if she was neurodivergent. I suspect it was a combination of both, in which case I would have liked a little bit more time to be spent on showing characters accepting Clover because it just isn’t fun watching neurospicy characters being ostracised.

Ultimately, for a book about death, this story managed to be optimistic, comforting, and encouraging. I had a good time reading and think there were some great lines that I will be sure to return to in the future.