I was scrolling through what books had audio versions available to borrow on my library app and I came across this book. I was hesitant, did I want to listen to a book about death, but I decided to give it a go.
The audio version is read by the author Hadley Vlahas who is a hospice nurse. Later I learned she is Tik-tok famous for her hospice-related Tik-toks. She is young and after I was done with the book, I noticed that many of the less-than-positive reviews seemed to be bothered by her youth.
I was a little put off when I started the book because I wasn't very interested in a religious-based book on life's final moments. However, I listened a little bit longer and I found that Hadley Vlahos was pretty balanced. This book is a memoir of Hadley becoming a nurse and then a hospice nurse. She grows into full adulthood over the course of the book. As the subtitle suggests she shares stories of the last moments of some of her patients over the years.
Now I wonder, are these amalgamations of patients, or did she have the approval to share the actual details of her patients. I'm going to assume she had approval to share actual details because the stories are all lovely, so I assume these people (or their families) were OK with being included in her book.
I walked away from this story with a book hangover, the book is hopeful, but sad too. I would actually like to read another book from a hospice nurse or doctor just to compare it to this one, so if anyone has a recommendation, please let me know.
4 stars!
