
Influencing Death
Reframing Dying for Better Living
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Narrated by:
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Penny Hawkins Smith RN
About this listen
A hospice nurse’s unflinching look at life, death, and redemption.
Death is undeniable and unavoidable. We must accept it; there is no other choice. But coming to terms with our mortality can profoundly influence how we live—and how we die. Having been a hospice nurse for decades, Penny Hawkins Smith is an expert on death and dying. As a recovering alcoholic and former drug addict, she knows what it means to change course and become a meaningful contributor to society. Through her work with death, Penny found her purpose in life.
In Influencing Death, Penny brings transparency and levity to the grim topic of death while revealing truths about the reckless past that influenced her decision to become a hospice nurse. Using down-to-earth, compassionate storytelling, she transports listeners into the room with dying people and their families, laying bare the raw and real human emotions and behaviors people have when life and death are hanging in the balance.
Weaving together dual narratives of death and life, Penny challenges us to see how embracing our own mortality—and the mortality of the people we love—can help us live more fully and approach the end of life with greater acceptance, grace, and peace.
©2025 Penny Hawkins Smith (P)2025 Dreamscape MediaListeners also enjoyed...
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Wonderful
- By pratt426 on 07-13-24
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The Housekeeper's Secret
- A Memoir
- By: Sandra Schnakenburg
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lee Metoyer is hired to be the new housekeeper, she has no idea that she’s about to become the anchor to a family in an abusive patriarch’s home, setting a mystery in motion that will take decades to uncover. At the age of seventy-two, Lee falls ill and on her deathbed asks Sandy to write her story. The only problem is, Sandy doesn’t know the story. Embarking on a quest to honor Lee’s final wishes, Sandy takes an emotional and thrilling journey, unveiling shocking truths not only about her beloved housekeeper but also her own upbringing.
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Fascinating
- By Eliza Wheeler on 01-01-25
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The Motherload
- By: Sarah Hoover
- Narrated by: Sarah Hoover
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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“The kid was objectively a tiny worm, even worse, a worm with my nose.” Welcome to Sarah Hoover’s unflinching take on motherhood and its expectations in which the beatific narrative women have been fed—one of immediate connection to your child followed by a joyful path of maternal discovery—turns out to be not quite true. In The Motherload, Hoover provides a candid, funny, and sobering look at the journey women undertake as expectant mothers and wives from the early days of pregnancy through labor and beyond.
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Needs Perspective
- By Jana Jamail on 02-10-25
By: Sarah Hoover
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The Harder I Fight the More I Love You
- A Memoir
- By: Neko Case
- Narrated by: Neko Case
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Neko Case has long been revered as one of music’s most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans. In The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, Case brings her trademark candor and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl “raised by two dogs and a space heater” in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally acclaimed talent.
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Loved it! Powerful!
- By Lost Outpost on 03-20-25
By: Neko Case
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This Changes Everything
- A Surprisingly Funny Story About Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don't Talk About
- By: Tyler Merritt
- Narrated by: Tyler Merritt, Jerrie Merritt, David Tieche, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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When Tyler Merritt was diagnosed with cancer, everything he thought he knew about what mattered in life changed. This Changes Everything is a humorous and optimistic love letter to this beautiful life. Though he made it through a highly invasive surgery and thought he was in the clear, Tyler soon realized that the cancer had other plans. It wasn’t a question of if the tumor would come back for an encore, his doctors told him. It was a question of when.
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Great Book
- By Lydia Boynton on 03-29-25
By: Tyler Merritt
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The Sinners All Bow
- Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River.
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It could have been a great book
- By Michelle hooper on 03-20-25
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Nothing to Fear
- Demystifying Death to Live More Fully
- By: Julie McFadden RN
- Narrated by: Julie McFadden RN
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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What if we didn’t consider death the worst possible outcome? What if we discussed it honestly, embraced hospice care, and prepared for the end of our lives with hope and acceptance? In this compassionate and knowledgeable guide, TikTok star Julie McFadden—known online as “Hospice Nurse Julie”—shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as an RN in the ICU and in hospice.
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Wonderful
- By pratt426 on 07-13-24
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The Housekeeper's Secret
- A Memoir
- By: Sandra Schnakenburg
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
When Lee Metoyer is hired to be the new housekeeper, she has no idea that she’s about to become the anchor to a family in an abusive patriarch’s home, setting a mystery in motion that will take decades to uncover. At the age of seventy-two, Lee falls ill and on her deathbed asks Sandy to write her story. The only problem is, Sandy doesn’t know the story. Embarking on a quest to honor Lee’s final wishes, Sandy takes an emotional and thrilling journey, unveiling shocking truths not only about her beloved housekeeper but also her own upbringing.
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Fascinating
- By Eliza Wheeler on 01-01-25
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The Motherload
- By: Sarah Hoover
- Narrated by: Sarah Hoover
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
“The kid was objectively a tiny worm, even worse, a worm with my nose.” Welcome to Sarah Hoover’s unflinching take on motherhood and its expectations in which the beatific narrative women have been fed—one of immediate connection to your child followed by a joyful path of maternal discovery—turns out to be not quite true. In The Motherload, Hoover provides a candid, funny, and sobering look at the journey women undertake as expectant mothers and wives from the early days of pregnancy through labor and beyond.
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Needs Perspective
- By Jana Jamail on 02-10-25
By: Sarah Hoover
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The Harder I Fight the More I Love You
- A Memoir
- By: Neko Case
- Narrated by: Neko Case
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Neko Case has long been revered as one of music’s most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans. In The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, Case brings her trademark candor and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl “raised by two dogs and a space heater” in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally acclaimed talent.
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Loved it! Powerful!
- By Lost Outpost on 03-20-25
By: Neko Case
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This Changes Everything
- A Surprisingly Funny Story About Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don't Talk About
- By: Tyler Merritt
- Narrated by: Tyler Merritt, Jerrie Merritt, David Tieche, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Tyler Merritt was diagnosed with cancer, everything he thought he knew about what mattered in life changed. This Changes Everything is a humorous and optimistic love letter to this beautiful life. Though he made it through a highly invasive surgery and thought he was in the clear, Tyler soon realized that the cancer had other plans. It wasn’t a question of if the tumor would come back for an encore, his doctors told him. It was a question of when.
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Great Book
- By Lydia Boynton on 03-29-25
By: Tyler Merritt
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The Sinners All Bow
- Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River.
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It could have been a great book
- By Michelle hooper on 03-20-25
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You'll Never Believe Me
- A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist
- By: Kari Ferrell
- Narrated by: Kari Ferrell
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari had graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.
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Very interested and perfect the way she didn’t do too long in one area
- By Amazon Customer on 03-31-25
By: Kari Ferrell
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Cardiac Cowboys
- The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery
- By: Gerald Imber MD
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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A decade after World War II, there was still no such thing as open-heart surgery, and yet half a million Americans were dying from heart disease every year. After the first daring operation in 1954 and through the next three decades, five heroic surgeons braved the scorn of their peers, withstood fierce desperation, and faced possible death in order to devise procedures that would save overwhelming numbers of those doomed children and provide hope for a new life to all manner of heart-failing individuals.
By: Gerald Imber MD
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The Art of Dying Well
- A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An inspiring, informative, and practical guide to navigating end-of-life issues, by a groundbreaking expert in the field and the New York Times best-selling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Katy Butler argues that we have lost touch with the “art of dying” as practiced by our ancestors, yet we still hunger for rites of passage and a sense of the sacred, especially in the important life transitions of aging and dying.
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Me too
- By Clif Green on 01-04-20
By: Katy Butler
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The Dying Process
- Your Essential Guide to Understanding Signs, Symptoms & Changes at the End of Life
- By: Katie Duncan
- Narrated by: Erin Grassie
- Length: 1 hr and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether you are a family member searching for answers, a caregiver looking for recommendations, or a friend just trying to understand, you will receive invaluable tools and guidance to support your loved one through the last days of their life.
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amazing book
- By Sebastian Melendez on 05-25-24
By: Katie Duncan
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Three Wild Dogs (and the Truth)
- A Memoir
- By: Markus Zusak
- Narrated by: Markus Zusak
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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What happens when the Zusak family opens their home to three big, wild, street-hardened dogs—Reuben, more wolf than hound; Archer, blond, beautiful, destructive; and the rancorously smiling Frosty, who walks like a rolling thunderstorm? The answer can only be chaos: There are street fights, park fights, public shamings, property damages, injuries, hospital visits, wellness checks, pure comedy, shocking tragedy, and carnage that must be heard to be believed.
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Great story, quite the tear jerker
- By Lindsey Shultz on 02-27-25
By: Markus Zusak
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Peaceful Passages
- A Hospice Nurse's Stories of Dying Well
- By: Janet Wehr
- Narrated by: Jeanne Scurek
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In this deeply affecting and uplifting book, Janet Wehr shares the real-life stories of her many years as a hospice nurse. Her first-hand account gives illuminating and comforting insight into the spiritual aspect of what occurs in the transition between life and death, highlighting the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection as it manifests in the dying process. It also gives a candid impression of hospices and hospice nurses and the services they can provide. All of Janet’s 46 personal stories are true, fascinating, heart-felt, and thought-provoking.
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So Compassionate
- By Spunky on 04-25-23
By: Janet Wehr
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Seven Keys to a Peaceful Passing
- A Hospice Nurse's Step-by-Step Guide to Hospice
- By: Derek J. Flores R.N.
- Narrated by: Jordan Lyric
- Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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If you or a loved one are facing an "end of life" experience, Seven Keys to a Peaceful Passing provides an informative and warm-hearted view on how to make the hospice system function best for patients and families. This easy-to-read road map guides you through important decisions which will help ensure a “peaceful passing”.
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Thank you
- By lynette howard on 06-07-23
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Two Hearts, One Beat
- By: Marcus Gunnarsen, Martinus Gunnarsen, Frida Söderlund
- Narrated by: Joen Benediktusson, Odin Storm
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In Two Hearts, One Beat, Marcus and Martinus, share for the first time the darker side of growing up in the spotlight, the crash that threatened to destroy everything they had worked for—and how hard it can be to find your own voice when you’ve always been one of two.
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Everything!
- By Anonymous User on 01-24-25
By: Marcus Gunnarsen, and others
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The In-Between
- Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
- By: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Narrated by: Hadley Vlahos R.N.
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.
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Author's Reach is Beyond Her Grasp
- By CW on 07-26-23
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The Inherited Mind
- A Story of Family, Hope, and the Genetics of Mental Illness
- By: James Longman
- Narrated by: James Longman
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A compelling memoir by ABC News correspondent James Longman in which he discusses mental illness and trauma in families, what the latest genetic science is telling us, and how to not only persevere but thrive.
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Eye opening
- By Tina on 02-17-25
By: James Longman
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Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches
- By: Jennifer Welch, Angie Sullivan
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Long before their blockbuster podcast, I’ve Had It, Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan were simply two best friends, supporting each other through the ups and downs of life. Together they’ve celebrated family milestones and cheered on professional successes, but they’ve weathered the storms together too. When Jennifer’s husband battled alcoholism and drug addiction, she turned to Angie for support. When Angie’s own marriage began to crumble, she turned to Jennifer. And crucially, through it all they’ve kept one another laughing in stitches.
By: Jennifer Welch, and others
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Dare I Say It
- Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause
- By: Naomi Watts, Mary Claire Haver MD
- Narrated by: Naomi Watts, Allyson Ryan
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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At thirty-six, Naomi Watts had just completed filming King Kong and was trying to start a family when she was told that she was on the brink of menopause. It is estimated that seventy-five million women in the United States are currently dealing with menopause symptoms (dry itchy skin, raging hormones, night sweats), and yet the very word “menopause” continues to be associated with stigma and confusion. With so little information, many women feel unprepared, ashamed, and deeply alone when the time comes. This is the book Naomi Watts wishes she had when she first started experiencing symptoms.
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Loved the stories and up to date medical info
- By amazon customer on 03-29-25
By: Naomi Watts, and others
What listeners say about Influencing Death
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- Brittany
- 01-21-25
Emotional and thought-provoking
I loved this book! I cried at times, laughed, felt like I was there with Penny…she did a great job!
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- caitlyn
- 01-20-25
Storytelling
There’s a reason everyone loves a good story, and dang does Penny have some great ones to tell! From personal to professional, each one is gripping. I listened in one go, I couldn’t stop. Plus it’s always good to hear an author telling their own story. Definitely recommended
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- DC
- 01-23-25
Penny is awesome
Penny, I’m listening to your book while I’m at work. I’ve listened to your lives on TikTok for so long that when you spoke of your visitation from your dad after his death I got so excited and picked up my phone to comment to you about my visitation from my dad after his death. I hope you see this. And I loved your book!
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- Elizabeth P
- 01-18-25
Awesome Book!
Love this book from cover to cover! Thank you for sharing your life experiences and helping to make the discussion of death normal.
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- Meghan C
- 01-25-25
This book is like therapy 💗
“Influencing Death” is an honest and authentic look at Penny’s resilient journey, the moving stories of her patients and their families along with education on death & dying in a way that is so reassuring and understandable. (And having her narrate it is honestly so special as she’s been such a comfort to so many of us!) I have followed her for years as I have suffered with death anxiety for as long as I can remember and nothing helped; until I met Penny on TikTok and started going to her live streams and watching her content. The way she uses trends and dark humor to educate is nothing short of brilliant and has changed the narrative surrounding death and dying. She has created a community on social media where people feel safe sharing their most vulnerable thoughts – usually about losing their person and having some sort of regret or guilt that her video has alleviated once they realize it was a normal part of the death/dying process.
In “Influencing Death,” the stories about each patient are so synergistically intertwined with the stories about Penny’s human experience and is proof that past mistakes do not define you and it’s never too late to make a difference and change your life and the lives of those around you.
This is definitely a book I will be sharing with everyone. It will help you see the importance of celebrating life everyday while also encouraging the reader to have those important end of life conversations with your people – both about what you may want when the time comes and what they would want. “Influencing Death” is full of stories, insights and end of life education that integrate harmoniously and is mesmerizing, emotionally touching, insightful and the best book I’ve read in a very long time. Thank you for sharing your journey with us, Penny!
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- Ann Barker
- 01-24-25
Real talk about hospice!
Great read with personal experiences. it normalizes the death process and hospice in a funny but respectful way. Don't fear death- read this book!
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- Millie Miniard
- 01-20-25
Umm PENNY!
This book was such a good read
I’m so sad it’s over already
The lines about the toddler criminal and the perfume took me out with laughter but by no means is this a humorous book, very dark subject you do well explaining and comforting ❤️
Thank you for sharing your story and please do write again
Also be more gentle with yourself, your past does not get to dictate your future you don’t live there anymore
the work you do is truly “God sent” I think that’s why people compare your work to that of an angel
What a blessing it is to not have to die alone
And for people like you who bring us comfort while dealing with it
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- corey demick
- 01-16-25
Very well written
This book has a wonderful story line and very inspiring. Really enjoyed the entire book. Highly recommend. It’s really a book for everyone!
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- Kiley Vanhorn
- 03-09-25
Entertaining and Educational Listen for myself as a nursing student.
I discovered Penny on TikTok after my friends had begged me to download it. Like Penny mentioned in the book, I myself had a hard time finding my niche on TikTok but the same as hers mine is DeathTok. I've always been fascinated by hospice and wanted to learn more about the dying process. I heard of the book before but had it on my to be read list for a while. At school I was fortunate enough to do a rotation at an IPU facility and there I found my passion in nursing. I could find myself relating to Penny being at the bedside of dying patients myself. The information she incorporates about the dying process is easy to understand for those who are not quite literal in health information and makes the dying process a lot less scary. You can feel her passion for what she does and it is something I will take into my own practice when I graduate ❤️ It is well worth the credit or money to listen to this book. Thank you Penny for all that you do and for sharing your story with us!
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- Pammey
- 01-28-25
Raw and Real
Listening the first time through is not enough. I continue to listen to this at night going to sleep as I want all of the key points and meaningful details to become ingrained in my brain. I’m recommending it to everyone I know.
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