The Next Person You Meet in Heaven: The sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven: A gripping and life-affirming novel from a globally bestselling author

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I believe in the saying everything happens for a reason, people come in your life with a purpose and somehow our lives are connected to each other. Even though we all have our own stories here on Earth, at some point, we meet people in between and touched their lives we never thought we did. Like a thread woven in a fabric, we make real life stories together and be a part of each other’s lives. “The tale of your life is written second by second, as shifting as the flip of a pencil to an eraser. There are so many times our lives are altered invisibly. The flip of a pencil, from written to erased.”” Annie regained consciousness but found herself in a swirl of blue colors and sounds. She had no body and when the blue faded away, she was in a train with a young boy, Sameer. Though she could not talk, Sameer could hear her thoughts. He told her he was the first person she would meet in heaven but he did not tell her anything about Paulo. He was supposed to teach her a lesson and he showed a younger version of him running alongside a speeding train, only to have his arm ripped off when he grabbed a railing. Sameer explained that his accident allowed doctors to work on new methods of replanting limbs. Inspired by his accident, Sameer grew up to become a doctor specializing in re-plantation. He showed her laying in the hospital bed as a young girl, revealing that it was he who operated on her hand. With the revelation, Annie's damaged hand appeared and Sameer reminded her that life is built on the foundations laid by who came before. I won't give away much because of spoilers, but as it states in the blurb, on Annie's wedding night, her life is changed forever, and she dies.

As the novel opens, Annie is marrying Paulo. But when her wedding night day ends in an unimaginable accident, Annie finds herself on her own heavenly journey—and an inevitable reunion with Eddie, one of the five people who will show her how her life mattered in ways she could not have fathomed.Fifteen years ago, in Mitch Albom’s beloved novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the world fell in love with Eddie, a grizzled war veteran turned amusement park mechanic who died saving the life of a young girl named Annie. Eddie’s journey to heaven taught him that every life matters. Now, in this magical sequel, Mitch Albom reveals Annie’s story. I have been eagerly awaiting The next person you meet in heaven ever since I heard it was being released this October - and it didn’t disappoint. The accident made news around the state. Journalists labeled Annie The Little Miracle of Ruby Pier. Strangers prayed for her. Some even sought an encounter, as if, through being saved, she held a secret to immortality. In this long-awaited sequel, Annie is whisked into her own heavenly journey after her wedding day—and into an inevitable reunion with Eddie, one of five people who will show her how her earthly life touched others in ways she could not have fathomed. The Next Person You Meet in Heaven reminds us once again that all endings are beginnings—even if we don’t know it at the time.

The story follows what the title says. It's about the next five people the one who's leaving is going to meet and learn some important life lessons. I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom in 2013 when my reading tastes were very different so I was a little apprehensive going into this sequel. I would suggest that this is more of a companion novel to be honest as it is of course useful to have read the previous one, it isn't necessary. She encountered a grave and met Eddie, the maintenance worker who had saved her years ago. Annie touched his hand and saw his entire life, childhood through his death. Annie told him about her life and how the accident scarred her physically and emotionally. The landscape changed and they found themselves in the Philippines, where Eddie served during World War II. He was imprisoned, and after his escape, he set a village on fire, accidentally killing a girl. The girl, Tala, appeared, and told Annie that Eddie died saving her. Annie then witnessed her accident for the first time. She was overcome by emotion and realized the guilt she felt all her life stemmed from the accident. Eddie told Annie that saving her was his salvation, his atonement for killing Tala, and that she needed to forgive herself for her mistakes. Before parting, Eddie handed her Laurence, her child, and Annie was able to hold him and feel for a moment before he vanishes as well.Poignant and beautiful, filled with unexpected twists, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven reminds us that not only does every life matter, but that every ending is also a beginning—we only need to open our eyes to see it. Eddie awakens to see children playing along with a riverbed. A young Filipina girl named Tala comes up to him. Tala reveals that she was the little girl from the hut that Eddie set on fire. Distraught, Eddie breaks down both cursing and asking God "why?" Tala hands him a stone and asks him to "wash" her like the other children in the river are doing to one another. Eddie is puzzled, but dips the stone in the water and starts to scrape off the injuries he had inflicted on her. Tala's wounds begin to clear until she is freed of all the scars. Eddie asks Tala if she knows if he was able to save the little girl before his death. Tala tells him he did manage to push her out of the way. In this way, Tala explains, he also managed to atone every day for her unnecessary death. On this new released book of Mitch Albom, I gathered some inspiring quotes that I hope will inspire you about life. I wrote my own reflection and opinion to each of these and I share my thoughts based on my own understanding and belief. “No story sits by itself. Our lives connect like threads on a loom, interwoven in ways we never realize.” True love is rare to find, no matter how hard it is, you’ll find a way to get to the person who you truly care for. True love can move mountains even to the most impossible ways just to be with that person who you want to be in your life. “You lose something everyday you live , sometimes it’s as tiny as the breath you just expelled, sometimes it’s so big you think you won’t survive it.”