A Worthy Successor

 The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven several years ago, and liked it. In truth, everything I have read by Mitch Albom has been worth my time. They are generally quick reads, but they always touch the heart. This one was no different. 

This was the story of Annie. Annie was injured in an amusement park accident when she was a child (the same accident mentioned in the previous book), and the scars, both physical and emotional, left an indelible mark on her life. 

At the beginning of the book, Annie is marrying her true love, Paulo. They met in elementary school, lost touch for fifteen years when his family moved to Italy, then found each other again. Their love was meant to be. On the night of their wedding, they saw a man stuck on the side of the road in the rain changing his tire, and they stopped so Paulo could help him. The man was appreciative and gave him a business card. He owned a hot air balloon company. The next morning, Annie decides that they should go for a hot air balloon ride.

Instead of the man they helped the night before, his assistant took them up in the balloon. He was not as experienced, and they ended up caught in electric lines. The balloon pilot was ejected from the basket, Annie was thrown out by Paulo, and Paulo fell. They ended up in the hospital, and Paulo's injuries were such that he was going to die if he didn't receive a new lung. Annie offered hers, and despite everyone not wanting to honor those wishes, she gives a lung to Paulo.

Then she wakes up in Heaven, meeting five people who touched her life in some way. Annie always felt that she made mistakes, to the point that everything she did was a mistake. The five people she meets help her to see things in ways she never thought to.

This book was beautiful--sad, but beautiful. I highly recommend it.

What Would You Do For a Friend?

The Request by David Bell

Ever since I discovered Mr. Bell's books a few years ago, I can't wait to get my hands on his new release every summer. There's only been one that I wasn't the biggest fan of, and it was still a good book. This one, however, is more in line with his earlier books, and I loved those. 

At the beginning of this one, Ryan is leaving money in the mailbox of a family of the victims of a drunk driving accident. He leaves money every year because he was the one driving the car, although someone else did the time for the accident. An older sister of the victims catches Ryan and blackmails him to give her $10,000 in a couple of weeks' time. He doesn't have it, but what can he do?

As a reader, you think this is the request referred to in the title, but Bell goes a step further and adds another one. 

Ryan's friend, Blake, surprises him when he is checking in on the bar he is part owner of, and asks him to talk. They go across the street for coffee, and Blake has a request of his own. Blake needs Ryan to go into the house of a woman he recently broke things off with and retrieve some letters he'd written to the woman that told the truth about the drunk driving accident all those years ago. Blake gets Ryan to do it because Ryan knows if the truth gets out, his life will be ruined. 

So Ryan goes over there. While attempting to retrieve the letters, he finds the woman dead on the floor. He flips out and leaves. What happens next is a roller coaster of Ryan trying to find out who killed this woman. Was it Blake? Can he trust his friend?

Like all of Bell's books, I can't recommend this one enough. Find it and read it. You'll thank me later.