Paulo agreed and they took a balloon ride with Teddy, Tolbert's assistant. Unbeknownst to the couple, Teddy was a novice and did not have Tolbert's permission. His inexperience became evident when the balloon ran into bad weather. The balloon crashed into some trees and Paulo threw Annie out before falling himself. When Annie awakened, she was in a hospital and was told that Paulo's condition was not well. Despite the risks, Annie offered one of her lungs to be implanted into Paulo.

As expected she meets her five people in heaven. Five people she may or may not know who have altered her life in some way.

My Book Notes

Then she focused in on Paulo’s grin, as wide as the horizon. There was nervous laughter as he struggled to get the ring on. When Annie held her finger up, everyone yelled, Congratulations! She was such a bitch to her mother (her mother sacrificed so much but she was so ungrateful and rude her her- my Asian genes are screaming)

I recommend this novel to everyone because it is not only can make you cry but it makes you inspire that life is a beautiful thing to happen. It gives you that every day is a blessing just like in this novel. This can be an inspiration to us that there is light in every tunnel we face in. This guide was made with the following version of this book: Albom, Mitch. The Next Person You Meet In Heaven. New York: Harper, 2018. As the novel opens, Annie is marrying Paulo. But when her wedding night 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.I’ve been an enormous fan of the work of Mitch Albom for a few years and I’ve read all of his books - each one has taught me different valuable life lessons, everything from finding that little bit of extra empathy for people, to really listening and finding understanding for what matters to us all individually. I was once told in a college Philosophy course that we, as humans are made of energy. The professor then went on to say that energy can never be destroyed and asked us to form our own conclusions about what he had just said. As I read The Next Person You Meet in Heaven, I could not help but recall that professor and his words.

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.Little things are most often neglected and unnoticed just like how we exhale air everyday. It is indeed a fact that we lose something everyday, as simple and as practical of this example but real loss for me is grief and suffering. It is the hardest struggle you needed to get through in life, you move on or live with it. As Annie learns, we can be forgiven. There are reasons why we are here that perhaps we never really thought about. There are people we have come across perhaps for only a minute of time that we have affected in a most positive manner and just like Annie we need to forgive ourselves. While we might have done bad things, we also might have done really wonderful things as well. An emotionally-charged and beautifully-written read and filled with clever twists, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven is a huggable book with important lessons for us all. I took away a reminder of that old saying: when one door closes, a window opens in its place. 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.

Eddie: The protagonist and main character around whom the story centers; at the start of the story, he is killed on his 83rd birthday. The third person she met in heaven was her mother. Her mother explained why she is not a good mother over Annie that made her hate her mother and going by her first boyfriend, Walt. Annie told her secret that she has a baby with her first husband before meeting Paolo and her baby died because his lungs are not yet developed. Annie accepted and forgave her mother for the first time. The fourth person she met in heaven is Eddie, the one who saved Annie from Freddie’s Free Fall and the main character in the first novel. He explains his story like he met five people in his life and asking each of them if Annie was alive. He explains fully Freddy’s Fall accident that Eddie’s life was put to an end and knowing his purpose on his job, protecting kids. The last person she met in heaven was her husband, Paolo. Annie realized that he died before she could save him. She woke up from the hospital, knowing that her husband died. Although the ending is a sad one, it replaces it with a happy one as she had a daughter named Giovanna. I just don’t like Annie. I understand her but she is so selfish and annoying. I get it that after the accident, she was depressed but just cannot tolerate her whining behavior to her mother. She did have a redemption arc at the end but it’s nothing great.I really enjoyed reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven so I was happy to see that Mitch Albom had written a sequel to it, but at the same time I was a little apprehensive. What if this book was not as good? What was I worried about, this book is just as good. I did rate the first book 5 stars but this book is a shorter story so that's the reason why I've just given it 4 stars. Mitch Albom knows how to write beautiful stories with marvellous characters. There is an underlying message in this story. This book can be read as a standalone but I do recommend you read The Five People You Meet In Heaven first. If you knew you were about to die, how would you spend your final hours? Annie, who did not know, spent hers getting married. A special thank you to Edelweiss and Harper for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.Mitch Albom has done it again. In this delightful sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven, we once again meet up with Eddie only this time he is reunited with Annie, the little girl he saved. This is a story of how we are connected in life and loss. In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, we meet Eddie, a war veteran that worked at an amusement park as a mechanic. Eddie died a hero when he saves Annie's life. Forever scared emotionally and physically (Annie's hand was surgically reattached), Annie's life is forever changed when she endures a life of bullying even though Annie cannot remember what happened to her. She further struggles when her guilt ridden mother suddenly uproots them and moves away.Finally finding happiness, as an adult, Annie reconnects with her childhood love Paulo. The novel opens with the two of them marrying. Unfortunately their wedding day ends in terrible tragedy and Annie finds herself on her own journey to discover her five people that will show her how her life mattered—one of those people is Eddie.I can't believe it has been fifteen years since The Five People You Meet in Heaven was published. Fans of the book have always wondered what ever became of Eddie and Annie—this is a testament to an inspiring story when it stays with readers and keeps them wondering. In true Albom style, this book is full of life lessons and grace. Whether you are a spiritual person or not, this book will touch you in some way and is a gift. The lesson that I took away was that every ending is also a beginning, sometimes we are simply just unwilling to see it as such. Read more 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. It stirred emotions in me that I haven’t felt since I read my last MA book - this guy is so gifted, and I don’t know how he does it, but I believe everything he writes, such is his power with words.