The First Phone Call From Heaven audiobook

"No soul remembered is ever truly gone."P.S. Mom, I'm still waiting for the phone to ring!

I loved the backstory of Alexander Graham Bell as it coincided with the current day story, it has given me the desire to read more about Bell's personal life. My favorite quotes "What is false about hope?" and Faith is believing without the need for proof. I would read this story again.

I have read all of Mitch's books: Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Have a Little Faith, For One More Day, and The Time Keeper. I've liked all of them, except The Time Keeper, a lot. The Time Keeper was just okay. This latest, The First Phone Call from Heaven, is definitely my favorite. Here is a very short synopsis from Goodreads: The First Phone Call from Heaven tells the story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from the afterlife. Is it the greatest miracle ever or a massive hoax? Sully Harding, a grief-stricken single father, is determined to find out.Let me mention a couple of features of this book, without giving anything away, that stood out for me:1. There is quite a bit of history surrounding Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray (who?). I love history.2. There is a scene a little over half way through in which one of the people receiving calls from heaven reacts in a very surprising way. My mouth dropped.3. It's just flat-out well-written. I connected to the characters immediately which, as many (some? few? none?) of you know, is crucial to me.This is a book that, I think, most everybody would enjoy.

In life people either believe in Heaven and an afterlife or they do not. Reading this book, the characters are also split into two camps. There are those who believe they are receiving phone calls from loved ones who are dead and others who dismiss the whole thing as a hoax. But which is it? Sully Harding is determined to find out the truth. The story contains interesting characters from different backgrounds who receive these phone calls and so the reader gets several viewpoints throughout the story. I liked several of them but Sully was probably my favourite out of them all. I also liked finding out more about Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone, which is interspersed throughout the story. It gives a good picture of the way people respond to anything that is out of the ordinary and also of how the media sensationalises things as it changes the quiet little town of Coldwater Michigan into a circus of journalists and TV cameras, believers, the curious and those who protest. Sounds pretty much the response you’d expect to some news like this. I enjoyed it, as did my husband when he read it. It was actually him borrowed it from the library and I read it after him. While entertaining and having a mystery to solve, it may just give a few things to think seriously about as well.

On the day the world received its first phone call from heaven, Tess Rafferty was unwrapping a box of tea._________________I was very lucky to get this book to review it before it is released.I'm a fan of Mitch Albom's books anyways, & this one did not disappoint.People are getting phone calls from heaven - some from family members that have passed away. Children, sisters. Even an employee is getting a phone call from someone he had to fire. Are the phone calls real? The world wants to know when wind comes that the phone calls are happening. Is this the proof everyone needs to see that Heaven is real?We follow the people who are receiving the phone calls & also a man, Sully, as he comes back to the town of Coldwater Michigan to try & get his life back in order.I don't want to give anything away... I just know I loved the book. Its sort of a mystery novel, but also just a touching novel.I actually logged quite a few quotes from the book on Goodreads because it was just so well written in areas.I also love the little points that are made about the telephone & Alexander Graham Bell & his wife. It was put in so subtly but made the book have an extra touch of something special.So the record goes, Mitch Albom still ranks for me....__________________........We call out; we answered. It has been that way from the beginning of belief & it continues to this very moment where, late at night, in a small town called Coldwater, a seven year old boy hears a noise, opens his eyes, lifts a blue toy to his ear & smiles, proving heaven is always & forever around us & no soul remembered is ever really gone.

When I first heard the concept of this book all I could think about was the song by Justin Moore "If Heaven wasn't so far away", which is about what we would do if we could go visit our loved ones in Heaven. It's a favourite song of mine, and therefore, when this book reminded me of it, I knew that I had to read this book.I have never read any of Mitch Albom's books before, but I found this one very enjoyable.I lost my mother two years ago, and reading this book would bring me to tears just thinking about the "what ifs".Overall, I think this book was very well written, and captured the emotions perfectly. For someone who isn't "into" these types of books at all, it actually has me wanting to pick up some of his other books just to see if they equally as good.I think this would be an excellent book for anyone who has lost someone, as it gives this wonderful sense of hope and peace.

** spoiler alert ** 7/11/19A year later and I'm still thinking about this book. I was very unsure how to rate this last year for many reasons. I was struggling with the faith I was handed in my childhood and I wanted this book to be something that gave me hope. But instead, I felt betrayed by the author.It's very reminiscent of my own journey. Believing one thing for most of my life and then realizing I was lied to about many things and not knowing what to think anymore, which is exactly how this book made me feel at the time I first read it.Now this book speaks to me on another level. It explores the topic of hope and false hope and how easily the line is blurred between the two. Can something that is long believed be true or just carried on as an idea through generations? It it wrong to be oblivious to something you want to believe even if it may not be the truth?