the ten best days of my life - Adena Halpern

Alex (that's Alexandra NOT Alexander) Dorenfield is living her normal 29 year old life when she suddenly finds herself in seventh heaven - the REAL seventh heaven. That's right, she dies. I'm not giving away any secrets here. The first line of the book is "I died today, which is so weird." Sadly, dying doesn't guarantee a stress free life, as Alex finds out. The powers that be aren't really sure Alex belongs in seventh heaven - maybe she's more suited for fourth. So Alex sets out to prove her worth by writing an essay of her ten best days.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking this book will be anything like Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". While the themes are similar, "five people" was deep and kind of dreary. "the ten best days of my life" is a light hearted and fun book. I actually laughed out loud more than once. Despite this it also asks some pretty deep and interesting questions - if you died today, what have you done to change the world? Can you think of ten days that defined the direction your life was taking?

I couldn't help but ask myself what my ten best days would be. I totally copped out on the first six by including my two wedding dates and the birth dates of each of my kids. Yes, I included my first wedding. Surprised? Well, it was an amazing day. It was my first true rebellion - which turned out to be a disaster, but at the time felt very freeing and grown up. And it set my feet on the path to all the rest of the wonderful things that happened in my life after that. That's the fantastic thing about the best days. Not only are the activities of the day amazing, but the aftereffects are life changing and not to be missed.

OK - this book is not going to win any big awards. It's not full of great insights into what heaven might really be like. If you are looking for spiritual insights, look in a spiritual book. This isn't one of those. Adena Halpern is also pretty honest about what 29 years in this world might include (although the descriptions aren't what I'd call explicit) - so if you have sensitive ears you may want to skip a part or two. That said, it is a great escape book. Perfect for the beach or just an easy 'get away from my life for a few hours' read. If you decide to read it, let us all know what you think in the comments. Even if you don't read it, I have a question for you: what was one of your best days? (Bet you didn't see that coming!)

To order this book from amazon, click here: The Ten Best Days of My Life