Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love
Written by Matt Logelin
Narrated by Matt Logelin
4/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Matt and Liz Logelin were high school sweethearts. After years of long-distance dating, the pair finally settled together in Los Angeles, and they had it all: a perfect marriage, a gorgeous new home, and a baby girl on the way. Liz's pregnancy was rocky, but they welcomed Madeline, beautiful and healthy, into the world on March 24, 2008.
Just twenty-seven hours later, Liz suffered a pulmonary embolism and died instantly, without ever holding the daughter whose arrival she had so eagerly awaited. Though confronted with devastating grief and the responsibilities of a new and single father, Matt did not surrender to devastation; he chose to keep moving forward-- to make a life for Maddy.
In this memoir, Matt shares bittersweet and often humorous anecdotes of his courtship and marriage to Liz; of relying on his newborn daughter for the support that she unknowingly provided; and of the extraordinary online community of strangers who have become his friends. In honoring Liz's legacy, heartache has become solace.
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Reviews for Two Kisses for Maddy
71 ratings12 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A beautiful written story of love, loss and coming out the other side all whilst coping with a newborn baby.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A tear jerker for sure! Sure makes you think how things could all change in 10 seconds!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"It will make you cry, but not only out of sadness. Some of you tears will be for the beauty of love and its miraculous power to heal even the deepest of wounds." John Grogan, author of "Marley & Me". This quote exactly gets the essence of this lovely book. 5 stars because I really loved the book and would recommend it for reading, but Amazing? not sure. Certainly beautiful, sad, joyous, heartbreaking memoir of a young man's struggle and growth to be a new father after his wife's death 27 hours after she gave birth.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautifully written, honest, human. Parts of it heart wrenching, parts of it laugh out loud funny, all of it about love.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Two Kisses for Maddy is the story of Matthew’s life with and without his wife Liz: how they met, fell in love and got married, had a baby, and then how he became a single parent to a premature baby girl twenty-seven hours after her birth when Liz died. To say that her death was tragic seems unnecessary, but the juxtaposition of new the baby’s life and the new mother’s death are enough to make anyone cry.
Matthew Logelin puts his experiences down into writing with a raw and blunt emotion; cursing the tragedy, mourning his loss and loving his new daughter. I appreciated the open honesty of his writing – that he didn’t tame his thoughts for the paper. His writing is sometimes in your face, letting fly freely with the swear words, but he does it in such a way that it doesn’t feel forced or over-the-top. This is a man expressing his horror at losing his wife – if there was ever a time to swear I think this would be it.
He writes about his experiences being out in public with his newborn baby, and how almost everyone asked him where his daughter’s mother was – as if he were a kidnapper. I was appalled to think of how much that constant questioning must have hurt. I think it does reflect some of the lingering gender stereotypes within our culture. Right or wrong, people expect to see newborn babies with a couple or with a mother, not out with their daddies. I would like to think that these attitudes will continue to change for the better as time goes by.
Two Kisses for Maddy is a touching, heartbreaking story that you will want to read all in one sitting. I applaud Matthew for sharing his experiences with the world and revealing the depth of his loss.
Matthew Logelin has created The Liz Logelin Foundation to help other widows and widowers with small children. For more information about his story (and to see some cute photos of Maddy) visit his blog. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So, I have a hard time saying anything about this book as it is someone's grieving memoir. Thus, how can anyone rate what Matt has gone through? He is definitely writing from the heart and you can tell from the first paragraph how much he and his wife were in love.
The writing of the book is definitely not super strong, but he says that from the beginning - he writes his experiences and his emotions, but he's not an eloquent writer. Do you still get sucked into the story? Of course. Many times over.
Be prepared to read a book that is definitely a therapeutic act - I think it helped the author to just survive and come to grips with the tragic loss of his wonderful wife, as well as to celebrate Maddie's life.
I especially LOVED the photos at the end. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A wonderfully written, heartwrenching book. Mr. Logelin spills his heart out to the readers and takes them through the tragedy of losing his wife and having a newborn within 27 hours of one another. The journey of healing, grieving, and living held onto me tightly and warmly.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Matt and Liz were high school sweethearts. They married and traveled the world together before buying the house they always dreamed of. They were so happy, and so in love, they decided it was the perfect time to start their family. Soon, they found out they were expecting a baby girl. Liz's pregnancy was difficult and she was hospitalized at 30 weeks for the safety of their baby. After 3 weeks of bedrest, the doctors made the decision that it would be safer for the baby to be born immediately as her heart rate was decreasing. To Matthew and Liz's great delight, she came into the world with a hearty cry - the hallmark of a healthy baby. Due to her prematurity, baby Madeline was taken to the NICU for evaluation, while Liz was taken to her postpartum room.Because of her surgery, Liz is unable to visit baby Maddy in the NICU, but Matthew brings her pictures. The day after the birth, however, just hours before she is able to go see baby Maddy, Liz's healthy suddenly declines. Within a short amount of time, Liz dies - a clot in her leg has traveled to her lungs and caused a pulmonary embolism.The shock, grief, and devastation hits Matt like a freight train. The happiest day in his life is followed by the saddest day in his life. His memoir is a detailed account of the grief filled days following the loss of his beloved wife.This book was so heart wrenching, I was literally bawling through much of the book. At 30 years old, most do not expect a loss such as this, especially in such a vibrant woman. However, Matt, even in his deepest, darkest sadness, determines that he will be the best father he can be to Maddy. And he is. I cannot imagine being in his situation, and I admire him greatly for his bravery and determination.I highly recommend this book - yes, it is a tearjerker, but it is very inspirational as well.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Kisses for Maddy is the heartbreaking story of the death of a new mother and the uplifting story of the single dad who raises their daughter the way her mother would have wanted.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was beautiful. It made me cry. It made me smile. It made me laugh.This story was about Matt's life after the tragic death of his wife just a day after his daughter was born seven week premature. He starts off introducing his wife and detailing how difficult her pregnancy is. She was put on bed rest for 5 weeks and had an emergency c-section. He then goes on to write about his struggles of raising his daughter alone. He writes about his struggles of trying to deal with his wife's death.I couldn't even imagine losing my husband. Especially after just having a baby.Even after this tough situation he's going through he ends up raising money for other families that are in a similar situation to him. This book is incredibly sad, but incredibly uplifting.I saw a few reviews on Goodreads mention that his language was vulgar, but it didn't bother me. He was just using words to convey how he felt. So what if he dropped quite a few f-bombs. This is his book and his story and he can write it how he chooses.He also has a blog, which is where his writing started.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5n excellent book which deals with loss and grief, I read this book in one day and cried most of the day. it shows how we all deal with grief in different ways and how even strangers can help us get through a tragic loss,
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin is a wonderful tribute to his daughter Madeline and his late wife Liz. The book takes you through Matt and Liz’s courtship, the difficult pregnancy, Liz’s unexpected death and the first year Maddy’s life. It’s a heartbreaking but uplifting story. Through the sadness you catch glimpses of Matt’s sense of humour. Matt is frank about how clueless he is with dealing with his wife’s death and raising a daughter on his own but his love for Liz and Maddy shines through as well as his determination to do what’s best for Maddy.This book shows that when it comes to grief there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The situation “fucking sucks” as Matt says and it’s OK to cry and swear. Everyone must find their own personal way of dealing with loss though, as you can see through Matt’s experience, reaching out to family, friends and sometimes even strangers is of great help.