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Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love
by
Matt Logelin writes a courageous and searingly honest memoir about the first year of his life following the birth of his daughter and the death of his wife.
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 ...more
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 ...more
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Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
April 14th 2011
by Grand Central Publishing
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Start your review of Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love

A terrible thing happened to Matt Logelin: his beloved wife died the day after their only child was born, 7 weeks prematurely. As he struggled to put his life back together and raise a baby on his own, he set up a non-profit foundation to help other men and women who found themselves in a similar situation. In the process, he grew somewhat as a person.
Hopefully, that precis will save you from having to read the actual book. Proceeds from its sale go to the non-profit mentioned above, but serious ...more
Hopefully, that precis will save you from having to read the actual book. Proceeds from its sale go to the non-profit mentioned above, but serious ...more

This was an emotional roller coaster for me. I really struggled to give this little memoir a star rating. So, everyone knows the premise: A 30 year old man is delighted by the birth of his daughter one day and loses the love of his life the next, what now?
A lot of the criticisms I've read here on GR are quasi-valid: The writing is so-so. He does come off like a music snob at times. His profanities are redundant; some argued crass. In response to this I would say: He never claims to be a writer. ...more
A lot of the criticisms I've read here on GR are quasi-valid: The writing is so-so. He does come off like a music snob at times. His profanities are redundant; some argued crass. In response to this I would say: He never claims to be a writer. ...more

I made the mistake of browsing through some of this book's GD reviews prior to reading it. A few readers said they felt that Matt was a snobby hipster douchebag. I wish that I hadn't peeked at those reviews as they coloured my perception of the author before I gave this book a chance (shame on me!) I did press on though, and I am glad I did. I came to the conclusion that the author is not in fact a hipster douchebag. He is a brutally, painfully honest real person. This book is the most accurate,
...more

Jan 07, 2012
Sasha
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
not-going-to-finish-now
I did not read the entire book. Although I can sympathize with the situation, I don't think this should be a book. I could not force myself to read the rest of it. That is all I will say because I feel the situation itself makes it hard to say anything that could be perceived as negative after the suffering this family has endured. Although, maybe that's exactly how this book ended up published...nobody wanted to hurt anyone's feelings.
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Here's a truth: we all have a story in us. Here's another truth: everyone, at some point in their lives, experiences the death of a loved one.Now, here's a myth: everyone's story about the death of a loved one deserves to be published and read by the masses.
I perhaps gave this book more leniency than I should have. Matthew Longelin did, after all, lose his wife one day after his daughter was born. But if death doesn't make martyrs of the dead, surviving doesn't make a douchebag lose his doucheb ...more
I perhaps gave this book more leniency than I should have. Matthew Longelin did, after all, lose his wife one day after his daughter was born. But if death doesn't make martyrs of the dead, surviving doesn't make a douchebag lose his doucheb ...more

**Warning: This author, even though he wrote a book in an "attempt to turn [his] sadness into something beautiful," uses a lot of coarse, vulgar language, and is quite offensive. I do not recommend it for this reason.**
This is the sad, true story of a young man who becomes a widower at the age of 30, the day after his daughter is born seven weeks early. He loved his young, beautiful wife deeply, and he writes about their love story, the birth, her death, and the year of grief and beauty that fol ...more
This is the sad, true story of a young man who becomes a widower at the age of 30, the day after his daughter is born seven weeks early. He loved his young, beautiful wife deeply, and he writes about their love story, the birth, her death, and the year of grief and beauty that fol ...more

There are so many things one could say about this book. As a 32 year old married mother of a precious toddler, of course this book rang many bells in my head and of course it broke nearly every time Matt wrote about his lost wife. As a human, as a person who loves to feel and wants to be reminded how awesome it is to be in love with the Love of your life, this book spoke to me on different levels. I don't know how it could not.
Matt Logelin openly writes from a place of suffering and as a person ...more
Matt Logelin openly writes from a place of suffering and as a person ...more

I have been following Matt Logelin for over two years, and I was thrilled when I was hooked up with a copy of Two Kisses for Maddy to read before it was released last week. From a literary standpoint, I found the story moving and easy to read if not heart-wrenchingly sad and difficult at times. While I love Matt's blog that is written in mostly in verse, the prose in this book filled in some gaps on a story that I already felt I knew quite well.
From a social, human standpoint, Matt, Liz, and Ma ...more
From a social, human standpoint, Matt, Liz, and Ma ...more

I was very interested to read this book as I have recently been reading about loss of loved ones. I didn't finish this book because of the repeated use of the course language. I am not sure if the author was trying to firmly establish his status as an everyman or what the thinking behind this move was, but the F word was prolifically used throughout the first 50 pages in very odd places. One might understand such harsh language after the point when the author loses his wife, but I did not actual
...more

My first real book review on here, and, boy, do I have a lot say about this one.
'Two Kisses for Maddy' is the story of a man who become both a father and a widower in the span of twenty-seven hours, and his journey to mourn his wife and live for his daughter. At first I didn't like this book: the writing is a little simple and full of 'fucks' and 'shits.' But it read quickly, and I came to enjoy how conversational the book is. The author is a blogger, too, after all.
The other hard part of readin ...more
'Two Kisses for Maddy' is the story of a man who become both a father and a widower in the span of twenty-seven hours, and his journey to mourn his wife and live for his daughter. At first I didn't like this book: the writing is a little simple and full of 'fucks' and 'shits.' But it read quickly, and I came to enjoy how conversational the book is. The author is a blogger, too, after all.
The other hard part of readin ...more

Sigh. I feel bad for this family, Matt especially, but this book was just not that great. 1) It's another People magazine/Reader's Digest article that feels blown up into a book, and 2) I know these are real people and not characters, but as people? I don't find them interesting. Even worse, Liz (the dead wife and mother) is the kind of woman that I probably would have disliked in real life. Ugh, and now I've spoken ill of the dead.
If you read Matt's blog at all, the story will pique your inter ...more
If you read Matt's blog at all, the story will pique your inter ...more

I have conflicting thoughts about this book. On many levels I found this book to be extremely captivating and interesting. It is a story that automatically draws in any reader or compassionate person. I'm a newlywed so I can only imaging losing my spouse suddenly and unexpectedly. I totally get how this would be a life changing and horrific experience.
I applaud the author for being willing to share his experiences and intimate details of his life with readers. I respect that he doesn't shy away ...more
I applaud the author for being willing to share his experiences and intimate details of his life with readers. I respect that he doesn't shy away ...more

This man went through a terrible experience, I know. And it sounds like he's doing a great job with his daughter. But he didn't appeal to me.
I understand being massively sensitive in the wake of loss, but not continuing to defend your excessive over-reactions. He's hugely judgmental about silly things. For example, he whines about strangers asking about "Maddy's mother" rather than "his wife". That's just silly. No-one's going to risk offending a stranger by assuming marriage, but if there's a ...more
I understand being massively sensitive in the wake of loss, but not continuing to defend your excessive over-reactions. He's hugely judgmental about silly things. For example, he whines about strangers asking about "Maddy's mother" rather than "his wife". That's just silly. No-one's going to risk offending a stranger by assuming marriage, but if there's a ...more

I will make this a short one.
I know some of the reviews that came and will come will say that this is not a book worth your time. I go against it. Yeah, I just gave it 3 stars but just because I can't deny the lack of true literature. I give it to Mr. Logelin that he admitted not being a writer and believe him I do. But for those reviews that completely miss the bigger picture, I just feel sorry for them.
Maybe I just let myself guide for the tears I shed while reading but I'll admit it, I am a ...more
I know some of the reviews that came and will come will say that this is not a book worth your time. I go against it. Yeah, I just gave it 3 stars but just because I can't deny the lack of true literature. I give it to Mr. Logelin that he admitted not being a writer and believe him I do. But for those reviews that completely miss the bigger picture, I just feel sorry for them.
Maybe I just let myself guide for the tears I shed while reading but I'll admit it, I am a ...more

This is the memoir by Matt Logelin, who lost his wife, Liz, a day after their daughter Madeline was born. I heard it as an audio book, as read by Matt himself. His grief is raw, his words are haunting. The crass language was a bit much for me (probably because I was hearing it and not reading it), and it really detracted from the story. I get that this is how he talks, but it really is distracting.
I have to say, though, Matt really made me kind of dislike him. He expresses at every turn what a g ...more
I have to say, though, Matt really made me kind of dislike him. He expresses at every turn what a g ...more

I'm not going to bother to explain what this book was about, there a million reviews. I'm just going to say that I really disliked it. I tried really hard to like Matt and Liz and I just didn't. I felt absolutely no connection to either of them. I think Matt was trying to make us feel that he wasn't worthy of Liz and felt so lucky to have her, but all I got was that he was kind of selfish and lazy and she was the one who worked her butt off flying him around to visit her and then taking responsi
...more

This is one of those stories that is hard to review. of course the story of life and death is heatwrenching and the story itself, unfortunately true, will certainly make for a great book. However this story did not sound like just another "regular" person having significant crisis. This is a very lucky, well connected and highly supported father who has lost his wife unexpectedly and as written in the book, he is far from the only person the experience this. so to me the book takes on a connotat
...more

I've read Matt's blog so I knew how his story unfolds before I read the book. And that meant I was crying from basically the first page as he described how he and Liz met and fell in love. I don't think Matt's the best writer ever. (His blog drives me a bit crazy because he writes in blocky short sentences a la Rosie O'Donnell). But Matt doesn't claim to a be a writer. This was never his goal. He was thrust in to the literary world after suffering a horrible tragedy...the death of his wife the d
...more

Two Kisses for Maddy is a tragic memoir of a man's loss of his wife. Matthew Logelin lost his wife twenty seven hours after his wife gave birth to a baby girl. Matthew's wife Liz died of a pulmonary embolism that stemmed from being on bed rest for several weeks before the delivery of her daughter. The memoir in Matthew's voice is raw and heartbreaking and I had to put it down many times because it was too painful to read. Matthew Logelin shares his grief openly and gives much insight of the chao
...more

I read Matt's blog for awhile, so when this ARC crossed my desk I had to grab it. And I read it in less than 24 hours. I enjoyed the full narrative instead of the haiku like blog posts. Matt is a great writer and his honesty in his writing makes this novel compelling. His love for Liz & Maddy shines on each page.
I laughed and I cried. Highly recommended. ...more
I laughed and I cried. Highly recommended. ...more

Disclaimer: Brutal honesty ahead.
Matthew Logelin sounds like an asshole. That doesn't make the loss he suffered any less devastating, but he does a super great job of making you like his wife a lot better than you like him. And she tragically passed away in 2008. But reading about his love for his daughter and the way the tragedy affected his life was touching. A solid 3 star memoir. ...more
Matthew Logelin sounds like an asshole. That doesn't make the loss he suffered any less devastating, but he does a super great job of making you like his wife a lot better than you like him. And she tragically passed away in 2008. But reading about his love for his daughter and the way the tragedy affected his life was touching. A solid 3 star memoir. ...more

I have been a follower of Matt's blog for a few years now. I found his blog through someone else's blog and was immediately drawn to his parenting style and his story.
I bought this book because I felt like I needed it but never really had any intention of actually reading it. I already knew Maddy and Liz's story and it really is heartbreaking. I didn't think (because I'm insanely sensitive) that I would be able to read it without crying the whole way through.
When I got the book home, I opened ...more
I bought this book because I felt like I needed it but never really had any intention of actually reading it. I already knew Maddy and Liz's story and it really is heartbreaking. I didn't think (because I'm insanely sensitive) that I would be able to read it without crying the whole way through.
When I got the book home, I opened ...more

This is such a great memoir, covering a very sad situation but managing to be inspiring and uplifting instead of completely and utterly depressing. The author's wife died the day after their daughter was born, and this book chronicles his relationship with his wife and then his struggle to get through the first year of their daughter's life as a single parent.
The author has a very relatable writing style that drew me in almost immediately. I was unsure about this book before starting it, not wa ...more
The author has a very relatable writing style that drew me in almost immediately. I was unsure about this book before starting it, not wa ...more

One of the beat books i have ever read(and I have read thousands) so full of love, loss, and raw heartbreak, but so worth it!! I have cried many many times while reading this(bawled actually) but it has also shown me what it takes to be a ''better'' parent, and how your own child can not take the pain away, but make it just a little more berable! I can only hope that someday I will be as good of a parent as he is! AFter losing his wife suddenly only 24 hrs after their beautiful baby entered the
...more

I will start this review by saying what happened to this family is horrible. I feel deeply for them and their pain
however. not a book worth your time. donate to the foundation if you want (I encourage it in fact) but don't read the book. he over uses profanity (not something I completely oppose in books but it should be used to enhance meaning... not cause you wont take the time or thought to come up with a better word.) I appreciate that he is honest about his short commings, but I wished he wo ...more
however. not a book worth your time. donate to the foundation if you want (I encourage it in fact) but don't read the book. he over uses profanity (not something I completely oppose in books but it should be used to enhance meaning... not cause you wont take the time or thought to come up with a better word.) I appreciate that he is honest about his short commings, but I wished he wo ...more

This made me cry and smile in equal measures. Matt's story is so heartbreaking!
...more

Ok...you’re either going to like this review or not....but I have to speak my mind.
I couldn’t finish this book after reading 100 pages. It wasn’t because of the subject matter, although it’s very sad and heartbreaking and no one should go through this!
I couldn’t finish reading this book because of the language! I am not a saint by any means, my mouth can be bad at times. The use of the word “fuck” COMPLETELY turned me off. It was used so often, that I went back and started counting how many time ...more
I couldn’t finish this book after reading 100 pages. It wasn’t because of the subject matter, although it’s very sad and heartbreaking and no one should go through this!
I couldn’t finish reading this book because of the language! I am not a saint by any means, my mouth can be bad at times. The use of the word “fuck” COMPLETELY turned me off. It was used so often, that I went back and started counting how many time ...more

Wow. Minus the swear words and drinking, I could've written most of this book. I've had it here for over 2 years and finally had the courage to read it. I read it on the plane hoping to avoid dissolving into tears as I read. I still cried but fortunately didn't make a scene. :) I admire Matt's devotion to Maddy. And his honesty.
Being a woman who lost her husband from a pulmonary embolism 2 weeks before our daughter was born, I can relate to his feelings. I've gathered the people with negative r ...more
Being a woman who lost her husband from a pulmonary embolism 2 weeks before our daughter was born, I can relate to his feelings. I've gathered the people with negative r ...more
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Born and bred in Minnesota, Matt Logelin was a project manager at Yahoo! until he left the company to focus on writing this book and raising his daughter, Madeline. The two live in Los Angeles, traveling often to see as much of the world as possible. Please visit them at www.mattlogelin.com
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“sometimes it feels like
yesterday.
other time it feels
like a lifetime ago.
i’m having a hard time
remembering her voice,
but i find myself
saying things that
liz
would have said if
she
were standing next to me,
looking at our child.
like cute.
and pretty.”
—
2 likes
yesterday.
other time it feels
like a lifetime ago.
i’m having a hard time
remembering her voice,
but i find myself
saying things that
liz
would have said if
she
were standing next to me,
looking at our child.
like cute.
and pretty.”
“The most dangerous place for a baby is in the hospital? I could think of several places that had to be more dangerous than a hospital: a lion’s den, Skid Row, the middle of the 110 freeway, and my not-yet-baby-proofed house.”
—
2 likes
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