In a remarkable coincidence, Matthew Logelin and I each lost a young wife, were left with a daughter named Madeline, and wrote a book about the experience. He and I are very different people but we both came to some very similar conclusions. ( )

A tear jerker for sure! Sure makes you think how things could all change in 10 seconds! ( )

"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. ( )

This is a really hard book to review. It was even harder to read.

On March 24th, 2008 Matt Logelin experienced the greatest day of his life, the birth of his daughter Madeliene, premature but perfect in every way. Just 27 hours later, on March 25, 2008, he suffered the worst agony he could ever imagine, the death of his wife Liz. It was an embolism, striking just as she was about to see her daughter for the first time since a brief glimpse following and emergency cesarean section. This book is a memoir detailing Matt and Liz's life together and the first year of his life after her death, raising their daughter alone. This memoir is a labor of love, written for both his wife and his daughter.

I listened to most of this book, read by Matthew Logelin himself. It was heartbreaking and I cried through almost every page up through the funeral. I cried less after that, but it never got easier to hear him detail how difficult it was to navigate his new life. His story is a true tragedy, but it is also an inspiration. Since his wife's death, Matt has created the Liz Logelin Foundation, a charity organization dedicated to proving help to widows and widowers with a young family. He also spends every day making sure that Maddy gets to know the mother she will never meet. I cannot imagine being in his shoes, and not only has he survived, but he has thrived, creating a loving home for his daughter and hope for others who know his pain.

You can tell the book was written by a real person, not a professional writer and I like that about it, but it could also be jarring. Matthew Logelin is a man who likes colorful language and it's liberally sprinkled throughout his memoir. Sometimes it was too much, sometimes yanking me out of the emotion and sympathy I felt for this man. However, this is purely my own issue. The memoir itself was touching and beautiful and I highly recommend it. ( )

Beautifully written, honest, human. Parts of it heart wrenching, parts of it laugh out loud funny, all of it about love. ( )