Basically: believe the hype. This is a serious accomplishment by VE Schwab that is as heartfelt and moving as it is powerfully evocative. I love Addie LaRue. Miss it and miss out.

V.E. Schwab has done it again -- this is a different style for this writer, and as a big fan of the author's A Darker Shade of Magic series, at first my head was spinning as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue threw me into a rich, poetic prose style in 16th-century France. But soon I was ensconced in Addie's plight as she was cursed to be forgotten by everyone she met, until one day, she wasn't. Three simple words: "I remember you." As an absolute sucker for love triangles, hate-to-love stories, instalove and all of the fun romance tropes in between, this book worked for me in a really satisfying way. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc copy.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Netgalley and Titan Books for an eARC for an honest review. Also, a huge thank you to Zola for the hardback edition that I won as part of a giveaway! With this book I feel like a physical copy is definitely needed. I have tabbed and highlighted this book to pieces, only a habit I have picked up because of the beautiful bookstagram community.

I completely adore this book. So much so that Bryce and Hunt have been kicked off my lock screen for a fan art of the gorgeous Addie. It is also from the point of view of Henry, an absolute sweetheart that struggles so much with his mental health. I feel like Schwab really captured the feelings using the analogy of the storms and the pink umbrellas. You only have to read the blurb to know this is a unique concept that flits between Addie's past and present. I love that the book focuses so much on artists with each section displaying a piece of art of some sort with a description that adds to what the reader is about to read. I cannot express how much I loved the writing in this book. I haven't read Schwab before but it is absolutely gorgeous and so poetic. I can truly say some of the best writing I've ever read.

I can safely say this book has confirmed for me my desire to have a tree planted just for me when I pass. I'm always telling my partner this is what I want and this book cemented it. Sounds odd but Estelle is a complete queen. How can I not mention the bisexual representation! This is my first read with bi rep (shocking I know) but it made me feel at home and seen. Addie is such a personality that I fell in love with. She is such a free spirit and someone who is completely unforgettable (ironically). She isn't perfect and struggles through 300+ years of life but gosh I love this book! The ending had me crying but that very last page had me grinning. Addie LaRue, I will never forget!

This is a really beautiful book about what it means to leave your mark on the world and what is left of you when you can't. Magical, romantic and suspenseful, couldn't put it down and enjoyed it a lot.

I really wanted to love this book but I've really struggled to finish it and I don't see myself coming back to it for a while. My main issue is that this is a character-driven story with not much plot and while I like it as I'm reading it there's nothing that keeps me hooked. It's very easy to put this book down and not come back to it and talking with others who have also tried it they have the same issue. The writing is beautiful but for a character-driven book, I don't much like them. This is a good book but I'm not in the right frame of mind to keep going with it. I might come back to it later but not for a very long time.

I enjoyed this very much. Addie's situation is neatly set up at the start and the story offers a tantalising glimpse of what could happen when you have unlimited time but ultimate loneliness.

Sometimes, you find that author that simply gets you. every book you read has something that stays with you, something that you carry with you after putting the book down. V.E. Schwab is that author for me. And this book, this book is THE book for me.

For many years I had heard that V.E. Schwab was an incredible writer, that I was missing out by not reading her books and I always said that I was waiting for the right book to come along. Then along came The Invisible Life Of Addie La Rue and the premise had me hooked. I was so intrigued about the story of a young French girl who makes a pact with a dark God to live unrestrained of familial bonds and to be free to make her own choices. However, Addie did not check the small print and in bargaining her soul for this freedom she so desperately desired she becomes instantly forgotten by those who meet her once she is out of sight, to live forever and never be remembered sounds like torture. I'm sad to say that's as good as the story gets because nothing, and I mean nothing, happens in this book. What unravels is a very long, meandering and frankly, boring tale of a girl that wishes she hadn't acted so rashly and wanders the earth for 300 years alone.
The character of Addie felt seriously under developed along with the few other characters in the story, Luc & Henry. Quite frankly I didn't care for any of them and felt no connection to them whatsoever. I kept waiting for something to happen in the plot but at the end of each chapter (of which there are many) the author just took us round in a circle to go over parts of Addie's life that we had heard so many times before. If I had to hear how her 7 freckles looked like stars one more time I may have lost my mind. The attention to detail was in all the wrong places. Yes, I understand that she cannot write her name or have her photograph taken or that she cannot buy things or have a job. This was information that was at the start of the book but regularly repeated over and over and over again.
It seemed to me that the author had one idea but thought nothing of making an actual story to go along with it. By the time I got to the end I was so relieved that it was over but I still hoped there would be a great conclusion to make all the pages I had waded through worth while, unfortunately it was a conveniently, sugar coated, twee summation of everything we had already discovered as a reader.
This book didn't live up to expectation for me at all and I was thoroughly disappointed.

Wow, where to start? If you follow me anywhere you already know how much this book has touched my soul (which I’m fully prepared to sell for Addie’s sake). The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue truly is a masterpiece, a piece of art in it’s own right as it explores the story of a girl who roots her way in to artwork throughout history. I’m sure that many of us have wished for more time throughout our lives, and Addie’s exploration of how far someone would go to fulfil that need is a story that left me speechless. I can promise you that this story will guarantee that this invisible girl is remembered for years to come.

I have been in a bit of a reading rut, recently. I have been fortunate enough to have bought some beautiful books to read, and I have loads of great ones in my digital TBR too, but when it comes down to it, I just can’t concentrate. Where I used to whizz through a novel in a couple of hours on a weekend, I find that I am distracted by my phone, the TV, the kettle and kitchen… As the world opens up a bit more, and we venture out into socialising a little bit, I am also finding that I have less time to hunker down with a book than I have been used to.

Added to that, that we’re training for a 100mile cycle ride round Norfolk and basically, after that, every time I sit down I nap!

All that means is that my reading pace has slowed down a bit, but not by much, really. Still on target for my Goodreads challenge.

I have seen The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue pop up in so many social media posts, and the premise is intriguing. I am lucky to have had an advance digital copy via Netgalley squirrelled away, so I dusted that off in an attempt to shake my ongoing reader’s block.

The premise, if you don’t know, is that in early France, in a small village, Adeline LaRue wished for a bigger life. She doesn’t want to be confined to the usual cycle of birth-marriage-babies-death that her peers are leaping into. The end of her road isn’t visible from the front garden. And yet, she has few options. She prays to the god(s) above to help her, to give her a way out of marrying a man she doesn’t love. When they don’t answer, she turns to the god(s) below.

Wish granted, she soon finds that a life lived free is a curse, as these things often do turn out to be. Addie spends a longer time in France than I expected, as the story starts off in modern day NYC. I felt like this was a bit slow, and I have to admit that I wondered how she was going to fill in 300 years of her history if she spends most of it in Paris.
Addie is just working out the limits of her prison – everyone forgets her, the moment she is out of sight. She cannot make a mark on the world in the way she would like to – she can’t write, or draw, or make art. But she finds that she can influence artists to draw her, to play the chords and notes she is humming, to echo her lyrics. It is a small change, and no real compensation for not being able to have a friend, or lover, or house, beyond the time it takes for someone to leave the room and come back.

Her only companion in those years is the Devil himself, a shadowy figure who has cruelly taken the likeness of her fantasy man – a kind of Dream Date gone wrong. He delights in visiting her when she is at her lowest, her bargaining chip being for her soul itself. This Stockholm Syndrome-esque is very interesting and to be expected when your captor is the only being who knows your real name.

Until, that is, she meets Henry. This latter half of the book is where the comparisons to Time Traveler’s Wife kick in, for me – two lovers who are bound together but irrevocably drawn apart. She’s 300 years old and hasn’t aged a day, while he is a mere mortal.

Although Addie appears in some famous art, I liked that she wasn’t ‘there’ for all of the historic milestones, like some badly acted extra who pops up everywhere. We learn about the riots in France, of course, and she talks about seeing film for the first time and how quickly it grew and changed, but as she’s outside of the world, she remains a fairly independent watcher. I also thought it a bit of a coincidence that she has seven freckles on her cheek that look like stars – just like Freckles does, on her arm – the book I read before! Maybe something is telling me to go and look at the stars more often.

I did enjoy this, and I recommend it for lovers of historical fiction with a bit of light fantasy in there too. VE Schwab has written some fantasy YA, as Victoria Schwab, so if you liked that, then I’d suggest you try those

Thanks as always to Netgalley and Titan Books for the DRC!

An amazing mix of fiction and fantasy. Once you have picked this book up, it won’t be possible to leave it without finishing. The author keeps going back and forth in past and present magically which makes the plot even more interesting. This was my first read from the author and now I’m looking forward to read all of their books.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

One day, I'm going to have to accept that Schwab's book just aren't for me. I keep falling for her gorgeous premises, but ultimately the execution doesn't work for me. I read about 100 pages of Addie LaRue, and despite her lovely writing it just didn't click.

Okay, friends, I received an ARC of this book and I feel obligated to finish this... but I really did not want to finish this. I reached 40% and man that was difficult. I actually started to enjoy the book in the 25-40% part. Well. Buckle up, children. Let me tell you reading this book felt like running a mental marathon, only to have the ending sash swiped away moments before you reach the finishing line. All this time... all this effort... for THAT???

𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐇:
• interesting premise
• gorgeous writing
• spellbinding storytelling


𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐄:
• execution
• for a character-driven story, the characters fell flat for me. (How is it that someone lives 300 and remains unchanged and immature?)
• Addie felt like those “not like other girls” archetype and the constant flashbacks made me feel disconnected to her as a character.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: quiet introspection, focusing on human nature, love, and the concept of legacy and time

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫: fans of VE Schwab, historical fiction

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher (Titan books) for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐣𝐨𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦 ; 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄

I'm so upset this book wasn't for me.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue is a delight for any reader. A deep dive into different characters, this studies how people can change so much over their lifetime, and the people who influence them on the way. A look into what it means to be alone this was wonderfully crafted and beautifully written. A truly poignant story that I will carry with me for a long time. Addie Larue will not be a book I can easily forget.

While this book will not be for everyone, I loved it. I would suggest it for readers who enjoy slow, but luscious prose, full of imaginery. There are different timelines and I cant say which one I enjoyed more, because in every chapter you will learn something interesting and the whole idea is just so original. Also it is a standalone, which I appreciate.

You can truly tell the time and passion Schwab has put into this book. I honestly can't pick one single fault with it.

The book centres around Audie LaRue, she is due to be wed, but dreams of seeing the world and leaving her mark on it. She prays to the gods for her freedom and one answers her prayers. He is a God of darkness and grants her the freedom she wishes for, but there's a catch. She is forced to roam the earth, forgotten by everyone she meets.

V's writing is beautiful, and the way she explores loneliness is heartbreaking. She manages to capture the fear of going through life unremembered, and the battle to make a stamp on the world.

This was my book of 2020, and one of the most incredible, beautiful books I’ve ever read. The characters and story will stay with me forever. VE Schwab has always been one of my favourite authors to recommend at work, thanks to the vast amounts of different and interesting stories she writes, and this one just adds to that.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking books I have ever read, I've not been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it, it will stay with me for a long time. A story about a girl who wants to break out of the bonds that society wants to put her in but in the process makes a deal with the devil and lives the rest of her existence with no one remembering her. Its a story about what it means to make your mark on the world and what is truly important in life. Addie LaRue will stay with me for the longest time.

When I started reading Addie LaRue, I realised I knew hardly anything. I wanted to read this books solely based on Victoria Schwab’s description; a love story between a girl and the devil 300 years in the making. Would you need to know anything else? Add the hype the book has been getting these past couple of months and all I can say is, go pick this up! If you do want to know a little bit more, read on ;).

The story alternates between present day Addie and Addie 300 years ago. Addie does not want to be married to a man she doesn’t love and against her friends advice, she prays to a god who answers after dark. She gets her freedom, but it comes at a steep price. No one remembers her and that is how she has to go through live from then on.

I loved all the bits and pieces of Addie’s life over the last 300 years. They were some of my favorite parts of the book. I loved reading how Addie tried to make a life for herself and seeing her interact with people throughout history. In present day time Addie still goes trough life unremembered, until one day a guy does remember her. I really liked how she interacted with him and their story together.

But what I loved most were Addie interactions with the god (or devil) she made her bargain with. Their relationship developed over time and I had a lot of feelings about it. I won’t say much more about it because I think it’s best to just experience it. And then make up your own mind. The book slowly works it’s way to an incredible ending. I did not see it coming nor did I have a clue were the story was going. There was one thing I predicted but other than that I was blown away. I loved the ending so so much and would love a sequel. Even if it was just a novella, but I need more content haha.

I think it’s clear I highly recommend this book. Beware that it can be a bit slow. It’s truly about the characters and Addie journey. Don’t expect any action or a fast paced story. Let Addie take you on a journey through history and what it is to live and be remembered.