It isn’t often that you find a book that truly touches your heart, that you just have to talk about straight away but loved so much you struggle to put your feelings into words, that you (alright, we admit it) pre-order multiple different editions of it. However, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue definitely ticked all of these boxes for both of us.

Today we’re going to try to convey our love for this unforgettable story, even though it left us speechless for a month, by giving you seven reasons to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

1. The Unforgettable Girl

Addie LaRue will live rent free in your mind, which can only make a dent in the years and years she lives with no mark. She will be a character you desire to know, to be, or to love.

"You said it yourself, Luc. Ideas are wilder than memories. And I can be wild. I can be stubborn as the weeds, and you will not root me out. And I think you are glad of it. I think that’s why you’ve come, because you are lonely, too."

Although Addie is destined to be forgotten by so many, she learns the ins and outs of her deal. To be a more fulfilled version of herself than what was originally in her reach, and she is determined to make her mark on a world that has dealt her such a bad hand. Throughout the years, she becomes a muse to so many artists, she travels, and she connects deeply with numerous people in an attempt that some part of her will remain in their minds. Because how could she not live intensely, when knowing a corner turned means a clean slate? Those brief moments are loud and full of colour, amongst an otherwise lonely path.

Addie feared taking root in one place when she was a young girl, and she definitely manages to escape this fate by instead becoming a fixture in so many places – even if not everybody realises. Of course, in a way, one of these places in which she takes root and writes herself into history is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in itself.
2. The dark and brooding villain who you hate to love

"You thought I would wither without your attention. But I have not."

Who doesn’t love a dark, brooding, definitely more than a bit evil man in their fantasy novels? Luc definitely ticks all of these boxes and more. However, he’s not your usual trope, he is far more complex and has a depth to his character. Luc is the devil; he is the god that answers after dark, he is a monster. Addie experiences his vastness, stubbornness, and darkness throughout her years – sometimes so often it’s hard to think of him as a stranger, other times he’s a cruel reminder of the harshest corners of the world.

After making his deal with Addie to take her soul when she no longer wants it, Luc is determined to collect on his payment, and appears frequently throughout the novel and throughout Addie’s life, always tethered to her. Always provoking her. He tests her, gives her hope and gives her terror, but it’s clear to see he finds her desires for knowledge, for exploring, always for more to start forming into an obsession.

3. The boy full of storms

"They’ve left his heart too open. Forgotten to close back up the armour of his chest. And now he feels… too much."

Oh, Henry. Where do we start? Henry is the ultimate soft but troubled love interest. He plays a huge role in both the story and in Addie’s life, being the only person who isn’t the devil to remember who she is in 300 years. Henry has secrets of his own which are slowly uncovered throughout the story, and trust us when we say, he’ll break your heart. But he will also make you feel seen, especially if you’ve found yourself struggling this year.

Although it isn’t necessarily made clear, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is told partly from Henry’s perspective, and he’s definitely a character who’s just as important as Addie herself. In fact, you could argue that Henry breathes a fresh breath of air into the story, the reason to explore a city more deeply, to share memories and experiences. We all need a Henry in our lives.
4. The memorable quotes

So we’re definitely considering just sharing some of our favourite quotes here, as they can convince you to pick up The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue more than we could. We’ve already interspersed a couple of little teasers throughout this post, but have another…

" In this moment, she is holding to the sound of her name, her real name, on someone else’s tongue, and it is enough, it is enough, it is enough."

We find it’s not often that a book demands you to pause and highlight quotes that touch your heart, but what Victoria achieved with Addie surprised us both. We’re existing fans of V’s work but this just felt like something else, you can feel her love for this story and craft, the influence of her own growth and travel.
5. Multiple timelines

"Déjà vu. Déjà su. Déjà vecu. Already seen. Already known. Already lived."

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue begins at the cusp between the 17th century and 18th century, and continues through to present day. Despite this, none of it necessarily reads as your typical piece of historical fiction, due to the jumping of timelines, both between past and present as well as between places. The brilliance of a split timeline like this, is that you can see so clearly how the past informs the present Addie, how a specific experience has crafted her actions. They bounce off each other, to show us the complexity that is Addie LaRue.

Even during her childhood at the beginning of the 1700’s, Addie clearly reads as a girl born in the wrong era, a girl with the wrong ideas who has a deep need to experience more, to see and learn all that she can. Her choice of companion and teacher is a good indicator of this, but their friendship is the start of everything – we believe everyone would benefit from a friend like Estele. Someone who’d help inspire you to look for doors you didn’t know could be opened.

6. The creation of a muse

As previously mentioned, a key aspect of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the way that art is used throughout the book. As Addie learns the curves of her curse, she discovers that she can implant herself in people’s memories in other ways. Addie inspires artists through various mediums, from a lost treasure of hers being recreated hundreds of years later, to the appearance of a mysterious, familiar girl in paintings throughout the ages, to her suggesting keys and chords to musicians until the sequences stick in their head long after she has left it.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is truly a book for the aesthetes, with its rich descriptions of art and music, and with the way that the characters react to art throughout.

"And this is what she’s settled on: she can go without food (she will not wither). She can go without heat (the cold will not kill her). But a life without art, without wonder, without beautiful things – she would go mad. She has gone mad. What she needs are stories. Stories are a way to preserve one’s self. To be remembered. And to forget."

7. Finding Yourself

And finally, it’s hard to read such a profound book and not take away a whole experience from it. There are countless ways people are likely to see themselves amongst the pages, to be filled with desire for a means of escape. Whether that’s with the power of Luc, Henry’s joy in new experiences, or the freedom of Addie’s time to explore every corner of your interests.

We found ourselves reflecting on childhood dreams; for Lauren, this manifested in the dream of becoming a vampire – perhaps this dream wasn’t attached so much to the creature, and instead the benefits of time. For Bec this was more focussed on her lifelong dreams of travelling, of seeing as much as she physically could and exploring the quiet forgotten places of the world. We always have a desperate need for more in our modern lifestyle – more money, more friends, more goals achieved, more items ticked off a bucket list, more books read; all of these cumulate in needing more time. Because of this, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue manages to be an incredibly relatable, timeless book.

We mustn’t forget our other narrator in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in this category; Henry’s more manifests in a need for more love, more happiness. Throughout The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, we certainly see Henry’s journey to find himself too.

"All girls are prone to dreaming. She will grow out of it, her parents say – but instead, Adeline feels herself growing in, holding tighter to the stubborn hope of something more."

Loved the writing, the characters, the world, the stories. A fabulously written book with an ending we can all be happy and sad about.

A stunning, beautiful and remarkable book. I loved every page, every sentence, every word. V. E. Schwab has a way of writing the the most flawed, raw and at the same time beautiful and lovable characters. We waited so long for this book, but the wait was more than worth it.
Would highly recommend to give this book a read!

I buddy read this with a friend.

DNF @ 30%
I was not vibing with this.

Content warnings in the parts that I read include: homelessness, violence, sex work, forced marriage.

To put it in simple terms, I was bored by this.
Nothing happened.
The little that did happen did not engage me.

So much of the book felt flat. There were a lot of describtions and yet there were barely any details about the historical background setting that I'm used to from historical fiction. I would have been fine with that flat background had the foreground, mainly Addie, not also fallen flat. I can't tell you anything about her personality, despite the book waxing about her at length.

In the third I read there was no plot. I have no idea where the plot is headed, and it didn't make me care about what way it may go. I talked about how the story develops with my friend and that didn't make me care any more. If anything, some of the twists made me want to read it less, and glad I chose to DNF this.

I'm not one who pays a lot of attention to writing, though I purposefully tried to take this one in because I heard from so many people how beautifully it was written. I guess some description were nice? But they didn't stand out to me in any particular way either.

In short, this wasn't the book for me. Given how many other people love it though, I suggest giving it a try if it sounds interesting to you! However, be adviced that from what I've seen and what I've been told this is not a romance in any way.

This book is just phenomenal. I adored Addie and her story. It made me rage and broke my heart; I had all of the emotions. I loved it. This is one of those books I would love to forget so I can experience it again for the first time

This won’t be for everyone The story of an immortal women who is instantly forgotten after meeting her drifting through time, flashing back to the deal with a demon that she made. One day, she meets a man who remembers her. What makes him different, who has he dealt with. Can they break their curse?

This is tender and emotional and will appeal to many, but be advised there are SO many pages devoted to demonstrating the tragic nature of her gift and curse that I found myself almost skimming to get to the next part as Schwab showed her now, with examples of the affliction - and also flashing back from the time she was cursed and catching up.

I would have liked the ‘meeting’ part a lot earlier in the present narrative to keep both threads interesting.

A good read, but not great.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

Rating: 4 stars
Rep: bi mcs

“The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” has been on my TBR since I first heard about it nearly 3 years ago. And while it wasn’t what I was originally expecting, I still loved it!

The writing style was absolutely gorgeous and very reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern. I was completely captivated by the story and the main characters, especially Addie herself.

I genuinely loved all the characters, the queer rep was amazing and the story, while slow in the beginning, I thought was pretty well-paced.

POSSIBLE SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH
The book was slow and did drag in places but I never really found myself bored. The main reason I didn’t give this 5 stars was because of the ending, I’m the sort of reader that needs resolved, clear cut endings and this one didn’t give me that.

Overall, I really loved this and I highly recommend it to anyone that likes slow, magical novels with queer characters.

My favorite book of the year, hands down. Maybe my favorite book of all time.

Do you ever have that feeling that you’re reading your favorite book... the first time reading the book? The Invisible Life of Addie Larue keeps blowing my mind in such a delicate way that I am completely and irrevocably in love with it. ⁣I want to reread it right now with a pencil because there are so many beautiful lines I want to carry with me forever. What an absolute masterpiece.

I wish I had entire days off so I could just read and reread this book. It’s so ironic that a book about a woman who is cursed to be forgotten is so unforgettable to anyone who reads it.⁣
⁣

Those three words made me so emotional like almost no other book has this year. My heart and soul were invested in the story and characters of this novel from the very first page. I've spent every spare second turning the pages of this beautiful book and spend time in Addie's world.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab is a brilliantly written novel that hooks your heart from the very beginning. My heart broke for the life Addie was born into, a life ahead of servitude as a wife and mother, when her heart desired so much more. This novel is everything I could have dreamed of and more for a book based on a deal with a devil.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a book that I have been DYING to read ever since I first heard about it (ironically, I would have sold my soul to read it.) V.E. Schwab is one of my favourite and auto-buy authors and not only was the concept of this book really enticing, but I just had this huge amount of faith in her as an author and the belief that she would take this idea and write the most mesmerising story, with the most beautiful words, and really break my heart with it.

And, oh boy. I was not wrong.

We start in a tiny village in France, in 1714, an ordinary girl, an ordinary life, an ordinary future. But ordinary is not what Adeline wants. She wants adventure, discoveries, anything but the boring marriage to a boring man just because she’s expected to do it. So she bargains, and she pleads, and in the end, she sells her soul. It’s a deal – she will live forever, but the unexpected consequences will nearly ruin her; she is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. They leave the room, they leave her presence, and poof, gone is any memory of her.
But she gets by. From Villon she heads to Paris, Florence, Munich, and eventually New York, where she hears those little three words she thought she would never hear again, all because she tried to return a stolen book – I remember you.
What follows is the breaking of Addie’s walls, the breaking of the boundaries she’s spent 300 years building just to get by, and the realisation that she is not the only one who is worried about running out of time. After 300 years of living with her curse and dallying with the devil, Addie is sure things can’t be that simple though.

I need this book to climb into my soul and live there forever, or I need to climb into it. It is just so utterly… perfect? It’s so encompassing, spanning so long, so much history, so much of life that can so rarely be squeezed into one book, but every aspect of life influences this book so much. Schwab has talked about how this book has sat with her for years, how she’s ruminated on it before she felt ready to begin writing it, and it shows, it shows just how much she has considered and drawn on before compiling this masterpiece.

I hate to admit it, but I thought it was pretty slow going to begin with. For the first 100 pages or so, I was waiting for something to happen. I wasn’t bored up until that point, because we still have enchanting storytelling and captivating writing, and there is so much important information in thise pages. Whether it’s about Addie’s life in France, who she was, the way she lived, giving us insight into why she made the deal, or whether it’s Addie now, in New York, the way she spends her endless days, these are critical pages. I was just waiting for something MORE. And that happens when Henry turns to Addie and says I remember you. And that’s when this book started ripping my heart out.

This is a book that both equal parts character, equal parts plot. It’s not action heavy, none of Schwabs notable sword fights or schemes to have you turning the page, but with each chapter, each flashback, I was left needing to know more, more of Addie’s past and her future. I needed to know how she became who she was – a thief, a liar, a survivor, but I needed to know how she was to carry on, how she would build herself, and break herself, and put herself back together again after the inevitable happened. I needed those moments of disappoint that each character tries to hide, the masks they were for the people around them

I feel like I could talk about this book all day, and isn’t it always the way that when you adore a book, you’re left struggling for the words to express just how much you loved it? It was gorgeous, uplifting, heartbreaking, poignant, emotional, captivating, all of it, and I feel like I immediately need to read it again. Once wasn’t enough, once was never enough. My feelings for this book are as endless as Addie’s life herself, I can imagine myself being fifty years old and rereading it, loving it just as much, crying just as much, but still not really being to find the words to say how.

I could talk about the characters, the complexities of Henry, the flaws of Addie, the many facets of Luc, but it wouldn’t go far enough to make you pick up this book. I can only hope that telling you how I have a new favourite book, how my heart is broken and mended again, how I will hold this in my heart forever will make you want to read it too. Schwabs writing has always made me want to read more, want to pick up anything and everything she writes, something about the way she crafts worlds and dances her characters through them but there was something different about this book. Something more. Was it because it is largely set in this world? With characters mostly unmagical – who just happened to have magical things happen to them? I don’t know, I honestly can’t say, but this is by far the book of hers that has meant the most to me. I want to shout about it from the rooftops and make sure everybody picks a copy up.

Just… just go and read it.

This is genuinely one of the best books I've read in my life. You can feel how much work Victoria Schwab put into this book, how much she cared about each sentence. It's simply gorgeous. It transported me to another time, another place, and it made me feel seen. It's an unforgettable book.

This is hands down one of my favourite books of 2020. I am a huge fan of V E Schwab and her Shades of Magic books are also one of my favourite fantasy series. Immortality is usually the domain of the vampire, but with the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue we experience immortality from a very human perspective. Born into a small rural village community in France, all Addie wants is to experience all that life has to offer. She dreams of life beyond the village and the bright lights of Paris, but often dreams can become nightmares and sometimes when you call out into the night, the night answers back. A simple wish of living forever from a mysterious God comes with consequences and Addie finds herself doomed to wander through time, never be remembered and never to leave a trace of herself.

This concept of being forgotten by every person you meet is fascinating and at times heart breaking. The book is utterly compelling, it jumps back and forth through time and with each experience, each story, each human interaction, Addie learns to navigate her ‘cursed’ life. She rises from the depths of despair to embrace her existence and find way to leave parts of herself on a world that refuses to remember her.

The book is not only beautifully written, but it is clever, each story brushing against the next, interlocking in a tapestry of superb and memorable story telling. It is also refreshing in its portrayal of sex and relationships, each of Addie’s relationships more about the person, more about their passions than their gender identity.
A must read. A great way to end 2021

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the eArc.

It's been tough writing this review. Whie reading and upon finishing it I gave it 4.5 stars, high on the emotional roller coaster. Upon reflection, I’ve downgraded to 3.5. You’ll see why in the long review 😊
This story has touched me in ways impossible to put into words. I was expecting a lot from this, but not to be ruined, grieve, rebuild lost hope and heal enough to look to a brighter tomorrow.

<b>Short review: </b>
On one hand there were things I absolutely loved, the discussions on morality, resilience, inspiration and art, love of others and love of one's self.
On the other, I thought this would be a dark witchy romance between an immortal and the devil. Which it wasn't. And the ending was not to my particular taste.

<b>My advice: </b> Make sure you know what you’re reading, because marketing has been a tad misleading.

<b>Long review, mostly no spoilers: </b>

I want to clarify that this isn't a fantasy novel, which I initially assumed (based on Schwab's works and the media generated buzz ). It's more akin to historical fiction, almost a memoir, it would almost be unfair to unpick and overanalyse this novel due to this. I’m going to do it anyway.
This story its deeply  personal, Addie’s journey through life, an extraordinary life in extraordinary circumstances - there is a slight supernatural edge to it, but this curse that is mentioned is quite self-contained, this isn't a world of rampant magic and wizardry, more so a glimpse into a thousand magical moment, a person's death by a thousand cuts, a rediscovery of hope.

<b> What I liked </b>

- Powerful emotional drama. Victoria Schwab spent 10 years writing this and I understand why some scenes must have been excruciating to write - I cried multiple times and I do NOT cry at books or in general. It brought forth my own memories I thought I'd buried deep, emotions which were meant to be scars now.
- A refreshing emphasis on art and inspiration
- Beautiful, evocative writing, it’s not usually important to me, but I flew through this.
- Moral dilemmas
- Interesting plot

<b> What I didn’t like</b>

- Overly long, there isn’t much happening as the narrative is pivoting between Addie’s past and her present and it becomes repetitive quickly.
- Massively overhyped and wouldn't have gotten this much attention if not for the author's fame :) (I very much love Schwab because she's not afraid to take her villains to some weird effed up places).
- Lack of maturity and psychological issues – for a 300 year old that has seen many wars, has been physically abused, has survived at the edge, Addie is remarkable ok and still acting like a naïve, dreamy 18 y.o.  (a psychotic and deranged immortal would have been very cool to follow, but that’s another story.)
- Painfully American-centric. Yes, we start out in France and end up in USA, but there should have been so much more exploration of the world, the historical events and different culture, we should have seen her be dropped in amazing and terrible places throughout the planet.
- Plot holes regarding the curse - I kept letting them go because I desperately wanted to get lost in the beautiful writing and the heartfelt moments.  But if I thought about it too long, many things would just not work. For example, she went on many dates and spend whole days with one person, but didn’t the person need to use the loo the whole day?  I realise picking at this isn’t the point of the book, but when the curse is so central and so defining to Addie’s life, it should have been thought out better.
- Henry was boring.
- Superficial magic - The magical aspect of this book should have been intensified tenfold. If there is this mystical aspect of gods and curses, there must be more to it, maybe witches, powerful objects and charms. I feel like 300 years is a long time with plenty of opportunities to discover this amazing dark underworld and small ways to magically improve Addie's life.

Small spoilers here, look away if you want to completely avoid this:
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- Mis-marketed as the love story between an immortal and the Devil –it wasn't that at all. There's not even much time spent with Addie and Luc to explore their toxic, destructive relationship because as soon as they finally get together, she sees him as the monster he is. Fair enough, that's one road, but I would have preferred some more time spent together, seeing what Luc could actually do, learning a bit more about this mythology. As much as Luc has touched and transformed Addie's life, Addie hasn't really had much effect on him.
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<b> Overall, </b> while I enjoyed the journey and found myself crying a few times, this just didn’t have the grand scope and cleverness it should have had for a story spanning 300 years, following a 300-year-old Addie.

<b>Rating: </b> 3.5

Damned to be forgotten, destined to be remembered.

For a girl you shouldn’t remember, Addie LaRue is impossibly unforgettable; an uncatchable, untameable protagonist who will ensnare you, pulling you through the chapters of her story as time slips away and stretches out ahead of you all at once.

I utterly adored this truly beautiful story. It grabbed me and didn’t let go - it’s a book that will stay with you long after you turn the last page and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

V E Schwab has such a raw talent that bleeds out onto the pages, embalming Addie’s story; lyrical writing enveloped in imagery, creating a beautifully written and well crafted tale. Addie is the perfect protagonist, strong, unwavering and ancient, she fits perfectly on the page with Henry who is conflicted, flawed and immaculately human. Their paths cross, collide and weld together - at some turns I could sense where a thread of the story was heading, as Schwab left a trail of bread crumbs for us to follow, but never was this book predictable and always it had my chest tightening, my breath hitching, as I eagerly read on to see which way the story would go, right up until the very last page.

Addie LaRue took me by surprise and is one of the best books I have ever read; I will definitely recommend this to so many. It doesn’t just fit one type of reader; Schwab has created a story where at its heart lies what it is to be human, where our innate fears and desires fester and bloom, and there is so much to love and to take away.

There can be no doubt that Addie LaRue is a beautiful piece of work from Schwab. You can feel the passion and dedication embued in every single word.

From the very start, Schwab wastes no time. You’re plunged straight into this mysertious and desperately intriguing atmosphere. She constantly plays with your expectations about the nature of the story and where it is going next. Don’t ever really think you’ve got it nailed down, as you’ll only have everything flipped upside down once again moments later. I mean that concept is just stellar and Schwab executes it so well.

The premise of this book is just so heart-breaking and fascinating at the same time. The inability to make a mark, leave a trace or have anyone remember you really brings into question ideas of legacy and the fallibility of human achievement. Addie finds a loophole through the medium of art, mysteriously appearing in artworks throughout the years. However, she remains a fragment, glimpsed only in small moments and blurred beyond recognition. Her tale spans generations and you can only imagine everything she’s seen in that time. Schwab tells an ode to the beauty and power of art in the way it captures an ever fleeting moment and the essence of human experience. I don’t claim to know much about art, but this book made me want to learn so much more.

Schwab’s writing is just exquisite. You easily get lost in her gorgeous prose, savouring each meticulously chosen word and page. It makes for a stunning reading experience, destined to be reread over and over again. Basically, I now appreciate the hype around her style and want to devour more of her work. Previously I’d loved the Villains series but now I’m tipped over the edge into full adoration.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a book that I will treasure for years to come and it feels like Schwab embracing the pinnacle of her creative, philosophical writing. .

One of my most expected reads of the year, and the wait was worth it. Absolutely amazing, could not put the book down! It kept me up in the night and I finished it in 2 days. I highly recommend, schwab writes masterfullY!

I absolutely loved this, we follow Addie who had made a deal with the devil to be free and love life with no limits, the only issue is that it’s not as simple as it seems! - no one will remember her when she is out of sight.

After hundreds of years she found Henry and he remembers her! - but is that all it’s cracked up to be?!

It’s a story of love and loss and realising that getting what you want isn’t always the answer.

It made me laugh, it made me cry and it’s one of those stories I wish I could experience again for the first time.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I thought that the writing was beautiful, but it took me an age to finish it because I never wanted to pick it up. It tells the story of Addie, a young woman living in France in 1714, who makes a deal with the darkness to live free. Her request is granted, but the caveat is that no one will ever remember her. What follows is a story which switches between New York in 2014 and various points in Addie's past until she meets a man in a bookshop who remembers her. I liked a lot of the concepts and themes of the book, such as the ephemeral nature of memory and the immortality of art. Where I struggled was in connecting with the central plot. I found that I wasn't that invested in Addie's character and found the narrative a little repetitive. I did love the ending, however and thought that the latter portion of the book was pretty compelling. Overall, this is a beautifully constructed book with exquisite prose, but with a plot and characters that left me a little cold.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Content Warnings: Death, grief, sex work, drug use/abuse, alcoholism, attempted suicide, violence

Is this the most hyped book of the year? I think so, at least in my social circles. And the hype definitely got to me too. I think knowing Schwab had been working on this for so long as well added to it. The writing is sensational and the melancholy vibes were spot on.

Addie LaRue makes a deal with the devil in order to avoid being forced to get married to a man she doesn’t want to marry. This deal states that she can live until she decides she no longer wants to, however no one will remember her. She lives for 300 years with no one remembering her, not even her parents, until one day, in 2014, a man remembers her.

I know a lot of people found this to be an absolute favourite and were huge fans of it and whilst I did really enjoy it I didn’t feel that same love. I think part of it was I felt an emotional disconnect. Which is a me thing and not a book thing. I just didn’t feel the same as other did. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a fab time reading it, because I did.

I loved the focus on loneliness and desperation. It left me thinking a lot about what I would do if faced with this kind of a deal. What would I do at my lowest moment to attempt to make my life better. The book doesn’t just focus on Addie’s problems, there is another POV character and I really appreciated seeing someone else’s deal and what they do to cope with the ramifications of it.

As highlighted by Aentee’s review (a very good review, I recommend reading after mine), this is a very Western world orientated novel. And this did bother me a little in reading. When Addie is talking about all the placed she’s travelled to and visited it’s always in Europe or the USA. If I were alive for 300 years I would absolutely try to travel the length and bredth of the planet. I would make it my mission to visit every country. So I honestly found it frustrating that Addie never mentions any of these places.

I definitely think the most interesting aspect for me in this book, besides the obvious Faustian deal of trading your life, was the relationships Addie had, especially with the “demon” Luc. I think Luc was my favourite character in the whole novel actually. He’s not a good guy and his behaviour is exactly what you’d expect of a creature made of darkness, but that’s why I liked him. He brought excitement to the table. When Luc popped up in a scene you didn’t know what to expect and I really found this the most fascinating aspect of the story. I lived for these moments when reading and was so excited to get to the next scene with Luc.

Don’t get me wrong, I also love Henry, but he wasn’t as exciting of a character for me. However, he was a sweetheart and I felt like I really resonated with his feelings a lot. He just wanted to be loved and I struggled with theses feelings a lot when I was younger too. I really appreciated the way he treated his friends and the people around him. Another wonderful aspect of Henry is that he’s queer, and whilst he doesn’t label it, he’s pretty close to what I would call pansexual, and that makes me, your local pansexual, very happy to read. I kind of wishes this had been more delved into, but I also appreciated that it was just one of those aspects of his character that what just what it was.

I struggled with the pacing a bit, but this was something I expected as others had mentioned to me that the start was quite slow. I also wish there had been more exploration of historical moments. We only got brief glances of Addie’s experiences during important moments and as someone who is fascinated by history I just wanted more from this. But I understand why they were brief as the book would have been ridiculously long.

On the whole, I enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, it’s an intriguing look at what someone does in their lowest moments. I really want to read a story about Luc, even if it’s just a novella or something like that I would be super happy to read that. I wish I had connected with it more, but sometimes books don’t quite hit you the way you want, and that’s fine!

Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was quite a long way from what I had thought I was going to be reading when I picked it up that can, for me, ultimately be distilled into a cool concept made too convoluted. While I'm used to a good mix of adventure/mystery from her stories (or at least a little fantastical drama), this time Schwab chose to go down the purely romantic genre with a historical flair, which caught me a little off guard. It is fantastical too, but it doesn't feed too much into the story.

I will openly admit that part of why this novel felt so dragged out was because I was reading it over the course of nearly three months. While not necessarily that long, it does pack a lot of prettily-written information into every sentence. I love that about Schwab's writing but I'm still puzzling over one thing: why is this book the same three scenes over and over again? Addie gets forgotten by a past lover; Addie gets taunted by Luc; Addie and Henry do coupley things. Over and over again, set in slightly different (and conveniently recognisable) historical time periods. There are only two significant plot points, first when Addie meets Henry about a third through and then when she tries to save him at the end - other than that, nothing changes across the entire novel, and it felt so out of character for Schwab's storytelling that I was even more uneasy about the whole thing.

At the start, I felt the book was overly sentimental and, by the end, I suspect that may be the root of why I didn't enjoy it. You can see Schwab has poured her heart into it, but there's no discipline in the storytelling; there barely is a story, it's all so fragmented and dreamy, but without a driving force (or even really a goal) as a result. This glimmers of character and moments in time and images are beautiful and so clearly emotionally relevant to the writer, but it's all so patchworked together it felt unpolished as an actual novel for me.

The above being personal preferences, I do also want to point out that the final resolution to this book was disappointing even if you disagree with my stylistic observations. Why is it always that the boy gets redemption and the female protagonist 'sacrifices' something. I'm so bored of that trope, especially with a character like Addie who otherwise rejects all expectations of what she should be unless she makes them for herself.

My overall takeaway from the book was quite disappointing given how much I love some of Schwab's other work and how much hype there was around this particular one. For me, it just petered along the same way all through and then fell back onto a cliche at the end. I'm sure a lot of people will like it a lot, and I'm not saying it's necessarily bad - but I don't understand some of the creative choices, and it's not my thing overall.