The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was a book that can absolutely reach inside of you and make you feel deeply. Schwab is an incredible writer and lyrical genius and knows how to create a story with words that take your breath away. The concept alone is something that felt fresh and unseen in an overly saturated world and that takes a lot of work to do. The really cool thing about it was the historical time jumping the story goes through to tell us about Addie's journey - but ending up in modern-day NYC. By far, my favorite character was Henry. The thing about this book - and is something I often encounter with writers like Schwab - is that they make me feel TOO much and I need to take mental breaks throughout (I blame that on my love for Henry). I do wish that Henry had a better ending - and Addie as well. I felt that they both deserved more in the sense of mentally what they needed. I also kind of could guess what Addie was going to do, which made it all the more hard to deal with. I just wish that these people were given more. But the reality of it is that it does not always happen the way we want

The single most beautiful and heartbreaking book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. And reading again. Then again. I cannot get enough of the palpable loneliness that follows Addie. The sadness of having to traverse the world for centuries without anyone to remember you. How she adapts to find the little loopholes that allow her to leave an impression. A little mark. My biggest need in this world is to be able to leave it better somehow and to make an impact so I felt it so strongly through Addie’s eyes. And then there’s Henry. That beautiful wonderful man. It’s the most brief and intense and gorgeous love. Cut so short. But while it lasts, it’s everything. I want everyone to read this book. It connects to the human heart in so many ways. It’s stunning.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was a fantastic read. Historical fantasy done right makes for a great recommendation.

Schwab does an exquisite job of weaving a mysterious tale through time. Her characters are well developed and I imagine this going to be a very popular title for those who not only enjoyed her Darker Shade of Magic series, but new readers as well. Highly, highly recommend and also love that this has great crossover appeal for teens AND adults.

Library will be certainly purchasing multiple copies of this one!

Tightly constructed with a strong narrative through line, but much less memorable than Schwab's other titles.

This books was on the slower side and is a meandering wander through history and memory. The way Schwab writes Addie as a figure who breezes through life while also managing to have an impact—she captured how lonely she must feel and balanced it with the things she loves about this “invisible life”. I truly thought it was a masterpiece

This copy was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and the publisher for review: all opinions are my own.

Wow. Just wow. Honestly, the writing was just... beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. even that might be too small of a word to describe it. Schwab has outdone herself with this one.

Loved Addie. She was fierce, strong and powerful to read about. I loved her story line, the warping relationship with Luc. Following her through the ages, seeing how she battles the bargain she herself put herself in to make sure some part of her remains even if no one remebers. Ugh, crying.

Henry, I liked more at the end. I found myself speeding through his sections to get back to Addie and her time line but I did enjoy seeing how he viewed Addie. You can tell the through Henry's character, Schwab dived and described (I thought) how she herself feels while depressed- if you follow her on insta I think you could see the connection clearer. Its just so well done.
Luc. Loved that scary old god. He wasn't redeemable, he was unpredictable, he was what he was and i loved the way he was described. He felt as old as time itself *insert squealing*, and it was nice to see an old god not change.
My biggest complaint would be there never felt like a true plot to the story, but that doesn't mean the story didn't work because it so did. Reading the end, you get a sense that maybe what you're reading is what is written- I know, makes no sense, read the book. It comes off like a lyrical fictional biography.

I knew something was coming at the end, it had to be, it was all way too tense. We were waiting for the other hat to drop. And it did, but it did in such a way that it made sense. It was maybe not the happiest of happy endings we as the reader were hoping for for the characters but it is the one that really made the most sense.

I half read and half listened on audio and this is a book that held such power

V E Schwab is a genius with a pen! I love her works and will continue to devour novels for years to come.

I have never been so blown away by a story before, where I wanted to savour every moment and make sure I was truly listening and understanding every word on the page. I loved that this was a flash between history and the present, the touches of magic, and the way that everything intertwined. I had some issues with the pacing and some of the choices even though they made "sense" in the end but overall, I highly recommend this one.

I loved Addie's story and Addie herself. I liked how seemlessly both of our main characters being bisexual was put into the story - making it a complete non-issue. I thought Addie was a really strong character and I liked seeing how she went from innocence to doing what she must to survive. She was the perfect character to follow through this story and I loved seeing how she was able to leave her mark, something I think we all fear not being able to do.

While this is definitely a slower paced novel, there are so many beautiful moments that it seems to just fly by. I think the audiobook is over 17 hours and it felt like I read it in 5 because it was so lyrical and magical. While there is the typical "flowery" prose in parts of this, I didn't mind it for the most part. There were some times that it caused a bit of a break in the reality of the world for me, which meant I had to relisten to some parts or just try to figure it out from some context.

I also just didn't like Henry as a whole. I thought he was not the most interesting person that Addie was with, or wanted to be with. And I understand why he was involved but it felt like Addie made poor choices because of him and that felt out of character. But his choices were worse and I thought he was kind of boring overall. I didn't like his sections nearly as much and wished I could have skipped over them tbh.

But truly everything else was wonderful. You could really tell that this was the book of Victoria's heart and that she had been holding onto this for years. I think this may be my favourite read of hers (yet) and I can't wait to recommend it to more people. An easy way to get into fantasy with its mix of historical fiction and contemporary issues, this is the perfect book for everyone.

TLDR: Gosh Victoria writes such beautiful stories and I'm so glad Addie was one of them. I did have a few issues with characterizations and pacing, but overall I truly enjoyed this one. I especially like that this is a standalone and had a bit of an open ending to allow us to create the rest of the world. I liked the vignettes interlaced throughout and the magic that was weaved around all of this while still making it mostly historical and contemporary fiction.

I love this author and find this story very haunting....The storyline and characters really make me stop and think about deep concepts. This book stays with you.

I loved this book, couldn't put it down! Heartbreaking but intriguing and I only wanted the best for everyone in this story!

Original, entertaining and most surprisingly, believable. I was totally immersed in this fantasy of a deal with the devil, an immortal life and the portrayal of the devil as a man with a weakness for Addie.

V.E. Schwab fans will enjoy this poetic novel of magical realism. It has broad appeal to people looking for a new slant to historical fiction, or a historical take to magical realism. I rather enjoyed the character development and following a strong female MC, but got bogged down in the repetitive character descriptions of curly black hair and the constellation of freckles. Minor point but it gets to you.

3.5/5 stars Good enough read, but not something to recommend to everyone

Long and, at times, incredibly sad, but I still wanted more of Addie's story. I loved the art and history that Schwab included throughout, plus the relationship with Luc and its fluctuations worked well. I want her happy ending.

One of my best friends was obsessed with the books of VE Schwab. She loved the series that predated this book, and I’ve yet to read those. This would be my first book by this author. I believe it was a great introduction to an easy, accessible writing style. The author invites us into a descriptive world, and gives us characters to truly root for and relate to.

V.E. Schawb knocks it out of the park yet again! She's creative, her world building is lush and full, and even when I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was so completely surprised. I loved Addie LaRue, this is one I will turn to over and over again.

I was very excited by the first half of this book and while I didn't mind the ending, I felt like the story drew out the mystery behind the romance too long and robbed the readers of seeing Addie and Henry work through their ability to be together and form a plan against their predicaments. I see the set up for a sequel and wonder if the book would've been better if approached as a standalone novel.

Overall I really enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. A beautiful narrative and fascinating premise and story, with complex and interesting characters. It got a little slow for me halfway through, until about 75% when it picked back up. I liked the ending more than I thought I would, when I thought I had figured out what was going to happen!

Ok, so being that so many people had raved about this book on bookstagram, many saying that it brought them to tears and such, I decided to have this be my first V.E. Schwab book (ya, I know, I’m a bit behind in reading the more “popular” authors’ work). I really really wanted to love this one, but, uh, it fell short…by a lot.

The premise for this was so strong, I mean, Addie gets to live forever and you watch as she encounters the changing world, and dealing with people who will never remember her. With this in mind, I really didn’t care for the flashbacks of her life, which I thought was a huge part but really I thought it took away from the story (sorry).

The beginning was slow.as.heck. Oh my gosh if I didn’t make it to page 200 where I found it picked up, this would have been a DNF or a ‘come back to later’ book, but really I pushed through it since this is the first book that my Book Club chose to read for the year.

Addie and Henry were OK; I disliked Henry more and really I could have done without him 🤷🏻‍♀️Addie was a ‘no shit’ type person, but there were off points to her. Now, the “villain” Luc? Yes, I loved him and I would like 10 of him please👌🏼

Overall, I thought I would have liked this more, and while I can see how people really enjoyed it, this one was not for me. It a beautiful book and the ending took me slightly by surprise, but it fell flat.

This is teetering on the edge of a 5 to me.

"The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" is a fantasy that asks the following questions:
What does "living" mean?
What is love?
How do we make a mark in our lives?
What is the meaning, the value of art?

It asks this through a story that is a mash-up of a Faustian saga and the Hades/Persephone myth, shaken and stirred with time-travel stories (although in this case, it's a different kind of time-travel.)

What's good: This is a book that is fantasy and it has weight. It makes you think.

What's iffier: I'm never a fan when adults are referred to as girls/boys--that pulls me out, even though contextually I could see how an early twenty-something is a girl/boy to a contemporary.

In addition, I'm not sure I'm in love with the characters here. This is a story about ideas (literally), and as a result, some of the characters are somewhat flat--they're paper dolls to help carry the plot and narrative arc along.

(Note: This review is based on an ARC from Netgalley.)