Well. I’m so happy that I waited to be in the right mood for this one, but regardless of when I read it, I know I would have loved it just as much.

After hearing Victoria talk about this book for so long, it’s amazing to get to read it and meet Addie. And she is just as fantastic as I expected. She’s crafty and filled with longing and it was so easy to root for her, no matter what she wanted.

The way the story unfolds in a flip flop of past and present is genius. I loved seeing Addie at the beginning of her life and how much she’s changed and adapted 300 years later. And yes, I’m being vague as hell, but I wouldn’t dream of spoiling this for anyone.

Overall, it was a story that was easy to devour and I can’t wait to read it again.

**Huge thanks to Tor Books for providing the arc free of charge**

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I’m SO excited to finally share my review! V.E. Schwab has done it again - are we even surprised?

To be completely honest, at first I didn’t find The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue as gripping as I found the Villains series or A Darker Shade of Magic. But, by the halfway point, I was fully engrossed in the story and I’m STILL reeling from the ending (it was satisfying in the most unexpected way).

One thing that really stood out to me while I was reading was how Schwab crafted her words. I know I mention it a lot in my reviews, but beautiful prose is something that draws me to books. And, the prose in Addie LaRue is GORGEOUS; I could keep reading (and rereading) it forever. You can definitely tell the amount of love and work Schwab put into this book - it’s evident on every page.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a celebration of so many things: art, stories, exploring the world, and the freedom of forging your own path. Most of all, though, it’s a celebration of living. It’s also heavily influenced by the joy and discovery of lifelong learning; throughout the novel Addie makes her own choices and never loses her fascination about the world around her.

This is a book that stays with you, one that deserves to be savored, and one I can see myself returning to again and again. Thank you again to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for a digital ARC of one of my most anticipated books of 2020. Let me just start by saying that this novel not only met my expectations, but far exceeded them. Addie LaRue is beautiful and moving in ways that I wasn't expecting. You can tell that V.E. Schwab took that better part of a decade to craft her tale of a young woman who makes a deal with the darkness. So many moments are woven together to bring this tale to life and for me, everything worked incredibly well. This is a read that should be savored and then read again and again. I will not be forgetting about Addie LaRue any time soon.

AMAZING! It's not a shock this new Schwab book is amazing. Absolutely beautifully written. It pays real homage to all forms of art..

The author spent ten years writing this book. I spent five of that waiting for her to finish and release it. She has spoken at length about the significance of this book in her life and career. She has spoken of the personal nature of the story and the fear of releasing it into the world.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue defies genre. One might argue that it could be supernatural or speculative fiction, but it exists in a world much like ours. In fact, this could be happening in our world.

Addie makes a deal with a dark God-the devil- in order to evade her impending marriage and ordinary life. She fails to recognize that every deal comes with a cost. The cost of her now immortal existence? No one remembers her. She quickly realizes this upon returning to her parents’ house to find that they fail to recognize her.

The first years of Addie’s immortality are not only painful to her, but to the reader as well. The reader feels for Addie, speaking to Schwab’s excellence as a writer. However, this becomes painful after a while. The alternating time periods between the past and present-day NYC help relieve this pain. In the beginning, I found myself wanting to skim the past in favor of the present. This became more tolerable, and enjoyable, once Addie found her stride. We see her in different time periods and locations, evolving with her as she mentally ages.

The dynamic characters in this novel evoke a plethora of emotions in the reader. Addie is a fierce survivor looking for companionship, frequently falling into the arms of the very being that cursed her. This otherworldly individual, Luc, comes back to Addie time and again. He shows her a bit more of himself every time, terrifying her with his power while simultaneously conditioning her to accept him. Then there’s Henry. Henry is a good natured, kind hearted bookseller who struggles with his identity. He remembers Addie. Addie struggles with the emotional toll of keeping her secret from him, even as he keeps a secret of his own.

Addie’s relationships with Luc and Henry respectively drive the plot. The moments in time we see of Addie frequently involve visits by Luc while Henry exists in her present day life. We do see her before and after these interactions, but the plot requires these visits for it to evolve. Indeed, these interactions reveal aspects of each one’s identity. They influence each other’s lives and change one another as they do it. The chapters from Henry’s perspective provide a refreshing relief from Addie’s in that he’s a normal person compared to her. Addie floats between her mortal (Henry) and immortal (Luc) lives.

One aspect of this book that I appreciated in particular is its treatment of LGBT themes. The novel treats bisexuality as a norm. The author herself said that she wanted to make sure that the LGBT nature of the book was not used as a marketing tool or a plot point. She wanted to normalize it as much as possible- and she succeeded! In my experience, this is a rare gift where books are concerned.

Addie Larue causes one to consider the relationship between self and others as well as self and time. Who are we without our relationships to other people? How does memory play a role in our identities? Can we exist outside of these concepts?

This review fails to do justice to the book’s power, significance, and beauty as well as the author’s talent, insight, and creativity. I enjoyed this book and plan to read it again and again. And just like that, Addie’s immortality leaps from the page and into our world.

At the heart of this story is a woman who wanted more for her life and said she would give anything. Having her wish granted, she realized that giving anything was maybe not as accurate as she thought it was.

Addie is a character that you both empathize with an deeply respect, she has taken her life into her own hands and takes joy where she can find it.

I absolutely recommend this book for anyone who wants a story about finding your place in the world and fighting for what you want.

This book was a beautiful story of being invisible, being seen, being connected, and being torn apart. It is a story of curses, of life, of death, and of time.

In 1714, Addie LaRue makes a deal for her soul, one that makes it so she is forever existing, but never remembered, never able to leave her mark on the world, but then 300 years later someone sees her, and remembers.

Who is Henry? And why does he see Addie in a way that no one has in a very long time?

This book is beautiful and so easy to get sucked into. The story is engaging and so full of heart. it brings up important questions about how we think about the people around us, and what we want from the world.

By this point I’ve read a LOT of books by V.E. Schwab, and I think this one takes the cake for being her most well written. Not only that, but you can really tell how much this story means to her and that just makes this book that much more magical. I mean, this book has been in the works for YEARS, and it really shows how much love and time spent went into this book.

There were quite a lot of twists and turns throughout the book, and I think they were more emotional twists and turns rather than shocking, if that makes sense. This was a very slow-moving novel despite taking place over 300 years, and it’s incredibly bittersweet. There is so much loneliness, longing, hope and inspiration packed into this book, it’s like an emotional rollercoaster. I definitely recommend taking your time to savor this book, because it’s definitely worth it.

Addie as a character has so much strength and courage to survive for so long without giving in, and I admire her so much for that. She didn’t want to just exist in the life expected of her; she wanted to live and explore. So when the day of her wedding came around and she was faced with the rest of her life in her small town, she ran and made a deal to get the freedom she wanted. Only that freedom came with a cost – no one would ever remember her and she cannot leave any marks on the world. She refuses to give in to the darkness that made the deal with her, instead spending 300 years exploring all life had to offer and testing the confines of her new world.

Two other characters that we get to know is the darkness/devil that Addie made the deal with, and Henry, a Jewish bookseller from New York. I won’t go into much detail about these two characters because that would spoil the book, but the way they interact with Addie and how that compares to each other was very interesting. I especially loved Henry and really felt for him and his struggles.

One major theme that runs throughout this book is about art – how important it can be to people and how powerful it is. The relationship that Addie has with art was a wonder to read about, and the way that art was described throughout the book was magical!

The only downside I can see with this book is that the way it’s marketed isn’t exactly what this book is about. It barely scratches the surface of what is explored in this book, so my expectations going into this were a little different. That doesn’t take away from how much I enjoyed this book however!

I highly recommend you check this book out, it will be releasing soon on October 6th, 2020, and trust me, you won’t want to miss this one! Also, I apologize in advance for the emotions and tears you will have by the end of this book.

Review will be going live on my blog (meltingpages.com) on October 3rd!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue isn’t just a novel—it’s a work of art. Over the years, I’ve read a number of books by Victoria (V.E.) Schwab, but I feel confident in saying this is, bar none, her best work EVER.

Once upon a time, there lived a young woman named Adeline LaRue. Born in a small French hamlet of Villon in the late 17th century, even as a little girl she has felt she that doesn’t quite belong, feeling trapped and stifled by the expectations foisted upon her by her village and her parents. So she prayed for something more. She prayed to the old gods and the new gods, but none would listen. And so, on the day of her wedding, in an act of hopelessness and desperation, she ran into the woods and prayed to the darkness…and something answered.

Addie thought what she wanted was simple. She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone or anything. She just wanted to be free. She just wanted to live. Hence, the darkness, in the form of a handsome green-eyed and dark-haired devil, gave her exactly that.

But everyone knows that deals with devils always have a price. Addie got to live and to be free, but now she is also cursed to wander the earth forever, to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Returning home from the bargain in her torn and muddied wedding dress, her mother and father looked upon her with mistrust and denied ever having a daughter. Similarly, there was no hint of warmth and only suspicion from her best friend who believed Addie to be a stranger. People she would meet on her travels forgot that they ever saw or spoke to her as soon as they turned their backs, because part of Addie’s curse is an inability to leave a single mark on the world, which means she can’t say her own name, tell her own story, or create anything of substance. Even her footprints would fade almost as soon as she makes them, like they were never there.

Three hundred years pass like this. In that time though, Addie has learned a lot about living with her curse. It hasn’t always been easy, but Addie has never given up, even when the darkness, whom she has dubbed Luc, returns again and again, promising to put an end to it all if she would just say the word and surrender her soul. Instead, Addie just finds new ways to goad him, taking joy in her experiences whenever she can. She also discovers the power of ideas, becoming a muse to artists throughout history so she can be immortalized in art. While it is not the same as being remembered, for Addie, it is enough. That is, until one fateful day in a small secondhand bookshop in New York City, she serendipitously meets a young man named Henry. And for some reason, Henry remembers her.

I swear, I still get chills just thinking about the story. I just want to revel in it. Like I said, I’ve read a number of Schwab’s books and I certainly consider myself a fan, but I’ve always thought of her work as more popularist and commercial. As much as I enjoyed her Villains series or her Shades of Magic trilogy, for example, I don’t know if I would ever call them literary masterpieces, but when it comes to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I wouldn’t hesitate. This novel is her tour de force, a step up from anything she’s ever done before, in my opinion. And to me it also feels very personal to the author, like the story and the characters were poured from her heart straight onto the page.

And the writing, oh my gracious, the writing. Before I got to know Addie, before the story had its chance to cast its spell on me, it was the writing that seized me and pushed this novel into the extraordinary. Every word felt perfectly placed, but Schwab made it all look effortless. With details and descriptions meant to whisk the reader across time and space, she crafts powerful and inspiring imagery to transport you to the eras and places she writes about.

The beautiful language also puts us into the head of our protagonist, a complex woman who has lived many lifetimes—and the writing makes you believe it. The story also introduces Henry and Luc and many other side characters, but it is Addie, always Addie, who has the reader’s full attention. With every stage of her journey, every encounter with the darkness, she learns and she adapts. We see this growth throughout the novel, and we come to sympathize with her pain but also respect her strength, intellect, and determination as she wakes up each morning to face another day of loneliness, watching those she has grown to love look at her without a trace of recognition in their eyes. But while there’s no doubt a lot of sadness and tragedy in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, there’s a lot of hope too. When she eventually meets the mystery that is Henry, we know exactly what it means for her to be finally remembered, and like spectators drawn to an exhibition, you can’t tear yourself away from the intrigue or stop yourself from rooting for the couple.

Normally, I would roll my eyes at the blatant cheesiness of book taglines, but in this case, I daresay “A Story You Will Never Forget” describes The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue perfectly. It won me over completely, I loved it, and recommend it to all with my whole heart.

I received a gallery copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I have to confess, this is the first book by V.E. Schwab I have read. I have heard of them and even own 2 of their earlier books and have them in my list of Need To Read. This is not the type of book I normally go for when I am choosing something to read. I am solidly into Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and while this is definitely fantasy it is lighter fantasy.
I started this book and it grabbed me. It didn't take very long to have me hooked and I knew I would be finishing it. I read it in chunks over a few days when I woke in the early hours of the morning and was hoping to occupy my mind so I could settle down and get back to sleep and then over several hours while resting at home recovering from a nasty head cold. The wit and prose of the author makes me want to jump into those other books I have been waiting on and call myself an idiot for trying them sooner. There were several phrases in the book that are quote worthy and I wish I had taken the time to highlight them. It made me an instant fan and I related to all of these characters.
The book does have a narrative that jumps around and does have a couple of perspectives that people who prefer a straightforward story might have an issue with, but I loved the intertwining of the tales and the jumping back into the past while telling the modern aspect of the story. It kept things interesting and added nuance to how things were happening to Addie in the modern world of New York. The book didn't pull punches either and there are some adult themes and I enjoyed the realism and depth it added to the character.
This book was the first one in a very long time that actually pulled on my emotions and I really felt for these characters and what they were experiencing. This is one of the easiest 5 stars I have given a book. Outstanding!

This book was beautiful. There were so many elements that were unique and when they came together it was truly breathtaking. A love story between a French girl and a devil! What not to like?

V.E. Schwab knocks it out of the park again. This book is truly magical. With short chapters and a flip back and forth between time periods, I easily could have powered through this story without stopping, it's that compelling. But I also couldn't allow myself to be done this story too quickly. I needed to soak myself in its words and savour the experience.

This is a story I'm going to want to reread many times in the future.

The premise is clever: girl sells her soul to the devil and ends up with nearly everlasting life. But is just living enough when you'll never be remembered? Never leave a mark on the world or another human being? Never have a history? Characters were wonderfully drawn and the novel was creatively plotted. This is an insightful look at human wants/desires and what many of us really want out of life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor/Macmillan Books for the ARC to read and review.

I was so lucky to receive an advanced copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!

Addie LaRue has lived for three hundred years, and has been forgotten by every person she’s ever known. Such is Addie’s curse, bound by a deal borne from a desperate desire to escape the tight confines of her life. She will never age, never change, and never leave a trace. She begged to be free, unaware that immortality would have its own set of chains. And so, Addie LaRue will live as long as she likes, but it will be as though she never breathed at all. Over the years, Addie has adapted to the complete loneliness of being erased from the world while continuing to exist. But when a strange young man recognizes her for a second time, Addie’s world is thrown off balance. What does it mean, to find someone who can remember after all this time?

You can get your copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on October 6th from Tor Books!

This story is equal parts devastating and beautiful, capturing the tragedy of mortality and memory more succinctly than any other book I’ve read. I was in shock when I saw that I had been selected to review this title, as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue has been one of my most anticipated titles for such a long time. Not only did the story surpass my expectations completely, it changed the way I view the world. VE Schwab’s writing style in this book was so easy to fall into because of its grace and ease in containing such a complex narrative. A book like this comes along only once in a lifetime. I know for a fact that I will not be forgetting Addie LaRue anytime soon!

My Recommendation-
In full honesty, I would recommend that everyone read this book; it is simply too fantastic a tale to miss! If you love books with gorgeously crafting prose, interweaving narratives, and just a touch of magic, you need to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue! This book would be the perfect read for fans of Neil Gaiman and of Schwab’s previous work.

There are no words to describe how much I loved this book, but I will certainly try. The titular character very much a product of the gift of time she was given. Her hopes and dreams and goals shift with the years, with the location, with history and her appetite for life (almost) never wavers. Yet the reader never forgets that this gift is also a curse, was in fact intended to be a curse, although the Addie of present day wears it like an old, cozy sweater. She makes it look almost easy.

I also love (no pun intended) the way the author treats love. That it can be real, and powerful, and life changing, while also being temporary. That a plot so heartbreaking I literally cried when reading parts, can also be just one small part of an ongoing story.

As to the character that cursed her.... I typically am not a fan of the bad boy who can change trope, but I think this was fantastically well done. Partially because it’s not that he changes (because of Addie or anyone else) but rather her (and the readers) understanding of bad shifts. He’s not a good guy by any means, but the development was awesome to read!

I am torn between wanting a sequel so badly, to discover if Addies last mentioned plan works out, and not wanting anything to spoil how incredible I found this book.

I kept expecting more.THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE has all the ingredients of a great book, a protagonist struggling to find herself in a constricted setting makes a deal with a dark power that she quickly understands is not desirable; she is bound in yet another tight way, yet now she has no one to blame but herself, how will she solve this dilemma? But author V.E. Schwab cannot decide how to address these larger than life issues in ways that might lift up her audience. There is nothing much offered here that caused me to feel that any of the characters had grown or exceeded their circumstances. The passage of time is interesting but I kept waiting for wisdom to accrue, if not to the character than at least from the tale. The ending was about the same as the book, I had hoped for more. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

There are famous first lines to movies and books and in this book, the last line is pretty memorable--"And follows him out into the dark." By the time you reach this last line in the book, you will have followed Addie LaRue through hundreds of years of her life and marvel at how she "follows him" one more time into the dark. Not just another story about selling your soul to the devil; you'll meet Henry who also made a "Deal" of a lifetime then, get ready to ride a roller coaster of emotions all the way to the end.

Has anybody else been eagerly counting down the days until The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue releases? I got my hands on an arc, and I'm still counting down the days! Then again, I did go ahead and order that special OwlCrate edition (couldn't resist).

What would do you, if you were given the opportunity to life forever, but on the condition that nobody would ever remember you? If you were unable to leave your mark on the world. For most of us, it's a question to ponder.

For Addie LaRue, it's her life. In 1714, France, she made a deal with the devil. Now she cannot speak her name. She cannot be remembered. But she doesn't have to fear death, and she's seen three hundred years of history.

“Don't forget me in the meantime.”

I'm going to be straight with you here: I didn't know what to expect from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Knowing V.E. Schwab's previous works, I expected to love it. But I didn't really know what would be on those pages, even with that lovely description.

I do know that The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue completely blew me away. This was not a novel I devoured in one sitting. I made myself read it at a more leisurely pace, knowing that I'd regret it the moment I finished it otherwise.

It was the right call. Addie's journey is...beautiful. Ephemeral. Powerful. All of those descriptions, and countless more. It is a story that cut me to my core, and left me hoping for me, while simultaneously being content with the ending. A rare occurrence, to be sure.

Every detail, every moment in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue feels so carefully thought out. It's beautifully done, slowly unfolding the story of Addie LaRue. The life she has lived, and the small ways in which she defies the rules that run her life.

“But Addie knows, as she forces herself down the stairs, that it's already happening – knows that by the time he closes the door, she'll be gone.”

This is a book that has a little bit of something for everyone. There's a strong female lead, magic, a devil, a love interest, and history. So much history. 300 years of the life of Addie LaRue, told through the incorporation of artwork and other delightful details.

I honestly could spend another couple of hours talking about this beauty of a book. This is a book that is going to be making my top ten list of 2020. It's a book that brought a little bit of light into an otherwise dark time. At least, it did for me.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a book that I strongly recommend. Fans of V.E. Schwab will adore it. Book lovers will find it compelling, and everyone in between will certainly find an element worth latching onto. I know I did.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I truly enjoyed this novel. I wonderful genre mash-up of fantasy, romance, and historical novel that was utterly satisfying. I fell in love with Addie's strength and tenacity and was cheering for her throughout the entire book. The satisfying ending was the icing on top of this lovely cake of a novel. Highly recommended.

V.E. Schwab can be very hit or miss with me, so I wanted to be excited for this book, but at the same time I was ever so slightly hesitant and skeptical of getting my hopes up. Fortunately, I really ended up enjoying this book and I think it was a really beautiful exploration of time, memory, and what it means to really live.

This is a story about Addie LaRue, a woman who is cursed to never age and never die, yet also to never be remembered by anyone. It is also a story about a young woman who wants nothing more than to have her own free will and to live her life as she pleases without being tied to anything or forced to do anything she does not wish to. And then there is Henry, a bookstore owner who simple feels too much and is struggling to find his own place in life. The story is about a lot of things and begins at many points, but the point that really acts as a catalyst for this story is when Addie meets Henry and discovers that things with him aren't quite as they are with other people--because, first and foremost, he remembers her name.

Addie was such an interesting character and one of my favorite parts of this books was simply following her along in her many years of life and watching how she adapted to essentially being immortal while also never being able to make connections or friends or simply meet anyone who remembers her for longer than a day at most--more often, they only remember her for the brief time she is around them and simply walking into another room can prompt them to simply forget who Addie is. She's also an incredibly independent and headstrong woman and I genuinely enjoyed watching her confidence grow throughout her years. Living from 1714 to the present time would have a pretty big whiplash effect on someone I would think, but I also suppose living through it would cause many of the changes to feel more gradual and not as affecting. Still, I think one of my only complaints is that I wish we had gotten to hear a bit more commentary from Addie about what it has been like to live through so much history and see the world change, and maybe even hear what her thoughts are on some of the biggest issues in the world. I do, however, understand that that isn't necessarily what this book was about and I know why Schwab didn't include as much on that as other areas, but it still is something I would have really enjoyed.

Henry is probably the character I most enjoyed, as I found his struggle with having too many emotions and feeling too much as I am someone who is considered a "sensitive" person, which basically means that I, too, feel far more than I should about everything. Henry's introduction to the story was done in a really exciting yet subtle way, and I found his own story and background engaging as well. I don't want to actually say too much about Henry because I think it would be a little too close to spoiler territory, but just know that Henry was a really well-developed character with some really great lessons that he both has already learned and that he learns throughout the story.

The pacing of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is on the slower, more thoughtful side. This isn't a page-turning thriller that will keep you constantly on the edge of your seat anxious for more. Rather, it's the sort of story that has such a compelling premise and beautifully told tale that you still do constantly want to know what will happen next. I'll admit, however, that there were times when I felt Schwab dragged on a little too long in some parts or where I eflt the story wasn't really moving. There were times when I wasn't entirely what the plot was--whether it was meant to simply follow Addie on her neverending journey or whether there was something more (there was!), and because of this my focus occasionally wavered. Overall, though, I found that I captivated for the majority of the story and genuinely found it to be an engaging and worthwhile read.

Overall, I've given The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue 4.5 stars! This is a really beautiful story that I know will be a hit for many. It's a thoughtful read that doesn't have many fast-paced or high action moments, but it's a wonderful character study and discussion of some fascinating themes about time, memory, and more. If you're a hesitant V.E. Schwab reader like me, I'd encourage you to take a chance and check this one out!