The longer I think about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, the more I like it. The story keeps popping into my head, drawing me back into that world. I'm not mad about it! I look forward to reading it again as I'm sure there are things I missed, plus I'd like to experience the beginning of the story again knowing what I know by the end. Have already recommended it to several friends, colleagues, and patrons - it will make a fantastic holiday gift!

This book is gorgeous and heart-breaking and empowering. The story starts off in a typical fashion - a young woman in the 1700s doesn't want to marry, but that is her destiny. However, she does what she has been told never to do. She asks the gods of the night for help. She gets her wish, but in exchange she cannot die and no one can remember her...until she meets Henry. What does it mean that this one person can remember her for more than a moment? And what will become of this precious relationship?

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

The one negative, eye rolling bit for me was I was a bit disappointed of this novel as it started because of the extreme similarities of the film The Age of Adaline, including the name. I mean, one could have tried to be a bit more original in that regards...

Otherwise, this book was AMAZING! I really liked that we flipped back and forth through time for Addie with what she is currently going through to what led her to her current state. As well as various good and bad circumstances she went through. And moving onto part 2 and having the back and forth their as well. This novel just unfolded beautifully and kept surprising me and had me in tears at the end. This was so good! I would also LOVE a sequel as that seems like it COULD be a possibility, however, this is a lovely standalone as well and I would absolutely read it again.

I have mixed feelings about this one! Immediately after finishing this one, I was certain that it was going to be a new favorite of all time and that I absolutely LOVED it. Now that some time has gone on since I finished it, I'm not so sure that my review is quite as glowing as I thought it would be. I did still really like this, but I can't ignore the fact that the book really seemed to drag on a bit too long. I enjoyed Addie as a character for the vast majority of the story, but there were parts where she really gave off big Not Like Other Girls energy and I couldn't un-see it after I noticed it was happening. Overall, I did really like this and it definitely is my favorite from Schwab, but it wasn't quite as ~perfect for me~ as I was hoping it would be.

TW: sexual assault, suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, addiction

🌟BOOK REVIEW 📚⁣⁣⁣
“The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in a storm. If you insist on calling them, take heed: be careful what you ask for, be willing to pay the price. And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.”
― V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Is there a word for picking up a book that you never want to finish? The moment I stepped into Addie’s world I never wanted to leave it. Addie is a young woman living in the 1700’s, who in order to escape marriage makes a deal with the (darkness, devil?) for freedom. This “deal” allows Addie to live forever, but curses her to be forgotten immediately by everyone she meets.

The story unfolds in a million satisfying ways; we see Addie’s struggle to leave a mark on the world and the clever way she discovers she can and the little love stories weaved throughout (can someone love you if they can’t remember you?) will leave you aching. When Addie finally meets someone who doesn’t forget her immediately, their love story will remind us all what we truly want: someone to see us for exactly what we are and embrace that.

V.E. Scwab is a master storyteller. You’ll get lost in Addie’s backstory and want to follow her wherever she lands. Might have to just start this one all over again, because it’s a world I didn’t want to leave.

QUICK TAKE: I'm a big fan of Schwabs, and I liked a lot about this story of a woman who makes a bargain with a supernatural figure to live forever, but at the cost of being forgotten by every person she encounters. The book is beautifully written and I was captivated by Addie's story, though it was tough to connect to the material as Addie's curse makes it difficult for her to develop interpersonal relationships with other characters in the book, which left me feeling a little cold. I was also a little annoyed with the open-ending, but would probably still prioritize a sequel.

Adaline lives in 17th century France with 17th-century societal expectations- she must marry. Now Addie doesn’t want to get married. She wants to travel and learn and meet new people. She definitely doesn’t want to keep a home and have babies. So she does the only thing she can do to get out and makes a deal with the devil. Being a master equivocator, the devil distorts the bargain, yes, she will be free to travel and learn and meet new people however she will be immortal, and tragically be immediately forgotten by anyone and everyone she meets, making it impossible to forge any relationship whatsoever. Addie truly becomes invisible and must manoeuvre through the centuries on her wit and with only her own company. Sure the devil pops in every year or so to bully her, and as anyone would, accepts his company because, of course, he is the only “friend” she has.
Until …
one day she enters a book store where she is remembered. Now what? What will the devil do with these new sets of circumstances? Or is the devil himself who has placed this “person who remembers” in her path just to taunt and torture her.
I really loved this book. It reminded me of other novels where our protagonist is immortal and weaves his/her way through the centuries. Pilgrim by Timothy Findley and Orlando by Virginia Wolfe come to mind. However I found this novel much easier to consume- in fact, I read it in just over a day.
Philosophy, history, romance, fantasy, all included within the pages of this book along with several loving tributes to art and literature make this novel one of my favourites of the year.
I was given a free copy of this novel by NetGalley and MacMillian-Tor books (thank you!) but I will most certainly be purchasing one for my bookshelf. It will be work a re-read in the future.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a wonder, a timeless menagerie of characters and settings, longing and hope, strength and resilience in a narrative that spins endlessly from Paris to New York and back again. I was swept away by V.E. Schwab’s deft use of language and interwoven timelines, her careful care with handling the loneliness and longing of Addie. A book like this one can draw out a complex critique, breaking down the artistry and technical skill of such a book and there’s room for that in most reviews. But for me, I’m just in awe of the simple pleasure of reading about the world through Addie’s eyes.


I went into the book knowing very little. V.E. Schwab is a New York Times bestselling novelist, and her books have a bit of a cult following. Anyone whose words inspire cosplay and tattoos, fanfiction and fanart is bound to inspire buzz, and the buzz for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was like the incoming of a swarm of bees. I think knowing very little going in added to the magic of it all, but for those of you who enjoy a little plot before a rave review, here it goes:

Addie LaRue is a remarkable young girl who cannot stand a stationary life. She was born in a small river village in France in the 16th century and can imagine nothing worse than dying in the same town, having lived in the blink of an eye. And so she prays to the gods that Estele, a woman who nurtured her wildness, believed in. And desperate for a change in her fate, she prays at dusk, and the darkness answers. Practically feral with her desire to be free from an unwanted marriage, she strikes a deal and gives her life to the darkness. But instead of freedom, she gains a curse. No one, not even her family, will remember her. When she is out of sight, she is out of mind. She can make no mark on the world. For over three-hundred years she exists, listless, living day by day to spite the darkness. She travels across continents without a home, unable to share her story or even her name. In twenty-first century New York City, she finally meets someone who remembers her, and he too is drawn to her for her effect (or is it a lack of) he has on her.

Like The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and The Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, this book has become an instantly beloved classic, earning a special spot on my shelves. I’ve never been a fast reader, but I almost think I didn’t savor Addie. I could have easily lingered on each phrase over the course of the 400-page book because every one of them are strung together in the most breathtaking piece of art. I know this is a book every writer will study, for the way Addie—a lonely, unlucky girl lost to time and memory—unravels for us, as we discover history and the spaces that she can never make an impression alongside her.

It is hard not to feel loss when you read about her. Hard not to take her grief as your own. I’ve always been a reader who takes the book too seriously, who becomes a bit of the character as I read. But I also marveled in Addie’s defiance to the dark and her joie de vivre. And every person she encounters along her 300+ years long journey is a character I would also want to linger on—I can imagine and feel an ache for all the stories we’ll never encounter of Samantha Benning, James LaCroix or Remy Laurent. Also too, though it deserves paragraphs of praise and more thought than just this: I admire and appreciate the way that Henry and Addie are bisexual, with little comment on it, and comfortable with their identities and the identities of those around them. It was refreshing to read.

The crime of this book is that it evokes so well the longing of places and people that cannot exist at the moment. In scenes set in 2014, I cringed while reading about characters packing into a club or playing games in an arcade speakeasy, so close to other people that I felt the longing that courses so acutely through the book. And as I read, the longing grew. I so wished I could meander down a cobblestone city side-street and pop into a coffee shop to read a chapter or two. Or that the book can be a constant companion as I travel from bakery to bakery across Paris or while I wait in a museum cafe in London.

If you’re a writer, you’ll find yourself marveling over the callbacks and details—imagery and symbols that act as through-line. I wish that one day I can write as well as Schwab—that my novel can be a breath of fresh air in a smoke-choked present. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a book I’ll revisit again and again, whether by flipping through the pages and discovering the story again or because I’ll be struck by a moment or detail and I imagine that will be the same for most readers. In fact, I will delight in reading other thoughts on Addie and Henry, Luc and Addie’s New York, her Paris. We might even all agree that Addie’s story is truly unforgettable.

A perfect novel, V.E. Schwab has crafted a story that sneaks up on you with its beautiful prose and a character that is instantly unforgettable. A classic in the making.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue has an interesting premise. I haven’t read anything by V.E. Schwab before, but the concept of a girl cursed to be forgotten sounded too intriguing to pass on. However, it was a bit of a slow read and never exactly became gripping either. However, it certainly is well written, but I never fell in love with the main characters. In some ways, Addie is relatable in her desire to live her own life, but her story becomes quite repetitive with the nature of her curse. She meets someone; they forget her. We do it all over again. It is sad, but it becomes boring after a couple hundred pages of the same thing. I wasn’t exactly in love with the love interest, Henry, either. He was just a bit bland, to be honest. Luc was certainly the stand out character. The appearance of his character was definitely the thing I looked forward to most. I did enjoy the ending and thought it was quite fitting. Overall, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue was an enjoyable read – just not as exciting as I thought it might be.

One of my favorite books of all time. Beautiful cover. Loved the storyline and the characters. Loved jt.

Sometimes you read a book and take it into yourself. It fits itself into your foundation like it was always meant to be there. It's seamless, unifying, and so, so rare. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of those rare stories so lovingly rendered it sticks to the soul. I was profoundly lucky to get access to this book early and I cannot overstate its impact, its sheer hopefulness for a life well-lived and well-loved. It absolutely tore me to pieces and I loved every second of it. Books that have such a profound impact on the spirit are one in a million, and should be recommended to everyone regardless of age, gender, or reading preferences.

Why am I crying in the club? Because "Dream Girl" by Toby Marsh came on, and now I am very sad about Adeline LaRue and the Faustian deal she made to be free.

I have been SO excited to read this and it truly was beautiful and unlike anything else I've ever read. I loved the structure of the book - how each chapter was set in a different year/place in Addie/henry's life. I loved Addie and henry so much.

"Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end, everyone wants to be remembered."

Addie LaRue sells her soul to the devil and lives forever, but is remembered by no one. She makes the fateful deal with the gods that come at night believing she wants freedom. In the process, she discovers that what she really desires is be be remembered. The story covers 300+ years of her earthly existence: her adventures, her loves, and her ability to survive. It covers her relationship with one love interest in particular, Henry, who lives with his own demons, believing he is never good enough. His greatest desire is to be loved. "Addie LaRue is immortal and Henry Strauss is damned." The irony is how they wind up crossing paths.

The more interesting relationship in the story; however, is Addie's connection with the deal making devil, Luc. It is a complex cat and mouse kind of bond that reveals their need for each other. As the story progresses, Addie matures in her understanding of life and of herself. She becomes a strong woman, learning how to live as a woman alone in an everchanging but constant man's world. I particularly enjoyed watching Addie's game play skills evolve and strengthen to where she becomes a defiant match to Luc's provocations. I relished the open ended conclusion...it left me wanting more and hoping that the author continues the story in the future.

This book is a beautifully written unique story that would make for an interesting movie. I appreciate how it crosses many genres and has a broad audience appeal: fantasy, romance, historical, women's literature...it makes it easy to recommend to many people.
It was a wonderful escape that I want to read again!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue combines magical realism and history as we see Addie live her life over three hundred years. Not only do we see the world through her eyes, but we experience her loneliness at being continually forgotten, her hopefulness at experiencing new places and faces, and her determination at living her life to the fullest and on her own terms. Beautifully written, Schwab is a masterful storyteller and I so enjoyed reading this.

So many people have written so many lovely reviews of this book, and I don't think I can phrase how wonderful it is in prose nearly as wonderful as what others have written, so I will just say this: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a masterpiece.

It is slow. If you were expecting a Shades of Magic-esque adventure or a Vicious-type revenge plot, this is way different from all of V.E. Schwab's other books. In this, you just sit. You slowly weave your way through three hundred years of Addie's life, feeling her heartbreak as poignantly as if it were your own. You learn to love her, and Henry, and even Luc. You feel the emptiness of time stretching out before you and wish this book would never reach its end. And once it does, you want to start over from the beginning and fall in love all over again.

At 23, Addie LaRue makes a deal with a god who comes in the darkness (devil, maybe?) to get out of marrying. In exchange to escape for the situation, she will live forever on her own, but no one will remember her. For 300 years, every time someone meets her, they immediately forget her once they leave the room or fall asleep. It’s a very lonely life until she meets Henry and she hears three words she’s longed to hear, “I remember you.”

I will be thinking about this one for a long time! I really enjoyed reading Addie’s story. It is one of my favorites I’ve read this year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful, and gut-wrenching book, I have read almost all of the authors previous books, but I must say Addie LaRue has to be my favourite. You instantly feel for Addie, her desire to be free and the terrible cost. Her determination and loneliness. The writing was beautiful and yes, Invisible life of Addie LaRue was a little slow to start but the momentum picks up and you are deeply invested into the story and characters. Books don’t usually make me cry, angry yes but not teary but Addie seriously had me have a little glossiness to my eyes at the ending. Overall, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a breathtaking, emotional historical fantasy that I will endlessly recommend to everyone.

When my reading buddies recommend a book, I rush to read it. I fell in love with this novel. There were so many happy moments, so many sad moments. The novel was filled with sadness and hope. I’ll remember Luc and Henry. In the end, I won’t forget Addie. That is most important. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.