Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

Schwab's "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" is a piece of wonderful storytelling that I am eager to recommend to customers in our store. Addeline LaRue simply wants to break free of the mold she is being pushed into as a woman in France during the early 1700's. The last straw was being forced into a marriage she did not want at 23 years old, so she runs off into the woods to pray to the Old Gods and ask for their help... little does she realize that the sun is setting and you don't know which Gods are listening when the light fades away... After striking a deal Addie thinks she will finally be free, but she does not quite realize the implications of the deal she has struck until she makes it back home and no one remembers her. A door shuts, a memory wiped clean of Addie, and we start again. Addie's life has become an insect frozen in amber. Unchanging, undying, and free.

The year is now 2014 and Addie, still an unchanged 23 year old, has spent the last severl hundred years learning the rules of her curse and what she can and cannot do. Things seem to change in a bookstore, with a young man, and a copy of The Odyssey. This is a magical, suspenseful, and page turning story from Schwab.

No one wants to be forgotten. Yet none of us can truly decide how we are remembered, in the end. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a work of art. This beautiful book spans decades, following the life of the titular Addie LaRue as she trades one unbearable fate for another. Addie is independent, spirited, and curious. Readers are sure to fall in love as they travel alongside this new literary heroine. The novel is as spellbinding as it is haunting, and it will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. In a world filled with uncertainty and doubt, Addie reminds us that all we need is a little bit of hope, and a heap of defiance. V.E. Schwab has outdone herself with this new tale of love, magic, and adventure. Pick up a copy in October and allow yourself to be swept away.

This is another absolutely stunning book from V.E. Schwab. I sobbed my way through the end, and found myself copying down passage after passage. The themes struck me as particularly profound given the challenges we're facing as a world at the moment—the enduring power of art, the importance of meaningful, authentic connection, the way that hope helps us to endure. Addie and Henry are characters who will live in my heart for years to come.

I told myself I had to finish the book I was already reading before starting Addie Larue, but that obviously did not happen. I immediately fell in love with this book, as it mirrored my own fears of adulthood and sacrificing my freedom to insure that my dog can go to college. V.E. Schwab weaves a beautiful tale of our lovely ghost of a woman, Addie Larue, and captures the reader's attention within the first few pages.--"Why? Who? What? WHAT IS HAPPENING?"--I was already a Schwab fan, but learning that this book took her 10 years of development has instilled a greater appreciation for her work in me. I cannot recommend this book enough, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

**Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC. You saved Quarantine!

Literally how do I even start this review oh my god.

This was one of the EASIEST 5/5 rating I have given a book oh my god OH MY GOD.

V. E. Schwab has literally done it again and I want/wish everyone (could) read it right now. I cried I laughed I gasped I yelled. God V. E. Schwab does such a good job in not only making us connect with her characters but also transports us entirely into their worlds. Her themes on the triviality of time and the looming presence of loneliness woven throughout her words has such a lasting impact, I already know this book will stick with me for a really long time. I connected with Addie LaRue in a way that I haven’t been able to with another female protagonist in a really long while and that just proves V. E. Schwab’s talents. I loved all the moving parts that she included and the fleshing out of Addie’s story, and that of Henry’s and the characters in their stories. There were happy moments and sad ones and exciting ones and loving ones etc. It is a tale of hopefulness and despair but above all the silver lining that the idea of time basically is non-existent. And it is up to the reader to do with that as they wish. There were no confusing moments and the ending left me quite content if not a bit nostalgic and melodramatic but hopeful at the same time? The fact that V. E. Schwab could accomplish all of this speaks volumes about her work in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

I wish I could post spoilers and just rant with everyone about this book but sadly not yet. But I will be shouting to everyone I know that they NEED to pick this book up. I absolutely cannot wait until I have the hard copy in my hands. Easily one of my favourite books of 2020 and may even be one of my favourite stand alones ever.

Knowing that Victoria has stated that this is "the book of her heart" and one that she had the idea for more than a decade ago but waited until she was "good enough" to write it set my expectations very high. And she totally came through! This book has just about everything readers have come to love from V. E. Schwab and shows her increased strength and talent as a writer, too. Excellent author, fantastic book!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is an amazing and colorful adventure! I would highly recommend it to young adult and fantasy readers and anyone who is a fan of V.E.!

V.E. Schwab has such a way with words and worlds. I loved everything about this book, I am in awe of the story of Addie LaRue. It showed us the true cost of having all the freedom you thought you wanted. Beautifully written story about a girl who wanted freedom and adventure, but this adventure came with a price. She was cursed to be forgotten by all that she meets until she meets the one person who says the words she'd longed to hear 'I remember you.'.

Thank you NetGalley and McMillan-Tor/Forge for a gifted copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my opinion.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
By: V.E. Schwab


REVIEW ☆☆☆☆☆
I love unique, bizarre, unusual, weird stories, and The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue was all of these things and more. Never make a deal with the Devil because there will be some kind of caveat that you didn't even consider in the transaction. This fine print will be your misery. Addie wants freedom, not a husband, so she flees from her own wedding. Her wish comes true, and the Devil grants Addie freedom and immortality. Addie realizes too late the trick of it all is that no one remembers her. It's like she never existed. This is so sad and depressing. For centuries Addie exists as nothing. She has nothing but herself. It's hard to imagine just watching time pass you by with deaths of loved ones, progress and change, natural disasters and destruction, knowing you should have been part of it. Then, Addie meets one person who remembers her name. How is this possible? I'm not going to tell you. This story is moving in heartbreaking ways and brilliant with the subtle complexities woven throughout the story. You might take a step back and look at your life differently because it's just that kind of book. I can't recommend reading this story enough!

It starts a little slow but wraps you up in it's fascinating story pretty quickly. I loved the characters and the plot line. What a fun adventure!

WOOOWWWWW! This book is incredible! The story is beautiful and beautifully told. I don't really know how to properly review this book because nothing I say can do it justice. It's exquisite.

This book was one of the more unique books I have ever come across. I have never read anything by V.E. Schwab, but this book makes me wish that I had. A 300+ year relationship with the devil, the elusiveness of one forgotten in the time, and a love like nothing we've ever seen - that is what this novel is about. Addie la Rue is forgotten by everyone she ever meets... until Henry. How does her story go from here? Read this amazing novel and find out.

Well well well. She’s done it again. I AM IN LOVE! I freaking love this book. V.E. Schwab you’ve gotten me to fall in love with another one of your stories and I couldn’t be happier. This is a story of time and the complexity of being remembered and leaving a mark. What it means to be seen. While reading this I felt so many emotions, I understood Addie’s yearning to choose her own life but her fear of not being remembered. I felt Henry’s wanting to be enough and to just be seen and loved. Heck I even loved Luc. This book has so much to offer and I can honestly say reading this was like drinking a fine glass of champagne. It was sparkling, it was wonderful, and it left a warm sensation in my heart. The story goes back and forth between the past and present and changes between Addie and Henry’s POV. I loved the journey of both characters and can I just say that ending had me cackling. I loved the complexity of the relationships between all the characters. Their reasons for their actions and decisions were understandable. This book was like a night sky filled with stars, leaving me in awe and wonder.

To escape an unwanted marriage, dreamer and artist Addie makes a deal with the god of darkness for freedom and immortality. The darkness grants her requests, but Addie is also saddled with total anonymity—no one knows her, remembers her, loves her. She wanders through three centuries alone until a single encounter alters her whole existence: someone remembers her name.

Though it starts slow and sad, Schwab’s narrative picks up steam as Addie learns the boundaries and allowances of her fate until the story roars with momentum when her worlds collide in the final act. This novel is a deft balance of a love triangle that’s both as old as time and wholly original, as well as an intricate examination of the nature of identity and belonging. A fascinating, absorbing read.

Full review to come in October. Many thanks to MacMillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for the eARC.

In a small town in France in 1714 , Adeline LaRue is running - away from a marriage she doesn't want, a life she doesn't want. In a moment of desperation she makes a foolish bargain, and gets the escape she wants, but at an immense cost. She will live forever and explore the world, but no one will know she is there, forgotten the second she walks away. And three hundred years later, a boy stops her, saying "I remember you."

This was AMAZING. Beautifully written, heart-breaking and hopeful at the same time. The Faustian bargains at the heart of the story aren't new, but Schwab does a fantastic job of using them to explore different questions - what does it mean to love someone, to make your mark on the world, to be free?
I could have read this one cover to cover in one sitting, but I actually slowed myself down and put it aside every day, so I could savor it, and spin the story out longer.

I loved this and I wasn't sure I would going into it. This won't be for everyone, but those that love it will adore it. I loved the plot and the setting. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, and the undone ending felt perfect. (Not everyone will agree). V.E. Schwab is an amazing writer who can craft a story and a plot wonderfully and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Fabulous. The dualities of love & hate, life & death, hope & despair, and many more are masterfully explored in this tale of a 300 year Faustian bargain with a completely unexpected outcome. Absolutely, unequivocally, recommended.

Schwab has said in the past that she's been working on this book for 10 years, and it is so obvious to tell that it's the labor of love. It is beautiful and tragic, and a slow building story that is really just a bunch of smaller stories. It is a love story between a girl and the devil, but it is also a story about how fleeting life can be and how much more we appreciate life because of that. Addie was a character I felt I knew extremely well, that I understood all of her decisions and why she made them. Highly recommend!

Just thinking of this book makes me want to wistfully re-read the tales of Addie LaRue until my eyes burn. Until I eventually wither back into bed. I read this all in one sitting, reading until 4 am, time melting into the pages on my screen. Hours shrunk into minutes, and I was encaptured by the lulling language. Time fading into something that didn't exist— into anything but a number. I found myself wanting to get to the end, yet never wanting the tale to end. I actually read this book twice, wanting to absorb as much as I could, fearing that my review wouldn't do it justice if I had only read It once.

This is a story of growing up, kept promises, and facing the truth. What is the true price for freedom and independence? Words she longed for, but now find fearing. Some would say being forgotten is the way to truly be free, never be entitled to anyone. But is it as great as Addie had thought? Rash decisions in the face of growing up, being a mother, raising children. In the face of fear, in the longing, any deal seems rationable.

The day before her wedding, she does the only thing that makes sense to her at the time. Dreading the feeling of being chained to a husband, not wanting her happiness to wither like she saw Isabelle. She runs. She prays to the new gods, not the ones her mother and father pray to, but the new ones that Estelle prays to. In the rash moment, she doesn't care about Estelle's former warnings. Never pray to gods who answer after dark She doesn't care, because, he's the only one that listened. The only one who offered to help. She begs for freedom, for eternal life, saying she'll give him anything. They come to a bargain, he'll take her soul when she doesn't want it anymore. She doesn't know, however, that no one will remember her. Not even her parents, or Estelle with her crow-like laugh.

So she became immortal, with the cost of not being able to love, not being able to form relationships. She can no longer leave any marks, she cannot harm someone permanently, cannot draw, cannot write. Can not say, write, or trace her name.She learned to steal, nothing else worked for her. Relying on candy spun lies, ones that melt in the sun, leaving nothing but the echo of something. Dissolving in the midst of destruction.

You could call him the devil, but he likes to call himself the god of promise. He is the shadows.

Throughout her life, she's been forgotten, hurt, lied to, abandoned, lost, and longing. Standing as a wandering ghost, in the midst of history. Seeing people, places, fade as she stays. Never the same, her mind recollects every memory, ready to call upon each tale from her second life. It's a shame she can't seem to remember her father's smiles, only the aghast shock on his face the last time saw him. Her mind stays forever imprinted with memories, emotions, a flurrying scatter of scenes that she can recall on.

She's stood and watched as the world imprinted on itself, observing love, moments of passion, and art. Although she can no longer draw with the bonded parchment and graphite that she used to trace with. She can be drawn. Because each portrait is only an idea , an idea of her. Every piece of art portrayed in their own art styles, each stroke, not hers. But theirs. Addie was captured in many famous portraits, the girl with seven freckles. She cannot imprint the word, but they can. Each footprint brings her comfort—an echo in the chamber of life.

Addie is about to exchange a book she stole with another, when she realizes, the boy at the library can remember her. He's heartbroken, misunderstood, and longing for love. To be enough. Addie thinks that this is a coincidence, clinging to the idea of love with memory. A memory of every moment, even if it means the bad ones too.

I loved following Addie, and her stubbornness toward giving up. Surrendering. Every moment caught my breath, especially with VE Schwab's enchanting writing style. If I had to count the numbers of sentences I annotated, I'd be counting all day.

The ending was so fulfilling, a hollow in my chest filled with golden warmth.

Big thanks to Tor and Netgalley for allowing me to read this incredible ARC. I'm so thankful to be given this masterpiece.

I was planning on rereading this title before giving feedback on Net Galley, but I didn't want to lose the feeling of joy I've been holding in my heart since finishing THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE.

A disclaimer before we begin: Victoria is my favorite author, both her books and advice have gotten me through some difficult times, and Addie is no exception. I read this book over the course of a rapidly changing world, mid-pandemic and revolution, and found myself identifying with Addie in a way unlike other Schwab characters. She’s a girl trapped in a life she doesn’t recognize, a girl who wants more, and she doesn’t settle for the status quo. Addie creates her own, making a deal with darkness for her soul—but the price is a curse: no one remembers her. Yes, for some that might be a problem but she refuses to surrender, creating her own patch of joy where she can find it. She survives through centuries, watching the world move around her, making her mark on the world, alone, unremembered.

And then she meets Henry.

I think that’s where I’ll stop with the synopsis part of the review and go straight to the good stuff. The writing is beautiful, the voice pure Schwab, and like her other books, the story teeters on the knife’s edge of genre, part speculative part historical part literary. Readers looking for queer representation will find it normalized and casual, the characters are pansexual because that’s just the world. I’m not the sort of reviewer to go on about themes and symbolism, but love, acceptance, identity, and defiance all fuse together brilliantly in the incredible Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

#IRememberAddie

*Review will be posted to Goodreads and Instagram closer to release date. Thank you for approving me for this title.