V.E. Schwab is one of those authors that never lets me down. No matter what she writes, I'm all in and ready to fall in love. I knew that I was going to love this one just from the opening line but I wasn't expecting it to take over my life, to where I start dreaming about this beautiful novel.

This one really tugged all of my heartstrings all at once and it hit me hard. The way she writes is mesmerizing and the story that unfolds through these pages will leave you breathless. I'm still at a loss for words about how much I loved this book. There really are no words to describe its beauty, its heartbreak, and its pure emotion. This book truly owns all of my heart.

What does a Librarian have to do to get her hands on a physical arc copy of this beauty?

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Tor in exchange for an honest review.

Welp. Victoria Schwab does it again.

When I started reading this book, I wondered if it was going to water my crops (ADSOM) or absolutely destroy me (Monsters of Verity). Friends, I don't even know how it's possible, but the answer was BOTH.

Schwab has been writing this book for years and has made no secret of how difficult it was for her at times. She took her time, and it paid off. The story is dark and bright and light and so, so heavy. The prose is brilliant as always.

Addie is a girl that made a deal with the devil to live forever, but in exchange no one will remember her. Until, that is, she meets Henry. A boy with storms in his head and a crack in his heart who really doesn't want anything more than to be loved. Their journey together is hope and disappointment and learning and honestly friends, it's so very honest. Addie's relationship with said devil is also one of my favorite parts of this book. I'll not say more than that for fear of spoiling it.

Something else I really appreciated, and which Schwab has acknowledged on twitter, is the 'casual queerness' (I believe this was another reviewer's words) in these books. Henry and Addie are both bi (pan? something else?) and the really great thing about it is that there's no conflict around it. It's not imperative to the story. It just is. Two people who've lived lives and had relationships. There's no big coming out, there's not argument over it. Henry's friends are also gloriously, mundanely queer. It's noteworthy in that it's really un-notable, and I love that about this book.

Bottom line, I definitely recommend. It does start a bit slow admittedly, but picks up around the middle and devastates by the end. Pre-order this

What happen when the devil grants a wish for eternity to a young French woman in the 1700''s? Must read for those who love time traveler books. The ending was perfect, no other way it could have ended without being a disappointment.

Schwab has said that she put more of herself into this book than in any other book, and it shows. Addie LaRue feels very personal, almost like reading Schwab's own journal. It is written beautifully, with every word and sentence carrying weight. I had a really good sense of the characters and how they were feeling, to the point that my own emotions were involved as well. I was also impressed by the ending. I thought I knew where Schwab was taking the story, but then she gave it a little twist that made me love it even more. I thought this book was nearly perfect, but I do have a few critiques. There are a lot of flashback-type sections in this book that, for the most part, are relevant to the story and. help flesh out the main characters. However, I found that these sections were too long and monotonous, to the point of becoming boring. Especially for Addie, there's a lot of flashbacks to her life immediately after making her deal for immortality, and even though there's some important information about how her deal works, most of it was repetitive examples of how difficult and lonely her new life is. It just felt like a bit much for me, and I ended up skimming some of those sections. In general, there's a lot of repetitiveness in this book. It's intentional, and a lot of the time the repetition works for the storytelling, but again, there was a little too much. For the most part, I really enjoyed reading this book, but there was a point in the story that I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it. Somewhere in the middle I was starting to lose interest, but there's a turning point in Addie's relationships (both past and present) that brought be back in.

This review is based on an uncorrected e-book galley provided by the publisher.

4.5/5 stars

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is part historical fiction, part fictional memoir, and part love story. We are introduced to Addie in the year 2014, almost exactly 300 years since she made a deal with the devil: her soul for a life of freedom and lack of restrictions. As these deals always do, this one comes with a catch. Addie is doomed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Her life is spent navigating the contours of this curse, until she meets a boy who can remember her.

VE Schwab has written a heartfelt, emotionally wrenching story that will touch every reader differently. Her characters are vivid and urgent in their desires and fears and dreams. Anyone who has ever felt confined to their situation, be that their town, their career, or their life, will find themselves reflected in Addie. She is, as Schwab has described in her social media postings, full of stubborn hope and defiant joy.

This book shines most in its depictions of Addie in "present day," which is actually 2014. Her interactions with Henry, his friends, and a world that is inhospitable to those who slip through the cracks are the true heart of this story. Much of what Addie encounters in the modern timeline is informed and made more emotionally resonant by the events of her past, but I felt most connected to her in the present. By the 300-year mark, Addie is both weary of her curse and viciously eager to find ways around it. Each time Addie encountered someone, I felt her need to connect and hoped, perhaps futilely, that this would be the person who remembered her.

Schwab excels in conferring the desires of her characters onto the reader. While making my way through this book, I longed, ached, hated, and loved right along with Addie and Henry. Their thirst for life, not in spite of but because of its hardships and surprises, was inspiring and gave the novel a thread of hope even when you thought all was lost.

My only complaint with the book was the occasional slow chapter, most of which were about Addie's past. I was so invested in the current timeline that it often felt like I was racing to get back to present day. I do believe that this book requires at least one more read to get the full sense of its beauty and cohesion. I can only imagine that the finished copies of this book will enhance the reading experience, as the e-galley was missing some illustrations. I am also looking forward to being able to flip back and forth easily to compare previous chapters.

Verdict: A wonderful, heartfelt novel that will leave your chest aching and your feet itching to travel. Perfect for anyone looking for a book that is transportive while also shedding light on their own hearts. (Contains themes that may be unsettling for some readers: sex, drug use, and suicidal thoughts)

** spoiler alert ** ***Potential Spoilers***
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Thanks to NetGalley for granting me an arc of this title in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 4.5/5 stars

Done only in the way that V.E. Schwab could deliver, this book was filled with raw and earthly magic that leaves you feeling simultaneously happy and sad. The pacing took a little to get into, but as the story finds its pacing between lifetimes, I was immediately hooked.

Addie LaRue makes a deal with the devil, and finds that a heavy price comes with any bargain. As soon as she leaves a room, she is instantly forgotten. To her family, she doesn't exist. No one will ever remember her name or recognize her. Forced to move through life unremembered, Addie seeks to leave her mark in any way she can.

Set between New York City circa 2014 and various time periods after her initial curse, Addie lives with the knowledge that nothing she does matters and that she will always be unchanged. Plagued by her Machiavellian god of death Luc, Addie finds her bearing in a world that she can't fully interact with while searching for human connection in places she will never find it.

The most interesting parts of this book for me was learning more about how her curse works and how she had to figure out how to move about in the world. Addie experiences SOOO many close calls, I feel like I'd have thrown in the towel way sooner. Becoming a practiced thief takes time, but soon enough she is able to provide for her day to day and go undetected. That is until one day the completely unexpected happens- almost 300 years later she is remembered by someone.

This book felt like an unfolding of a long, sad song as Addie struggles to grasp at anything in a world full of connections but keeps falling short of the mark. For all of the pain Addie endures, the ending is masterful and I found myself for wishing for more of the story.

Can't wait to read more from this author!

I had really been anticipating reading this book, and I want to say right up front, it did not disappoint. If you enjoy reading VE (or Victoria in middle grade format) Schwab, you will love it. If you have never read her imaginative well-written fiction before, this is a great place to start. Her characters drive her books, and Addie, Luc and Henry will stay with you long after you put down the book. All become very real as you read and you can understand and feel what they are each going through, even though one of them may be the devil himself! I could almost describe this book as historical fiction, fantasy, romance, self-help, memoir, and all nearly fit the bill. But it's more than that. The book centers around Addie Larue, who was born in about 1691 (ahead of her time) in France in but is still alive in New York in 2014. Her spirit lively and indelible to the reader, but sadly, due to a curse, no one she meets can remember her, hence her "invisible" life. Dealing with feeling invisible and meaningless are feelings any reader can relate to, but being able to reach for those feelings while wrapped up in 300 years of history and a budding romance with another possibly cursed character in Henry, is just a complete treat for the reader. The copy I received was an e-reader advanced copy, which may have contributed to sometimes having minor difficulty with all the shifts in time (also brought on by my rabid desire to find out what was going to happen next--the pacing in this book really picked up as it went along!). I am guessing the print copy will use various fonts and have less subtle ways to alert the reader to the time shifts. I also can't wait to see the art the e-copy references. October 6, 2020 can't come soon enough!

I loved this book. This was a sumptuous story told by a master. Covering 300 years in time, from the 1700s to current day, in various countries, during various eras in time, was so enjoyable. The characters of Addie, Luc, and Henry were all compelling and connected and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. The role that art and stories played in this novel was my favorite part. It lent such an elegance to the tale. I don't want to give anything away as it will be a luxury to readers to simply let the story unfold. But those who are anxiously awaiting this book's publication will not be disappointed. Sure to be THE READ of Fall 2020. Thank you to Net Galley, Tor Books, and VE Schwab for this ARC.

I want to preface this by saying I really, really enjoyed this book. Some of my later comments may make it seem like I don't, but I promise I did. I've barely been reading lately, and I devoured Addie LaRue. Her story was heartbreaking, complex, and such a mess. I felt for her, especially early on in the story as she struggled to find her way. She had so long to learn, and it felt like it took her so long to learn because everything was so much more difficult for her. As she puts it at one point, she can't have a job or a home or friends. Without those, things a lot of us take for granted, she has to struggle and fight to get anything--especially food and peace.

I liked Henry a lot even though I'll sound like I'm complaining later on. He was really broken, and I appreciated how raw he was. I liked how he loved a simple life and was honest about the inability to figure out his career or dream. Not everyone just "knows" what to do with their life, and Henry was the epitome of that.

I thought the writing was well done. It felt persona enough to be like a journal, but also like a memoir of some sort. There's plausibility in this, as though Addie and Henry could actually exist, and it makes the story that much better.

So, now for my complaints. There was a whole lot more sex and drug abuse in this than I expected. I'll start with sex first. Maybe this is a me thing, but for me, it really bothered me how quickly every character would sleep with someone. My first thought goes to STDs. There's no mention of safe sex in this story. I'd say I'm overthinking this except that sex/using sex for monetary purposes/to distract ones self was an enormous part of this story. It was prevalent in nearly every chapter. And in the case of Addie, I really had to question her choices for seducing people just so she would have a place to sleep. I get it. My husband was homeless and slept in ditches. It absolutely sucks. But what Addie did wasn't prostitution. She seduced people or just hung out with them until they were both horny enough to have sex. I honestly can only recall one person she ever stayed with/hung out with that she didn't bang, and that's because the guy was happily gay. But every single part of her human interaction ended in sex. And I just have to wonder what that meant for the people who woke up beside her, not knowing who she was or why she was there. For the ones who had, maybe the day before, legitimately fallen in love, and she let them even though she knew they wouldn't remember her.

Again, this may be a personal thing, but it really bugged me.

The second issue I had was the drug abuse in this. Throughout the book, people are drinking, smoking weed, and using harder drugs, and it's treated in the weirdest manner throughout the story. Henry states how much he hates weed because it makes him depressed and amplifies his mental issues, and yet just a chapter earlier he's puffing on a joint and thinking about how good he feels. So are we saying drugs are good or bad with this? The same goes for alcohol. With the amount Henry and his friends drunk, someone should be in the hospital. Henry's problem with alcohol is treated like an addiction throughout his story, but then it's casually mentioned that he drinks three beers while having a fun day with his friends, and it's not noted that this is a bad thing.

Look, I come from a family of addicts. My mom, dad, and husband all abused substances. Thankfully, my parents were clean before I was born, but my husband wasn't. I've been there every step of the way with his recovery, and to read something that so subtly pushes aside recovery and addiction when it becomes convenient for a character to be drinking a shot (said character who is an alcoholic) or has side effects to marijuana is very troubling to me because it made any sort of change in Henry next to none. His character never changed in this book. His addictions and depression/mental health was an enormous part of his character, and nothing ever changed. He still drank an insane amount of alcohol everywhere he went, <spoiler>and it seemed like the only time he "got better" was after Addie left. So once again, we have a story saying true love fixes all problems. Trust me, it doesn't work like that with addiction.</spoiler>

Again, I really loved this book, but those two things--namely the addiction stuff--really made me uncomfortable to read because I felt like Henry and his issues weren't being taken seriously.

I definitely recommend this. Just note, it's got some hard parts, and Addie is definitely a grey character.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of those books that's so good, 5 stars is nowhere near enough to reflect how much I love it! I couldn't put it down but I also didn't want it to end - it was that good!

Summary:
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Addie didn't want to follow the path her family had in mind for her; she wanted a great big life. So she dared to ask the gods, which resulted in her being doomed to be forgotten by everyone she meets until the day she is ready to surrender to the dark god that granted her wish. But Addie is stubborn and smart and resilient, and she refuses to surrender. She has her big life, and finds ways to leave her mark even though she can't say her own name and no one remembers her face. Until one day, when she walks into a bookstore.

I love this book and I absolutely love Addie! I already know this is going to be one of the best books I'll read in 2020!

This was such a stunning story. Schwab really knows how to weave a beautifully haunting tale. I found some moments predictable but the way Schwab writes those moments still cause them to hit hard. I love Addie so much. She was a phenomenal character who is fierce, intelligent, and cunning.

I’ve always been a fan of Victoria’s writing, and this novel shows her talent so well. She has a way of crafting beautiful sentences that make you hang on every word. I was fully invested in Addie’s story, and I never wanted it to end.
I’ve been waiting for what seems like years for this story to be published – I follow Schwab on multiple social media accounts, and she talked about this general plot line for so long! Just like Addie’s experiences, the wait was so very worth it. I highly recommend.

This book was absolutely incredibly. My heart hurts so much. VE Schwab is already one of my favorite writers but she truly out did herself with this masterpiece. I can’t wait to sell this book to so many people.

I have been eagerly awaiting The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and want to thank Tor Books and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy to read! I absolutely loved this book. Telling the story of Addie LaRue, a girl cursed to be forgotten by all but in exchange is completely free and beholden to no one. Telling her 300 year history until she meets someone who remembers her in modern day New York, This is a story that will easily appeal to all readers. Filled with history, fantasy, art, romance and the desire to be known, every reader will be able to take away something special from this story. The love that V. E Schwab had for these characters and this story is apparent on every page, and made this story a true joy to read. This book will easily join my list of books to recommend to every one I know.

I really enjoyed this Book! I especially liked the feminist take on the Faustian bargain. The dreamy tone was perfect, and the hate to love to hate again relationship was an interesting twist.

I have read and very much enjoyed other books by V.E. Schwab, both under the name "V.E." and "Victoria," but this is by far the best so far. In a few words: I loved it. It is in some ways different from her other books: a little less dark, considerably less action-packed, but for me that enhanced it. It is like a long, meditative, celebration of life, with all its pain and pleasures, featuring a strong, indomitable heroine whom you won't be able to forget.

And the central conceit of this novel is that Adeline LaRue lives forever, caught like a moment in time, unchanging and never remembered. She is not even able to say her own name. She can meet and talk to someone, turn away, come back ten minutes later, and they won't remember meeting her. This is the consequence of a deal she made with ... the devil? Perhaps. Certainly a powerful dark spirit, who entraps her by granting her wish to experience life. Moving back and forth in time, we see vignettes of her strange but rich life over 300 years, until one day she meets someone who remembers her. To call this a love story is something of a misnomer, except in the sense that it's a love story to life itself: to physical being, to art, to beauty, and, yes, to pain. To say more would be to give away too much; enough to say that this is a rich and thought-provoking book.

I am a huge fan of V. E. Schwab's writing and have heard her talk so much about this book on social media and I couldn't wait to read it! When I saw this as an option on NetGalley I knew I had to request it! I didn't think I would be selected but I was and I am so thankful! I really enjoyed this read and couldn't get enough of it! Huge Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for this opportunity!

I think it may be simplest to break this down into what I did and did not like about this book ~

Likes: The storytelling was gorgeous. Simple yet evocative and immersive. The backstory for the character's immortality was unique and believable (unlike the movie the Age of Adaline).

Dislikes: The main character …. unlike stories I've read about other immortals, Addie La Rue felt uninteresting. I know immortality raises all sorts of issues for characters (in Addie's case never being able to leave a mark), but somehow, these characters manage to make you feel for them in some way; they feel like the ancients that they are despite their young face. Addie never had that. I felt the past was the same as the present. Also, the ending was not to my liking. Some others may find it satisfying, but it felt like it was promoting the very toxic relationships I thought our radical age was all about debunking.

Overall, I enjoyed the mix of modern with myth. But the nitty-gritty details left a lot to be desired.

*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Wow, this book was incredible! I'm already a Schwab fan so there really weren't any doubts going in that I wouldn't love it. This book follows the titular character who's made a deal with the devil in order to live freely, but at the cost that she's forgotten by everyone. After three hundred years of this, Addie finds the one person in the world who remembers her. This book has beautiful prose, gut-wrenching scenes, and wonderful characters. From the first page, I had already decided that it would become one of my all-time favorites.

V.E. Schwab has done it again. This book... I went into it without knowing more than the basic premise, (girl makes bad deal with dark thing and lives forever but no one remembers her,) and was just blown away. We go between Addie’s life in France in the 17 hundreds, what led her to make her choice and how she dealt with the immediate aftermath, and cut between then and now, almost 300 years later when she is much more savvy about her curse and how to live alone surrounded by others. And then... and then someone *does* remember her. What now? Is the curse changing? Is it a glitch? And will the darkness come back for her, as it always does. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to give the journey away, but I loved the characters so much. I also loved the settings, France over time and New York City now, and the thread of art throughout. I highly recommend this book!