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.)

Schwab's characters develop so organically that the reader is not left behind as Addie's story is told in multiple centuries.
An amazing tour de force! I will never forget Addie LaRue!

I am not a raver, it really takes a special book for me to shriek into the either about it. But V.E has done it again. This book is so beautiful. The prose flow like wine, the characters are rich and deep, god its so good. Not to mention how heartbreaking it is. I ached with each of Addie's losses, I felt Henry so deeply, and Luc's loneliness and longing sunk into my bones. I LOVE this book. It is perfect. It is incomparable.

I was interested in where this book was going to lead me since this isn't a topic that I normally take up. Addie lives for hundreds of years after making a deal with a devil/demon/god-like "man." The man temps and torments her through out this long life, but Addie meets every challenge with spunk and independence. When Addie finally meets a partner who she can be herself with, the reader doesn't know how long it will last until the god finds out and takes all she has away again.

The story was really well written and the characters were very well developed. While, I enjoyed to book overall, there seemed to be some missing character development.

I think the only thing I really need to say about this book is that V.E. Schwab wrote it. And if that doesn't convince you to pick this up, first go read A Darker Shade of Magic and then come back. Her stories, especially this one is very atmospheric, energetic and engaging. This is one of my new favorites.

Fantastic book. I'm sad I didn't read it sooner but I was in slump. This was such a freaking amazing book and I kinda wanna reread it again. VE Schwab books are always hit or miss for me and this was by far my favorite VE Schwab book

I usually love anything that V.E. Schwab writes, and was so excited for this addition. However, I was ultimately disappointed with this one. The premise was interesting, but the action lagged in the middle and the romance felt forced. Hoping to enjoy the next one more.

Gorgeous. Definitely my favorite of Schwab’s books so far. A couple of spots hit me right in the heart and I had to stop reading for a bit. It’s a lovely think piece in what it means to be remembered.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a story about a girl in a desperate situation and the deal she makes with a devil.

The author creates such amazing character development as readers watch Addie struggle with both living forever and never being remembered. Her writing style is pitch perfect- lyrical, lovely and lonely.

I cannot wait to recommend this to customers looking for a great read with lots of heart.

There are no words to put together to form a proper review for this work of art. This book is literal perfection. I loved this book so much and it is definitely a favorite book of all-time for me. I'm not sure that I will love any book as much as this one. The writing is beautiful and the story is unforgettable. I will always remember you Addie Larue. Please go read this!

I never read any books by Schwab before, but have friends who are huge fans of her Shades of Magic series and remember being very curious about her novels as far back as when The Archived was about to come out. I finally dived in with Addie LaRue back in September and was very intrigued by the plot and execution of the first few chapters, but then life got in the way and I had to put it down until late April this year, when I found that the difference in my reading experience was staggering.

Where Addie LaRue started out so well for me it took a near steady nosedive as soon as Addie and Henry’s relationship begins. At this point, the book takes on a tone of heavy sentimentalism as events stall and the novel lingers on the bubbly feeling of a new romantic relationship. Even when the story tries to introduce conflict in these chapters it only feels like it was stiffly forced and reverts quickly back into the usual sugary prose. For about 200 pages in the middle the plot gets very comfortable and I started to really notice the repetitive wording – a stylistic choice, absolutely, but it was pushed to a point where it seems like you can’t go a page without multiple repetitious lines. Whether it was the amount of fixating I did on these patters or a reflection on the consideration put towards their development, I felt very little connection to the characters – Luc especially, who felt more like a broody teenager from a CW show than the intimidating trickster demon he was set up to be. Even though the characters are placed in their mid-to-late 20s, this book felt more appropriately classified as a young adult novel.

For me, the saving grace for this novel was the overall plot – a young woman who makes a Faustian bargain and lives for over 300 years as a ghost, cursed to be forgotten, visiting upon some of the most significant periods in history with the only memory of her existence gaining a life through artistic impressions. I think the author does a pretty effective job of bringing the whole book together at the very end, but all the meandering throughout the greater part of the story cast a lot of doubt as to whether I was going to even make it that far.

I definitely think that, if I were not so aware of certain stylistic recurrences throughout the novel, this would’ve been a much more enjoyable experience on the whole. I’m told that Schwab goes in a bit of a different direction in this book and for that I wouldn’t fully veto the possibility of reading further stories she puts out, but this one just didn’t mesh with me.

This book... I don't even know where to start. It is so odd, but in a good way?

I feel like my emotions are all over the place. I loved it, but I hated it. I thought it was way too long and way too short. It was both interesting and boring. I don't know I really have a lot of thoughts just circling my brain.

Let's start with the structure. Addie LaRue follows a non-linear timeline. It's divided into 7 parts, and the chapters fluctuate between present day and the past, and the POV switches between Addie, and the one person she meets who remembers her, Henry.

This structure works fantastically for the plot. It doesn't allow for too much to be given away upfront, and you get to see the characters and understand them start to finish. This was also the thing that I liked LEAST about the plot. Addie's history is essential to the story -- I mean she is 300 years old so her past covers a lot of ground. But I felt like half the chapters setting up her origin story were way too long and dragged way too much.

(And for someone who made a deal because she wanted to live and see the world... she sure does spend a lot of time in France.)

I did love the characters. I have to say the main reason that I finished this book was because I wanted to know what was going to happen with Luc. Henry is fantastic, and I did enjoy all of the characters that we met through him. But Luc. LUC. I think he deserved better. This might be my villain loving brain, but he didn't really come across as that evil. He is what he is, but Addie's absolute hatred for him seemed unfounded. Girl knew he was the devil from the start and then hates him for it?

Don't even get me started on the whole New Orleans thing. That was built up from the start and then is a less than ten page summary of their time together??? At least for me, it did nothing to help me understand Luc or Addie or their relationship and because of that I felt like their ending wasn't satisfying to me.

But, on that note, the book itself had an EXTREMELY satisfying ending. Like best wrap up ever. Very reminiscent of Benjamin Button and the Time Traveler's Wife, and all the stories that are doomed from the start. By the end, I knew what was coming but I was happy with it. It wasn't routine in a boring way, but like a hug. Something that's comfortable and expected but still worth the time.

So, basically, I have a love/hate relationship with Addie LaRue.

The only reason I kept reading and didn't set it down as a DNF was because I wanted to know if my predictions were correct. You are constantly left these little breadcrumbs and there are small sections pieced together continuously to only reveal the full loaf of bread at the very end.

It's not going to be one of my favorites of all time, but I am glad to have read it.

"The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. . . 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 gods that answer after dark.
July 29, 1714 should have been a joyful day for Adeline LaRue. It was her wedding day. The day most women in her Catholic based faith community accepted freely. The day girls all trained for under the tutelage of their mothers. But Adeline was different. She was that child that wanted to see over the next hill looking for adventure. As she matured, she wanted freedom to explore the world at large not trapped to a life of hard work on the farm with no individual freedoms under the thumb of a husband.
She idolized the freedom held by the old woman who lived alone in the woods. The old woman taught her that there were ancient gods that came before organized religion but worshiping them was dangerous. Adeline listened carefully when the old woman told her, "If you are going to pray to the old gods, you must sacrifice something precious to you. If they choose to answer, be ready to pay the price they demand and never pray to night gods!"
When Adeline was twenty-four-years old, her father, unwell and looking out for her future care, arranged a Catholic marriage to a widower. She had successfully averted suitors in the past, she believed because she had prayed in her mind to the Ancients for help. Thus, distraught, she raced to the woods to the place the strange old woman told her she could find the ancient gods. This was her last chance to avoid an unwanted marriage. She lost track of time in her desperation and failed to notice the sun had set.
The sounds in the forest stilled as though time had frozen. Then strange winds swirled, a sound called out her name, and the image of her imaginative perfect man appeared before her.
What do you want ? I want a chance to live. I want to be free. I want more time. How much time? When he doesn't get an answer, he declines to help. My deals have endings and your request has none.
She pleads. I will do anything. He responds. My dealings have a price. The price is your soul. The ancient gods are wily! Adeline cries out - You want an ending? Then take my life when I am done with it. You can have my soul when I don't want it anymore. He smugly replies. DONE!
Adeline rushes back to her village convinced she had outsmarted the devil. She becomes terrified by the physical reaction she receives from her parents. Who or what is this frantic creature that seems to have appeared out of nowhere? Her childless parents are terrified by this creature who insists she is their daughter. She is chased away.
Adeline's story will be laborious to readers that cannot connect to her character. Others, intrigued with fantasy and magical realism will be willing to follow Addie as she adjusts to her fate over a three-hundred years. The story alternates with her past and places her in the present (2014). The scenes with Luc, the devil, are very interesting as he pops up now and then to disrupt Addie's life hoping to knock her off her game, weaken her determination to make a life for herself.
My favorite sections of the book are the final chapters where the story takes an interesting twist concluding with an ending the reader won't see coming. Reviewing this book has been difficult. I have written and destroyed several versions of my review. I finally decided the fact I just couldn't stop trying to tell her story without giving away the suspense led me to giving it four stars. Well written and thought provoking.
Thank you, Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for review and my honest opinion.

This is a book that sticks with you. The writing is beautiful. Addie and Luc were amazing characters that left me with such lovely mixed feelings; calmness, love, sadness, beauty. Henry was my issue with the story, he's just very generic.

If you had asked me six months ago what I thought of Addie LaRue, I would have gushed over how much I adored it—from the characters to the complex story to even the clever, simplistic cover… but fast forward to now, I can’t say as much. The more I lingered over this book, the less I ended up liking it. Addie LaRue was my first VE Schwab book, and the only one I was interested in reading by her, and I don’t think I’m inclined to read any more of her other works.

What I wondered while reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was: what IS the plot of this book? There didn’t seem to be a certain direction the story was heading, instead, it focused on flashbacks and backtracking to give the reader bits and pieces of who Addie and what her agenda was (which is nothing, to be honest—Addie has gotten so used to what she’s been doing for the past 300 years that she has pretty much just lived her life like every other human on earth, minus having a job and instead resorts to pocketing things she likes). And Addie LaRue’s past life was basic as heck, it starts off like every other story of a country girl who wants a different life than her own, which ends up with her striking a deal “with the devil”, and of course there was a catch—no one could remember her.

So what DID Addie do in the 300 years between her striking the deal to the current book setting? Besides going to France and experiencing very White woman struggles, that’s it. We don’t even know if she visits Asia or travels beyond Europe/the US, what her experiences were during all the wars that transpired, what sides she rooted for… it’s like Schwab decided to give us the most boring and mundane aspects of Addie’s past lives instead of giving her a personality built from those experiences. Addie LaRue is just so bland, she had years upon years to build a persona and we just get a basic, tortured woman who gets a little adventurous by leaving her mark in what she thinks are clever ways.

And once again... what is the plot of this book? Is it the budding relationship between her and softboi Henry? Is it the cat-and-mouse relationship she has with Luc? Is this story even a Romance (the answer is no, it isn’t. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue may seem like a Romance but it’s just Fiction packaged in purple prose with no tangible substance behind it)? Is it Addie trying to find a solution to her problem? I have no idea, but Schwab takes us on the most lyrical, flowery date (as a third wheel) between Addie and whichever guy/lady/enby she’s with, but that’s it. We never actually reach a conclusion, we never completely know the purpose of the journey we’re taken, we just go and follow and end up wherever Schwab leads us.

To say I was disappointed with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is an understatement. The premise is beautiful and the thought behind it is clever, but the final product is just uninteresting with no direction. VE Schwab’s prose is something to behold, it clutches your heart and doesn’t let go until it squeezes a few tears out of you; however, that wasn’t enough to make me want to remember Addie LaRue and her story.

This was so utterly long and twisting and was not quite what I was expecting. I expected given the way it was marketed for their to be more emphasis on the deal with the devil monster romance aspect of it. Which there wasn't and unfortunately is rather sad. But I did enjoy Schwabs writing style overall even if I can use this book as a door opener

This was a fantastic book! It’s extremely character driven and a slow burn read, but it was never boring, always gripping. It took me a while to get through because I haven’t had tons of reading time this semester, but I still loved it. My only issue was that I didn’t like the turn the Addie/Luc relationship took near the end; seemed kind of basic to me, and I wanted something more unique from them. Besides that, I think this was a near perfect novel! The prose were poetic, as usual, and the ending seemed fitting. Schwab is still one of the best authors publishing. Also, I appreciated the causal bisexual rep. 5/5 stars.

What an excellent addition to Schwabs prolific cannon. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue follows the journey of a woman who cannot be remembered. This book is filled with heartache and triumphs. Watching the journey Addie makes as she continues to outwit the darkness is a triumph of human spirit about loss and loneliness and how to overcome those obstacles.

This book was great! I absolutely loved the concept and learning about addies life over the years. I definitely recommend.