edit: Just to reiterate, I do like and enjoy "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue." However, I can also find issues within it. I'm not calling the book problematic, I'm just highlighting some aspects that I believe the book failed on. If you don't want to hear that then you don't have to read this review. I am also not calling this book racist, or "making it about race", as people who typically argue against these kinds of things would say, nor am I asking this book to be about Black people. I am...

Alright class, settle down. I've been reassigned to teach Writing 102: Too Many Words, Not Enough Plot. Given my stellar performance with the last course, I trust you've all done your homework and read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue before showing up, to avoid spoilers. We'll be diving headfirst into three key areas: monotony, pretension, and shallowness. Brew your strongest coffee; I promise my review will be more stimulating than this snooze-fest of a novel. We also have a guest speaker, Ro...

Big thanks to Marta for the buddy read!Okay, so I know V.E. Schwab has a massive following, and I get that *The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue* blew a lot of people away, but honestly, I just don't see the hype. This book was a total drag.The premise had so much potential. Addie LaRue, our main character, makes a deal with the devil to escape an arranged marriage and finally live the adventurous life she's always dreamed of. The catch? She becomes immortal, but everyone she meets instantly forget...

To be honest, this felt a bit… well… precious. "[…] It is sad, of course, to forget.But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.To remember when no one else does.” Now, I was actually captivated by the beginning. Adeline LaRue makes an ill-considered Faustian bargain in 1714 with a sinisterly handsome devil/darkness god – trading her soul for the life of freedom and immortality, with a caveat that hits her like a ton of bricks rather quickly – the price of freedom is forgettability. Everyone for...

When a book traps your soul from beginning to end and beyond, keeping hold of a string to your heart even as you leave it behind, you know it deserves all the constellations in the night sky.Credit: Nicole What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind? They say if you look through a wooden ring on the 29th night of July, just after dark, you’d see a wraith wandering valleys and alleys—singing, sighing, seeking. And if you lean in, shell of an ear pressed to the ring, you would hear the ...

ARC provided by Tor in exchange for an honest review. "Stories come in so many forms: in charcoal, and in song, in paintings, poems, films. And books." This is a book about a girl, a boy, a devil, and the stories that get told and repeated and remembered. This is a tale of power dynamics and imbalances and what humans are willing to do to not feel trapped and alone. This is all about a young girl who lives her life for herself, who lives her life in spite of the odds, w...

V.E. SCHWAB REALLY DID THAT. I CANNOT STOP CRYING.“Do you think a life has any value if one doesn’t leave some mark upon the world?”I'm starting this review without really knowing what to say. This is one of those books that I know is going to stay in my mind and in my heart. I've always said that I'm fascinated by V.E. Schwab's books, but this one, by far, is my absolute favorite. And believe me, I went into it with high expectations, and well... it exceeded them.This book is about Addie LaRue,...

I'm truly at a loss for words this time. This masterpiece has left me utterly speechless—awed, adored, and deeply moved. I might even declare it one of the top ten best books of the year already. And I know it's only April, and if I continue reading 10 to 14 books a week during quarantine, I could finish around 500 more books this year. But you know it when you know it—this book is like unconditional love at first sight. It tells the unique story of a village girl who fiercely demands her inde...

Oh, to be a French girl kneeling in the woods on the eve of a wedding she didn't want, praying for freedom to a god—or perhaps a devil—who made her a deal that would grow to be like a thorn in her side, a constant prod: she will live forever, but everyone she meets will forget her, she'll always be slipping out of reach. An eternity of flitting from one place to another, never quite feeling at home anywhere, and from one person to another, leaving behind only the phantom feel of her touch, and t...

1.5 stars (and please, *please* don't give me that look, okay? I know.) (Also, mild spoilers ahead.) (And *also*, someone pointed out that I got a bit technical in the review below. Sorry! I promise I'm not trying to sound like a conceited know-it-all.)*The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue* is a manifesto on the dangers of pouring too much of yourself into your art. Does that mean art *must* be impersonal? I'm too much of a relativist to say definitively, but let's just say I wish authors would tak...