ARC Review – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

From Goodreads:

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.

There is no doubt this is a V.E. Schwab book. It screams it through and through. Therefore I suspect if you have not been a fan of her previous works, particularly her female characters, you are not going to enjoy Addie. There is a lot of similarity in the feeling and personality of Addie and that of Lila Bard and for me that is not a bad thing. I love Schwab’s writing style and this just has a beautiful lyrical quality to it. I will admit I absolutely fell in love with Henry, he was just such a beautiful soul and I really loved how we got his story. I also really loved the interactions between Addie and Luc and the mix of emotions each scene brought.

The plot is just as beautiful as the writing. it is slow paced and completely character driven, and it really drives home those emotions. I will say the ending was a little predictable but only in the way we got to know the characters so well. There really were great moments of joy as well as those of despair and Schwab did an excellent job of drawing you in with those moments and making you feel them.

Another thing I truly adored is how much art played a role in this book. At a time in the UK where art and the artistic industry is suffering to be reminded on how much art plays into life and history in such a beautiful way. I loved how each section in the book reflected on a piece of art that would be an echo of the part of Addie’s life we were exploring. It was just a really nice touch.

The only reason this couldn’t be a 5 star for me was the continual use of the word ‘palimpsest’ to describe Addie. It just appeared to be the authors favourite word in this book and whoever edited could have cut out at least 50%. While, it was a great description when first used it turned the character of Addie into one note. Every time it came up it made me groan and it kind of spoiled my enjoyment a little as it would pull me out of the story and emotion.

Otherwise I really adored the book. I can see myself rereading it, I can see why it already has a movie deal and I can see why Schwab fans will be raving about this one.