The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is the story about a girl born in France in the 1600s who is cursed to be forgotten and to live eternally. Addie LaRue felt trapped in her small town life, always wanting to explore and have time to truly live, but never having the opportunity to do so. So on the day of her arranged wedding, she desperately calls to the gods and strikes a deal with a morally grey god of death. The god that answered her call enabled her to live forever, but she was also forgotten by everyone, could not say her name to people, and couldn’t leave a mark on the world, so she was essentially invisible. The story is primarily told in the present day in the 2010s, but many chapters are filled with the backstory of Addie over the centuries and how she copes with everyone forgetting her and living like a ghost. Her relationship and rivalry with the god, named Luc, is explored and developed throughout the story. In the present day, however, Addie meets this one person who works in a bookstore, named Henry Strauss. The interesting thing about Henry is that he remembers her the next day, marking him as the only human who has remembered her in three hundred years.

       Before I started reading the book, I had very high hopes and high expectations. I loved the concept of the story and was also really excited because I love some of the author’s other books with my entire heart. I was super thrilled to pick this book up not only because it was written by one of my favorite authors, but also because it was exactly what I was looking for in a book at the time. However,  the story didn’t really click with me, and I thought that it was longer than it needed to be. The odd thing was that it never explored the areas that should’ve been explored, given the book’s length. The plot of the story I thought was too rushed and unfortunately, I didn’t think the characters were deep or well developed, so I never felt attached to any of them. I really liked the concept of this story, but I wasn’t a fan of how it turned out. I did enjoy many moments of this book and there are definitely some scenes and quotes that stick out to me. The book was an enjoyable read at times, but overall it was simply okay. The book is fairly long and could have been easily cut in half, as many scenes in the story didn’t feel necessary. I would recommend this book only if you are in the mood for reading something that isn’t super deep, but is entertaining to read every now and then. However, other than that, I wouldn’t recommend it. I know many people who love this book but unfortunately, I didn’t feel the same way. It struck me as underwhelming and did not live up to the hype. I would rate it 3.5/10.

Check out The Invisible Life of Addie Larue from NBPL!