The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab | book review

✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧

“You know,” she’d said, “they say people are like snowflakes, each one unique, but I think they’re more like skies. Some are cloudy, some are stormy, some are clear, but no two are ever quite the same.”

V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Published: October 6, 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: adult
Genre: historical, contemporary, fantasy, romance
Pages: 442
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars)
Goodreads page

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Synopsis

A life no one will remember. A story you will never forget.

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.

[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]

Most Anticipated Releases of 2020

I know we’re already a month and a half into 2020, but I still wanted to create a post fangirling over the books I’m excited about that’s coming out this year. I’m not going to include any books that have already been released this year in between January 1 and February 16 (the day I’m writing this post) because technically they’re not anticipated releases anymore.

Because some of these books I’m going to be talking about is not the first book in its series, I hid all the blurbs in a drop down that you can click to reveal just so I don’t accidentally spoil anyone who doesn’t want to be spoiled.

Anywho, let’s get excited about some new books!

July Anticipated Releases

OH MY GOODNESS IT’S ALREADY JULY!

June went by so fast for me… It feels like I just got out of school yesterday.

I’m currently in a reading slump, so I haven’t been reading at all lately. Hopefully one of my July anticipated releases will get me out of it soon!

A Conjuring of Light Cover Reveal!!

I saw on Twitter this morning that the cover of the third book of the A Darker Shade of Magic series by V. E. Schwab was released!

It’s GORGEOUS! (Like the rest of the series)

JUST LOOK AT IT!

*drools*

I have no guesses on what this cover means because I STILL haven’t finished the second book yet. Yes, I’ve been reading A Gathering of Shadows for a couple months now. MONTHS.

Either way, I super excited for this book and seeing this cover just renewed my excitement.

I CAN’T FREAKING WAIT FOR THIS BOOK TO COME OUT!

Teaser Tuesday #7 (Apr. 5)

This meme is hosted by MizB @ Books and a Beat. It’s pretty simple. All you have to do is follow these steps:

– Grab your current read
– Open to a random page
– Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
– BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
– Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

Title: A Gathering of Shadows
Series: A Darker Shade of Magic, #2
Author: V.E. Schwab
Goodreads page

Kell would say it was impossible. What a useless word, in a world with magic.

Winter Book Haul

I bought less books this season because now I’m on a book buying ban. If I wasn’t, this haul would have been a whole heck of a lot longer. I’m trying to cut down on the number of books I’m buying to match the rate I read. Back in the day, I used to have a lot of time to read, but school happened and now I barely have time to sleep.

February Anticpated Releases

There are quite a few great books that are going to be released in the month of February. I’m so excited! (Although right now, I’m in a book buying ban, and I haven’t preordered any of these so… whoops.)

Anyway, let’s just get right into the good stuff.

A Darker Shade of Magic

THERE MAY BE SPOILERS HERE!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION

So, I just finished this book in six days. SIX! I’ve been in a reading slump for so many months and now I just finish this book in less than a week. WHAT IS MY PROBLEM???? WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH THE WELL OF ASCENSION!?! WHY CAN’T I BRING MYSELF TO FINISH IT??*calms down*

Okay so this book has wormed its way up to my favorites pile. It’s so (pardon my language) damn great. Anyone who has read this book can understand.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab is about this Antari (a.k.a. blood magician), Kell, who travels between three different Londons. There is Red London, which is where he lives, White London, where its government is like a dictatorship but with two people on the throne instead of one, and Gray London, where there is no magic. Now, Kell’s job is to travel between these Londons to pass around messages. Because the “doors” between these Londons were sealed off, only Antari are powerful enough to travel between them. And there are only two Antari left in the world.

It’s forbidden to smuggle things from different Londons, but Kell does it anyway. One day, this woman in White London asks Kell to give a letter to someone who was in Red London. She gave him something wrapped in a piece of cloth as her payment. That “thing” turned out to be a very powerful black stone/talisman that came from Black London, a fallen London that was corrupt with magic.

When Kell arrived in Red London to deliver the message and realized that we was set up, he was attacked. After the attack and he laid bloody on the ground in Gray London, he meets this girl dressed up as a boy. Delilah Bard. A girl thieving for freedom. For adventure. Lila “helped” Kell by giving him a handkerchief, and he later realized that he had been robbed. He tracked Lila down and demands for the talisman.

The magic from the talisman started to secretly plague the Londons, and after some dealing and arguments, the duo started their way to Black London to place the talisman where it belongs.

She slid the bolt on the back entrance and hurried into the alley. Kell followed her out, stopping long enough to raise his hand and will the metal lock back into place behind them. He listened to the shhk of metal sliding home, then turned to find Lila waiting, her back purposefully to the tavern, as if her present were already her past. 

(Schwab 201)