THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE, by V. E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (Goodreads Blurb link)

[Master of Ceremonies] ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FAUSTIAN MELODRAMA:

ADELINE LARUE: High spirited, attractive country girl – unhappy with her stiflingly small lot in life. Due to the effects of the DARK CURSE, this image of the obscured features of Addie LaRue is the best we can do. You will have to take our word for it, Addie has a timeless, beautiful face with seven distinctive, star shaped freckles across her nose….

LUC: Good-looking Bad Boy with a big EDGE: also a God/Prince of Darkness (Yummy!)

HENRY STRAUSS: Decent, handsome, lovable human: recently heartbroken, wants to be “enough” for everyone – also desperately unhappy with his directionless life

Act I:
[Addie] “I do not want to belong to anyone but myself. I want to be free. Free to live, and to find my own way, to love or to be alone, but at least it is my choice, and I am so tired of not having choices, so scared of the years rushing past beneath my feet. I do not want to die as I’ve lived, which is no life at all….
I want a chance to live. I want to be free.
……. I want more time.”

[LUC] “How long?.. Ah… You ask for time without limit. You want freedom without rule. You want to be untethered. You want to live exactly as you please….
…I am not some genie, bound to your whim…. Nor am I some petty forest spirit, content with granting favors for mortal trinkets. I am stronger than your god and older than your devil. I am the darkness between stars, and the roots beneath the earth. I am promise, and potential, and when it comes to playing games, I divine the rules, I set the pieces and I choose when to play….
The deals I make, I make for souls…
Go home Adeline. Back to your small life.”

[ADELINE] “… 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.”

And now the gloves are off, and the fighting commences, fair and foul! These two able adversaries have met each other’s match – in more ways than one!

Alas, these “triangle” tropes inevitably create factions of followers: Team Luc or Team Henry?
…. I say, why can’t a girl have her cake and eat it too?!!!

Addie could have them BOTH! Henry was a perfect dreamboat, but Henry is a mortal, with time issues of his own, and Addie hasn’t been mortal for a very long time.

Luc, with all of his fiery, arrogant swagger, will be around until Addie voluntarily cashes in her chips and hands her soul over to him. (I really enjoyed the chemistry and the back and forth banter between those two.)
And all that pining that Addie often wouldn’t admit to throughout the story. Of course she has passionate feelings for Luc – and always will!
“This is not love” – Addie kept reminding herself….. PLEASE!!!

This story lagged a fair bit for me in the middle – all the jumping timelines had me groaning and a few of those scenes with the past lovers felt a bit repetitive, but thankfully the pace picked up towards the end. I truly enjoyed this author’s exquisite choice of words. (There were also times, however, when I wished that there had been a bit more editing out of some of those precious but wordy gems. Save them for another book – or a sequel?!?!….! )

And AAAHHHH!!!! That was a beautiful, tearjerker of an ending, but, take heart! I think that Addie enjoys sparring with Luc and that, once again, she will forget her smoldering anger against him, just as she did in New Orleans. These are two very passionate immortals who love a good storm!
I’ll be thinking of them every time a thunder and lightening storm rolls through…

Oh, and after you’ve read this cautionary tale, it would be prudent to heed the wise counsel from Estele (the “witch”): Never pray to the gods that answer after dark.

(Just thought I would have a bit of fun with this review and pretend I was the MC for a theatrical production of this book. Hope you enjoyed it!)

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