Thank you so much, Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue! I've already started reading it! This is my most anticipated book of 2020! I can't believe it's in my hands!

V.E. Schwab spins a beautiful narrative that spans over nearly 300 years. We follow Addie LaRue as she evolves as a person. Watch her life unfold, and as she lives with being forgotten—and not having the ability to leave a mark on the world with her own hands. We get to see glimpses into the life of one who has lived for lifetimes.
This novel is full of beautiful imagery and metaphors that give the story a melancholy feeling. As the story goes on, she evens them out, so they flow more with the story. The first 30% of the book is drawn out, slow, and atmospheric setting up the world. It took a while for Addie to make her deal with the Devil. But after that, the book picked up, and I was completely absorbed into the world of Addie LaRue. VE Schwab places the reader in France in the 18th century and immerses the reader into that world. Addie makes a deal with the Devil to live forever but is cursed to be forgotten.
Although the book is about Addie, there is some distance between her and the reader. We aren't in her head, but we follow her on her journey through her life of being forgotten by everyone until one day, someone remembers her. When she meets Henry at a bookstore, he remembers her.
This is very different from Schwab's other books, but this is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Her other books have grit and darkness, and although this book is about making a deal with the Devil, it doesn't go quite into the darkness in comparison to Schwab's other novels. Schwab shows readers as Addie clings to her mortality and immortality. How Addie longed for her independence and to escape a life where she was destined to be married off. And live and die in the same plot as her family. Which she traded to live forever and be forgotten by everyone she meets. We see Addie as she struggles with her identity as a woman, alone on the streets. Fighting to survive and the fight for her to hold onto her soul. Addie carries a part of her home in France with her over the years. Until she is stripped of that familiarity, plunging into the unknown world and truly being on her own. Despite all the hardships of her life, she still clings to her soul even with the Devil's temptations to give it up.
Addie is a survivor, by the skin of her teeth, she has survived against the odds. And against a God waiting to claim her soul. Even if people have forgotten her, she has planted seeds into other's heads. Her ideas live on, and she has left her mark on the world. I remember Addie LaRue. This is one of the best books I have ever read. Five well deserved stars.