The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
I went into this expecting a 5 star read based on my close friends' recommendations, as well as the high regard I had the author in. The only other book I've started by her was 'Vicious' but forgot to continue. I did really enjoy the premise and the writing was great, so I expected no less from this book too.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and surprisingly did resonate with Addie despite her being 'boring' and just sad. I was watching/reading some reviews and a few readers said that it is a very 'white' book and I, to an extent agree. They mentioned how she did not go out of her way to travel everywhere and visit other continents such as Asia, Africa etc, despite being immortal.
Now onto stuff that dropped it from 5 stars - I enjoyed the writing but VE Schwab included repetitive similes , I swear, every few sentences. The moment I started noticing it, I knew this isn't it . I get that it emphasizes the emotions and the point, but maybe don't describe the same feeling or situation three times in one sentence?? using similes?? Idk, did anyone else have this problem? Not sure if she writes like this for her other books, but if she does thats eh.
I also thought the first half was really slow- a bit too slow for my liking. I loved reading about the variety of sticky situations I could not even imagine getting into because of the curse, so it was fun seeing how Addie navigated them...But it felt like setting the story up, and it should not take half of the book to set the plot up.
About characters - I loved Luc and was not supposed to. Or maybe VE Schwab knew some girlies would kick their feet over his rare good moments and overarching presence, if so, then she's evil (but I love it ). I do not think however that Luc loved her, I agree with Addie that Luc does not know what love is. He is just possessive over her and I am 100% sure that she'll manage to set herself free at some point cause of that. So I was happy with the ending and happy for both of the main leads.
Henry was great and him deciding to write a whole novel and publish it was great and just- what a cutie. Also from the books I read, it is not often I find one of the leads being queer, so reading about Henry and his feelings towards people as individuals over their gender hit hard because my boyfriend came to be like it too :). I liked other characters as well (except Robbie) but we did not focus on them enough for em to have a solid opinion.
Lastly, I would eat the 2nd book up if VE Schwab ever released it (even as a novella) but I am pretty sure this chapter is fully closed so that is really sad. This could have been an opportunity to write about her travels, dive into Henry's future more and see the revenge/escape plan of Addie's come to fruition. but oh well (I miss all 3 of those characters already)
Overall, it is a 4/5 for me.
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